In Defense of the Genre is a column on BrooklynVegan about punk, pop punk, emo, hardcore, post-hardcore, ska-punk, and more, including and often especially the bands and albums and subgenres that weren’t always taken so seriously.
September is a wrap, fall is here, and there’s just one quarter left in 2023. This past month was full of great songs from the punk world, 10 of which I highlight below, but first, some features and reviews we ran this month. Also, this month we launched an exclusive, career-spanning Alexisonfire box set and individual album reissues, both paired with an 80-page BV print magazine that chronicles Alexisonfire’s story. Get yours in the BV shop.
* 10 hardcore albums you need from spring & summer 2023
* 10 post-hardcore & emo albums you need from spring & summer 2023
* Justice Tripp (Angel Du$t, Trapped Under Ice) on Prince’s influence, favorite Bowie LP, gateekeping & more (podcast)
* Koyo interview: from side project to gunning for the Long Island emo/hardcore canon
* Mustard Plug talk first LP in 9 years
* Rancid albums ranked worst to best (updated for 2023)
* Broken Vow break down every song on debut LP Anthropocene
* Taking Meds give track-by-track breakdown of new LP Dial M For Meds
* September album reviews: Jeff Rosenstock, Angel Du$t, Code Orange, Koyo, Equipment, Mustard Plug, Filth Is Eternal, pulses., Sincere Engineer, Blind Equation, Good Looking Friends, Magnitude, Taking Meds, and Broken Vow.
We’ve also got some new exclusive punk vinyl in the BV shop, including the new Koyo (tri-color stripe vinyl), the new Code Orange (transparent ochre vinyl), the new Mustard Plug (mustard yellow/black pinwheel), the new Jeff Rosenstock (opaque gold), a couple Balance & Composure represses, the 35th anniversary edition of Bold’s Speak Out (clear vinyl), the upcoming Taking Back Sunday album (white/blue splatter), Fireworks’ Gospel (pink/red blob), the aforementioned Alexisonfire box/magazine/reissues, and more.
Read on for my picks of the best songs of September that fall somewhere under the punk umbrella, in no particular order…
Paint It Black – “Famine”
“We don’t just put out a new record because it’s time to put out a new record,” said Dan Yemin, addressing the ten-year gap between Paint It Black’s 2013 EP Invisible and their upcoming album Famine. “We put out a record when we’ve got something to say.” That mentality has been clear on every PIB record, and it’s why it comes as no surprise that they sound as fired-up as ever on their first song in a decade. Famine‘s title track lashes out at the hypocrisy, greed, and oppression that have come to define the American way, with enough energy and melody to turn the head of any person who isn’t paying attention. And it gets it all done in less than two minutes.
Anxious – “Down, Down”
One of my favorite parts of The Wonder Years’ The Greatest Generation 10th anniversary tour is how much of it is not about nostalgia. TWY have been playing a second set every night that leans heavily on their excellent 2022 album The Hum Goes On Forever, and all three opening slots on the tour have gone to bands who are leading punk and emo’s next generation. Two of those bands, Anxious and Sweet Pill, put out new songs during the tour, and both are on this list. Anxious’ “Down, Down” takes a personal look at the difficult balancing act between band/tour life and at-home relationships, while the band leans both into their hardcore roots and their power pop tendencies. It’s one of their grittiest and one of their brightest songs yet, and it finds Anxious getting increasingly good at bridging the gap between those two ends.
Sweet Pill – “Starchild”
The other new song to come from a current Wonder Years tourmate is Sweet Pill’s “Starchild,” and this song feels like a huge step up from the band’s already-great debut LP Where The Heart Is. It interrupts the band’s Midwest-style emo tendencies with syncopated chugs and one of singer Zayna Youssef’s catchiest choruses ever–like Sweet Pill are jumping straight from Static Prevails to Bleed American.
Soul Glo – “If I Speak (Shut The Fuck Up)”
Soul Glo often get lumped in with the current hardcore scene, though their wide-ranging music also crosses paths with anything from screamo to art rock to hip hop, and their breakthrough 2022 album Diaspora Problems didn’t have much in the way of straight-up hardcore. But when Soul Glo do decide to write a straight-up hardcore song, they do it better than so many others. “If I Speak” is one of those songs.
Private Mind – “In Vain”
Long Island’s history of hardcore-informed emo has been coming back into the spotlight thanks to bands like Koyo and Stand Still, and Private Mind are another band from that area flying the flag for the aggressive yet hook-fueled music of their hometown heroes. On “In Vain,” the first taste of their upcoming debut album for Triple B, they seesaw between chuggy melodic hardcore, pop punky choruses, harsh screams, and an arpeggiated post-hardcore bridge, echoing anyone from Silent Majority to The Movielife to On the Might of Princes in the process without ever sounding like idol worship.
Common Sage – “Hiraeth” (ft. Further Seems Forever’s Jason Gleason)
For even more modern bands putting a fresh spin on early 2000s Long Island emo, there’s the latest single from Brooklyn’s Common Sage. The dark, dramatic post-hardcore of “Hiraeth” could’ve fit on Deja Entendu, and it’s also in a similar vein as Further Seems Forever’s sophomore album How to Start a Fire, so it couldn’t be more fitting that it features HTSAF vocalist Jason Gleason. It feels like a mutually beneficial collab, where two generations come together to create something that fans from multiple eras can get behind.
Slant – “Criminal”
Sometimes you just want some good old, fast-paced hardcore, the kind that’s only an inch or two removed from first-wave punk. And when you do want that, very few bands are doing it better right now than Seoul’s Slant.
Dollar Signs – “Bless Your Heart”
Erik Button of Charlotte punk band Dollar Signs says writing “Bless Your Heart” showed the band that they “could pull off doing a big ass rock-n-roll guitar record,” and I haven’t heard all of the upcoming Legend Tripping yet, but this song is indeed big ass rock-n-roll. It’s an anthemic, punky rock song fleshed by ska-tinged horns, a Thin Lizzy-style guitar solo, and ragged hooks that sound like a cross between Titus Andronicus and Jeff Rosenstock.
Strange Joy – “Power Pop”
Strange Joy are giving new meaning to the phrase “power pop.” This doesn’t sound like Teenage Fanclub or Elvis Costello; the power comes from Strange Joy’s roots in hardcore and the pop comes from their love of infectious melodies–melodies that are covered in grit and dirt, but melodies nonetheless.
Strange Joy also just gave last year’s 5 Tracks a vinyl release, and we’ve got an exclusive red 12″ variant.
Flying Raccoon Suit – “Swan Song”
Flying Raccoon Suit’s 2021 LP Afterglow is one of the most interesting ska albums in recent memory, and the first taste of their upcoming Bad Time Records debut Moonflower suggests they’ve got more unique ideas up their sleeves. “Swan Song” mixes rich, horn-fueled ska with indie rock, lo-fi power pop, and a hint of jazz, with hooks that even ska haters would hum along to.
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In an effort to cover as many bands as possible, I try to just do one single per album cycle in these monthly roundups, so catch up on previous months’ lists for even more:
* Best Songs of August
* Best Songs of July
* Best Songs of June
* Best Songs of May
* Best Songs of April
* Best Songs of March
* Best Songs of February
* Best Songs of January
For even more new songs, listen below or subscribe to our playlist of punk/emo/hardcore/etc songs of 2023.
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Browse our selection of hand-picked punk vinyl.
Read past and future editions of ‘In Defense of the Genre’ here.
