Let’s see how this new hyper-capitalist wanker-era Jos handles Alky and the gang

This week from Sam and Josiah

Josiah keeps using this part of the newsletter to shame me for not pulling my weight, so I thought I’d share this extremely hard-to-parse tweet I was tagged in this week to see if anyone here understood (the first two images of me are identical while the third is a Four Loko can with a mini tequila bottle upended in it). Is this a bot? The person’s other posts seem pretty laser-focused on using 3D printers to make guns and “gooning.” I’m so glad we stopped the pod before that one really entered Josiah’s lexicon. You can imagine him saying it so vividly can’t you. 

Here’s what we’re listening to this week.

Alkaline Trio “Teenage Heart”

Sam: It was Monday before I realized a new Alkaline Trio album had come out last week, unleashing a torrent of thoughts and feelings about the decline of: Twitter as a place where I made friends with baseball people by yelling about this band, music media as something I was engaged by and engaged with, the pod, and the Discord I neglect because I’m stressed but mostly a dickhead. That this band has stayed so outrageously true to this EXACT sound since basically Good Mourning added to this midlife emotional cascade. I mean, truly, how on earth is this band able to recreate so seemingly effortlessly the energy and the feel of a 20 year-old album while new Blink sounds like someone trying to remember how Blink sounds at the end of the worst night of their life. I loved it immediately and I know Josiah is built to hate it with equal strength so I’m making him listen to this song because when I first heard it I knew it had to be. Josiah please at least wait until he brings up Christmas.  

Jos: I’m having a weird kind of night where it’s like 9:30 p.m. and I haven’t left the computer, but not because I’m making some kind of post-podcast audio art that is me forcing a normie baseball punk fan to listen to 6 hours of obscure and useless YouTube din, but because I have to do a bunch of work. At my normal job. For adults. So I’m coming to this with a new, under-explored version of being pissed off that we’ve maybe never even experienced before. And I haven’t listened to anything that resembles pop-punk since that new MxPx album that I listened to half of last year. So let’s see how this new hyper-capitalist wanker-era Jos handles Alky and the gang…. The titles look so cool. It’s so funny that Matt Skiba is basically an Argento. This definitely sounds like mid 2010s blink-182. Except it’s turning into “Maps”? Fuck me, I kinda like it. Now I am really feeling upset. By the way, if I said “gooning” out loud I would probably try to make the word last like 10 seconds long each time. The Christmas part sucks. Phewf it’s finally turning into shitty Sam music. But the verses are good. Just needed Mark Hoppus in there I guess.

Chastity “Nightmare”

Sam: Josiah great news! The good Chastity band (Chastity) has a new song this week! This is a band that is obviously too good to be Canadian, so much so that I feel bad for pointing it out. All the classic Chastity momes are here: a quiet part, a loud part, soft singing over the quiet part AND the loud part, that font. The b-side might be even better!

Jos: I immediately knew I’d regret mentioning this band Chastity Belt last week. I just wanted to talk about the phrase “Live Laugh Love.” That’s what I should have made my entry. The phrase “Live Laugh Love.” I can’t believe I’m about to listen to some Cancon, and say something mean about it, and it’s not even my job anymore. My job is other stuff that involves sitting on the computer late at night and not goofing around. There are Quebecois YouTube ads first. You wouldn’t believe how these freaks pronounce “Hyundai.” Okay this song also sounds like Skiba-era blink. Wait this band is on Deathwish? Am I thinking of some other band? I don’t think I’ve pressed play on a Canadian band that I’ve written about like ever. This sounds like the Foo Fighters if they got really into learning about midwest emo via YouTube videos. Great now someone from Chastity is going to spit in my Americano one day.

Sinistarr “Lose Track”

Jos: Sinistarr was living in Calgary for a while, and I never met him but I definitely vibed with him online. He was always cracking me up (and most importantly, faving my content) in the Twitter menchies. But it looks like he’s deleted his account. So no wonder he’s now dropping some huge tunes that are getting some major traction. This scary lil dubstep outing appears on EXIT 100, a new compilation from the venerable Exit Records in London. Maybe I should delete my Twitter.

Sam: You would never. I feel bad enough knowing I will continue to lurk that website until the day one of us dies, but you’ll be posting until it’s enforced that your tweets have to be racist or whatever. This is too scary. I didn’t know they were allowed to still make dubstep like this. I guess as long as British people exist, eh.

CCL A Night in the Skull Dischotheque

Jos: I came to a disgusting realization while working on this newsletter. One of the reasons I’m probably so deep back into my wanker era is because I constantly need background music to push me through my work. I can’t have a bunch of pop-punk guys smizing at me musically, it’s too distracting. I’m just trying to make my apartment sound like Brave New Waves so that I can drown out my neighbour having delightfully hilarious cellphone conversations that make him laugh so loud. But I’m honestly loving this journey (the secret is I basically just read Resident Advisor). This mix is so sick, and I might like this beatless mix even more.

Sam: This description of your listening habits makes me want to try it out myself instead of just playing Apple’s “Ambient” station or “Blossom” playlist. But I’m the exact guy that ambient heads hate when they talk about hating what is happening to their cool special scene these days. I get that this isn’t ambient but the point stands - I love it and it’s so sick and I wish I could be a guy who reads Resident Advisor, but I’m a Blossom Guy.

Teethe “Thank You”

Jos: As much as I just want to be a scary nightclub guy who’s never really been in a nightclub for more than like an hour, I clicked on this band’s post because I wanted to mock one of the kids for wearing a Diiv shirt in their press photo. And unfortunately it has made me a believer again. This is some beautiful “all the way to grandma’s house” shit. That kind of wimpy, simple, melodic quiet music that I’ve chasing. And the video is beautiful. Fuck. I need to check out this band’s album (when I’m done grinding for the night).

Sam: Wow this is quite lovely isn’t it. I love this is what Josiah’s real interior life sounds like. Just the sweetest little boy, working late and being swaddled by audio into the chilly Montreal evening.