Human Snake opens with an ominous string medley, which gives way to eerie noise, deadpan spoken word, and, finally, machine-gun-burst drumming. Gonna Be Ok 4. Their 2020 debut album, Joint Fortune, is filled with unexpected arrangements, and with each track, it becomes harder to crawl out of their winding soundscapes. The non-linearity of the song works to her advantage, and her outbursts of “Hunger for a way out” command attention every time. The EP opens with the grotesque “Girl Factory,” where vocalist Josephine Edwards’ out-of-breath pleas are on par with any horror-movie scream queen. Bonebrake, guitarist Billy Zoom, vocalist Exene Cervenka and vocalist-bassist John Doe. For many people around the world, 2020 has been a year like none other—a year of ever-shifting norms and realities. Die In Vain 14. The arc of their incisive guitar work, which ranges from tender acoustic strums to ferocious, distorted solos, is hard to predict—you never quite sure whether they’re going to meet you with a buzzsaw or a disarming hug. Free Return Exchange or money back guarantee for all … Special Interest and Straw Man Army tell brutal tales of colonial legacies, while bands like Muro, Cold Meat, and Fried E/M spew utter disdain for the injustices of contemporary society. FREE Shipping by Amazon. An almost twee, upbeat vibe underscores it all—made all the more plain by a cover of Beat Happening’s “In Between.”. P22 are not your typical punk band—they’re 10 times more evocative and challenging. 13 K J’aime. Whether they are caterwauling or harmonizing, opening up a mosh pit or shredding, gender is at the forefront of their identity. This is punk rock splattered in pastel polka dots and adorned with floppy antennas. Let these albums guide your fury into the new year. Britpop Dream Pop Grunge Indie Rock Industrial Rock Rap Rock Garage Rock Latin Alternative Post-Punk Emo Punk Rock Scourge Upon Humanity Pillory 2020 $1.80 Lifelong Death Fantasy Bleeding Out 2020 … “I sit on frozen ground and watch the clouds go by,” Davis sings. 100 % Punk Français. With EP, Chicago group CB Radio Gorgeous (featuring members of CCTV, Forced Into Femininity, and Negative Scanner) delivered another perfect release. The brand new compilation All That Glue is a broad overview of the band’s last seven years, jamming together some of their best-known songs (“Tied Up in Nottz,” “B.H.S.”) with B-sides and other various obscurities. Retrouvez les groupes punk rock connus: groupe punk rock français, anglais, américain, espagnol, japonnais ou québécois.. Découvrez des groupes de musique punk rock de filles ou garçons et écoutez le meilleur de la chanson punk rock en MP3. “Expert Advice” is particularly infectious, a dance track full of vapid corporate-speak, the dueling vocals illustrating the tension between the human and the machine. —Lizzie Manno, THICK, the Brooklyn-based DIY punk outfit made up of guitarist Nikki Sisti, bassist Kate Black and drummer Shari Page, are much more than a girl band. Rainy Day 10. “Ode to Rio Arriba” is a standout, its dissonance descending into a tense, energetic ending. That’s probably why he’s so good at synthesizing decades of punk into this three-song EP, his first-ever solo release. —Max Freedman, Chicago punk supergroup CB Radio Gorgeous, which features members of CCTV, Forced into Femininity and Negative Scanner, released a tape a few years ago via Not Normal Records, and recently, they followed it up with their vinyl debut. Incorporating elements of jammy shoegaze, moments of raucous, tinny peace punk, and artful experimentation, the songs here are unified by their desire to turn the page on bullshit. Listen to the latest episode of Bandcamp Radio. Like their colorful, cartoonish album cover, the album celebrates the vast characters of working-class London: the dubious, fun-loving rascals, the crass authority figures, the squares and the reckless brutes. Or, more fittingly, like a great, sweaty pit at a punk show after not going to gigs for months. Find Pop punk tour dates and concerts in your city. The record dips its toes into new wave (“Safe Now”), proto-punk (“Out Again”), and more experimental art-punk (“Trust.”) Catchy, cohesive, and easy to dance to, it’s hard to find fault here. Their LP sounds like everything and nothing you’ve ever heard before: set tempos and genres are a construct, expectations are smashed and no idea is too strange or off-putting. 5 Min Read. Tracks like “Hanging Drum” offer to-the-point, angular post-punk, and “Personal Fantasy” is like a tribute to SoCal ‘80s hardcore. Alien Nosejob, the solo project of Australian punk veteran Jake Robertson (Ausmuteants, Hierophants, Leather Towel), are a delight. “Television Sets” leans on driving garage-punk, “Rainbow Road” has gothic guitar tinges, “Black Sheep” is a slice of spitting mod rock and “Weight of the World” falls into jangly territory. Muro bring plenty of hardcore elements to their music—the consuming noise of Japanese hardcore, doomy breakdowns, D-beat drumming, thrashy guitar—but make it all into something new and irresistible. Straw Man Army (featuring members of Kaleidoscope) are interested in breaking down the lies of America, the failure of a colonial project that mostly seems hell-bent on destroying itself. Cyberpunk was designed by Mike Pondsmith as an attempt to replicate the gritty realism of 1980s cyberpunk science fiction.In particular, Walter Jon Williams' novel Hardwired was an inspiration, and Williams helped playtest the game. On Antartica, the 2020 Steve Albini-recorded sequel from L.A.’s Flat Worms (guitarist/vocalist Ivy, bassist Tim Hellman and drummer Justin Sullivan), they dust off their instruments of mayhem, and though this record’s guitars might be ever so slightly less mucky and the tunes not quite as memorable, it’s still enough of a spastic, fun romp. —Lizzie Manno, U.K.’s Higher Power have never been the type of band to be put in a box, and that’s showcased best on their latest record 27 Miles Underwater. Their version of industrial-laced techno-punk is gritty and raw, dark and haunting. ramones punk things 2020 sweatshirts & hoodies. Unfortunately there are no concert dates for Punk Rock scheduled in 2020. Listen to the full playlist on Spotify right here. !, The Younger Lovers, or the zine Fag School.) They land somewhere between the no-wave absurdity of Disband and the tunefulness of Hilly Eye. Government 2. On this EP, their first new music in three years, the four-piece returns again and again to a feeling of powerless isolation, of living in a hole of desperation. In fact, Ramsey sounds ready to fight the offender herself, yelling, “A woman’s work is never done, goes on and on and on.”, Brontez Purnell has been steeped in punk rock since high school, playing hardcore in Social Lies and poring over the pages of Maximum Rocknroll from his tiny Alabama hometown. “Punk Monk” is an ode to Carti’s legacy and is full of references to other artists and moments throughout Carti’s tumultuous career. Jason Williamson’s (frequently hilarious) everyman fury and Andrew Fearn’s laser-focused punk loops are timeless but deeply, essentially of their moment—torrents of righteous invective that you can dance to. All Rights Reserved. —Lizzie Manno, It’s not just the pandemic: Times have been tough forever at this point. Decisions 3. Temples of punk via hard-nosed bars might be largely closed right now, but punk albums continue to trickle from a wide range of outcasts, rebels, artistic spirits and generally loving souls. (©Wikimédia) Par Antony Speciale Publié le 10 Jan 20 à 17:05 See which music tops the charts, read reviews, and rate albums. —Lizzie Manno, Garage rock romps take a trip to another galaxy on Chemtrails’ latest album, The Peculiar Smell of the Inevitable. But on the other hand, there’s never been a better time to air grievances and exorcise demons. patti smith group sweatshirts & hoodies. ramones punk things 2020 posters. Throughout eleven tracks, they manage to pack as much as they can into their sound: punk, hardcore, metal, ’90s alt, crossover thrash, sludge, you name it. July 29, 2020; In March 1982, “Beauty and the Beat ... What’s compelling about Ellwood’s documentary, though, is how thoroughly it excavates the group’s early punk bona fides. —Danielle Chelosky, If anyone can sum up the anxiety that inherently comes with living in a year like 2020, it’s Jeff Rosenstock. Talking Dolls 12. Closer “Spider Planet” is equally grotesque, imagining the relationship a tapped fly would have with the spider about to eat it. Featuring the same rawness and hyperspeed instrumentation of their 2017 debut Ataque Hardcore Punk, more than one song devolves into exhausted chaos—a total breakdown of form. “Please come find me, show me the way back home.”. But a close inspection of the lyrics reveals pointed expressions of pain, particularly in closer “Garden Song,” which echoes later Bikini Kill tracks like “False Start,” or “R.I.P.” The protagonist in “Garden Song” is lost and distraught, even though the lo-fi mellowness of the song seems to offer a sense of calm. They're Lying 7. Believers 8. ... A portmanteau of doom and zoomer, doomers are a loosely defined group of young people who feel a disillusionment with life and anxiety over such societal problems as climate change. One group that mashes hip-hop and pop-punk into a noisy, experimental stew, 100 Gecs, recently appeared on the comeback single by 3OH!3, the fratty duo who brought a … But more than anything, Speed Kills is an ode to the “gang,” the fiercely loyal one that finds you when you’re young and makes grim circumstances much more bearable. The song’s message is in direct contradiction to the five songs that precede it—here, the protagonist’s eyes are open to the truth, “understanding the secrets of space and time.”. It was a pleasant surprise when he randomly released this album during quarantine with no prior warning; it was much like a breath of fresh air after being stuck inside for so long. “Concessions to freedom in a race for identity/ Socially, we disguise more and more truths,” vocalist Camila Leão sings on the incredible opening track “Gestalt.” Futuro manage to combine elements of American hardcore, as on the thrashy “License to Fail,” and effects-heavy ’60s psychedelia. Place Like Home 15. 9, n o 1,‎ 2012, p. 105-126 ( lire en ligne ) (en) Fabien Hein , chap. In keeping with the band’s medical theme—Edwards often performs onstage in a nurse’s uniform—the song tells a horrific tale of a girl locked up in an institution where she’s bred for meat and “milked like a sow.” The songs are urgent; all of them proceed at a steady clip, Edwards’ voice growing increasingly frantic. —Danielle Chelosky, Cable Ties make politically charged punk-adjacent music that’s about as subtle as a motorcycle zooming down a suburban cul de sac. That’s what makes Worriers so charming: They create unabashedly feel-good pop-punk jams that enhance, not veil, oftentimes heartbreaking experiences. Punk Rock Community has 44,913 members. —Ben Salmon, Kalamazoo quartet No Tongues For Quiet People bring both enthralling precision and harsh dissonance to post-hardcore and punk music. Their first full-length, named for its catalog number on Post Present Medium, has a dreamy, loose sound. “Rotten Tomato Planet” is plenty dystopic, detailing the ways we’ve spoiled the earth, encouraging us to “drink your water and drink your oil,” knowing full well how finite resources are carelessly wasted. The issues that the Melbourne trio—made up of Jenny McKechnie, Shauna Boyle and Nick Brown—tackle span the massive (environmental decay, apocalyptic dread), the systematic (privilege, misogyny) and the personal (emotional abuse). Faithless 17. “The Manger” is a good example of their sonic and lyrical ambition: Dramatic tempo changes underpin their thought-provoking lyrics: “He said ‘Because humane people don’t start revolutions / They start libraries and cemeteries / She said ‘I could never love anyone’” —Lizzie Manno, Doomy punk and black metal coalesce on Raspberry Bulbs’ latest release and Relapse Records debut, Before the Age of Mirrors. As part of the Los Angeles Chicano punk scene in the early 2000s, Go Betty Go began as a group of young female musicians out of high school forming a punk band with aspirations of making it big. While each of these frenzied tracks rip, closer “Babylon,” which also appeared on the band’s 2018 LP, is pure gold. : L'exemple de la scène punk rock », Volume !, vol. 4.0 out of 5 stars 6. If 2017’s Survival Pop was a guide to the exploration and affirmation of gender and other identities in its multiplicity, You or Someone You Know is a sequel that tackles the mirror maze of existence, bad decisions and exhaustion. His clear, matter-of-fact speak-sing was a sharp contrast to their sonic sludge, and when paired with vigorous rhythms, it was the perfect soundtrack to blowing off steam. —Lizzie Manno, After forming in 2015, Los Angeles four-piece P22 released their debut 12-inch EP, Human Snake, earlier this year. Features; List; 10 essential punk bands to keep an eye on in 2020. There’s not a boring moment on the album; a highlight is “Seamless,” which opens with metallic riffs that carry the song into a satisfying alt-rock explosion. “Chubby and The Gang Rule OK?” is both a statement of fact and their unruly lead album track that takes about 30 seconds to convince you that their breakneck rhythms and pop chops are the real deal. The songs here are poppy in a New Wave sense, with hints of ‘80s electronica and funk-influenced rhythms. “La Ciudad Es Hostil” is enthralling, punishing the listener with unexpected tempo changes and pounding drums. Lead singer Lauren Denitzio has always treated their music as a diary of some sort, but this time, the listener gets handed the pen to let their lived experience exist in Denitzio’s lyrics. Formed in 2016, the band is brawny enough for the former and catchy enough for the latter, walking a line previously mastered by bands like ’90s Midwestern heroes Braid or more recent emo-revival flagship The Hotelier. Muro’s singer pours himself into each song, perpetually straining and hoarse. Watch live streams, get artist updates, buy tickets, and RSVP to shows with Bandsintown Find tour dates and live music events for all your favorite bands and artists in your city. Fried E/M is the latter. Colombian punks Muro are as fired-up as ever on their new LP, a testament to their staying power. The sounds on the album vary widely, from the soft ambient noises that open “Straw Man Army” to instruments that seem to be doing double duty. Sunday, 27 December 2020 Shrapnel: Daniel Rey Recounts The History Of The Group "Punk" Magazine Dubbed "The Brat Patrol." A powder keg packed into just under two and a half minutes, the song is a bundle of heavy artillery snare cracks, buzzsaw guitars and singer Alex Stoitsiadis’ demolition dreams, delivered with a perfect balance of throat-shredding desperation and melodic know-how. $49.99 $ 49. More Echoes Of A Question Never Answered... Why? “You, Me & the Class War” packs both over and over; it’s a volatile anthem, sonically and lyrically, while Cox narrates an abusive relationship. Dirty guitar distortion meets their menacing, paranoid lyrics, and the end result is a wonderfully dissonant, ominous-as-they-come record that shows its teeth. There’s nothing tuneful about this band, but that’s what’s great about them. Flat Worms have perfected the art of absolutely filthy garage rock guitars—fans of grimy feedback and distortion will drool over this band. —Lizzie Manno, For some reason, ear-splitting guitars are one of very few excruciating sounds that’s not only tolerable, but enjoyable. Several tracks, like the snarky “Bright Light People,” feature dual vocals, which can have an almost choral quality. Their lyrics amplify these concerns—they hope to “delete what deletes the light in me” on “Delete,” and bemoan the “tools that make us all feel free, but set the scope of what we see,” on “Managed World.” Between psychedelic riffs, vocals sung in tandem, and minimal drum beats, Privacy Issues long for a chance to disconnect from the constant nuisance of our devices and, instead, find a real sense of connection. It has a certain rhythm—you can imagine it as a punchline delivered by Will Ferrell’s George W. Bush. It’s whimsical and cork-screwed, but don’t let your guard down—it can turn sinister quickly. The rise of the DIY music scene in Britain colliding with Brexit and Donald Trump has given 'guitar bands' a new lease of life —Lizzie Manno, As song titles go, “Kawasaki Backflip” rolls off the tongue quite nicely. Their 2017 self-titled debut (recorded and mixed by Ty Segall) was driven by smoldering guitars, but unlike other noise punk bands, frontman Will Ivy’s vocals weren’t covered in the same soot. The music is just raw enough to feel urgent, with plenty of off-the-cuff vocal outbursts (See: “Pleasure OD”). Like their forebears Gang of Four or Delta 5, the instruments here don’t follow a rote pattern; they’re seemingly at odds, making for a fascinating dynamic—infinitely more interesting than verse-chorus-verse. Their Plans 9. patti smith group posters. Like all great visionary artists, Special Interest have the uncanny ability to conjure the future, both the ugly and the beautiful. Originally published in Teenage Kicks #3 (Spring 1999) These events featuring the best in punk rock music and regional craft beer. Its contrast of bubbling electronic textures and effects with grubby guitars and mean percussion is mystifying, but at its core, this is lock-into-the-groove, head-nodding punk at its finest. “This burden I’ve carried, I’m casting it off/ I banish it now,” Canadian punk Rosie Davis sings on the opening track of this masterful EP. Jimmy Wizard is one of the most expressive and fun vocalists in the genre right now, especially on “King Of My Domain,” as he scream-chants on the bridge: “All this pain is self-inflicted / All this pain is self-inflicted,” as if it’s a revelation that will help him change in the future. Trouvez les titres, artistes et albums de punk. 12 « Punk Rock Entrepreneurship in France » , dans Gérôme Guibert et Catherine Rudent (dir. The deliberately absurd “Die Laughing” is the highlight, with a killer guitar solo and an ending of faux-maniacal laughter that bounds out to an eerie sudden stop. “Industry Sleaze” is incredibly tight, as singer Ashley Ramsey sets fire to debased music-industry types, wailing, “No more industry, sleazy industry.” (It also features the memorable chorus, “You’re shit and you should quit.”) Ramsey’s scratchy vocal style is captivating, and her lyrics are both tongue-in-cheek and righteously pissed off. angular post-punk for which they’ve become known, Sonic Youth’s noisier, more experimental work, Best of 2020: The Year’s Essential Releases, Bandcamp Daily Staffers on Their Favorite Albums of 2020. by Daft Punk | Oct 2, 2020. October 27, 2020 Bandcamp has long been a home for DIY punk and hardcore from around the world, touching all of the myriad subgenre styles and helping to translate the simple effectiveness of cut-and-paste to the digital age. The instrumentation keeps pace, with surfy riffs and bouncing bass lines punctuating each measure. It's of a community of music fans who discuss various interests. Leaning hard into ’70s punk (à la Crass), Cold Meat play it tough and fast on their debut full-length. Their version of industrial-laced techno-punk is gritty and raw, dark and haunting. More or less, those sonic qualities course through Melee’s 10 tracks, and they’re the reason Dogleg has built considerable buzz within the punk and emo communities. X just released its first album with its original lineup in 35 years. This is a list of notable punk bands from the United Kingdom —Natalia Keogan, Modern garage rock extraordinaire Ty Segall has joined forces with Lightning Bolt drummer/vocalist Brian Chippendale for a new LP under the moniker Wasted Shirt, and in case you didn’t already guess based on their eccentric, lengthy back catalogues, Fungus II is quite the joyride. At this point in their career, at least, Dogleg go faster than both those bands. And to add credence to the band’s stated politics, all proceeds go to The Red Nation’s pandemic relief efforts. Perhaps it’s no coincidence, then, that those descriptors can also be applied to “Kawasaki Backflip,” the opening track on Detroit rock quartet Dogleg’s debut album. Worldwide Shipping Available as Standard or Express delivery Learn more. Instead, the sextet—whose records consistently top the charts in their native Norway—brought in Ivar Nikolaisen, previously a member of the bands Silver and The Good, The Bad and The Zugly. The version here is more polished, Kinderman building intensity with each verse, and the music expertly building up and falling apart before suddenly dropping out in a single hopeless burst. Patti "PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER" vote 2020, punk rock Essential T-Shirt ... patti smith group phone cases. On the powerful opening track, “Fantasia Del Progreso,” he shouts the title again and again, so that the ridiculousness of the titular fantasy fully penetrates. On their latest full-length, Shopping take a more accessible, softer tack, while still playing the sort of angular post-punk for which they’ve become known. Model Citizen 5. The songs on this album don’t make any sense—nor are they meant to. So being able to experience new albums virtually has at least been something—a relief, a release, a welcome distraction. The quartet, which features Wand’s Sofia Arreguin (drums), Nicole-Antonia Spagnola (lead vocals), Justin Tenney (guitar) and Taylor Thompson (bass), turn protest music on its head. 2020 by No Time To Waste, released 18 June 2020 1. In case you didn’t know hardcore punk could sound stylish and spunky, here’s CB Radio Gorgeous. Punk music, more so than other genres, is rooted in the desire to physically vent, so it’s weird writing about such a visceral and alive style when live music is in hibernation. 15 bands you should listen to in 2020, from Porridge Radio to Odd Morris. Scroll down for Paste’s favorite punk LPs, EPs and compilations of 2020 so far. It ends on a comically dark note: “I’ll black out on the plane / Mumbling in the dark and living vicariously / Through a photo album in a stranger’s BNB.” —Danielle Chelosky, Kvelertak’s second and third albums—2013’s Meir and 2016’s Nattesferd—contained so much hyper-hooky, hard-hitting heavy metal, they made for an interesting thought experiment: Commercially speaking, just how big could this band be if they employed a melodic singer? Try and resist its danceable, vibrating grooves, and you’ll likely fail within 10 seconds. ... Pyramid America Daft Punk Random Access Memories Music Album Black Wood Framed Poster 14x20. What prevents this from sounding like a mess are their mesmerizing song structures and alluring, slippery mystique. As vital as the band’s punk/hip-hop hybrid has been over the last 13 years, it’s taken on new power and relevance in just the last two months. From Home Body, we get fuzzy noise rock, unpredictable indie and off-the-wall ’70s punk. After months of living in isolation, the only music I crave is either chill and ambient, or full of nihilism. The sophomore album by New Orleans’ Special Interest, full of cacophony and cryptic beats, was an apt soundtrack for 2020. Walk Away 11. Découvrez chaque jours les classiques et nouveaux titres de la scène punk française. ), Made in France: Studies in Popular Music , Routledge , 2017 ( ISBN 9781317645702 , lire en ligne ) 99. Many of the best punk releases of 2020, which were by-and-large written and recorded well before the pandemic, seem strangely prescient now, warning of awfulness to come: isolation, desperation, political horror. Sleaford Mods are the preeminent poets of England’s last decade of austerity and Tory rule, delivering an angry and scorchingly funny look into how the working class are being squeezed on all ends by a government and elite who don’t give a shit about them. I couldn’t quite tell at times if I was hearing horns, or synths, or a drum track, as on “Common Shame,” which shares an ominous beat with Le Tigre’s “Phanta.” Though hard to pin down, this album is ripe for repeated listens. —Lizzie Manno, Chubby and The Gang’s debut LP, Speed Kills, was released via independent British hardcore label Static Shock back in January, and critics raved about it, coming to a similar consensus that its hopped-up punk-pop is impossibly punchy and ridiculously fun. There’s nothing super technical going on here, but in a genre crowded by mediocrity, it needs to be said that this is top-shelf punk-pop elation. New York duo Privacy Issues, featuring journalist Liz Pelly and longtime shredder Pier Harrison, are part of a rich lineage of feminist musicians who are spare in instrumentation but rich in analysis. They had a chance to hire someone who actually sings to replace former howling, growling vocalist Erlend Hjelvik, who left the band in 2018. The creepy “Crawlers” is another standout, while the surfy “Women’s Work” weaves a tragic tale of a taken-for-granted housewife who works harder than her husband. Age of Exile opens with a beat-scene-esque instrumental, easing us into the record’s doomy punk/free jazz melange. Like all great visionary artists, Special Interest have the uncanny ability to conjure the future, both the ugly and the beautiful. But they didn’t. While the ethos of punk rock doesn’t necessarily mingle with profit and commercialization, the reality of our capitalist world means that if you don’t make money off of your craft, you’re better off working a dead-end retail gig that will at least marginally pay the bills. Apropos of their band name, Privacy Issues are concerned with how much of our lives we live online, and how Big Tech worms their way into every aspect of it. Découvrez les dernières nouveautés musicales de punk sur Last.fm. In Ramsey’s care, the topic never feels trite—no easy task. As we did back in 2019, we’re rounding up our favorite punk releases at the mid-way point of the year—but fear not, if your favorite punk-adjacent record of 2020 didn’t land a spot here, perhaps it will surface on our forthcoming list of best post-punk releases from the first half of this year. This is a list of notable punk rock bands beginning with the numbers 0–9 and letters A through K. The bands listed have played some type of punk music at some point in their career, although they may have also played other styles. Memorial donations in memory of Punk are encouraged to the Richville Vol. Throughout the band’s sophomore album Far Enough, McKechnie’s fanged, righteous wail and fire-hot power chords recall the heyday of riot grrrl if the movement were updated to address specific 2020 concerns while offering profound new insights into the very issues that first drove punk’s most revolutionary subgenre. Get it as soon as Wed, Dec 30. Created from the mind and liver of NOFX's frontman Fat Mike, the Punk In Drublic Craft Beer & Music Festival will take place across Europe early 2020 and will debut in the U.S. this summer with more dates than every before. Abstract words are delivered with washed-out, diabolical vocals, and they’re positively bloodthirsty—searching ruthlessly for anyone who crosses them. Their excellent fourth full-length effort, Splid, answers that question: Kvelertak doesn’t give a shit. Somehow, it evokes a carefree thrill and a display of skill, both at the same time. After all, the pop singer and part-time punk rocker delivered her most personal season yet with 2020’s Manic. The record is a pop star’s confessional from one of the genre’s brightest. —Lizzie Manno, Boston Manor are angry—angry about a range of things, whether it be personal trauma or Brexit. But it isn’t all doom and gloom—vocalist Alli Logout also lets loose with real moments of vulnerability, where they ache for a lover, a dancefloor, a chance at an equitable future. While this is true of every human being living in this borderline-dystopian system, women have it especially bad. Charlie Manning-Walker and his fellow band mates are all hardcore veterans—having played in bands like Violent Reaction, Abolition, Guidance and Gutter Knife—but somehow they’ve made one of the strongest stitchings of pub rock, classic pop, surf and punk in recent memory. Perfect One 13. That trippy influence comes through clearest on the Dovers cover “The Third Eye.” Against a droning, repetitive verse, Leão delivers the lyrics like a mantra spoken from the bottom of a well. São Paulo’s Futuro are deeply interested in reflecting the realities of the modern world. Closer Still is a testament to the importance of honing songwriting fundamentals and that instinctive, tune-obsessed bug that keeps music lovers up at night. The sophomore album by New Orleans’ Special Interest, full of cacophony and cryptic beats, was an apt soundtrack for 2020. This record embodies the next level of the band’s emotions; Henry Cox’s staticky screams on “1’s & 0’s” are louder than ever before, and he has never been as vulnerable as he is on “On A High Ledge.” The synthy track reckons with masculinity, making Cox’s voice fragile as he sings: “I want to cry but I don’t know how.” The whole record is full of this contrast between flashes of softness and massive, noisy explosions, but it’s more so the latter.