5 great songs here in the playlist – give them a listen 🙂
https://bandcamp.com/jackmesenbourg/playlist/06302025
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Author Archives: Jack Mesenbourg
Release Alert! Mercy Music and Danger Days Split 7″
Just thought I would put out a quick notice for this dynamic upcoming release from Double Helix Records.
I do not quite remember when I first heard Mercy Music but I do remember the name of the album – When I die, I’m taking you with me. That title just struck me and has stuck around in my head. There is a song on there (“Painless”) that warrants a listen also if you ever get a chance.
Danger Days is new to me although the members are a collection of musicians from other bands; The Rabble, Movin in Stereo, Millencolin and Flirting with Disaster.
This release is a nice combination of talented musicians with the two songs fitting well together. Mercy Music has “Big Fucking Mess” which I really like for the pacing changes throughout the song. It starts with a call out on the song title and then cuts back and forth with some choppy, slow moments augmented by thrashing high points. Danger Days fires off right away on “Wasted Time” and keeps a hammering clip going all the way to the end. It is a tight, fast track that will have you singing right along.
This drops tomorrow but you can do a pre-save here:
Take a listen on your usual streaming places and then maybe hit the Double Helix Records store for some hard copy 🙂
https://www.doublehelixrecords.com/
Release Alert! Overstand- “Short Fuse State” from the upcoming album Take Control
I know it will be awhile until you can take a listen to this (the single on 7” is set to drop September 5th, with the album to follow October 3rd), but you should definitely put this on your radar.
Overstand formed back in 2020 and have an early eponymously titled EP that came out in 2022. It is a really good hardcore set of 7 songs that blast away with intensity and purpose. A great track to check out from this release is “Cracks in the Mirror.” It has a simple message about how to live life, ripping guitar riffs and a pretty cool change of pace right after the midway point.
Having been able to check out Take Control I can say that Overstand have only gotten better. The guitars are still fierce, the bass is thundering, the drums have enough energy to light up the night and the vocals are edgy and powerful. All of that is not surprising given the pedigree of the musicians involved but it is awesome to hear it all come together so well. Check out “Short Fuse” (which also includes a guest vocal from Puerto Rican Myke of Skarhead & District 9) coming up in September and you will have a good idea of what is in store for the album. There is an absolute ferocity in this song. Also, according to the press release from Earshot Media, the backside of that 7” will be a cover of Bomber Zee (Agnostic Front). You can ponder that until September 🙂
Song Review- Tess & The Details – “Take Me Alive”
You may or may not recall the stellar debut from this band. It is called Runaway and made quite an impression on me when it was released back in 2023. Throughout the album there was just a little bit of grittiness and unpolished edge showing through that made it even better…in my opinion anyway. That touch of roughness happens on a lot of opening releases of course but it is not always a good thing and it does not always add positive energy to the songs…but it worked really well on Runaway. A good example to check out there is “Take a Number.”
On this new single release that original edge is gone but hey, that happens also and is not a drawback here. The band is in fine form on this song and have evolved their sound away from mainline pop punk toward a more rock vibe. Opening on a blistering and heavy rhythm section that quickly drops off for some vocals from Tess Stevens, the track climbs to some anthemic heights. The lyrics are pointed and relevant to our modern day online craziness. As Stevens remarked in the Earshot Media press release for this single: “The song is about rejecting the stupidity we see online, unplugging ourselves from the things that cause us self doubt. It’s about telling the world to ‘take you alive’ as you truly are.” On the way out at the end you can hear some nice guitar work before Tess bids us all ‘bye.
Video to check out here:
If you go out and give “Take Me Alive” a listen…think about purchasing it if you can as steaming music does not pay well even times a thousand.
That local community that surrounds you is awesome – remember to support them!
A Short Musical Interlude
Just for some musical fun- check out this playlist – 5 songs only
https://bandcamp.com/jackmesenbourg/playlist/06222025
Song Review- Stray View “Vivid”
So, this is a new band for me and I happened to come across them as I was browsing through the Hopeless Records website on a check for some new sounds. As a side note, Hopeless has a great collection of artists with some killer music – to name just a few; All Time Low, Tigers Jaw, Sincere Engineer and the Used. Direct link here and they have it set up so it is pretty easy to do a quick listen if a band catches your fancy:
https://www.hopelessrecords.com/artists
After I did a first listen through to this song I was initially intrigued by the vocals. I have a conflicted relationship with some of the stylistic elements of vocals that edge over into primal screams and guttural exclamations. Sometimes I really like it, sometimes not really – I think it has a lot to do with the quality of the singer and the way those harder vocal elements are woven into the song. Stray View have a great singer in Dave Escamilla and the mix here is a good one from my point of view.
This track starts on a soft, quiet note and then builds slowly to a full power feast of steady, loud drums, soaring guitars, and an ominous bass. The bridge (opened up by a unique drum solo) is quite the volume experience with some hard but tightly controlled energy delivering a nice punch.
You can check out more of the music and information on the Bandcamp page https://hopelessrecords.bandcamp.com/track/vivid-1
If you get time, take a little walk around and meet your local businesses – community is powerful!
And please think about purchasing this song after you listen – streaming music does not pay much even times a thousand…
Song Review- Katie Knipp “Go” (Electro-Funk Remix)
Well, when you review a remix of a song (this one is off her 2024 album Me) you have to say which one you like better…right? So you have that to look forward to later anyway 🙂
It is no secret that I (and plenty of other people judging from the recognition and awards she has received) know that Knipp is a fantastic musician and one of the rising but still under-appreciated musicians in the blues music scene today. Just as a personal observation, I receive a lot of comm from musicians and hers always comes across as very sincere, heartfelt and “on the cuff’ – meaning that she comes across as real and authentic.
When Me was released I was impressed with the depth and layers of the songs on that record and my favorite track was Outlaw Doc which is reviewed here:
“Go” was a strong track also off that album with an interesting spoken word opening over piano and some very pointed lyrics. It has a nice, slow bluesy groove running through it and comes across as a pensive reflection on complicated relationships. This electro-funk remix keeps a soft opening with a slow drum-driven and punchy bass tempo with Knipp’s vocals riding right along the top of the rhythm. The guitar solo around the 3:00 mark and gospel-style chorus that follows are great moments that fill out this song and really make it noteworthy. This version seems more personal than the one on Me…and yes, I like it more than the original.
You can check out more of the music and information on the Bandcamp page https://katieknipp.bandcamp.com
Your locals need you so keep them in mind always – community is powerful!
And please think about purchasing this song after you listen – streaming music does not pay much even times a thousand…
Song Review- Lot Lizards – “Broken Parts” from the album The Horrors of Adulting
A quick jump backwards before we get to the review – the first song I heard from this group was back in late 2021. “Exploding Heart Syndrome” from their eponymous debut album struck me right away with its energy. It suffers a little from a slightly buried vocal track but the content of those lyrics has a story to which we can all relate – stop being fake and don’t be afraid to be your whole, real self. Now…if we could only get more people to listen to that message…
Anyway, onward to the present day…
Lot Lizards have their new album The Horrors of Adulting set for a July 25th release and this track is a preview for that album.
A loud and raucous all-in start to this song holds you for about 25 seconds before the vocals from Jon Barnes kick in to tell a pretty tough story. As Barnes noted in the press release from Earshot Media, “It’s about my father, who is struggling with Parkinson’s disease. It’s heavy and deeply personal, but there’s also catharsis in facing that reality head-on.” There is a great outro that starts around 2:25 that slows this song down a bit with some searing guitars and a booming drum & bass line…before it fades off into goodbye.
Streaming available at your preferred service – quick link here:
https://found.ee/lotlizards_brokenparts
And you can jump on the album pre-sale from Punkerton Records here:
If you go out and give “Broken Parts” a listen…think about purchasing it if you can as steaming music does not pay well even times a thousand.
All of us should support each other – community is powerful!
Release Alert! Bill Scorzari – “All This Time”
As I already am a big fan of this artist I had been tracking his posts about the development and production of his upcoming albums, Sidereal Days (Day 1) & Sidereal Days (Day 2). This single is the first one off the “Day 1” album. You can catch some of that behind the scenes info on YouTube and through various other press and social media.
The making of these albums has been a long process for him as noted in the press release from Dreamspider Publicity:
“Bill self-recorded his instrumentation and vocals for this song—and the entire double album—at his New York studio, First Thunder Recording. It was there that, starting in July of 2022, Bill laid out all of his parts and fine-tuned his compositions over two years’ time before bringing those recordings to Skinny Elephant Recording in Nashville in August 2024 to continue with engineer Dylan Alldredge, with Bill and Neilson Hubbard co-producing.”
“All This Time” has the kind of simplicity that tends to be a hallmark of Scorzari’s most memorable music. A soft guitar melody on nylon strings gets things started and is accompanied by an understated acoustic bass that gives just enough texture to the music. There are also some poignant cello and violin strings here. The piano comes in to provide a hopeful air to the otherwise melancholy vibe of this track.
Standby for the album releases currently slated to start in October of this year. You can stream this one now (easy access link below):
https://billscorzari.hearnow.com/all-this-time
Once you check it on your usual places please consider a purchase as streaming music does not pay much even times a thousand.
And if you want to hear what I consider to be his best full album released to date, give a listen to The Crosswinds of Kansas, one song of which I had reviewed here:
Album Review – What Do You Know About Ska Punk Volume 1
As I happened to come across this on Bandcamp the other day I thought I would put out this short bit about it…sort of a public service announcement I guess, or just a recommendation to check out this classic and noteworthy collection.
At some point in 2020 I had picked up another edition of this (Volume 4) which, in addition to having a cosmically cool cover, had really given me a nice tour around ska punk at the time. That set of CD’s had even more songs (165!) than this first volume (134) as hard as that may be to believe.
Volume 1 has it all in terms of how the ideas and sounds of ska & punk were being interpreted and fused together at the time. Some favorites of mine; Tangerine Drive (from Backyard Superheroes), Walk Away (Rude King), In My Head (Mad Dog & the 20/20’s), and Here We Go Again (The Taj Motel Trio) – a short list to start with but there are so many good songs on here.
And yes, there is a Volume 5 not to mention 2 and 3 of course – many props to the people at What Do You Know About Ska Punk who also put out other releases you can listen to and pick up when ready.
You can check this and more info / music on their Bandcamp page https://whatdoyouknowaboutskapunk.bandcamp.com/
As always, please go out and support local art and music – community is powerful 🙂
And please think about purchasing this song after you listen – streaming music does not pay much even times a thousand
jack mesenbourg 