Piebald – Volume III

For those who are not familiar with Piebald, they were a pop-punk/emo band from Andover, Massachusetts. They formed in the mid-1990s and released a few great albums and broke up in 2008. Piebald was known for writing songs perfect for crowd sing-alongs and a lot of moshing. Their best album, in my opinion, was We Are the Only Friends We Have (2002). It was full of fun and energetic Mass-holey songs like “King of the Road” and “Fear and Loathing on Cape Cod.” However, since this album was not on Spotify, I dove into their Volume I, II, and III ‘best of’ albums. For some reason, Volume III got the most plays; it is where one can find “Just a Simple Plan,” “The Stalker,” “The Monkey Vs The Robot” as well as the two songs mentioned above. It was a very good throwback.

Joyce Manor – Never Hungover Again

All over the internet, people are talking about Joyce Manor.  This Torrance, California based band are sort of Piebald meets Minus the Bear with a little bit of Japandroids thrown in. Their latest album, released this week on famed punk label Epitaph, is called Never Hungover Again and is very catchy.  It clocks in at just under 20 minutes. “End of the Summer” and “Heated Swimming Pool” sound the most like a Minus the Bear songs with carefree guitar melodies. I highly recommend this new release for fans of the above mentioned bands.

Also, Jenny Lewis‘ 3rd solo album, The Voyager, will be released next Tuesday and NPR is featuring it on their First Listen this week. I was wary going into this release after being burned by Acid Tongue. But after a few listens, I think it is a strong album. (Full review to come next week!)