F*ck the Algorithm - Issue 006
In case you’re still gasping for air under the crushing weight of last week’s heavy issue, relax. This week is lighter, more melodic and more upbeat.
If ‘Wrapped’ existed in the early 00s, mine would have been dominated year after year by the same few bands. Despite my love of heavy music, it wasn’t Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Rob Zombie or Rammstein that most captured my imagination back then.
Green Day, blink-182, Less Than Jake, Mad Caddies, Lagwagon, The Offspring, Sum 41, Reel Big Fish and NOFX were essentially the soundtrack to my life. Despite never being bitten by the skateboarding bug, the music of that scene at the time grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. It was the perfect soundtrack for all the stupid stuff you get up to at that age and most of the videos were inspiring even greater acts of stupidity.
Some of these bands have stayed with me over the years (blink-182 especially, whose style has been ageing along with me) and some of them haven’t but you can guarantee that if Linoleum plays when I’ve got a beer in me, I’ll be ‘singing’ every word at full volume no matter where I am.
Here are eight great tracks that fit that mould without rehashing the past. Listen to them however you like, but my advice would be to listen a few times and see if any of them get their hooks in you. Remember how many times you’ve heard your tried and tested favourites? Nothing will compare after a single time through!
Track notes
1. Heathcliff – Stay Posi - Not Zombi
There’s a lot of nostalgic vibes wrapped up in this track with classic SoCal punk feel straight out of Germany. Crazy fast drums, snarling guitars, close vocal harmony, it has it all. Four and a half minutes is an epoch in punk terms but the song is pretty much over in 2:20. Then it flies into a hellishly fast section with intricate up and down palm mute work before some Iron Maiden-esque guitar solos. It’s quite the journey.
Bridge back: There’s a Sum 41 style adoption of classic metal ideas and harmonising guitar parts in here but the speed and energy is more like Propaghandi or the Vandals.
2. 8 Kalacas – Frontera
Where has this been all my life? 8 Kalacas (presumably ocho, not eight) is the sound my young self was longing for without even knowing it. The combination of lightning fast ska with metal riffs and vocals makes so much sense to me and then stir the brightest, happiest sounding brass into the mix and you’ve got an irresistible recipe.
Bridge back: The brass reminds me of Mad Caddies with some trad-jazz influence and overblown slides but the rock is obviously much heavier.
3. The Sleights – Bridge to Nowhere
After the dynamic nature of 8 Karacas, this sounds very straight up and down but that’s not a bad thing. I love its breathless and unrelenting vocal underpinned by those straightforward drums, which give the guitars a little more freedom to explore. It’s got me reaching for a beer bottle more than a skateboard.
Bridge back: The vocal performance puts me in mind of Bosstones.
4. PUP – No Hope
I wasn’t 100% sure that this track belonged here as it has a very different energy to the songs around it. The drums are messier with cymbal crashes firing off everywhere and the guitars are given room to be sloppy and loose in an exciting and charismatic way. Top it all off with the group vocal at the chorus and I just want to head to the beach with some friends and drink a few beers.
Bridge back: This has more in common musically with Stephen Malkmus, Sorority Noise or The Shins than pure skate-punk.
5. The Overjoyed – Joy Vampire
This has got so much energy but delivered with control that stops it from boiling over completely. Elements cut in and out so there’s a cycle of tension and release all wrapped around a seriously catchy hook. It also switches back and forth in mood between sinister and threatening, and lighter and more upbeat.
Bridge back: Although they weren’t a punk band, this makes me think of Electric 6 for some reason. There’s some RFTC in there too.
6. Making Friends – Broken
The subtlety of the guitar tones in this coupled with drums so metronomic and clean I wondered if they were even real at first gives it all an ex machina vibe that I find really fascinating. I don’t know if it’s deliberate or not.
Bridge back: It sounds like NOFX played through a Strokes emulator.
7. DARKO – Override!
I can’t stop listening to this vocal. I get a sore throat just imagining trying to sing along. I love it when it feels like a singer is hitting the high notes with sheer determination rather than technique. There’s a classic metal edge to this that I’m fully onboard with.
Bridge back: The nod to heavier music styles makes me think of Strung Out or even Melvins.
8. Krang – Time Is Ticking
Here’s a straight-up skatepark banger to finish this week’s playlist from Czech band Krang. At just 1:26 it’s a real smash and grab affair that uses a slightly strange ABABC song structure. I think the seriously catchy B section - complete with ‘aaaah’ backing vocals – is the chorus meaning the song finishes on a middle eight.
Bridge back: Pure Millencolin energy, a grainy VHS tape of skater slams plays in my head as I listen.
Which one of these would have made it onto your burned CD playlist? Hit reply and tell me - I’m curious.
