Liner Notes (July 17th, 2020)
On Fridays we write newsletters. This week I share things I found interesting and some thoughts on music and entertainment. There’s also a playlist of ten songs you should check out and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
Six Things
For this week’s article, I went back to 2011 to look at the music scene nine years ago and re-rank all of the albums from my best-of list. This year had some incredible records, including two all-timers for me. It also has quite a few “least” favorite albums from some of my favorite bands, making it a little more challenging to parse out. Next week is 2012, and while that was eight years ago, it oddly feels not that long ago to me. Some of the earlier lists felt like a lifetime ago, and now we’re getting into more recent memory territory.
Drew Beringer found a bunch of his old album reviews and is slowly re-publishing them on the website. He posted up the first batch, and I’ll make sure the post gets updated when he adds more. It’s nice having this slice of history preserved.
Craig Manning wrote an article about “Why Music Still Matters” talking about how with everything going on around us it’s important to be reminded of the power of music.
I did my yearly update of my software and miscellaneous recommendation posts.
The Starting Line’s Say it Like You Mean It turned 18 this week. 18. Yeesh, that’s one that’ll make you feel your age. I miss bleached tips and puka shell pop-punk.
I’ve been playing around with new ideas for the Encore podcast. Given the pandemic, I’ve got more time to create ‘content’ than I have in a long while, so I’ve been brainstorming various ideas. A few people asked about bringing the longer form articles into audio form because they (and they’re not alone) don’t find the time to read longer pieces and prefer the audio/video format. And that makes sense. It’s undeniable that YouTube and podcasts are very popular, and the written word is … less so. If I want to expand my reach and available audience, it would probably be smart to play around in that space a little. I recorded my “Back to 2005” article as a test podcast to see how it would work and give myself something tangible to hear and help me decide. It ended up being about 15 minutes. I haven’t pushed it out to the podcast feed yet because I’m not sure how I feel about it and want to get thoughts from others first. I put it up in the supporter forum to get reactions. It seems mostly positive so far, and I think it kind of works as a podcast? I dunno. I’m still very much undecided.
In Case You Missed It
Music Thoughts
Most of my listening this week was spent with the new one from PVRIS. I’m going to be pissed off if the label drops the ball here. This is the kind of album that should be massively popular. It has the style, the sound, the hooks, the edge, the attitude, the emotion; all of it. This has “breakout” stamped across it, but I can also see it getting swallowed up by a major label and never getting the push it deserves. It’s terrific.
I’ve got the new Acceptance EP and am trying to figure out how many times I should listen to it. I don’t know how many of these songs are going to be on the upcoming full-length, and you know me, I don’t like to overplay stuff before I can hear it in the context of a full album. So, given that, I’ve only listened a handful of times. It’s a more subdued sound for the band and borders on The Killers and Augustana at times. It’s different for the group in some regards while also feeling distinctly like them at the same time. Lots of atmosphere to the songs, crisp production, strong vocals, strong harmonies, good melodies. But at only 17 minutes, I’m left wanting more and want to see how everything could work together throughout an entire album with more ebb and flow and various diversifications in sound.
I’ve been praising the new Lawrence Arms album for what feels like months now, but it’s out today and if you’re looking for a great punk record, this is it. Great use of melody and ferocity.
Don’t sleep on the new album from The Chicks (fka Dixie Chicks). It was produced by Jack Antonoff, and there are real gems with some clever lyrical wordplay on here.
I’ve also been into the latest from Sharptooth. Definitely much harder than what I usually reach for, but it’s good.
If you haven’t given the new Lianne La Havas album a spin yet, that also comes recommended.
I plan to dive into the new Ellie Goulding after I finish up here.
Entertainment Thoughts
Along with pretty much the entire world, we watched Hamilton on Disney+ last week. This was the first time I’d seen the musical, and I walked away very impressed. It’s rightly praised, and there are some incredible performances here. I don’t have anything else to add that hasn’t been said probably a thousand times before.
Palm Springs is a movie written to check all my boxes, huh? Fun quirky rom-com? Check. Groundhog Day like premise? Check. This had “something Jason will like” written all over it, and it delivered. I liked the spin on the conceit and thought both lead actors were great. This will be something I’ll watch again (and again and again).
I was a little shocked at how well Elite pulled off season two and three of the show. I didn’t think they had that in them, but it worked. Good character growth for virtually all of the kids, solid story, stuck the landing, I’m impressed. About as good of a teenage high-school drama as I could have hoped for. It’s everything Riverdale wished it was. More shows that do this well, please.
We finished season two of What We Do in the Shadows and I can’t recommend this show enough. Laugh out loud funny.
Unsolved Mysteries was hit or miss for me. Episode one was great. Episode six should really be called “Solved Mystery” cause … uh … yeah … that one’s solved. Yeesh. Lots of tragedy here, I always feel weird watching something like this, and it makes my skin crawl in multiple ways. (The UFO episode had me rolling my eyes.)
I read This is How You Lose the Time War and don’t have a solid opinion about it. There were parts where I thought the lyrical writing was extremely vivid and strong, and other parts that felt overwritten, overwrought, and borderline pretentious. Simple story, an interesting concept, unsure if I’d recommend it though. Then I read A Minute to Midnight, the sequel to the FBI thriller series I started on a whim last week. Another solid entry in the series, it’s not going to win any awards, but it’s the perfect weekend fiction thriller. And now, I’m switching genres and giving The Name of the Wind a read. Figured it would be fun to get lost in some fantasy for a bit. It started a little slow, but I’m about 20% of the way into it now, and I’m loving it. Haven’t read a book like this in a while, but it’s absolutely scratching that itch.
Random and Personal Stuff
I woke up with the worst lower back pain on Tuesday, and it only sort of got better throughout the week, and then this morning it’s my right shoulder that’s bothering me. I guess this is growing up? Where’s the pop-punk song about falling asleep and just randomly being hurt when you wake up? This is some bullshit.
Last week’s pizza was lots of roasted garlic, tomatoes, and basil. My breath could slay dragons. Not sure what we’re going with tonight. Maybe something that will offend all the pizza purists out there, perhaps something with sausage and peppers?
Ten Songs
Here are ten songs that I listened to and loved this week. Some may be new, some may be old, but they all found their way into my life during the past seven days.
The Lawrence Arms - Under Paris
Strike Anywhere - Dress the Wounds
Illuminati Hotties - Will I Get Cancelled…
Sharptooth - Evolution
Grayscale - Baby Blue (Reworked)
Lianne La Havas - Bittersweet
Weave - Wallflowers
Beabadoobe - Care
The Chicks - March March
Ellie Goulding - Slow Grenade
This playlist is available on Spotify and Apple Music.
Community Watch
The trending and popular threads in our community this week include:
The most liked post in our forums last week was this one by SmashRipsaw in the “General Politics Discussion VII” thread.
I hope everyone is having a good week. Stay safe out there. There’s some real bullshit going down in my state right now, real nice fascist shit. Chad Wolf can fuck right off. We’re safe, and none of this is that close to our home, but what the federal government is doing and how they’re flat out lying about what’s happening here should terrify people.
Thank you for subscribing to the Liner Notes email newsletter. If you’re not a supporting member, please consider becoming one. For just $3 a month or $25 a year, you can help keep this newsletter, website, and community running. It’s only because of the support of members like you that we can continue to exist. If you like the newsletter, please feel free to tell others about it, share portions on social media, or forward it along.
Previous editions of Liner Notes can be found here.