Alkaline Trio/One Man Army - BYO Split Series, Vol. V

There’s no doubt that the BYO Split Series brought the punk scene many classic split albums. Rancid and NOFX released one, as did The Bouncing Souls and Anti-Flag, for example. For me, the one that I have on my turntable pretty regularly is Volume V, which features Alkaline Trio and One Man Army. This album, in my opinion, features some of the best work from both bands. I have always been somewhat of a passive fan when it came to Alkaline Trio, but tracks like “Fine Without You” and “Dead And Broken” are some of my favorites from them, plus the band ends their side with a fantastic cover “Wait For The Blackout” by The Damned. One Man Army’s contribution to this split contains some their best and most catchy tunes as well. They are still right up there with some of Jack Dalrymple's best songs that he wrote with his later bands. It’s tracks like “The TV Song” and “The Hemophiliac” that are the highlights of this split, but it’s “All The Way” that will alway be my favorite One Man Army song. From front to back, this split album is such a fun listen with the volume turned up high.

Fun Side Note: Dead To Me performed “All The Way” at one of the Punk Rock Bowling club shows this year and dedicated it to the Stern brothers. It was a major highlight of the whole festival. -Ricky Frankel

Katy Goodman & Greta Morgan - Take It, It’s Yours

Katy Goodman and Greta Morgan breathe whole new lives into many of the punk and proto-punk classics found on Take It, It’s Yours. Soundscapes painted with lush instrumentation and haunting composition brim over every inch of this release and make for a great winter listen, particularly with the light static of a record player. It finds the driving forces behind La Sera and Springtime Carnivore coming together to visit the foundations of punk and proto-punk. With an aim towards craftsmanship and the artists’ indie-folk leanings, these songs are reconstructed with vivid melodies, eerie ambience, and delicate strumming. The dreamy sounds fall over the listener like a strong sativa encouraging them to drift away over the album’s histrionics. Certainly more well-known songs like “Where Eagles Dare” and “Bastards of Young” stick out for anyone approaching this album, but these reimaginations are so different from the originals that Take It, It’s Yours stands on its whole. -Eric Rosso

Lucy Dacus - Historian

While plenty of people are pretty hyped about Boygenius, Lucy Dacus’ collaboration with Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers, I’ve just been using it as an excuse to revisit Dacus’ second album which she released right at the start of this year. I say revisit, but it hasn’t really been far from my proverbial turntable since it came out. Dacus took the excellent songwriting and ice-queen-cool delivery of her debut album and then loaded it with dynamics and production. If this record ended after the first two songs, it would probably still be my album of the year. “Addictions” and “Night Shift” capture the bittersweet, push-pull of a conflicted break up in a way that will speak to you, no matter how far removed you are from heartache. -Keegan

King Princess - Make My Bed

For real? A nineteen year-old from Brooklyn whose pop-drunk debut EP was produced by Mark Ronson and plugged by Harry Styles? I know how unlikable this setup sounds, believe me, but my stance is yes, yes, one hundred times yes. The hazy melodrama of Make My Bed calls to me in my secret, indie-pop-loving bunker. Edgier than Maggie Rogers and more x-rated than Hayley Kiyoko, King Princess sings phrases like “I rule with the velvet tongue” with simultaneous vulnerability and confidence that makes for some serious top energy and an unapologetic queer sensibility. Musically, the EP is reminiscent of Glass Animals’ ZABA and Now, Now’s Saved, resulting in beat-heavy jams like “Holy” and sleepier numbers like “1950”. King Princess is young and refreshing, and her tight pop quintet Make My Bed made its way onto my figurative turntable with impressive ease. -Carly

Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs

I think it’s crazy that Earl Sweatshirt’s Some Rap Songs was so quickly added to a bunch of year end lists. That being said Earl does some incredible work in the lean twenty-five minutes that make up the album. Earl’s laid back yet sharp lyrical approach has never been better. There’s no time for frills although each beat seems tailor made for his voice. Earl makes music for those of us who are willing to listen, but our opinions are never taken into account. Now that he’s established himself, he doesn’t need fancy guest vocalists like he did on Doris. He’s left to just rap with people he wants to be around and it’s going to sound however he wants it to sound. That’s it. That’s Some Rap Songs. -Nick

Amyl and the Sniffers - Big Attraction

It’s been a little while since a straight up punk band set my brain on fire lie Amyl and the Sniffers. The Aussie band takes the jacked up, blues swagger of AC/DC and and shoots a dose of early West Coast punk Fuck-you-all attitude straight through it. It’s catchy and barbed at the same time. But, despite the band’s middle finger attitude, they wisely counterbalance the anger with some surprisingly earnest vulnerability at points (“West gate” is about painfully walking away from a bad relationship when you don’t want to). Singer Amy is a dynamo that is as likely to bat her eyes as she is to slash someone’s throat. -John Gentile

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