In No Particular Order – April 10th, 2020
Happy Friday to you all!
And in case you didn’t know if was Friday today, congratulations on not needing a calendar; you’ve hit the apex of quarantine life.
Fortunately for music fans, New Music Friday continues to survive, and despite some artists choosing to postpone album release dates (e.g. Montreal post-punk band Pottery who I was looking forward to reviewing this week), there is still a plethora of fresh tunes coming your way.
I’ve picked out a few album releases that I hope you’ll enjoy for this week’s In No Particular Order, but you can find even more great new releases with our Monthly Spotify Playlist!
Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Spotify to stay up to date on new releases.
And don’t be shy – share your favourites!
The Strokes – The New Abnormal
(Post-punk Revival/Alternative Rock)
6.5/10
It’s been seven years since post-punk revivalists The Strokes released an album. 2013’s Comedown Machine feels like ages ago when looking at a calendar. The members spent the years releasing their own respective solo projects, most notably frontman Julian Casablancas who returned to his passion project The Voidz, and guitarist Albert Hammond Jr., and were able to use that as inspiration to fuel the evolution of their music as a whole.
Their new album The New Abnormal incorporates the youthful energy of their debut This Is It on “Bad Decisions”, but they mostly focus on their more contemporary stylings, like the glossy synth-pop of Comedown Machine (“Selfless”, “Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus”) or the feverish, glitchy technicolour work of Casablanca’s solo work that seems to pull such cinematic and melancholic inspiration (“At The Door”).
The New Abnormal is not their best work to date, and if anything, it will be a polarizing release for fans. It feels scattered as whole, giving in to the “single culture” of music nowadays. Naturally, there is still some rust to shake off as one would expect after almost a decade of absence. Nevertheless, the album barely holds onto the band’s spirit of hook-driven post-punk inspiration, managing to coast on their place in music history.
Notable tracks: “The Adults Are Talking” // “Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus” // “At The Door”
Rotting Out – Ronin
Hardcore Punk
7.5/10
You know when you accidentally burn yourself and there’s that moment of rage that festers inside you for a nanosecond? Imagine that for two or three minutes, but instead of leaving a scar, there’s a rush and urge to hear more. 10 tracks, 25 minutes in length, hardcore punk outfit Rotting Out‘s new album Ronin is a quick hit to add some intensity to your life.
And when I say hardcore punk, I don’t mean some scrawny kids in toques and plaid screaming their hearts out in a dive bar. I mean drug-trafficking, jail time kinda hardcore. The band started in 2007, broke up in 2015, lead singer/bassist Walter Delgado was arrested/jailed for 18 months in 2016, and then reformed in 2017, and Ronin is their first LP in seven, tumultuous years.
You can hear the destructive tendencies, the malicious thoughts, and the raw, human strength in each crunching note on the record. Born and raised out of the L.A./Southern California punk scene, Rotting Out bring the genre’s tenacity of its origins and throw it into a meat dicer of brash vocals and fiery breakdowns.
Notable tracks: “Last Man Standing” // “Reaper” // “Unforgiven”
STRFKR – Future Past Life
Indie rock/Electro-rock
6.5/10
Portland, Oregon multi-instrumentalist Josh Hodges began his lo-fi, electronic-infused indie bedroom project STRFKR back in 2008. Over a decade later, the project is now a solidified band, and they have released their sixth full-length Future Past Life.
Known for incorporating psychedelic and electronic elements to create a warping and intense musical experience, STRFKR have toned it down on Future Past Life. It feels focused and spacey, but somehow without much direction and urgency. The 10 tracks seem to blend into each other, very few reaching any sort of peaks, instead relying on textures and muddled layers to provide some variance to the songs. The band’s direction seems to have shifted with more lyrically-driven intentions and ambient pursuits.
Hodges and his band refocused their sound on Future Past Life, aiming to evolve and encourage more introspective habits. The result, I’m sure, is a polarizing quality for fans.
Notable tracks: “Budapest” // “Sea Foam” // “Cold Comfort”
