unknown

you'd think knotty, literary post-hardcore from scene veterans, released on Run for Cover and produced by Will Yip no less, would be up the Gum's alley but they've never gotten coverage ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

whatever happened to Trash Talk?

is The Sound of Silence not folk?

It didn't get a mention on the Gum, but Mewithoutyou released a new song yesterday and it is a monster. Supposedly a new EP/LP combo is incoming! For my metalhead friends, check out the "Forced to Suffer" EP by Misrule. Disgusting, pulverizing death/grind/sludge in that Vermin Womb vein which is juuust listenable enough to be kinda catchy.

The Sundays' version of Wild Horses is better than the original, fight me

speaking of Courtney, Gordi does a lovely numbed-out ballad take on "Avant Gardener"

The Koz

I see that album cover and all I hear is http://i67.tinypic.com/117tyqe.gif

Harper Valley PTA is a great tune and an early feminist anthem, what's not to like??

i like Zizek, like a lot of leftists i find him very entertaining. i must admit i haven't read some of his denser, more scholarly works but his sociopolitical critiques have been hit or miss for me. sometimes he is insightful and sometimes he is deeply frustrating. if i was going to sit down and read a scholarly analysis of present-day capitalism, it probably wouldn't be one of his.

it's amazing how he has weaseled his way into the world of modern philosophy despite being, basically, a pop psychologist and an entry-level hack at that (he still peddles evo psych even though nobody in the field has considered it legit theory for ages). like, it's embarrassing to see someone like Zizek (who is barely a serious philosopher himself) stoop to the level of engaging with him.

if you like weepy women with guitars and anxiety, you'd probably like that Mothers album, if you haven't heard it already

"I was initially interested by his arguments about Nietzsche, Jung and Dostoevsky" red flag #1. anyone impressed by a guy peddling new and exciting thoughts about Jung, Dostoevsky, or fucking Nietzsche for crying out loud, i have an Intro to Modern Philosophy class to sell you.

an edge case for sure but there are enough 'core elements that i'd feel comfortable recommending them to fans of, say, Envy

2016 had A Tribe Called Quest, William Tyler, Kero Kero Bonito, Nicolas Jaar, Radiohead, PUP, The Hotelier, White Lung, Mothers, and Pinegrove going for it

Bark Your Head Off, Dog and Historian are definitely going to end up somewhere on my best-of-the-decade list

Closer/ Agrimonia/ Cleric/ American Nightmare/ Harakiri for the Sky/ Turnstile/ War on Women/ The Armed/ Slow Mass/ Vitamin X/ the Infection 1 comp/ Svalbard/ Rolo Tomassi/ Vein/ Converge/ Greyhaven/ Birds in Row/ i'm sure i'm forgetting lots more it has been a fucking NASTY year for hardcore

hey, some of us are unwashed!

2014 is also the year Familiars by The Antlers came out, one of my favorite albums of this decade, so 2014 is alright by me

hip-hop has been having a particularly dreadful year, it's true

i think last year had more high-profile releases and comebacks by legends but this year has been exceptional for new artists, especially in the indie and punk realm

just saw em open for Against Me! and Bouncing Souls, they only played 6 songs, none of which were from A Productive Cough and one of which was a Springsteen cover (because this was at the Stone Pony, so duh), but they sounded great. the pit came to life during their set.

the mountain of Richards is going to replace the windowlicker in my nightmares

NSFW. I almost flipped over my desk and punched my coworker in the face listening to this.

i was recently writing poetry about UFOs, as one does, when i stumbled across a delightful 1969 folk-rock album by a fella named Jim Sullivan who mysteriously disappeared without a trace in New Mexico in 1975 and was never seen again. the album is titled, of course, U.F.O. if laid-back folk with a hint of psych sounds up your alley, it is very good.

picnicking with handguns? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVOGRP4E8QA

yessss "How She Lied By Living" is grungy as fuck

it's good but it needs a chorus

fun fact: TAD's video for "Wood Goblins" was rejected by MTV because they thought the band members were too ugly

god I love the guitar tone on Sweet Young Thing