‘In Defense of the Genre’: Best Punk & Emo Songs
In Defense of the Genre is a column on BrooklynVegan about punk, pop punk, emo, hardcore, post-hardcore, ska-punk, and more, including and often especially the bands and albums and subgenres that weren’t always taken so seriously.
July is a wrap, and it was full of great music from underneath the punk umbrella. I highlight 10 songs below, but first, some features and reviews we ran this month:
* Pool Kids reflect on their breakout year
* 10 classic ska & ska-punk albums turning 20 in 2023
* 5 takeaways from Geoff Rickly‘s live Q&A celebrating his debut book, Someone Who Isn’t Me
* Stateside discuss debut EP It’s What We Do
* July album reviews: Every Time I Die/Dillinger Escape Plan supergroup Better Lovers, Poindexter, Circuit Circuit, Chamber, and Touché Amoré vocalist Jeremy Bolm’s 31-band screamo comp Balladeers, Redefined.
We’ve also got some new exclusive punk vinyl in the BV shop, including Citizen’s new album & Youth reissue (swirl and tri-color, respectively), Balance and Composure’s The Things We Think We’re Missing (splatter), The Wonder Years’ The Greatest Generation (splatter), Deafheaven’s Sunbather (2xLP splatter), Agnostic Front’s Victim In Pain (black platinum swirl), Reel Big Fish’s Candy Coated Fury (splatter), the new Code Orange LP (transparent ochre), the new Mustard Plug (mustard & black pinwheel), the new Dying Fetus (blood red), the new Jeff Rosenstock (opaque gold), Squint’s first two EPs (on one blue 12″), three new Sheer Terror presses, the 20th anniversary edition of Bane’s Give Blood (coke bottle clear), the 10th anniversary edition of Moving Mountains S/T (splatter), Stretch Arm Strong’s A Revolution Transmission (splatter), and much more.
Read on for my picks of the best songs of July that fall somewhere under the punk umbrella, in no particular order…
Citizen – “If You’re Lonely”
Most people probably know Rob Schnapf as Elliott Smith’s go-to producer, but there’s also something really magical that happens whenever he works with a punk/emo band. He’s been behind the boards for Saves The Day’s Stay What You Are and In Reverie, The Anniversary’s Your Majesty, and Joyce Manor’s Cody, and in all of those cases he helped a scrappy, punky band make a really pretty record that doesn’t sound like much other music in the world. Rob lent his talents to Citizen for their upcoming LP Calling The Dogs, and judging by lead single “If You’re Lonely,” he’s done it again. Citizen have reinvented themselves on every LP, and they’ve never sounded this purely gorgeous. From the cozy guitars to the themes in Mat Kerekes’ lyrics, this is Citizen at their warmest and most tender, but still with the trademark percussive shouts informed by Citizen’s adjacency to hardcore. And that chorus just does not leave your head.
Pick up our exclusive swirl vinyl variant and/our our tri-color variant of the ‘Youth’ 10th anniversary reissue here.
Dreamwell – “Obelisk of Hands”
There’s no feeling like when an already-great band obviously levels up, and that’s exactly what Providence screamo/post-hardcore band Dreamwell have done with “Obelisk of Hands,” the first single from their upcoming Prosthetic Records debut In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You. The heavy parts are heavier, the clean parts are cleaner–especially when Anklebiter bassist/former Lilac Queen singer Logan St. Germain provides airy dream pop guest vocals–and the song goes in all kinds of exciting new directions without abandoning what made Dreamwell such a good band in the first place.
Stay Inside – “A Backyard”
Having embraced the darker, more post-hardcore-oriented side of emo on last year’s Blight EP, Stay Inside go in a much different direction on their great new single “A Backyard.” It’s their brightest, breeziest, most spacious sounding song yet, with flashes of alt-country and chamber pop, twee-ish harmonies, and some of the biggest hooks the band has ever written. It was inspired by visiting a friend who moved out of the suburbs to raise a family, and when the band sings “I like it, so I might just stay,” “A Backyard” really is the sound of starting over.
Capra – “Tied Up”
In a 2021 interview with Heavy Metal Culture, Capra’s Tyler Harper cited Converge, Every Time I Die, and Comeback Kid as his top three influences as a guitarist, and he’s gotten better and better at fusing all of that into a seamless blur of heroic riffs and high-speed hardcore. That approach fuels the backdrop of Capra’s new single “Tied Up,” and vocalist Crow Lotus tops it off with tangible, impassioned fury.
The Menzingers – “There’s No Place In This World For Me”
After a pandemic, an acoustic album, a member’s solo album, and a 10th anniversary tour for their most classic album, The Menzingers were clearly ready to do something different. So they left Pennsylvania, decamped to the Texas desert, and hit the famed Sonic Ranch recording studio with producer Brad Cook, who’s best known for working with indie rock and Americana artists like Waxhatchee and Hurray for the Riff Raff, and playing in the band Megafaun. Their new single “There’s No Place In This World For Me” isn’t a full pivot to Americana, but it’s kinda halfway between that and The Menzingers’ trademark sound. They’ve still got the loudness and the kinda-screamed vocals of a punk band, but “There’s No Place In This World For Me” is a ragged, swaying song that’s more Tom Petty than Tim Armstrong, and it hits with that same impact that all the best Menzingers songs do.
The Gaslight Anthem – “History Books” (ft. Bruce Springsteen)
If the new Menzingers song isn’t enough heartland punk for you, I present you the title track of The Gaslight Anthem’s first album in nine years featuring heartland rock pioneer and huge Gaslight Anthem influence Bruce Springsteen. “None of us wanted to make a very somber or serious record showing how much we’ve matured,” said Brian Fallon. “The overall mood was a feeling of excitement.” TGA definitely sound exciting on “History Books,” which just might be the most driving, immediate Gaslight Anthem single since “45.” They still do sound world-weary and mature–not that there’s anything wrong with that–but they’re clearly not too grown up to be churning out bangers.
With Honor – “Rank & File” (ft. Kat Lanzillo)
Some things should remain buried, but With Honor are not one of those things. Having broke up after two albums in the mid 2000s, the Connecticut melodic hardcore band are now signed to Pure Noise and gearing up for their first LP in nearly two decades, and the two lead singles from it are great. Both songs find With Honor breathing new life into the aughts-era melodic hardcore style that they helped define without straying too far from their roots or rehashing old ideas. Either song could’ve been on this list, but “Rank & File” gets the edge thanks to a fiery guest verse from Kat Lanzillo of the soon-to-break-up FAIM.
Svalbard – “Faking It”
Picking up where 2020’s great When I Die, Will It Get Better? left off, Svalbard are as genre-transcendent as ever on the new singles from upcoming LP The Weight Of The Mask. As aggressive as it is beautiful, “Faking It” blurs the lie between D-beating crust punk and blackened post-metal, and Serena Cherry delivers caustic hardcore barks that address the burden of suffering with depression while feeling pressured to put on a happy face.
Open City – “Return Your Stolen Property Is Theft”
Open City have some very familiar faces–vocalist Rachel Rubino (Bridge and Tunnel), guitarist Dan Yemin (Paint It Black, Lifetime, Kid Dynamite), bassist Andy Nelson (Paint It Black, Ceremony), and drummer Chris Wilson (Ted Leo + the Pharmacists, Titus Andronicus)–but their music speaks for itself and never rests on the laurels of members’ past achievements. Dan cites mid ’80s Dischord and early Ink & Dagger as influences on this one, and you can definitely hear that coming through in this jagged, hypnotic song. Rachel moves from emotive shouts to throat-shredding screams as she reckons with being complicit with a society that was built off of previous generations’ sins.
Kaonashi – “Blood Red Camry Dance Party”
Thematically, Kaonashi’s new single and its video picks up where their 2021 concept album Dear Lemon House, You Ruined Me: Senior Year left off, but sonically, it takes a sharp left turn. It’s a catchy, upbeat, poppy song and it still feels fueled by the same type of energy that Kaonashi bring to their chaotic post-hardcore songs. It’s a pop song that still feels rooted in the punk world, and regardless of subgenre, Kaonashi have always forged their own path and this song is no exception. “We’ve always considered Kaonashi to be a progressive band, and this is a progression of our sound.”
—
In an effort to cover as many bands as possible, I try to just do one single per album cycle in these monthly roundups, so catch up on previous months’ lists for even more:
For even more new songs, listen below or subscribe to our playlist of punk/emo/hardcore/etc songs of 2023.
—
Browse our selection of hand-picked punk vinyl.
Read past and future editions of ‘In Defense of the Genre’ here.
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CREATE YOUR LIFE
In Defense of the Genre is a column on BrooklynVegan about punk, pop punk, emo, hardcore, post-hardcore, ska-punk, and more, including and often especially the bands and albums and subgenres that weren’t always taken so seriously.
July is a wrap, and it was full of great music from underneath the punk umbrella. I highlight 10 songs below, but first, some features and reviews we ran this month:
* Pool Kids reflect on their breakout year
* 10 classic ska & ska-punk albums turning 20 in 2023
* 5 takeaways from Geoff Rickly‘s live Q&A celebrating his debut book, Someone Who Isn’t Me
* Stateside discuss debut EP It’s What We Do
* July album reviews: Every Time I Die/Dillinger Escape Plan supergroup Better Lovers, Poindexter, Circuit Circuit, Chamber, and Touché Amoré vocalist Jeremy Bolm’s 31-band screamo comp Balladeers, Redefined.
We’ve also got some new exclusive punk vinyl in the BV shop, including Citizen’s new album & Youth reissue (swirl and tri-color, respectively), Balance and Composure’s The Things We Think We’re Missing (splatter), The Wonder Years’ The Greatest Generation (splatter), Deafheaven’s Sunbather (2xLP splatter), Agnostic Front’s Victim In Pain (black platinum swirl), Reel Big Fish’s Candy Coated Fury (splatter), the new Code Orange LP (transparent ochre), the new Mustard Plug (mustard & black pinwheel), the new Dying Fetus (blood red), the new Jeff Rosenstock (opaque gold), Squint’s first two EPs (on one blue 12″), three new Sheer Terror presses, the 20th anniversary edition of Bane’s Give Blood (coke bottle clear), the 10th anniversary edition of Moving Mountains S/T (splatter), Stretch Arm Strong’s A Revolution Transmission (splatter), and much more.
Read on for my picks of the best songs of July that fall somewhere under the punk umbrella, in no particular order…
Citizen – “If You’re Lonely”
Most people probably know Rob Schnapf as Elliott Smith’s go-to producer, but there’s also something really magical that happens whenever he works with a punk/emo band. He’s been behind the boards for Saves The Day’s Stay What You Are and In Reverie, The Anniversary’s Your Majesty, and Joyce Manor’s Cody, and in all of those cases he helped a scrappy, punky band make a really pretty record that doesn’t sound like much other music in the world. Rob lent his talents to Citizen for their upcoming LP Calling The Dogs, and judging by lead single “If You’re Lonely,” he’s done it again. Citizen have reinvented themselves on every LP, and they’ve never sounded this purely gorgeous. From the cozy guitars to the themes in Mat Kerekes’ lyrics, this is Citizen at their warmest and most tender, but still with the trademark percussive shouts informed by Citizen’s adjacency to hardcore. And that chorus just does not leave your head.
Pick up our exclusive swirl vinyl variant and/our our tri-color variant of the ‘Youth’ 10th anniversary reissue here.
Dreamwell – “Obelisk of Hands”
There’s no feeling like when an already-great band obviously levels up, and that’s exactly what Providence screamo/post-hardcore band Dreamwell have done with “Obelisk of Hands,” the first single from their upcoming Prosthetic Records debut In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You. The heavy parts are heavier, the clean parts are cleaner–especially when Anklebiter bassist/former Lilac Queen singer Logan St. Germain provides airy dream pop guest vocals–and the song goes in all kinds of exciting new directions without abandoning what made Dreamwell such a good band in the first place.
Stay Inside – “A Backyard”
Having embraced the darker, more post-hardcore-oriented side of emo on last year’s Blight EP, Stay Inside go in a much different direction on their great new single “A Backyard.” It’s their brightest, breeziest, most spacious sounding song yet, with flashes of alt-country and chamber pop, twee-ish harmonies, and some of the biggest hooks the band has ever written. It was inspired by visiting a friend who moved out of the suburbs to raise a family, and when the band sings “I like it, so I might just stay,” “A Backyard” really is the sound of starting over.
Capra – “Tied Up”
In a 2021 interview with Heavy Metal Culture, Capra’s Tyler Harper cited Converge, Every Time I Die, and Comeback Kid as his top three influences as a guitarist, and he’s gotten better and better at fusing all of that into a seamless blur of heroic riffs and high-speed hardcore. That approach fuels the backdrop of Capra’s new single “Tied Up,” and vocalist Crow Lotus tops it off with tangible, impassioned fury.
The Menzingers – “There’s No Place In This World For Me”
After a pandemic, an acoustic album, a member’s solo album, and a 10th anniversary tour for their most classic album, The Menzingers were clearly ready to do something different. So they left Pennsylvania, decamped to the Texas desert, and hit the famed Sonic Ranch recording studio with producer Brad Cook, who’s best known for working with indie rock and Americana artists like Waxhatchee and Hurray for the Riff Raff, and playing in the band Megafaun. Their new single “There’s No Place In This World For Me” isn’t a full pivot to Americana, but it’s kinda halfway between that and The Menzingers’ trademark sound. They’ve still got the loudness and the kinda-screamed vocals of a punk band, but “There’s No Place In This World For Me” is a ragged, swaying song that’s more Tom Petty than Tim Armstrong, and it hits with that same impact that all the best Menzingers songs do.
The Gaslight Anthem – “History Books” (ft. Bruce Springsteen)
If the new Menzingers song isn’t enough heartland punk for you, I present you the title track of The Gaslight Anthem’s first album in nine years featuring heartland rock pioneer and huge Gaslight Anthem influence Bruce Springsteen. “None of us wanted to make a very somber or serious record showing how much we’ve matured,” said Brian Fallon. “The overall mood was a feeling of excitement.” TGA definitely sound exciting on “History Books,” which just might be the most driving, immediate Gaslight Anthem single since “45.” They still do sound world-weary and mature–not that there’s anything wrong with that–but they’re clearly not too grown up to be churning out bangers.
With Honor – “Rank & File” (ft. Kat Lanzillo)
Some things should remain buried, but With Honor are not one of those things. Having broke up after two albums in the mid 2000s, the Connecticut melodic hardcore band are now signed to Pure Noise and gearing up for their first LP in nearly two decades, and the two lead singles from it are great. Both songs find With Honor breathing new life into the aughts-era melodic hardcore style that they helped define without straying too far from their roots or rehashing old ideas. Either song could’ve been on this list, but “Rank & File” gets the edge thanks to a fiery guest verse from Kat Lanzillo of the soon-to-break-up FAIM.
Svalbard – “Faking It”
Picking up where 2020’s great When I Die, Will It Get Better? left off, Svalbard are as genre-transcendent as ever on the new singles from upcoming LP The Weight Of The Mask. As aggressive as it is beautiful, “Faking It” blurs the lie between D-beating crust punk and blackened post-metal, and Serena Cherry delivers caustic hardcore barks that address the burden of suffering with depression while feeling pressured to put on a happy face.
Open City – “Return Your Stolen Property Is Theft”
Open City have some very familiar faces–vocalist Rachel Rubino (Bridge and Tunnel), guitarist Dan Yemin (Paint It Black, Lifetime, Kid Dynamite), bassist Andy Nelson (Paint It Black, Ceremony), and drummer Chris Wilson (Ted Leo + the Pharmacists, Titus Andronicus)–but their music speaks for itself and never rests on the laurels of members’ past achievements. Dan cites mid ’80s Dischord and early Ink & Dagger as influences on this one, and you can definitely hear that coming through in this jagged, hypnotic song. Rachel moves from emotive shouts to throat-shredding screams as she reckons with being complicit with a society that was built off of previous generations’ sins.
Kaonashi – “Blood Red Camry Dance Party”
Thematically, Kaonashi’s new single and its video picks up where their 2021 concept album Dear Lemon House, You Ruined Me: Senior Year left off, but sonically, it takes a sharp left turn. It’s a catchy, upbeat, poppy song and it still feels fueled by the same type of energy that Kaonashi bring to their chaotic post-hardcore songs. It’s a pop song that still feels rooted in the punk world, and regardless of subgenre, Kaonashi have always forged their own path and this song is no exception. “We’ve always considered Kaonashi to be a progressive band, and this is a progression of our sound.”
—
In an effort to cover as many bands as possible, I try to just do one single per album cycle in these monthly roundups, so catch up on previous months’ lists for even more:
For even more new songs, listen below or subscribe to our playlist of punk/emo/hardcore/etc songs of 2023.
—
Browse our selection of hand-picked punk vinyl.
Read past and future editions of ‘In Defense of the Genre’ here.
