Spanish Love Songs

I don't think a week has gone by where I haven't got a request for these guys, so I finally did myself a favour and checked them out. And god damn, I have been missing out. Spanish Love Songs are a five-piece punk/indie band from Los Angeles, California that began in 2014. They play a similar style of catchy but visceral punk rock in the vein of bands like The Menzingers and Captain, We're Sinking. The vocals shout and tremble every word like it's their last, the lead guitars keep things melodic while the rhythm section pumps out enough energy to fuel a city.

Their most recent LP, Schmaltz consists of banger after banger, with catchy choruses and lyrics that hit home. Each track is perfectly paced with enough dynamic change-ups to keep them interesting, and the opening and closing tracks are perfect bookends, with the final track "Aloha To No One" living up to its name as a barstool anthem. Thus far I've only listened to their recent LP, but am looking forward to their earlier material, and will think twice before glossing over heavily requested bands like this again. Enjoy.

Giant Sings The Blues (2015)

1. Bad Day

2. Nervous People

3. Concrete

4. Dying

5. Mexico

6. Vermont

7. Friends

8. Remainder

9. Stranger

10. Bright Day

Little Giants (2016)

1. Sad Songs

2. For Ruby

3. Check Your Hair

4. Stranger (Acoustic)

5. Concrete (Demo)

6. Nervous People (Demo)

7. Vermont (Demo)

8. Bright Day (Demo)

9. Roosevelt (Demo)

Buffalo Buffalo (2017)

1. Buffalo Buffalo

2. The Boy Considers His Haircut

3. Hot Faucet Cold Faucet

Schmaltz (2018)

1. Nuevo

2. Sequels, Remakes, & Adaptations

3. Bellyache

4. Buffalo Buffalo

5. Otis/Carl

6. The Boy Considers His Haircut

7. El Nino Considers His Failuers

8. Joana, In Five Acts

9. Beer & NyQuil (Hold It Together)

10. It's Not Interesting

11. Aloha to No One

Brave Faces Everyone (2020)

1. Routine Pain

2. Self-Destruction (As A Sensible Career Choice)

3. Generation Loss

4. Kick

5. Beach Front Property

6. Losers

7. Optimism (As A Radical Life Choice)

8. Losers, Pt. 2

9. Dolores

10. Brave Faces, Everyone

Phantom Limb (2021)

1. Phantom Limb

2. Blacking Out The Friction (Death Cab For Cutie cover)

Brave Faces Etc. (2022)

1. Routine Pain (Etc. Version)

2. Self-Destruction (As A Sensible Career Choice) (Etc. Version)

3. Generation Loss (Etc. Version)

4. Kick (Etc. Version)

5. Beach Front Property (Etc. Version)

6. Losers (Etc. Version)

7. Optimism (As A Radical Life Choice) (Etc. Version)

8. Losers, Pt. 2 (Etc. Version)

9. Dolores (Etc. Version)

10. Brave Faces, Everyone (Etc. Version)

No Joy (2023)

1. Lifers

2. Pendulum

3. Haunted

4. Clean-Up Crew

5. Middle Of Nine

6. Marvel

7. I'm Gonna Miss Everything

8. Rapture Chaser

9. Mutable

10. Here You Are

11. Exit Bags

12. Re-Emerging Signs Of The Apocalypse

Bandcamp

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Website

Knope

Knope are a four-piece emo/indie band from Fairfax, Virginia that began in 2018. They put out a fantastic EP last year titled No Life., that hits a really cool niche. My first listen through of it gave off some seriously nostalgic vibes and reminded me of classic revival bands like Dikembe mixed with a slightly newer act such as Free Throw. The vocals are in Knope little gruffer than most bands in the genre, which really set them apart from a lot of bands attempting this sound. Not to mention there is some heavy pop punk influence, which give the songs a real driving force. Not to mention the top-notch songwriting, which is really what makes this band so good. The lyrics are detailed and memorable, and tracks like "Ralph Gets His Heart Broken" are guaranteed to get stuck in your head, while "Demo Lovato" takes you on one hell of a ride. Rambling aside, this is a solid EP that I cannot recommend enough. Enjoy.

Ralph Gets His Heart Broken (2018)

1. Ralph Gets His Heart Broken

No Life. (2018)

1. Ralph Gets His Heart Broken

2. Firestarters Club

3. Demo Lovato

4. Dreamcatcher

5. No Life.

Collegetown (2018)

1. Collegetown

A Doggone Split (2019)

1. closure. - Olympic Cryathalon

2. Good Sleepy - Be Alike

3. Knope - I'm Not A Punk

4. Knope - Piledriver!

5. Good Sleepy - Covers

6. closure. - Chill Lofi Beats To Study To

An Exercise In Patience (2020)

1. Broken Couch

2. Holy Water

3. The Sight Of You

4. Shimmer

Bandcamp

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Lytic

Lytic are a two-piece screamo band from New York, New York that have been around since at least 2016, but only recently released their debut recorded material. They dropped an EP in December 2018, and a split with living legends Shizune this month on Zegema Beach Records. Speaking of legends, Lytic is notable for being the newest project from Jamie Behar, a former member of Saetia and Off Minor. Their debut EP was also produced by fellow Off Minor/Saetia alumni Steve Roche. As expected, this new material is insanely killer. It blends the chaos of emoviolence with the jittery jazz rhythms of Off Minor, all while adding melodic tinges and maintaining a fresh, organic sound. Not sure what else to say except you'll definitely dig this if any of the aforementioned bands appeal to you. Enjoy.

onesidedlp (2018)

1. Bleak

2. The Last Northcore Kid

3. Screens

Shizune/Lytic (2019)

1. Shizune - greg e a roppongi con john macAfee

2. Shizune - occhiaie metafisiche

3. Lytic - Greener Grass

4. Lytic - All Bleeding Stops Eventually

5. Lytic - Lugenpresse

onesidedlp - Bandcamp

Shizune/Lytic - Bandcamp

Shizune/Lytic 7" - USA

Shizune/Lytic 7" - Canada/International

Origami Angel

Origami Angel are a two-piece indie/emo/punk band from Washington, D.C. that began in 2017. Since then, they've dropped two bangin' EP's and a recent split with the also-fantastic Commander Salamander. Sonically, they blend the more modern indie leanings of bands like Modern Baseball and The Hotelier with the classic twinkle of American Football. However, their more recent material has started to slightly shift away from the mid-tempo sad jams and into a more energetic, pop punk-esque style of sad jams. Awesome band, check 'em out. Enjoy.

Quiet Hours (2017)

1. Ride Our Bikes To School

2. SpaceX T-Shirt

3. Osmosis

4. Hey There

5. Mark My Words

6. Step

7. Notice

Doing The Most (2018)

1. effective. Power

2. ROM Hack

3. w / u

4. Thanks! I hate it.

5. fin (the long and untold story of how i know it's meant to be)

Holy Split (2019)

1. Origami Angel - Denny's Devito

2. Origami Angel - Origami Bagel

3. Commander Salamander - Kenny

4. Commander Salamander - Wassup My Good Man

Gen 3 (2019)

1. Ruby

2. Sapphire

3. Emerald

4. XD Gale of Darkness

Somewhere City (2019)

1. Welcome to...

2. 24 Hr Drive-Thru

3. 666 Flags

4. Doctor Whomst

5. Say Less

6. Escape Rope

7. The Title Track

8. Skeleton Key

9. Find Your Throne

10. The Air Up Here

Origami Angel Broke Minecraft (2020)

1. Witchu / Route 1 Baby

2. Roo B / Olympic Hi Dive

3. 24 Hr Delivery / KD MVP

4. Rom Com Hacky Sack / Space Flex T-Skrrt

5. Greenbelt Station

GAMI GANG (2021)

1. #GAMIGANG

2. Self-Destruct

3. Möbius Chicken Strip

4. Noah Fence

5. Mach Bike

6. Ispropyl Alchemy

7. You Won't.

8. Neutrogena Spektor

9. Greenbelt Station

10. Bossa Nova Corps

11. Kno U

12. /trust

13. [spoons rattling]

14. Tom Holland Oates

15. Caught In The Moment

16. Dr. Fondoom

17. Bed Bath & Batman Beyond

18. Footloose Cannonball Brothers.

19. Blanket Statement

20. gg

The Brightest Day (2023)

1. The Brightest Days

2. Thank You, New Jersey

3. Picture Frame

4. Kobayashi Maru (My Very Own)

5. Second Best Friend

6. Looking Out

7. My PG County

8. Few And Far Between

Feeling Not Found (2024)

1. Lost Signal

2. Dirty Mirror Selfie

3. Where Blue Light Blooms

4. Viral

5. Underneath My Skin

6. Wretched Trajectory

7. AP Revisionist History

8. Living Proof

9. Fruit Wine

10. Sixth Cents (Get It?)

11. secondgradefoofight

12. HM07 Waterfall

13. Higher Road

14. Feeling Not Found

Bandcamp

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Envy/Love

Alright, now that we're back to our regularly scheduled programming, the first thing I wanted to share this year was this incredible compilation Zegema Beach Records put out last December. It's an Envy tribute album titled Envy/Love, featuring covers from some of the best screamo acts around now, including Gillian Carter, Massa Nera, Respire, Crowning, and Shizune, among others. The selection of tracks spans multiple Envy releases, though All The Footprints... is unsurprisingly the most represented here. Every band does an incredible job of putting their own spin on these classic tracks while still doing the original justice. I cannot recommend this comp enough for any Envy fan. You can read more about it over at OMSB here, or stream/purchase it below. Enjoy!

 

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Canada/International