Glassjaw – “New White Extremity”

Glassjaw – “New White Extremity”

There was a moment, back in 2002-2003, when Long Island was being positioned as “the next Seattle” (Alternative Press and Victory Records decreed as much!). But now, more than a decade later, most non-natives remember only Brand New and Taking Back Sunday from that “scene.” I grew up on LI, though, and I worked for a couple local newspapers during my own formative years, so I covered all these bands as this whole thing unfolded, and I recall things a little differently. To be sure, there were some forgettable acts among that crop — I can’t imagine too many people are rocking undersized Action Action and Straylight Run T-shirts today — but there’s still lots of good music to be found on those old Mind Over Matter and Movielife CDs. That said, if Brand New and TBS were our Nirvana and Pearl Jam — and, honestly, they were — then Glassjaw were our Soundgarden: the expansive, experimental, proggy, sludgy, weird, metal-ish band with violent guitar lines and a frontman capable of insane vocal acrobatics. Glassjaw stopped releasing albums after 2002’s Worship And Tribute, a near-classic produced by Ross Robinson during his At The Drive-In/Blood Brothers period. That LP was followed by a two-year hiatus, and then, a handful of EPs, the most recent of those being 2011’s Coloring Book. But Glassjaw are set to return with an honest-to-god full-length in 2016, and today, they reveal its first single, “New White Extremity.” The details of that LP are basically 100-percent TBA: no title, no release date, and I don’t even know who produced this track. It sounds like a Ross joint, though — and even if it’s not, that’s a positive association nonetheless. Robinson brought out the best in Glassjaw, and “New White Extremity” recalls Glassjaw’s best work. Listen.

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