Chris Gethard TAYLOR HAM....(2019)

a New Jersey tribute album with endearing specificity combined with lines so crisp they sound like they're fresh off the typewriter.

Dorm assignments at Notre Dame were supposed to be completely randomized, and somehow in my one wing (out of seven) of Keough, one of the fourteen men's dorms, there were nearly a dozen kids from the same elite high school in New Jersey. at some point, you tip your cap to the wiseguys and get out of their way.



I hope you made it through Christmas without being duped by Dr. Claw in a Santa suit.

PUP MORBID STUFF (2019)

Side A rules and Kids is the kind of stand-out anthem that will keep you going through the mines of Moria

Dogleg REMEMBER ALDERAAN? (2016)

there are younger, better Japandroids out there, hoarse and poor, buy them a round or throw them some bandcamp bones

they made one of the songs of the year ffs

Future Teens BREAKUP SEASON (2019)

fulfilling a super-satisfying, surprisingly fresh and modern, trifecta of emo, pop-punk and Sarah Records-style Anorak pop.

I think Sarah (and K Records, to a lesser extent) has a ton to offer to the younger generation of musicians breaking right now, and I'm sure the most savvy (Phoebe MFing Bridgers) are already siphoning inspiration off them.  Sarah has a ton of stuff on Bandcamp.  I bought most of it back in the day on eMusic, so it is on defunct iPods and probably some storage DVDs somewhere at my parents' house.  I listened to it a lot senior year of college, late night homework sessions surrounded by Christmas lights and knee-deep snow.  When you're a kid you're told not to mess with your scabs, but as an adult you have to rip them open again and again, you have to stay fresh, you need a stinging wind, a wound that won't close.

Elder THE GOLD & SILVER SESSIONS (2019)

doomlords doing the Dead better than the Dead