2011.12.23 Text 3 notes

  1. Bomb the Music Industry!’s Vacation

     

    This album and a few others (Pebble) have convinced me that this was a good year for the “coming-of-age” punk rock album. It’s such a cliché to say this sort of thing, but both Lemuria and Bomb the Music Industry! have matured on their newest efforts, with wonderful results, taking what both had done before, and then turning it into a brand-new, bittersweet, catchy, and earnest listening experience.

    Jeff Rosenstock’s lyrics are still dripping with unparallelled cynicism and alcohol and wit. In a world where everyone you love is annoyed at you, where tomorrow is the best day to clean up your act, and where the party eventually ends, Rosenstock teases bits of optimism through the absolutely, brilliantly dour. As he sings on probably the album’s catchiest song “Hurricane Waves,” we “Cuddle all through the storm”.

    Musically, BtMI! is continuing in the direction they’ve been hinting at since the beginning, but put down on paper on 2010’s exclamation point-laden EP Adults!!!: Smart!!! Shithammered!!! And Excited by Nothing!!!!!!!. Gone are the spastic chiptune/hardcore bits, and most of the third-wave ska touches that initially drew me to the band are as well. This is not a problem, though. For largely leaving behind some influences, BtMI! picks up something else that distinguishes them even more from everyone else. The guitars make melodies that stick to you like carmel in a tooth, but fast drum-heavy bits and slower folky parts both taste like morning coffee after a rough night. Rosenstock has perfected a ridiculously satisfying mix of pop-punk and indie rock that nothing else does.

    Plus, you can get it for free if you’d like.

    Bomb the Music Industry! is brilliant, and Vacation is another fourteen reasons why.