F*ck the Algorithm - Issue 004
In last week’s issue, I shared some tracks that my younger self would have hated - thanks to that guy’s pig-headed stubbornness and blinkered world view. This week I’m switching gears and choosing a list of songs I’d have loved… if they had existed at the time.
When I wore flares in the late nineties, my mum would laugh about fashion trends going around in cycles. I’d roll my eyes as she told me that she should have kept her old clothes or that her brother, cousin or ex-boyfriend ‘had one just like that’ when I came home in a new army surplus jacket.
As if more proof were needed that we should heed the prophecies of our parents (sometimes) there are once again spiky-haired kids rocking wide-fitting jeans and skater shoes in the streets*.
And it’s not just the fashion, there are loads of newer bands out there making music with cast iron bridges back through time to the core bangers of our formative years.
Here is a selection of just such tracks to have you moshing on the school run or starting a circle pit in the conference room at work.
*I bought myself a pair but as an adult I cannot stand the feeling of them scraping on the floor.
F*ck the Algorithm - Issue 004
Eight tracks in 23:23 that deserve to be as loud as you can get them. One for while the family is out...
Track notes
1. Conflit Majeur – Atrappe-Moi
The first time I put this on I thought: “woah, what just happened?” Although it transpired that I’d actually said it aloud with my noise cancelling headphones on, which sent my girlfriend into a mild panic. It’s addicting from the off with a tongue-in-cheek intro (playful but not smug) before a change of direction more abrupt than a skipping CD to the fast punk first verse. The whole song is over in just 1:39 and it leaves you wanting loads more.
Bridge back: There’s a strong NOFX vibe to the production and the song structure. It only repeats the chorus once and it’s in a second key the second time around.
2. Half Dizzy – Yard Sale
Whatever happened to close vocal harmony in punk? It used to be everywhere and it seems to have died a death. Luckily, this Brooklyn ska-punk outfit seem to agree. I love that this has a proper 30s intro in an age where the pressure is to get to the chorus asap, too.
Bridge back: Classic octave guitar work like The Offspring (and many others), palm mute for the verse, vocal harmony for the chorus… this could have come out in 2002 but I love that they’ve forged a sound of their own instead of a straight copy.
3. Chain Whip - Laguna Beach
Great band name, great song title, great EP title and the goods to back it up. Big sloppy guitars and an angry vocal held to account by a metronomic and slightly understated drum beat, the overall effect is exciting and invigorating but you’re never sure what’s going to happen next. It’s a bit like being around that one friend you can’t trust when they’re drunk and wondering what number pint they’re on.
Bridge back: I like the staccato rhythm of the chord changes, which are actually relatively clean for hardcore and remind me of a faster and angrier version of The Hives, with a Ramones drumbeat.
4. The Dirty Nil – Gallop of the Hounds
This track covers so much ground. We start out with the kind of riff you might expect on an RJD track and a macho lead vocal, the chorus is grunge pop, then we flop into a tremolo vocal with a 60s surf rock backing before plunging back to the powerful stuff. It’s a cool mash up that’s hard to put in a box so I won’t.
Bridge back: The melding of the 60s sound with modern heavy music makes me think of Josh Homme but the rockier sections are a bit Wolfmother-esque.
5. The Serfers – Give Me Back My Man
This track has a mesmerising unease that I think comes from the heavily processed vocal being buried so low in the mix. Despite its gloomy soundscape the main hook is surprisingly catchy and you get carried along by the pace of it.
Bridge back: There’s a clear bridge back to the surf-punk sound pioneered by bands like Agent Orange in the 80s.
6. Enforced – Hanged by My Hand
Enforced are a crossover band that combine hardcore with thrash metal and for me it takes the absolute best parts of each. It’s fast and dangerous sounding but with space and clarity and a savage vocal over the top.
Bridge back: Any of the monsters of 80s thrash and metal could be invoked here but Slayer feels like the best fit in terms of a clear bridge.
7. Drug Church – Weed Pin
These guys aren’t fresh off the taxi rank but are still too recent for me to have found them naturally. I love the blending of heavy punk guitars with more complex emo chord progressions and then that affected and wandering lead guitar that widdles around over the chorus. There’s a lot to unpack and it’s a real melting pot of styles without feeling try-hard or messy.
Bridge back: That heavily reverbed guitar at the open and close of the song reminds me of White Pony era Deftones but the main guitar riff could almost be Sum41. Like I said, there’s a lot going on.
8. Buggin - Brainfreeze
I don’t normally associate such a big, bright and tightly produced sound with hardcore but this track from Chicago’s Buggin manages to be both things. The instruments are so smoothly produced, in fact, it’s almost a shock when that straight-up hardcore vocal first comes in.
Bridge back: The obvious link is old hardcore but the guitar sound on this could just as easily be something less extreme like Pennywise.
That’s it for Issue 004. Have you heard anything lately that hasn’t made you miss the bands of yesteryear? Good music deserves a conversation.
