COPES - fourth
COPES is a Japanese skate/ska punk band! This album is packed to the brim with fun and speedy songs. It's super catchy too! Even though I cannot understand Japanese, I wish I knew what they were singing about. The songwriting is intricate and is carefully crafted for a band of this style. I love the arrangements and of course I love the dual vocalists as well! This album feels very real, I think a lot of other modern skate punk bands fall short of this "real" feeling. Listen for yourself and hopefully that makes sense!
Bats - Good Game Baby
Bats is a DIY indie/alt-country solo-ish project from Nashville. This record is hard to describe, I think I can call it beautiful, but it's a lot more than that. These songs are relaxing, bedroom vibe, recordings. They have a lo-fi feeling, but the production on this album is very tight! I love the sound/voice/noise samples that can be heard throughout. The lyrics are my favorite part of about this album. They have a romantic/slice of life feeling which I totally dig. This is a must listen!
Lower Automation - Welcome to My Deathbed
This is an EP, but had to include it because I love it!! Lower Automation is certainly Chicago's best mathcore band and one of my favorite local bands (and it's not just because everyone in this band is so cute!) Lower Automation has been steadily expanding their sound, and this EP changes up what I've gotten used to while listening to them. The songs are still very tense, very hectic, and very noisy, but now you've drenched in reverb, synths, and you can probably dance to these songs only slightly easier than most of their other songs. The lyrics are very strong (as always). I love lyrics that make me think, so take time to read these while listening along.
Rong - Live at New Alliance
God-fricken-damn. This album slays. Rong is a noise?? hardcore? punk?? math? band from Massachusetts. I think this album being a live album definitely best captures their chaotic essence as a band. Everything about this band is super tight even though their music being extremely technical. This music is difficult for me to write about, but it makes me think and makes me feel something, and I think that is one of the best things art can do.
Sour Note Symphony - Dissecting Circuitry AND Idiot-syncratic
TWO ALBUMS!!! I've never written a top albums of the year list with two albums from the same band!! Sour Note Symphony is a band featuring one human, one alien, and one skeleton. Their output of music is extremely impressive, especially considering every album by them is sick! These two most recent releases might be my favorite overall. This band blends digital power-pop, emo, and xD and :3 faces. Every song is exciting, fast, catchy, and crazy. I love the DIY roughness of the recordings. These songs have so much personality and they are so fun to listen to!
MORE!!
The Tear Garden Collective - Time Always Reveals What You Mean To Someone
Thotcrime - Connection Anxiety
Snuffed - Lobotomy Dream
Dry Spell - My Time Is Up
Dry Socket/Body Farm - SPLIT
Hedge - Better Days
p.s. visit the long birds spotify page for even more! theres a playlist linked there!
