Flush It Friday: Well, Don’t It Seem Like You’ve Been Here Before?
Using FiF to once again talk about a non-metal record that’s been on my mind. Cry about it.
In a long list of reasons why I will never be TRVE enough, one that’s been on my mind is the fact that my most listened to band for the past few years has been Cali “punk” band Joyce Manor. Existing in the same Venn Diagram of pop-punk, power-pop, and emo as Jeff Rosenstock, PUP, and Prince Daddy and the Hyena (one that I affectionately refer to as “Weezer if they didn’t suck”), Joyce Manor has become so often listened to by me due to a confluence of their knack for effortlessly catchy and cathartic songs and the sheer brevity of each full length. If I have a drive or errand that’s long enough to annoy me but not long enough for a 40+ minute long album, sub-20-minute masterpieces like Joyce Manor, Never Hungover Again, and Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired are as perfect a choice as a random 14 minute-long powerviolence EP or whatever else I could go with.
Now, what really separates a Manor-chud from a real Joyce-head such as myself is one’s opinion on the post-Never Hungover Again material. With 2016’s Cody onward, the group eased up on the more aggressive punk elements of their sound and prioritized the poppier aspects of their songwriting. This past January’s I Used To Go To This Bar is the 4th record in this second leg of the group’s career and their second as a three-piece. While it’s sonically their most diverse since Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired, this new album is probably their most cohesive record thematically since Cody. If that album was about the coming of age between childhood and adulthood, than I Used To Go To This Bar is a bittersweet reflection of the past—from the re-recording of the band’s early-career “Fuck Koalacaust” (now “Well, Don’t It Seem Like You’ve Been Here Before”) and the demo lyric callback on “I Know Where Mark Chen Lives” to the sorrowful nostalgia of the title track and “Grey Guitar.” At every turn, lyricist Barry Johnson uses his unique writing style of earnest, confessional emotion mixed with dream-like stream-of-consciousness and acute attention to detail to create situations that feel banal and otherworldly at the same time.
As for the sound of this record, it emphasizes the ’90s power pop influence of groups like Third Eye Blind and melds it with flashes of cowpunk, jangle pop, and even a bit of synth-pop. The band once again tapped legendary Epitaph Records founder and Bad Religion member Brett Gurewitz for production, whose experience in alternative music can be felt in the way I Used To Go To This Bar regularly bounces between influences and styles without ever feeling half baked or irregular. The end result is maybe one of the band’s most impressive outings, tight as ever and just as emotionally resonant as every other Joyce Manor record. If anything, the consistent quality of the band seems to reflect a central theme of the record: the more things change, the more they stay the same.
I strongly encourage you to dig deep into the Joyce Manor catalog and experience a truly one of a kind band; one with deep levels of quality contained within a discography of incredibly short albums. But, if you choose to remain ignorant, just make sure you check out what the Devilish Dumper had to offer this week:
TMP. TTT. I really figured you’d get it by now…
Voided Grimace brings us a Syberia review all the way from McDonaldland:
It’s fucking beef season over on Toilet Radio:
The Merciful Goddess of Iron graced us mortals with an exclusive stream of the new Agenbite Misery for all you Ulysses-heads. Ulyssites? Ulyssussies?:
Exclusive Album Stream: Agenbite Misery’s Remorse of Conscience
Someone call the based department—Hayduke X has got a multitude of anti-fascist rippers for all the non-chuds in the audience:
Thanks for being here another Friday and hope this finds you well. Stay safe and gimme gimme gimme a GBU after midnight (or whenever works best for you, I’m not picky).
