2016'S SPICIEST BANGERS | THE RR PLAYLIST VOL. V

IF YOU'RE READING THIS, CONGRATULATIONS: YOU SURVIVED BLUE MONDAY.

Of course, if you're like me and you don't believe in that pseudo-scientific horseshit, then bonus points to you, but for a lot of people out there, Blue Monday marks a point of no return: you can no longer use that age-old, post-Christmas/New Year 'sorry, I'm just settling back into my routine' excuse for not doing work as efficiently (or at all), your new year's resolutions were fucked from the very start, and efforts to avoid throwing away the toffee pennies that lonesomely occupy the Quality Street tin in the corner of your living room because you 'might want to eat them at some point' are growing more and more futile.

This mid-January funk isn't necessarily as unrealistic as the belief that the third Monday of the month is inherently shit, but at least we still have a year like 2016 to look back on and go 'well, what a solid 12 months of wall-to-wall bangers that was'.

We had an abundance of tracks in 2016 that make you feel invincible when you blast them on repeat - as if you could take down a speeding juggernaut with your little finger - as well as tracks that just make you want to smash a beer can open with your own face, chug the foamy remnants, and stagedive onto your mates' heads. It is this window of sonic glory that I've prised back open with Vol. V of THE RR PLAYLIST.

Within the space of just 20 tracks, there's reminders of the undeniable knockout return of WEEZER, the Rancid-meets-No Doubt badassery of THE INTERRUPTERS, the raucous, punk 'n' roll punches delivered from the likes of THE DIRTY NIL and WACO, and the shameless saccharine catchiness of WATERPARKS and TANCRED.

If that's not enough, there's offerings from Britain's burgeoning DIY punk scene courtesy of THE NEW TUSK, DOE and MUNCIE GIRLS, the carefree, summery bliss of PINEGROVE and JOYCE MANOR, and some top-drawer whoa-oh sing-a-longs from JEFF ROSENSTOCK and EAT ME.

All that, and loads more, is now available to stream below via the Randon's Reviews Spotify page. Don't forget to subscribe for playlists of past, present and future (if 2017 lives up to its predecessor)...

Danny

THE RR PLAYLIST VOL. IV: THE SUMMER OF SCUZZ

OVER THE LAST FEW WEEKS, Mother Nature (AKA the most basic of bitches) has decided to curl up on her sofa with a big tub of half-price Ben & Jerry's (Cookie Dough, obvs) and not know what to do with her fucking life. It's been sunny. It's been overcast. It's been raining. It's pretty much been humid the whole time, and I just want my summer. This shitty mixed bag of weather is getting ridiculous.
I figured that if Mother Nature is going to be a dick like that, I'll just try and enjoy my summer through other means, and what better way to do that than to make an RR PLAYLIST featuring some of the biggest, grungiest, scuzziest summer bangers on offer across punk, indie, and alt-rock right now.

There's appearances on Volume IV of The RR Playlist from the likes of WEEZER and TURNOVER, plus some old blog favourites like MILK TEETH, RAIN and MUSKETS, but allow me to take you through some of the bands not previously touched upon on the blog, amongst whom you might just find your new favourite band for the (not so) summer holidays.

BLACK FOXXES have made serious strides with their debut album I'm Not Well (which lands this Friday), finally unlocking their potential to throw out massive, distorted and often cathartic rock 'n' roll.

If you're like me and you dig the raw production that I've been smitten for since the day I first heard MC5's Kick Out The James, then WACO will gladly scratch that itch for you. If the joyous background cheers in the bridge on 'Se17' don't want to make you air-punch seven shades of shit out of the sky, then you might as well just call it quits and spend the rest of your miserable existence with Dire Straits' greatest hits.

If you're big into what Drenge were doing on their first album, then NIGHT OWLS are another duo whose distortion-drenched sounds will plough into your ears like a mischievous juggernaut. For those of you that like the hardcore crossover appeal of Turnstile, but would rather swap the Metallica nuances for something a bit cooler and college rock-y, then you'll go head over heels for ANGEL DU$T. I read a review recently which compared them to both Bad Brains and The Lemonheads, and that's about as dead on the money as you can get.

Thanks to spending the first half of the year in full-time education with no income, my festival attendance in 2016 has been below par. When my mum returned from Truck Festival and said that she enjoyed HAPPY ACCIDENTS, I had to do a double take. Check them out if you like the idea of spritely indie-pop with a sharp lyrical twang in the vein of Jamie T. As for MARTHA, I don't much more can be said about them apart from the fact that they are the best band to do a similar sort of thing in the DIY punk scene, and they've made one of the standout records of the year with Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart.

Fans and members of the Brighton punk contingent, on top of Muskets we've also got MURDERHOUSE and FRUITCAKE to fling your way (not in an aggressive way). While Murderhouse emulate the somewhat adorable self-deprecating charm of early Modern Baseball in their ramshackle bedroom-demo punk, Fruitcake are a little bit more frantic with loads of influence from early-early-EARLY blink-182 and a wicked sense of fresh-faced urgency.

Over on the other side of the pond, we have two bands who have the scene eating out of their palms with the enticement of potential in their upcoming records. BEACH SLANG put out one of the most fun-sounding albums of the last few years in 2015, and from the sound of things, they're roaring along the same track of writing songs that are perfect for singing your heart out to after a few too many beers and ill-timed stagedives.

JOYCE MANOR are one of the best bands around right now when it comes to writing short, sharp and frustratingly catchy power-pop songs with great humour in their lyrics and casual ingenuity in their melodies. If the rest of their new record, Cody, is as good as the first track from it, then they are firmly in the running for Album Of The Year.

As we wind down into the last couple of tracks which are perfect for your summer evenings, GRIEVING ease themselves into their debut EP, Demonstrations, with melancholic vibes of 90s emo. 'My Friend, The Ghost' is the most beautifully lackadaisical track they have to offer, before delving in to a spikier pit of alternative rock.

HONOURABLE MENTION goes to EAT ME, whose sounds are not yet on Spotify and therefore cannot be 'officially' included in The RR Playlist. They take that Rivers Cuomo philosophy of writing really simple songs and making them even more effective with undeniably cool guitar licks. Check out 'Melon Enema' below on YouTube because its way too good to ignore for not being on Spotify, and the video is fucking gold:

As ever, if there's a track that you think deserves a place on this playlist, feel free to hmu on Twitter, or on the RR Facebook page.

Episode #004 of BITCHIN' BREW featuring CONNOR P LAWS, co-founder of FAILURE BY DESIGN RECORDS is coming soon. Before then, I'll be giving you a rundown of FBD's finest moments in the first instalment of a new label-based feature on RR called THE NUMBNUTS' GUIDE TO... *INSERT LABEL NAME HERE*

Stay tuned for that, and loads of other cool shit too.

Danny

RECORDS OF THE WEEK: APRIL - JUNE 2016

I know I said I'd be gone for a little while, but posts like this take 5 minutes and I feel like I need this to stop myself from jamming a biro into my temple while revising for my Public Affairs exam.

If you like Randon's Reviews (or even just tolerate it), you should really LIKE THE RR FACEBOOK PAGE, because I often post stuff on there that doesn't air on here... until now, of course. Every Sunday I reveal my RECORDS OF THE WEEK, and seeing as I did a playlist for the ROTWs spanning January to March, I've gone and done the same for April to July so you can get a taste of all the rad shit that has soundtrack this transitional period of time for Randon's Reviews, and my life in general.

It's even more of a clusterfuck than the last one, but in that regard there's a bit of something for everyone in there, and it's really just testament to the incredible half-year it's been for new music. Just incredible. 

Any records/podcasts/stuff not represented in the Spotify playlist for whatever reason are marked with an *, and there'll be alternative links to hear them - I especially recommend the GOING OFF TRACK podcast if you like the conversational tangents I go off on with my guests on BITCHIN' BREW. Meanwhile, MUNCIE GIRLS have also done a really fucking awesome cover of Iron Maiden's 'THE WICKER MAN' too (I'm sure that if you ask them really nicely, they'll play it at a show sometime - don't quote me on that).

Without further ado, here's a week-by-week breakdown of April to July's Records Of The Week:

WEEK 10 (03/04/16): WARHORNS - WARHORNS (EP); BOB MOULD - PATCH THE SKY; SEAWAY - COLOUR BLIND; RORY INDIANA - RULING CLASS CROOKS

WEEK 11 (10/04/16): WEEZER - WEEZER (THE WHITE ALBUM); BLACK PEAKS - STATUES; FAITH NO MORE - SOL INVICTUS; THE NEW TUSK - SLOOM

WEEK 12 (17/04/16): DEFTONES - GORE; MOOSE BLOOD - I'LL KEEP YOU IN MIND, FROM TIME TO TIME; SYSTEM OF A DOWN - TOXICITY; GOING OFF TRACK PODCAST *

WEEK 13 (24/04/16): CAN'T SWIM - CAN'T SWIM (EP); THE WINTER PASSING - A DIFFERENT SPACE OF MIND; NECK DEEP - LIFE'S NOT OUT TO GET YOU; PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION - PURPLE RAIN *

WEEK 15 (08/05/16) * : ROB ZOMBIE - THE ELECTRIC WARLOCK ACID WITCH SATANIC ORGY CELEBRATION DISPENSER; THE SMASHING PUMPKINS - MELLON COLLIE & THE INFINITE SADNESS; GUILT - EVERBLUE / LOW SCENE (SINGLE); ASH - 1977

* APPARENTLY I MISSED A WEEK BECAUSE I'M A DICK LIKE THAT

WEEK 16 (15/05/16): NOTHING - TIRED OF TOMORROW; SAD BLOOD - LEGION OF GLOOM (EP); THE DRUMS - THE DRUMS; ACID TONGUE - I DIED DREAMING (EP)

WEEK 17 (22/05/16): MODERN BASEBALL - HOLY GHOST; LONELY THE BRAVE - THINGS WILL MATTER; THE MENZINGERS - RENTED WORLD; ANGEL DU$T - A.D.

WEEKS 18 + 19 (29/05/16 + 05/06/16): THRICE - TO BE EVERYWHERE IS TO BE NOWHERE; ARCHITECTS - ALL OUR GODS HAVE ABANDONED US; SHE CRAZY - SURFING U.A.E. (SINGLE); PUP - THE DREAM IS OVER; EVERY TIME I DIE - THE BIG DIRTY; RIVAL SONS - HOLLOW BONES; SEAFOAL - LUCID LIVING (EP); RAIN - SOLIS (SINGLE); NEW FOUND GLORY - CATALYST

WEEK 20 (12/06/16): CANE HILL - SMILE; LETLIVE. - IF I'M THE DEVIL; BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB - A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIX; VARIOUS ARTISTS - MAIDEN HEAVEN VOLUME 2: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE TO IRON MAIDEN (AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVE IN KERRANG!) *

WEEK 21 (19/06/16): GOJIRA - MAGMA; THE HOTELIER - GOODNESS; OCEANS OF SLUMBER - WINTER; SWEDISH DEATH CANDY - LIQUORICE (EP)

WEEK 22 (26/06/16): MARTHA - BLISTERS IN THE PIT OF MY HEART; GREYWIND - CAR SPIN (SINGLE); WEATHERSTATE - DUMBSTRUCK (EP); GALLOWS - GREY BRITAIN

Like what you see? Check out the playlist below, and SUBSCRIBE TO RANDON'S REVIEWS ON SPOTIFY for more kick-ass sequences of noise.

Soon...

Danny

THE RR PLAYLIST VOL. III: 10 POP-PUNK BANGERS TO GET YOU THROUGH EXAM SEASON

Exam season is among us. Can you hear the collective cry of anxiety, panic and desperation? It sounds a little something like 'FUCK!' 

I've always been more of a person who can thrive in their own time (usually during all-nighters in the library) through coursework, so I counted my lucky stars that my degree was completely exam-free. That's not to rub it in - by that point I'd been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and ruined it during one of those unnecessarily snotty crying sessions. 

Now I'm back at college for my journalism diploma, I'm back in the exam rooms and I'm once again trying to shift my anxieties. It's tough, I get it. I'm not here to 'do a Jacob Sartorius' (the little twatface), I'm just here to remind you that there's no music that can get you more psyched before entering that deathly quiet exam hall than pop-punk. 

Songs about love, songs about the summer, songs about your friends, songs about your hometown, songs about getting out of your hometown with your friends, in the summer no less... The tiniest melody or shortest lyric just does something to you that makes you want to jump around like every early-00s pop-punk band you watched on Kerrang! (Remember: it's hop-hop-tuck jump-hop, repeat...)

I was inspired to make an exam season edition of THE RR PLAYLIST after a friend told me that the pop-punk playlist I had made for myself on Spotify (appropriately titled Pre-Exam Posi Vibes) helped him out too before we sat the same exam. Below are 10 pop-punk songs to invigorate your very best feels, be it in a cathartic process or an all-out burst of positivity. After a blast of this, you'll be ready to go 'OH YEAH? WELL FUCK YOU TOO, EXAMS.'

I'm not going to say anything more on the featured tracks as I have previously done with The RR Playlists, because let's face it, you've got better things to do than hear me wazzing off about how good New Found Glory are. There's plenty of opportunities for that on the other side of exam season. Instead, here are 3 lyrics from the playlist to give you a quick burst of the happy feels...

"ONE STEP AT A TIME, ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER, I'M GONNA GET THROUGH THIS, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER"

- Alan Day & Dan O'Connor Four Year Strong - 'One Step At A Time'

"THIS FEELING WILL ONLY GET BETTER, I'LL JUST HOLD IT ALL TOGETHER"

- Eddy Brewerton, Moose Blood - 'Honey'

AAAAND my personal favourite:

"IN THIS VAST NETWORK OF SHARKS AND MINNOWS, WHERE THE MINNOWS OUTNUMBER THE SHARKS A MILLION TO ONE, WHY IS IT THAT WE HAVE YET TO CONVERGE? TO TAKE ON THE UPPER HAND? WHY HAVE WE BEEN SO SCARED? WELL NOT TODAY, NOT ANYMORE, THIS IS US GROWING UP, STILL YOUNG BUT NO LONGER OPPRESSIONABLE, WE HAVE COME TO PILLAGE, WE HAVE COME TO BURN, WE HAVE COME TO INCITE THE RIOT, WE HAVE COME TO TAKE IT OVER!"

- Jordan Brown & Matt Wilson, Set Your Goals - 'Mutiny!'

(If you don't feel like you could fuck the sky after hearing that, then you need help)

Think of the summer. Think of festivals. Think of warm cans of cider. Think of the fact that I managed to graduate from university, and look at me, I'm a wreck.

And if that doesn't help, here's Bill Murray with the final words...

Danny

RECORDS OF THE WEEK: JANUARY - MARCH 2016

If you have liked the Randon's Reviews Facebook page, you're not a dick you may have noticed that I publish a small group of albums/EPs/singles on there at the end of each week judged on what has soundtracked the preceding six days. Whether they are new/upcoming releases, old favourites or albums that I may only just be discovering, they are my RECORDS OF THE WEEK. Now that we are pretty much a quarter of a way through 2016 (where the flying shit did the time go?), I thought I'd put together a quick mega-playlist featuring one track from each of the records featured*.

* Not including Scroobius Pip's Distraction Pieces Podcast, and the fucking atrocity that is Reckless Love's InVader, which I featured rather aptly as a joke.

If you haven't quite got the memo at this point, my taste in tunes can be eclectic at the best of times: there's <sometimes> a bit of linearity (the transition from Muncie Girls to Muskets to Into It. Over It. kinda works, doesn't it?), but it can also be one hell of a headfuck. Case in point? Cane Hill into Savages into Municipal Waste (is gonna fuck you up) into Arcade Fire. What is even up with that, brain?

I'm not really counting this particular playlist as an edition of The RR Playlist as I've already spoken at length about some of the music featured in Records Of The Week - you can click on some of the titles in the captions below to see their individual reviews.

Scroll to the bottom of this post for the playlist via the Randon's Reviews Spotify page (hint hint), but first, here's an 'ICYMI' of my Records Of The Week from January to March 2016:

Week 1 (31/01/16): Milk Teeth - Vile Child;
Hindsights - Cold Walls / Cloudy Eyes;
Basement - Promise Everything;
Beach Slang - The Things We Do To
Find People Who Feel Like Us

Week 2 (07/02/16): The Black Queen - Fever Daydream;
Bury Tomorrow - Earthbound;
Five Miles North Of Nowhere - Less Talk,
More Action EP;
The Get Up Kids - Something To Write Home About

Week 3 (14/02/16): Rain - Symphony Pains EP;
Title Fight - Hyperview;
Diet Cig - Over Easy EP;
Creeper - The Stranger EP

Week 4 (21/02/16): Cane Hill - Cane Hill EP;
Savages - Adore Life;
Municipal Waste - The Art Of Partying;
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Week 5 (28/02/16): Pretend Happy - Tired Eyes;
Grader - Wholly EP;
PVRIS - White Noise;
Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip*

* OBVIOUSLY THIS ISN'T FEATURED ON THE PLAYLIST, BUT I
ENCOURAGE YOU TO SUBSCRIBE ON iTUNES, IT'S THE SHIT.

Week 6 (06/03/16): Muncie Girls - From Caplan To Belsize;
Muskets - Spin EP;
Into It. Over It. - Proper;
Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster...

Week 7 (13/03/16): Cheap Meat - The Parts
That Show EP;
Sorority Noise - It Kindly Stopped
For Me EP (released April 8th on Topshelf Records);
Architects - A Match Made In Heaven (new album,
All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us, is out May 27th
on Epitaph Records);
Max Raptor - Max Raptor (released April 22nd on Hassle Records)

Week 8 (20/03/16): Glassjaw - Worship And Tribute;
John Coffey - A House For Thee EP;
Turnover - Humblest Pleasures EP;
Reckless Love - InVader *

* JUST NO. JUST FUCKING NO. I COULDN'T EVEN MUSTER UP
ENOUGH ENERGY LAST WEEK TO WRITE ABOUT HOW FUCKING
DIABOLICAL THIS RECORD IS. AVOID IT LIKE THE FUCKING PLAGUE.

Week 9 (27/03/16): Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression;
The Dirty Nil - Higher Power;
Brian Fallon - Painkillers;
Heck - Instructions

YOU CAN NOW STREAM THE MEGA-PLAYLIST OF 'RECORDS OF THE WEEK' FROM JANUARY TO MARCH BELOW VIA SPOTIFY:

Don't forget: like the Randon's Reviews page on Facebook (honestly, every single 'like' is appreciated beyond words) to see the Records Of The Week as they come in. I'll do another playlist like this when summer arrives, at which point you probably won't be sat at your laptops wishing Storm Katie would get to fuck already.

Ho hum, hang in there folks: the shit part is nearly over.

Danny

THE RR PLAYLIST VOL. II: THE BEST AND THE REST OF 2016 (SO FAR)

Wow, what a start to the year. As far as new music goes, 2016 is certainly shitting all over the last couple of years, and it only felt right for me to look back at some of the noteworthy records from the first two months with a big fuck-off playlist. And, believe me, there are a LOT of records...

I'll start this edition of The RR Playlist as I mean to continue, and that's fucking loudly... Now, BURY TOMORROW. As someone who immersed himself in that 'metalcore' scene around 2011/2012, a lot of which I now look back at in horror (yeah, I'm looking at you, Texas In July and Woe, Is Me), I don't know why Bury Tomorrow's records never had a lasting resonance with me. There's tracks like 'Lionheart' and 'Royal Blood' that are fucking huge, and the live shows have always been worth getting excited about, but when it came to the albums, I just felt a bit deflated and unfulfilled... until now.

EARTHBOUND is an absolute masterclass in how to do modern metal right, and I'm so glad that Bury Tomorrow have finally hit that nail square on the bonce. From the very start of that double-bass onslaught in 'THE ETERNAL', it is an unrelenting barrage of crushing hooks and beatdowns for which Bury Tomorrow have always had the potential to pull off, but have rarely been able to fully unleash. An absolute fucking crusher of a melodic metal album, and anyone who doubts them after this can take their copy of Stand Up And Scream and stick it sideways - this is the real deal.

Something which completely passed me by when it first dropped at the start of the year, but instantly went on this playlist after the first listen, was the return of PUP with 'DVP'. If you haven't heard PUP's self-titled debut album, you should probably stick that on first in order to understand how excited everyone (now including me) is for its follow-up, THE DREAM IS OVER, which is due out later this year. Through singles like 'Reservoir' and 'Mabu', they've established a sound which dips between scuzzy, shambolic garage-punk, and intensely-melodic, chorus-heavy alt-rock. Despite its frantic, face-melter of a lead hook, 'DVP''s verses and vocal harmonies make it a surefire beers-and-burritos summer soundtrack.

One of the bands I'm really looking forward to working with this year at Hassle Records is MAX RAPTOR, who are going to be releasing their second album in April (*NOT A PLUG*). They've been around for a few years now, but thanks to tracks like 'OLD ROMANTICS', they're finally finding a way to punch into the upper echelons of British punk rock. I feel like this track in particular is a gateway track to those bigger things - the melodies and the choruses sound more crowd-pleasing on the same kind of level as Against Me!'s latest work (something which I didn't realise until it was pointed out on That's Not Metal last week), but it's still got that proper 'UP THE PUNX' snarl which has always made them a little bit more authentic and visceral than their contemporaries. Bloody good job by my #TeamHassle cohorts there.

Now I've chatted for a bit about a couple of the punk albums that should keep me on my toes for the rest of the year, let's chat about one of the punk albums which made 2016 a biggie in the first place: VILE CHILD, the sensational debut album by MILK TEETH. I'll refer you to MY FULL REVIEW of this record when it dropped back in January, but 'BRAIN FOOD' is arguably the best place to start in order to summarise both the turbulent, transformative stage that Milk Teeth have been going through lately, as well what we can expect from them in the future: it's playful and poppy, but still carries those 90s-as-fuck vibes from the spikier and more aggressive end of the grunge spectrum. And you know what else? I saw them open their set with it the other night when they supported Tonight Alive, and it is an absolute stormer live.

I want to step away from the punkier side of things for a few tracks, firstly by looking at an album which pleasantly took me by surprise. My only experience of SAVAGES prior to diving into their second record, ADORE LIFE, was a pretty kick-ass performance on Later With... Jools Holland from a few years back, and while I was expecting something a bit noisier and rougher around the edges, this record grooves with elements of desert rock (especially on opening track 'THE ANSWER', which almost sounds like Sleater-Kinney covering Queens Of The Stone Age), before pulsing with the darker, jauntier sounds akin to 80s synth-pop. It's not quite blown my skirt up enough for me to go back to it over and over again, but this album has definitely got appeal far beyond my expectations.

This is where we really verge into poppier, more mainstream territories which, if ventured into right, can really tick my boxes. As we established when I ranked their White Noise videos from 'worst' to best, I am an absolute sucker for PVRIS at the moment, and while their latest single, 'YOU AND I', is the closest to mainstream pop that PVRIS have been so far, I know that the band's gloomier side is still very present, and that they still have it in them to keep writing absolute anthems with really dark and sinister undertones. 'You And I', with the greatest of respects to the rest of the band, is all about Lynn Gunn coming full circle as an absolute powerhouse of a frontwoman, and 2016 is without a shadow of a doubt the year that this band goes global.

PANIC! AT THE DISCO dropped off my radar for a few years, but at the start of the year they (or him) found their way firmly back into my heart for the first time since A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. That's thanks to DEATH OF A BACHELOR: a comeback album that, on the face of it, is cornier than Fat Bastard's shite, but is actually the sum of cinematic production and uncompromising attitude. With the Beyonce-goes-big-band title track amongst other pop-'rock' party bangers, this is Brendon Urie at his most indulgent and shameless, delivering with the same vaudevillian sass that made Fever... a modern classic. I have a long-standing problem with Fall Out Boy making pop music this glossy, but that's probably because they've made Take This To Your Grave and From Under The Cork Tree, and the new stuff is a pile of toss in comparison (actually, not even in comparison: American Beauty / American Psycho is pathetic in its own right). With Panic!, it's a different situation: this has always been a big part of what Urie does, and the level of craft with which he flaunts it is genius.

From one extreme to the other, THE BLACK QUEEN delve into a much more ominous corner of pop, sounding like a warped amalgam of the Drive soundtrack, mixtape-era The Weeknd, Depeche Mode, Crosses and No Devotion. I admittedly don't know much about The Dillinger Escape Plan beyond 'Milk Lizard' and the time Greg Puciato shat in a bag onstage at Reading Festival, but The Black Queen's debut album, FEVER DAYDREAM, still knocked me for six. It's the sort of record that goes 'you think you know Greg Puciato? Well here you go...' and BAM! - tracks like 'Ice To Never' and 'APOCALYPSE MORNING' throw you a huge curveball with enchanting results. Even as someone who's not so clued up about Dillinger, this is not the album you'd expect Puciato to come out with in a million years, but what a milestone of artistic achievement this will be for that man.

I can't say a bad word against LONELY THE BRAVE, and that's not because they're on Hassle Records. I was a fan long before I joined the team at Hassle, and they are without a doubt the most humbled and down-to-earth band I've had the pleasure of knowing and working with. Not to mention the fact that they've written some of the biggest choruses I've heard in my life, with 'BLACK MIRE' proving no exception. If you thought that their debut album, The Day's War, reached new levels of anthemic rock, then you haven't heard anything yet. Working with Ross Orton (who most famously produced Arctic Monkeys' AM) has clearly brought out the best in all of the band, and this first returning single sets a very exciting precedent for their second album, THINGS WILL MATTER, which is out on May 20th.

There's a reason this edition of The RR Playlist is called 'The Best AND THE REST Of 2016', and that's because I really hoped that BASEMENT's new album was a bit better than it turned out to be. Maybe it's because it was so hyped up after the band went on hiatus, maybe it's because they set the bar a bit too high with the contemporary emo opus that is Colourmeinkindness... That said, there are a handful songs on PROMISE EVERYTHING that are well worth your time, and a couple from those handful have some of Basement's finest moments within them. If they took the verses from 'BROTHER'S KEEPER' which really drive home that early Foo Fighters influence, and put them with the choruses from 'Aquasun' and 'For You The Moon', and then used that formula over the course of a whole record (with variations, of course), then we'd be looking at our #1 Album of 2016 already.

Here's one that went on the playlist last minute after hearing it on the Radio 1 Rock Show literally made me stop and stare at my speakers. NOTHING's debut album, Guilty Of Everything, was adored by a lot of people around me but sadly passed me by. I rectified that as soon as I heard 'VERTIGO FLOWERS', and boy, I sure am excited to hear the new album, TIRED OF TOMORROW, when it drops in May. The band still have the dreaminess of their earlier, shoegaze-y material, but they've also developed an ear for catchy-as-fuck alt-rock choruses. Keep listening until the end for a monumental breakdown which will hit you right in the centre of the feels.

I'll keep this next one pretty brief, as I recently spoke about the record in some detail (you can read my review HERE), but I cannot stress how important it is for you to listen to RAIN and their debut EP, SYMPHONY PAINS. It's a shame that the grunge revival scene of late is already starting to drip-feed us some bands that just sound lethargic in all the wrong ways, making distorted, 90s-esque noise for the sake of sounding purposefully 'nostalgic', but Rain feel much more authentic and are of greater potential by taking those washed-out guitar tones and applying it to massive-sounding alt-rock (as best heard on the single 'SLUR'). Definitely one of the shining stars of their scene right now.

The only scene surrounded by more buzz (and rightfully so) is the UK punk scene; from the re-emergence of the DIY ethos and kitchen shows, to bands punching into the upper echelons of alternative music as a whole. MUNCIE GIRLS sit very comfortable between both ends of the spectrum, and even as their fanbase grows on a daily basis, they've kept the passion and ideals of a DIY punk band on their heroic debut album, FROM CAPLAN TO BELSIZE. Track after track after track, it is a fucking ridiculously infectious record, but the lyrics are thought-provoking and revolutionary, just like punk rock should be. So if you're like me and you feel so confused by contemporary politics that it leaves you clueless as to what to actually do, here's what you do: stick on 'LEARN IN SCHOOL' and embrace your radical side. Muncie Girls are the socially-conscious punk band of this generation.

In terms of momentum-building, WEATHERSTATE are following not too far behind their peers, and the more and more I listen to their debut EP, DUMBSTRUCK, the more I think that giving it 3/5 for Upset was a bit over-critical. Here's the thing: a couple of years ago, you'd look at these sort of snotty underground punk kids and think 'this will never go beyond toilet venues', but like several of the bands on this list, Weatherstate have it in them to go way beyond that. It's thanks to songs with massive early Green Day-esque choruses like 'STUCK IN A HOLE', and when I listen back to the EP (which I have done frequently), I could maybe justify my criticism with the fact that this is just the start of something a lot bigger.

The excitement around the UK punk scene now expands far beyond the sounds that you might generally perceive as 'punk rock'. This burgeoning community also welcomes in bands from scenes of emo and grunge revival, hardcore and alt-rock, the latter of which has bands like PRETEND HAPPY to boast. This band found their way into my peripherals via the UK Emo/Grunge and UK Pop-Punk groups on Facebook (both brilliant places to go if you want to edge your way further into that community), and through the likes of 'HELLP' and 'Arsonist', they show songwriting chops far beyond their infancy as a band on their debut album, TIRED EYES: a record bursting at its seams with astounding clarity and powerful melodic choruses.

This next record is a weird one, because even after half a dozen plays of their latest EP, WHOLLY, I didn't really 'get' GRADER until I saw them live (where they proceeded tear my jaw from my face) last week. At first it just sounds like bog-standard hardcore with really divisive vocals, but when you saw the bare-bones emotion that the band pour into their performance, then you listen back to the EP and the catharsis behind the music makes a lot more sense. Sometimes that happens with bands, which is why it's so important to check them out live on support slots or at small shows. Listening back to the EP after seeing them live, tracks like 'WILT' (featuring Will Gould from Creeper, but more about them in a minute) strike so much more of a chord, and now I can see why they people see them as such bright lights on the UK hardcore scene.

Speaking of bright lights, and Will Gould, and Creeper... let's face it: there's only one band that could have ended this playlist, and NO, I don't think I am ever going to shut up about them. Muncie Girls may be the "socially-conscious punk band of our generation", but CREEPER are the punk band of our generation, full stop. I've already spoken at length about THE STRANGER EP (again, you can read my review of it HERE), but I just want to say this: when they played The Underworld last week, I witnessed a band coming full circle in terms of their concept, their theatricality and their truly captivating presence on stage, and when they played 'MISERY', it became even clearer to me that Creeper (as well as perhaps Lonely The Brave on account of how massive they sound) are going to be the next British band to conquer arenas, and I couldn't be prouder of them. Until then, though, let's just take pride in the fact that they're playing venues without barriers, and we can still stagedive our fucking legs off to them.

There you go: that's a massive playlist to tide you over for a little while, and as ever, you can stream the playlist above via the RR Spotify. I've been working on some pretty cool stuff for the blog in the near future, but until then, I want to know which records have been making your 2016 (so far) awesome. Pop it in the comments below, or hit me up on Facebook and Twitter, and who knows? I may like it enough to stick it in The RR Playlist #3. Or not, I can be a cynical prick sometimes.

I'm also always up for hearing your music, so if you are in a band that you think I could comfortably wrap my ears around, send your sounds to RANDONSREVIEWS@GMAIL.COM.

Fin.

Danny