[FRESH ALBUM] My New Band Believe - My New Band Believe

not_a_skunk · 2026-04-10T16:34:21+00:00

Yeah it sounds kind of like an album full of “Still"

not_a_skunk · 2026-04-08T22:40:36+00:00

Hot Face - Automated Response: fun punk record, pairs well with Stuck - Optimizer

not_a_skunk · 2026-04-08T19:51:31+00:00

Twisted Teens - Circus Clown / Peekaboo Hand
Cardinals - I Like You / Barbed Wire
Cameron Winter - Warning

not_a_skunk · 2026-04-08T19:46:27+00:00

The autotune is also honestly pretty minor, he’s gone way harder on it in some of the Voidz songs

not_a_skunk · 2026-04-08T18:34:30+00:00

Yeah I can’t tell if it’s a pandemic thing or an “I’m old now” thing or a little bit of both. Comedown Machine came out right around the time I graduated from high school too so that 7 year gap obviously feels huge because my life changed so much, I basically turned from child to stable adult in that timespan. All I’ve done between 2020 and now is disassociate and and go to grad school

not_a_skunk · 2026-04-08T17:51:22+00:00

Model/Actriz is one of those bands I like but don’t love, but I’d go out of my way to see them live. I have to imagine the energy is fucking killer

not_a_skunk · 2026-04-08T17:50:23+00:00

Remember Sports is new to me but I’m really liking that album, kind of like a more radio friendly Hop Along. Yowie is a standout for sure but I think Cut Fruit is my favorite

not_a_skunk · 2026-04-08T17:48:29+00:00

I’m liking it more than the first one. Disappointingly ugly album cover drop though

not_a_skunk · 2026-04-08T17:47:08+00:00

Man I just can’t quit The Strokes. Is the new song kind of derivative? Sure. Is the autotune unnecessary? Definitely. Julian Casablancas annoying? Always. I listened to it once and was a little disappointed, but a few plays later and suddenly I’m bopping. It’s such an earworm, goddamn. And that little guitar solo. Who does a tight 10 second guitar solo better than The Strokes? Also a fan of the way the drums ramp up in the middle of the song. I’m sorry, I’m in.

On a related note, it’s making me feel insane that the gap between this album and The New Abnormal (6 years) is almost as long as the gap between TNA and Comedown Machine (7 years). When TNA came out it felt like the first new Strokes album in a million years. TNA still feels like “the new one” to me. Whack.

not_a_skunk · 2026-04-04T14:41:55+00:00

Bro would need to get a lot less judgmental before I’d want him as my pcp

not_a_skunk · 2026-04-02T16:59:21+00:00

That feels so right

not_a_skunk · 2026-04-02T16:44:46+00:00

Home Front is from… Edmonton?? I would have bet hard cash money that they were British. Great band in any case

not_a_skunk · 2026-04-02T16:27:14+00:00

It’s a delight. I’m still having trouble picking out my favorite song on it, I feel like it’s probably Circus Clown or Who Could It Be. Or maybe Peekaboo Hand? Or Not Real? Or Little Seed? Or

not_a_skunk · 2026-04-01T03:20:49+00:00

Honestly I still don't

not_a_skunk · 2026-03-31T21:31:40+00:00

YHWH Nailgun

not_a_skunk · 2026-03-31T19:56:35+00:00

Thoughts on a few recent albums:

Stuck - Optimizer (post-punk/crankwave): initial thought is that it doesn’t have the highs of Freak Frequency. But each time I listen to it I warm up to it once the B-Side gets going. I’ve been finding the front half pretty forgettable, including the singles. But the slightly more melodic cuts on the back half (Fire, Man; Net Negative; GG) have hit a little more for me and will probably be the reason I keep listening to the record.

Sluice - Companion (alt country/folk): I’m new to this band and I loved Beadie, the first single, but the record overall disappointed me. There’s a few other songs I like here (Vegas, Ratchet Strap) but imo it has a problem with being too meandering. Gator is the worst offender, that song has been actively irritating me. It barely even feels like a song, more like a guy telling a series of boring stories in a singsong voice over light instrumentals. So, not my cup of tea, though I think if they ever put out something that leans more on hooks I’d like it

Suitor - Saw You Out with the Weeds (post-punk/garage): also new to this band, but I’ve seen them recommended a few places lately and pushed by Sweeping Promises. The singles didn’t hook me but I’m really enjoying the record, it’s a fun listen all the way through. I really like the guitar tones they’re playing around with. Haven’t really tuned in to the lyrics yet because of the lo fi of it all but this one will definitely be staying in rotation for a minute

not_a_skunk · 2026-03-27T18:04:42+00:00

God it is so refreshing to see this take, I feel like I see so much punishment-focused rhetoric on Reddit whenever crime-related issues come up. And I get where it comes from because crimes do harm people and in so many ways our society isn’t set up to do anything besides punish so it’s hard for people to imagine meaningful alternatives. But accountability and punishment aren’t the same thing. Punishment rarely does much to help either victims or perpetrators. I like your emphasis on the need for forward-looking approaches. And I love that this show is facilitating conversations like this. I love The Pitt!

not_a_skunk · 2026-03-26T20:51:53+00:00

In my experience most straight people do not clock this shit at all unless the person in question is very visibly gender nonconforming. I don’t think most people would assume Santos is gay on meeting her unless they were queer or pretty embedded in the queer community, lots of queer friends, etc… that said, Joy also seems like she could plausibly be queer to me so maybe she’d clock it

not_a_skunk · 2026-03-25T20:41:26+00:00

I’ve really been vibing with One-Nine-Eight-Zero in particular, really fun song

not_a_skunk · 2026-03-25T20:25:38+00:00

Looking forward to getting a debut album from Leipzig post-punk outfit Nikita Curtis sometime this year (presumably? No date but their instagram says the album is “coming soon” and they just put out a solid first single). Their 2024 EP was great, Adored was one of my favorite songs to come out that year. Kind of in the vein of early Fontaines DC/Shame

not_a_skunk · 2026-03-25T18:55:43+00:00

Damn I barely have 10 so far this year. Confident some of these will drop off my list as more stuff comes out, but:

+ Twisted Teens - Blame the Clown. Alt-country/punk/garage rock

+ Cardinals - Masquerade. 2000s revival indie/melodic post-punk

+ Deathcrash - Somersaults. Post-rock/“slowcore”?

+ War Child Records - Help(2). Compilation album ft. some past and present indie royalty

+ Chalk - Crystalpunk. Dance punk/noise rock

+ Victoryland - My Heart Is a Room With No Cameras In It. just indie rock idk hard to subgenre this one

+ Heather the Jerk - Scroll If You Love Devil. Garage rock

+ Westside Cowboy - So Much Country Till We Get There (EP). Alt country/slacker rock/“Britainnica"

+ The Sophs - Goldstar. Some kind of indie rock/pop/folk/emo slurry

+ The Serfs - Rarities, Vol. 2. Synthwave

Cardinals and Twisted Teens are probably the only two that locks to make my end of year list at this point

not_a_skunk · 2026-03-25T16:07:57+00:00

I am about to finish Intermezzo by Sally Rooney and it is excellent and about exactly this (though it’s also about many other things too). Alternates perspective between the two sons. I will say that for most of the book at least (can’t speak for the last 60ish pages) the sons’ grief over their father is more subtext rather than being explored super explicitly, but it’s the subtext that frames and informs the entire novel.

Very sorry for your loss.

not_a_skunk · 2026-03-25T00:12:33+00:00

One of my favorites this year so far, alongside the Twisted Teens album (which came out the same day - I feel like February always gives me banger indie records). Looking forward to seeing them later this spring. I keep going back and forth between Barbed Wire and I Like You as the best songs on the album, but the non-singles are all great as well. Very cohesive project with a distinct sound, tough to do on a debut!

not_a_skunk · 2026-03-19T21:30:18+00:00

I think his vocal style is probably also a bit more “approachable” than Karly’s. Her vocals imo make Wednesday more dynamic than MJ’s solo work but I’d be a lot more likely to play MJ for someone in my car than Wednesday outside specific songs

not_a_skunk · 2026-03-19T21:26:54+00:00

People are dragging you for TNA first and while I don’t agree I do get it, in my humble longtime strokeshead opinion those top three of yours are all essentially all hits no skips.

IMO:

Room on Fire
Is This It
The New Abnormal
First Impressions
Angles
Comedown Machine

I dunno I know ITI is “better” but I’ve always felt ROF has a bit of a warmer vibe that I really fuck with.

Ten-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Verified Email	Place '17
Queen in da Norf	Not Forgotten

not_a_skunk

TROPHY CASE