AM Radio: August 2024
The best new hardcore and community-made music, updated monthly for Anti-Matter.
With the anticipation of a number of high-profile fall releases on the way, August typically slows down—but not before we add another fourteen new songs to the AM Radio canon. We’re closing out the summer with new music from some of our best, including GEL, Drug Church, and High Vis (all coming soon to Anti-Matter), interview alumni like Many Eyes and Berthold City, and excellent new music from the next wave, with bands like Hyper Vigilant, Carrion Spring, and Bike Routes, among others.
The usual disclaimer still applies: AM Radio is not a running list of every new release, but a selection of personally handpicked music that reflects only those songs that personally excite me—with no outside influence or interference ever. A fresh selection of standout tracks follows below.
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REGIONAL JUSTICE CENTER “Freedom” (Closed Casket Activities)
Back in January, when I spoke with Militarie Gun’s Ian Shelton, the idea that his power-violence band, Regional Justice Center, would soon return—much less with the addition of his younger brother Max, whose incarceration inspired the project to begin with—wasn’t even a suggestion. But since then, Max was released, RJC is back on the table, and the forthcoming Freedom, Sweet Freedom splits vocal duties between the siblings for the band’s most battering work yet. Visceral doesn’t even begin to describe it.
FOXING “Hell 99” (Grand Paradise)
They’ve always been a difficult band to pinpoint, but I was not at all expecting “Hell 99,” the second single from Foxing’s upcoming self-titled album. It’s an unhinged crash of tortured screams, distorted instruments, and lyrical disaffection that is going to ring true (and real) to any red-blooded hardcore kid. By the time I got to the refrain—“Is this all there is? Is this all there is? Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”—I knew this would probably be the most relatable song of the year, too.
HIGH VIS “Mind’s A Lie” (Dais)
For as much as we like to fight it, punk and hardcore kids have always found connective tissue with other underground music scenes—whether it was the Beastie Boys’ move into hip-hop, Moby’s techno crossover, or an entire generation of post-punks who discovered a kinship with acid house. High Vis have already carefully straddled the lines of street punk, hardcore, and mod music in the past, but with “Mind’s a Lie,” the London band brings their UK baggy, house, and dub influences front and center. The delivery is flawless.
PUBLIC OPINION “Drawn From Memory” (Convulse)
Having recently attended to the incredible rise of bands like GEL and MSPAINT, Convulse is arguably on a roll, and the upcoming debut album from Denver’s Public Opinion is likely to benefit. “Drawn From Memory” speaks to the way singer Kevin Hart recently described the band—as “either the surprisingly poppy band on the hardcore show or the surprisingly aggressive band on the indie rock show”—but I’d also argue that sells the band short. This single is concise and gritty and eminently memorable. I might describe at least a dozen incredible ‘80s midwestern post-punk songs in exactly the same way.
LOCKED SHUT “Toothache” (Self-Released)
Look, the “toothache” conceit gets battered in the lyrics. I’ll admit that. But I’ll also be damned if this isn’t one of the most well-executed fuck-you-up-in-the-pit songs I’ve heard in recent memory. Best of all, the whimsy of the video makes it fun. And what do you know? I still like my hardcore fun. More of this, please.
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"...including GEL, Drug Church, and High Vis (all coming soon to Anti-Matter)"
Yessssssssssssssss. I cannot wait for all of these.
Recently I saw the Brian eno documentary entitled “eno” The reason am bringing up eno in a substack page about hXc because of an observation eno made about rivers made me think about these excellent playlists and hXc in general. “Rivers fascinate me there are stable but also constant changing.”