May I Recommend: GRMLN

Even though it's 2013, I spend a lot of time time thinking about 1992. Specifically about how much I love the 1992 album It's a Shame About Ray by the Lemonheads. I have yet to find a band that can construct a perfectly-crafted three minute pop/rock song quite like Evan Dando.

And then I got an email about GRMLN. The band is basically a 20-year-old dude named Yoodoo Park. He was born in Japan and moved to Southern California as a kid. The SoCal sun shines all over Empire, Park's lighthearted debut album. Ah, pop/rock. 

I can't get enough of the ultra-bouncy Teenage Rhythm. It makes me wanna dance. In fact, I think I will. 

Empire clocks in under 30 minutes. It's a great listen all the way through. 

Best Moment: Bad Religion True North

What do you say about a band's sixteenth record? Of the Brett-Gurewitz-is-back-in-the-band era, True North is basically on par with the so-so Dissent of Man and New Maps of Hell. It lags far behind the excellent The Process of Belief (an album that is as good as anything in Bad Religion's entire catalog). In other words, it's good but not great.

Here's my favorite track from the record, a tune that has the urgency and simplicity of early Bad Religion.

Nothing to Dismay

Balance and Composure - The Things We Think We're Missing

I've been listening to the Balance and Composure all afternoon on Spotify. My finger is getting tired of clicking "star" on every single track.

On their debut release, the impressive Separation, it was easy to compare this Doylestown, Pennsylvania five-piece to contemporaries like Polar Bear Club or Transit. But on Things We're Missing, it appears the '90s have overcome these millenials. The album is awash with noisy fuzz, sludgy guitars, and some pretty striking post-teenage angst. It's angry and shoegaze-y and heavy without losing track of structure of hooks.

Here a few of the tracks I'm digging right now:



Tiny Raindrop



I'm Swimming



Lost Your Lost Your Name

The album is pretty solid start to finish. I'd highly recommend listening to it in its entirety.

Why I No Longer Hate New Found Glory

Here's the deal with releasing an album that all your fans hate. It opens the door for new fans.

I've never been a New Found Glory supporter. I don't even remember why I first listened to 2006's Coming Home. (It was probably in advance of an interview I did with guitarist Chad Gilbert, who was quite a nice guy, by the way). But I loved it pretty much instantly.

It's slower than their preceeding records. It's just a collection of songs about girls and heartbreak, but it's built on genuine melancholy, rather than just teenage emotion.

It's a record I love to listen to front-to-back. It's tough to even choose a favorite track, but this one will do.



Since Coming Home, NFG have released to back-to-basics albums, Not Without a Fight in 2009 and Radiosurgery in 2011. Though they don't resonant with me in the same way, they're both solid releases.

Hey, I guess I'm a fan now.