Deadshirt Is Listening… Bringing you a rundown of our staff and guest contributors’ favorite new tracks released in the past week after they’ve had the weekend to blast them in their cars, in a club, alone in their rooms, etc.
Julian Ames is riding the rails to….
“When The Summer Ends,” “Change Your Mind”
Ryan Adams
1984
Punk
During his preparation to release his new self-titled studio album (released today), Ryan Adams also had time to make several short, hardcore-inspired songs which make up a new EP titled 1984. The singer-songwriter Adams wears many musical hats, from getting his start with the alt-country band Whiskeytown, to forming the one-off punk band The Finger with friend and New York rock scene mainstay Jesse Malin, he is used to bouncing around different genres for various side projects and collaborations. While his main album will be heavily singer-songwriter oriented, this EP is pure punk rock. It’s fast and loud and is reminiscent of The Replacements if they were fronted by someone with a better voice. (For the record, I love The Replacements, but Paul Westerberg’s voice is not the main reason that band is good.)
Since the whole EP is inspired by hardcore music, each song is barely over a minute long. The whole album of ten songs lasts just over twelve and a half minutes. The brevity of the tracks makes it hard to talk about them individually – the two I chose “When The Summer Ends” and “Change Your Mind” happened to stick out to me because they had some catchy elements that caught my ear, which is hard to do in a minute-long song. The YouTube video above contains the whole EP twice over – “Summer” can be found at the very beginning and at the 12:48 minute mark while “Change Your Mind” can be found at 3:18 and again at 16:05. Honestly though, if you like punk rock, the whole EP is great and short enough that you might as well listen to it all the way through.
Mike Duquette is strutting his stuff to…
“Passengers”
The Ugly Club
Dance-Rock
Can two and a half minutes change your perspective on a band? Brooklyn-based quartet The Ugly Club may have done just that with new single “Passengers.” Not that there was anything lacking about their last full-length, the earnest, guitar-heavy You Belong to the Minutes, but “Passengers” signals a sea change for the group. Dominated by a bubbly synth riff from keyboardist Taylor Mandel and a catchy chorus from frontman Ryan Egan, this is their leanest, meanest track yet, a disco/rock sort of thing that signals more greatness if their next proper project follows suit.
That’s what we’ve been listening to this week – what’s got your ear this week? Tweet your recommendations @DeadshirtDotNet or drop us a line on our Facebook page.
Deadshirt's writing staff is dedicated to bringing you thoughtful and entertaining media commentary. We're mostly indentured, which means we can pass the savings on to you!
Connect
