You Death Obsessed Pagans

On October as a good month, The Fest 22 and new music

Who would’ve guessed punks love to release albums in October? 

This time of year always has a ton of new great music, especially for punk. We’ve got a new Drug Church, new Touché Amoré, new Show Me The Body, new Chat Pile, new Balance and Composure, and a new Japandroids (if you like that sort of thing). Hell, even Cloud Nothings released an anniversary version of Here and Nowhere Else. 

I could take a few stabs at why October’s a favorite month among punks. 

Maybe it’s the fact that the obligatory “punk uniform” of all-black becomes a bit more comfortable when the temperature drops. 

Maybe it’s Halloween and we’re all death-obsessed pagans.

Maybe it’s the Misfits. 

Maybe it’s Fest.

I’m so sad I’m missing Fest this year.  Every year I don’t go sucks a little but this year feels a little worse mostly because two bands I’m hopelessly obsessed with, the aforementioned Touché Amoré and Cloud Nothings, are playing. 

This seems like a particularly big deal for Touché Amoré because they haven’t played Fest in 10 years. In interviews, Jeremy Bolm has said that they haven't returned in part due to the traumatic incident of learning his mother had died of cancer while he was there performing, which has forever been memorialized in the song, “Eight Seconds.”

Not sure if that’s a bit morbid to say but to see someone who inspires you overcome grief just by purely being in a place sounds like more than just a good pull-quote.

I may have more to write about Fest next week as I dredge the recesses of the massive line-up but for now here’s another Orbiting Punk Picks list for the week:

Orbiting Punk Picks

Death Goals - “Music For Cryptids”

A simple one that reminds me of classic sass-core. Death Goals (London, UK) bring a danceable rhythm with a chantable screed against violence on “fems, thems, and all those in between.”

It’s the second track off a split EP with another screamo band Dreamwell (Rhode Island, US), whose half is worth checking out too as they bring a bit more theatrical, metalcore flare to the style.

In all, the split relays across the Atlantic a call for retributive justice; an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Human Impact - “Collapse”

Brought to you by the noise rock folks at Swan, Daughters, Unsane and Cop Shoot Cop, Human Impact as a project imagines a near-future dystopia where society has fully collapsed.

From its haunting keys to Chris Spencer’s doomsayer-esque vocals, the whole track feels epic in scale as an awe-inspiring demise warning against apathy and systems of convenience.

Whether it be ecological or political, the end will come and a new world will rise. What that world will look like depends on the actions, or inactions, we take. 

Balance and Composure - “Ain’t It Sweet”

After eight years since their last full-length, Balance and Composure suddenly returned with a new album, “with you in spirit.”

This track hooked me with its subdued synth loop. Building around it like a sonic pulse, the listener winds through walls of guitars as phantasmagorical vocals pan from one ear to the other. Utterly consuming. 

Mud Whale - “Sacrifice”

Much like Balance and Composure, Mud Whale sounds like the best of 2010s emo with its mathy guitar and confessional vocals. However, explosive turns and catchy, albeit cryptic lyrics set this band apart.

This is just one of three teasers to their upcoming full-length Humans Pretending to be Human and all of them are worth your time. Also, they seem to love frogs and nature in their cover art. What’s not to like?

Show Me The Body featuring Alli Logout - “Peace Corps” 

Show Me The Body has been releasing this weird new EP series under “Corpus II”  featuring different underground artists worldwide. It’s a unique way to package and release new music in this collaborative and community-oriented form.

They recently dropped a sequel EP that featured this track with Alli Logout of the New Orleans band Special Interest (which I still have yet to see live because they never seem to play here).

“Peace Corps” possesses the best parts of Special Interest with Show Me The Body’s composed rhythms despondently exploring suffering and the body without losing its danceability.

Snowmen - “You Can’t Relate” 

A groovy dance-punk track illustrating the life of a corporate billionaire and just how far removed they are from you and me.

Dazy, MSPAINT - “It’s Only A Secret”

New single that oozes ‘90s with influences from Beastie Boys, Beck and Blur.

Anxious - “Counting Sheep”

Embodying the relief and anxiety of sleeping away your problems. One of the best emo bands doing it right now. Insane riffs and a catchy chorus. If you’re looking for a revitalized, modern version of bands like Jimmy Eat World or Third Eye Blind look no further.

Maruja - “Break The Tension”

These guys were on my EOY list last year for their EP purely because I think they have cornered a style and sound that no other post-punk bands have right now.

Using crooning horns and erratic beats, the band creates a haunting “tension” that seems to only hone their style further. I am curious how this band will evolve and expand this style.

Touché Amoré - “Disasters” and “Force of Habit”

I tried to narrow down the songs I liked off the new album but it became a toss-up between these two. “Disasters” is the most fun I’ve had on the LP with its throttling energy and clever natural disaster imagery.

“Force of Habit” seems the most meaningful with its reflective, stripped-down instrumentation ramping up like a snowball on a gentle decline. Really emulates the feeling of breaking bad habits or building new, better ones. 

Cloud Nothings - “I’m Not Part of Me (10th Anniversary)” 

This song is 10 years old and one of the band’s most popular but it only recently became a favorite of mine this past year (I like it so much this is my second time mentioning it in one of these lists and I swear that it was an accident).

The chorus is just so unbelievably catchy but also it regularly inspires me to stop and recount. To stop moving. To stop being productive. To stop overwhelming myself with self-imposed pressure to be enough.

I think we all need a song that does that every once in a while.

I took a week off because I married the love of my life last week. My partner McKenzie and I have been together for five years and we decided to elope after a year of calling each other fiance.

She’s often the uncredited editor for this newsletter and a constant source of encouragement for me. She deserves all the appreciation I can give.

I know this may all be a bit cliche, so I’ll leave this note with a little story about how she and I started dating five years ago:

We drove up together to see The Sonder Bombs play with Just Friends, Pool Kids and Save Face at The Masquerade in Atlanta. 

They must have attracted a certain demographic because during Just Friends’ set, they asked the crowd to split the room, wall-of-death style with singles on one side and couples on the other. 

In the center of the room, I turned to McKenzie and asked, “Which are we?” 

And there you have it, the corny, rom-com origins of She and I.