Sam's BEST OF 2019 #4

4.Us – Faintheart

I saw these handsome son's of bitches just before I started seeing my current girlfriend.

There's no purpose for that statement I just think it's kind of funny also I remember them playing this song at that show and months later it did this weird thing for me where it dropped, I listened to it, thought it was fantastic, forgot about it, heard it again, and now I can't help but not jam to this summery little tune.

These guy's are another pop punk kind of emo group that make the catchiest most easily sing along session ready tunes you'd ever heard in your entire fucking life and the fact that they got a pretty devoted local following should come as no surprise because they know what the fuck they're doing they're just in need of everyone else coming to realize these bright airy tunes are what they need in their lives.

This song is subtle it gently lulls you in before busting out a very energetic and dreamy chorus that makes you think of riding the bike along a coast line during the summer as you see a very attractive girl in a sundress walking by and as she gives you the sweetest smile you've ever seen in your entire fucking life you're then transported to this cloud like state of euphoria that you didn't know could exist nor do you ever want it to go away.

If you haven't felt that feeling then listen to this song, get that feeling, see these guy's live, get your fucking mind blown, awkwardly hit on a girl, and live your best fucking life supporting people making great stuff ya fucking asshole.

 

Fiction Department

So we're a little over 2 weeks until the end and a few day's away from the anniversary of this little thing and with that in mind I should probably have something posted about the wonderful acts playing my farewell show but like I've highlighted depressive spells are a real bitch and a half and it's difficult to really get around to writing things when you don't want to do anything but it's that level of depressive thoughts that got me thinking about what it is I like so much about some of the bands I chose to play my show and the various things they seem to cover and that's where I'm going to go and with that in mind I figure I'd cover a band who describe themselves as modern American Emo The Fiction Department.

I can't lie I've listened to their EP TV Show's a fuck load of times and for some reason I really don't know what brought that up because I only got to see them one time prior to this show and this EP while being fantastic is also an incredibly rough product that you can tell is made by some rather young individuals looking to really get their footing and you can tell that just looking at the track listing which   goes from very upbeat kind of pop punkish tunes like Felt, to the downright early 2000's heart on your sleeve painful youth experience's in 20 minutes as well as the non EP single Bad Idea, to these kind of angsty angry screaming cuts, and even the slow paced closing track this goes through a very youthful set of emotions I've all but been numbed to and I guess what I like about these guy's is there's a certain cathartic release in just throwing aside everything and just kind of pretending to be a shit heel emotionally charged teenager again.

I know they're going through a host of changes in their sound and direction as a group which is why they seemed to of went on a long break but I'm sure seeing them at this show should be an interesting experience for all involved and I'm pretty pumped to see where they've taken themselves.

Song of the Day 1/16/19

Colette-Faintheart

So you want an insanely catchy set of pop punk tunes ready to rock out to and sing every lyric to with a cute girl who's name most likely begins with the letter A then OH you need to acquaint yourself with this bands early 2018 release The Overview Effect because that EP kicks some serious ass and of all the tracks on it that tickled my fancy the most I'd have to say it was this little short but sweet number.

That Ep in question had a host of heavier more focused tunes that attempted and in most cases succeeded in being something fairly larger than the sum of their parts but if you where familiar with my adoration of their 2017 cut Two Hearted then you'd probably not be surprised to know that the tune that I liked the most was this fun little pop punk tune.

"We don't always have to be our insecurities, defining enemies we divide and disagree," it's something I frankly kept singing wrong until I typed out the right lyrics after looking them up on their website BUT YOU SURE AS FUCK KNOW IT DIDN'T STOP ME FROM SINGING ALONG! 

That's the biggest strength this tune as well as most of their catalog is just how easy it is to find yourself singing along to every single song and isn't that what makes pop punk so much fun?

Sam's Top 10 of 2017 #7

7.Two Hearted-Faintheart

If there was a quintessential quality to pop punk that gives it a certain quality that lead to it becoming such a popular genre is the fact that lyrically it's a very light hearted genre of music that takes you back to a time when things were simpler and more like those cheesy Teen movies that we all watched and loved every single moment of only to eventually grow up and move on from all backed up by a melody that has enough girth to make it substantially more meaningful than your typical teen pop fair.

It's these occasional bits of simple unadulterated joy that leaves us to listen to this genre and of all the tunes to bring upon those child like senses of joy I'd say that this song was like the love life I've wanted but haven't gotten all year and you know what that's better than being a bitter piece of shit.

2 Hearted is a tune that instantly hooked me on these guy's right from that opening rift which is reminiscent of early 2000s pop punk with it's high hat heavy speedily played percussion and fairly straightforward but effective rifts you get a tune that's an overall a quality listen that fly's by faster than it's nearly 4 minute run time would suggest and until I got about to writing this post I kind of just maybe realized that. 

Faintheart are a band that just got their start this year and that I've had the pleasure of seeing grow up and mold into something cool and when I got around to seeing them fairly recently very drunk I decided to ask them about this wonderful bit of pop punk joy that is this song and these are some of the things they had to say:

What Inspired 2 Hearted?

4 loves and weird life situations.

How's 2017 been for you guys?

It's been great we're 1 year old and recording and writing a new album!

What's 2018 have in store for you?

We plan to keep writing so much more! Release more music after that we hope to connect with as many people as we can!

Song of the Day 11/13/14

You know I really REALLY dislike Fallout Boy post From Under the Cork Tree and even to this day I still strongly stand by that statement but even as their fall from grace was occurring they still seemed to manage to crank out a catchy tune or two and in this instance I managed to recall a tune that was actually a lot better then I remember simply because of its chorus.

I'm Like a Lawyer The Way I'm Aways Trying to get you off(Me and You) it's that patented overly long title for what's ultimately a very tender sounding alternative rock number by a group of guy's that's core audience was and still is teenage girls and people with an affinity for music about hating their parents and this is one of the more genuinely charming songs they've done.

Song of the Day 10/14/14

I was at a thrift store a couple of day's ago and I came across a copy of Americana by the Offspring for $2 so I decided to pick it up because I've been listening to quite a bit of them for the past few day's and thought why the hell not and upon giving the album a full listen I realized it's really freaking good and amongst many decent tunes one that stuck out was, "She's Got Issues."

It's kind of like a retelling of Self Esteem in that it's some twisted relationship tune about some crazy chick who has more problems then I think Holland and company really care to deal with and it's cheeky sensibilities and what not are fairly typical when you look at most of their output at that time but it's still a fun and charming song none-the-less that probably strikes closer to home for most of us then we'd care to admit, also it's video has a young Zooey Deschanel which is quite funny to watch....

Tuesday Two-Fer

So for some reason or another as I work on getting shit done and this story worked out I find myself listening to a decent range of Pop Punk for seemingly no reason beyond maybe the fact that it's high octane sound and sometimes juvenile lyrics help me kind of mask the large amount of annoyance, anger, and utter disappointment that life occasionally throws my way without feeling like I'm being a whinny little bitch but that's neither here nor there really in the long run of things because for whatever reason my desire to not complain too much has lead me to motivate myself to semi crank out a Tuesday Two-fer for ya that's something interesting.

Apparently in the early 2000's there was this little pop punk outfit called SR-71 that seemed to have some minor success with a few singles according to their Wikipedia Page which isn't really much of anything really until you encounter the odd little bit of Trivia that is that they're responsible for one of the more amusing little Pop punk numbers of the early 2000's in the form of one 1985...

Wait I bet you're telling yourself that didn't Bowling For Soup do that song and you'd be right but if you look at these guy's they look pretty much exactly like Bowling for Soup minus one really heavy set member but even then that still doesn't really get us anywhere so let me inform you of something.

Yes we are all aware that Bowling For Soup had a good sized hit with 1985 but what's interesting was that it was written by SR-71's Mitch Allan and originally recorded by the band just before Bowling for Soup covered it and proceeded to make it a good sized hit by basically changing a few lyrics around but keeping the song pretty much the exact same as it was originally recorded.

So yeah today's a cover but I'm pretty sure it's obscured enough to were most of you didn't know that to begin with so like I do with it all I'm going to post the two versions down below and you can tell me what you think and of course like I enjoy doing make sure to go check out The Official Facebook Page where you can get updates every time I post...

SR-71:




Bowling For Soup:

Song of the Day 9/23/14

Man I've had the longest week in a while people and I honestly just kind of seem to not really know what to do these day's so last night I found myself working on this story I've been writing for a few years now and listening to The Offsprings and for some reason found this 2000 cut to just hit the fucking spot.

Want You Bad it's from Conspiracy of One which was awkward because it had to follow up Americana and that shows in that not too many songs from it are really remembered but there's a charming quality to this tune because while it's a very fast paced punk rocker that we all have come to expect from these guy's it's also quite a cheesy little bit of romance with subtle bits of offsprings themed humor and desire for Hollands partner to be a bit of a dominatrix to him.

It's a fun tune people and for some reason or another I've enjoyed it more than most of the things going on in my life so fuck it let's actually post about it considering I've seemed to of been hitting a bump when it comes to these things....

Friday's Finest

You know I was reading this article on Buzzfeed about facts that only true Blink-182 fans can identify with or something along those lines and I was recently showed this song by The Madden Brothers which is basically Good Charlotte Minus the pop punk and was reminded of the fact that I like many teenagers went through this very odd little Pop Punk phase where I found myself listening to a shit load of terrible bands that sound a whole lot like Blink-182 and with that in mind I figured I’d let that be a good theme for today’s Friday’s Finest in the form of my favorite cheesy tunes from those awkward growing years…

1. I’d Do anything-Simple Plan

So when I was sifting through some of this bands tunes I was reminded that they were probably the most pop minded of all the bands that came around that time and it really shows the most in this particular tune which is the cheesiest love song you could possibly hear and the fact that it has Mark Hoppus actually sing a verse kind of makes the Blink-182 mentioning at the beginning of this article a little bit more ironic…

2. My Bloody Valentine-Good Charlotte

So with the whole Madden Brothers attempting to be a thing I was kind of reminded of the fact that the Young and Hopeless is 12 years old….now that’s a lot to really let sink in people because I remember actually listening to this album on the bus ride to school when I was in middle school and after maybe the time they tried to become more serious in tone with that Chronicles of Life and Death album and slowly becoming aware of what real punk rock is that I found this album and them to become a very lame group of posers and this song even though it was one of the better glimpses of the album to come somehow still manages to actually be a pretty decent little number that I can enjoy now that I can reflect over things and not feel ashamed of being humorously amused by cheesy pop punk..

3. Life after Lisa-Bowling For Soup

You know it’s hard to really think about the fact that this band actually was going around the same time Blink became a big thing and are considered one of many groups to kind of knock them off and in more recent years I find these guy’s to actually become a slightly better band in retrospect and this song in all it’s fairly typical post breakup get the fuck over yourself way’s is one of many examples of actually decently done Pop Punk at its finest and while it’s not as instantaneously memorable as 1985 it’s honestly a better song probably because of it also it’s that kind of teenage moody angst track that we all know we still secretly feel at times..

4. All Down Hill From Here-New Found Glory

So I’m not even going to lie if I were to come up with a textbook sound for what I’d have to say is pop punk in a nutshell I’d probably just throw on a New Found Glory record because while I really do enjoy the songs they make and their quirky sense of humor in the videos they make their lead singer has a very poppy voice and the musicianship is very fast and reckless indeed but still very melody focused and this song’s one of the few that I can immediately recall that  has some form of heft and even though it’s ten years old I still find myself enjoying as much now as I did 10 years ago…

5.Flavor of the Week-American Hi-Fi

So the early 2000’s was the shit I can’t lie people and even though I find myself both mildly embarrassed that I enjoy or enjoyed some of these teenage expressions of heartbreak and sentiment I feel no shame to blast the ever loving fuck out of this forever stuck in the friendzone anthem of awesomeness that is American Hi-Fi’s lone hit single that isn’t really much pop punk but if you were to write the lyrics down and compare them to most of the other songs on this list I’m more then sure you’d think it to sound like the other songs and of course like the other songs I’m pretty sure Enema of the State being such a huge success helped this song really pick up some steam and become the lost one hit wonder classic of its time…

Man those awkward teenage blues never sounded so catchy or have this much jumping around thanks for reading and of course you can listen to all of these songs in the playlist below..