1) The music of The Hotelier / Sometimes I feel at war (only internally, of course) with current generations of emo. As someone who grew up within the pop-punk revival and surrendered his heart to the likes of Jimmy Eat World, it’s hard for me to believe bands of the moment could mean as much, feel as much, find as much in their melodies.
Of course, this is quite silly, and The Hotelier are the sort of band to set me straight. Standout (dare I say, masterpiece?) records from the past decade such as “Home, Like Noplace is There” and “Goodness” are musical and visceral and keep finding fresh expressions of ancient emotions.
2) The Tubs, “Dead Meat” / To pinch and rephrase the late Joe Strummer, “Let The Tubs rule the world.” This British band has and will garner all sorts of old-school post-punk comparisons—try to crowd them from your head and just steep in every wry baritone vocal, forked guitar riff and gliding backbeat.
3) The music of Perennial / To spend more than two minutes with this ragtag New England band is to be all in, devoted to their way of musical life. That’s about how long it takes to absorb one of the pitch-perfect songs on 2022’s LP “In the Midnight Hour” or last year’s EP “The Leaves of Autumn Symmetry.” The foundation of Perennial’s sound is punk (or is it emo? or indie rock?), dressed up and shot through with wondrous elements of power pop.
If you’re not on board by the time the band chants “My heart is a bridge of flowers, evergreen in the midnight hour” on the 2022 track “Absolver,” maybe you never will be. Or maybe just play it again.
4) Kay Ryan, “The Best of It” / Spending the late days of 2023 and early watches of 2024 with the one-time poet laureate’s one-time new and selected feels like stumbling upon a fresh Old Testament. Sometimes it seems Ryan is writing an appendix to Isaiah (“Restoration knows no half-measure”); sometimes it’s wisdom literature (“If it please God, / let less happen”). Whatever manner of holy and profound writ it may be, Ryan feels like she’s sending me a message right here, right now.
5) Jo(ely) Fitch, “It Was the Year” for HAD / Every time I read this Jo(ely) Fitch piece, the language unspools before me like a new color of ribbon. Language of the body. Language of internal logic (and illogic). Language of desire. Language of language. All come together in a portrait of what it means to live another year and actually give a damn about anything.
The giving a damn is what resonates most, especially in lines like these:
Thought about language.
Thought too much. Gave up on ever knowing
what "too much" means. Couldn't stop
writing poems. Took up running. Watched
the seasons do their overdone beautiful
thing. Line breaks. Stanzas. Repetition.
Kept saying I love you to everyone
who would listen. Kept listening. Thought
maybe it's time to learn how
to be quiet. Fell in love with silence
all over again.