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