Some aging rock legends make music that feels like a shadow of the early work that cemented their fame. Not Nina Hagen, though. On Unity (Grönland), her first album since 2011, the German pop-punk icon unleashes a blast of feral camp that sounds if anything more Hagen than ever. Her distinctive theatrical voice has roughened […]
Tag: pop-punk
Posted inMusic
A real underground party on the gig poster of the week
This week’s featured gig poster was created by Justin Gray, an illustrator and designer from New Jersey.
Posted inMusic
Chicago singer-songwriter Nayla Jungheim juices up her tender debut album with pop-punk muscle
Chicago indie singer-songwriter Nayla Jungheim knows that putting her own needs first is the best defense against a cruel and indifferent world. She made her new debut album, the lively and big-hearted This Might Be Healing (self-released digitally and available on cassette via Solidarity Club), using largely acoustic instrumentation as a retort to people in […]
Posted inMusic
Chicagoland emo project Park National cuts its own path in sparklepunk
Chicagoland multi-instrumentalist Liam Fagan is 18: young enough to treat emo bands who are still establishing themselves (particularly critical darlings Oso Oso) as aesthetic polestars, but also old enough to legally get the name of one of his favorite albums (the Hotelier’s Goodness) tattooed on his arm. As the mastermind and sole musician behind Park […]
Posted inMusic
Chicago’s Retirement Party will brighten your summer with the heavy emo of Runaway Dog
Chicago emo acts helped raise the national profile of the fourth-wave scene in the early 2010s, but most of them had gone on hiatus or broken up by the time Retirement Party dropped their debut EP, 2017’s Strictly Speaking. Retirement Party not only filled a void in the city but also manifested new energy with […]
Posted inMusic
Saint Icky brings hesher-friendly hip-hop to Badluck Records’ anniversary show
Local label Badluck Records is celebrating its first birthday with a showcase at a Logan Square DIY venue. (Direct message @badluck_records on Instagram for the address.) Badluck, whose garish yet artful sound takes Warped Tour to grad school, has invited the bands Nightfreak, Rapscallion, and Deep Crush to share the bill with Badluck rappers Chuck […]
Posted inMusic
Political punk stalwarts Anti-Flag take Trump to task on their upcoming album
For the better part of 30 years, Pittsburgh band Anti-Flag have made unapologetically confrontational political punk, cranking out fervent, hook-driven diatribes against facism, racism, animal cruelty, the surveillance state, and other social ills. They’ve also walked the walk, using their band as a platform to support a variety of causes (among them Amnesty International, the […]
Posted inMusic
How Blink-182 gave hip-hop a refreshing Enema
Blink-182 helped connect the mainstream pop-punk of the late 90s to the Soundcloud rap of today.
Posted inMusic
Knuckle Puck do for pop-punk what elastic does for sweatpants
This south-suburban band, on their first Warped Tour to support their imminent debut LP, just want to make more room inside the genre they love.
Posted inBlogs
Local band Pet Symmetry has just the thing for emo-loving dog owners
You and your pet can get something when you preorder the band’s forthcoming debut, Pets Hounds.
Posted inBlogs
12 O’Clock Track: ‘Buddy’ is nostalgic emo-pop-punk from All Dogs
The Columbus band plays at Township tonight.
Posted inBlogs
12 O’Clock Track: The pop-punk shredding on the Marked Men’s “Fix My Brain”
The title cut from the 2006 album by the most relistenable band on the scene in Denton, Texas.
Posted inBlogs
12 O’Clock Track: Ambulars’ sunny and bittersweet “Teenage Hate”
An uplifting pop-punk number about teen angst from Philly DIY trio Ambulars
Posted inBlogs
12 O’Clock Track: “Demon to Lean On,” the Nirvana-flavored new single from Wavves
The big bad return of Nathan Williams
Posted inBlogs
12 O’Clock Track: Boris the Sprinkler, “Kill the Ramones”
Today’s 12 O’Clock Track is Boris the Sprinkler’s “Kill the Ramones”