A Guide To Pop Punk

Like it or not, pop punk has shown to be one of the most versatile forms of punk rock to emerge, and it’s shown time and time again that it simply won’t die, no matter how hard people try to kill it. Whether it’s 5 Seconds Of Summer playing at the EMA’s, or a garage band covering “All The Small Things” in your local dive bar, pop punk is everywhere. And if you can’t determine your Set Your Goals from your Sum 41’s, I’ve compiled this handy little guide to the various pop punk subgenres contained within this weird and wonderful genre.

Orgcore:

Orgcore actually covers a lot of different punk subgenres, but since it mainly grew out of pop punk, I saw it fit to mention this here. Orgcore gets its name via the fact that bands in the genre tend to be beloved by the website Punknews.org, so the name is more tongue-in-cheek if anything. Sonically, Orgcore bands tend to borrow a lot from genres such as emo, folk punk, indie rock and post-hardcore, and sometimes even all at once. The genre saw its unofficial beginning in the late 90’s, when San Francisco punks Jawbreaker broke up and a crop of bands influenced by them began to pop up and make their mark on the punk landscape. Simply put, if a band sound like they’re a Jawbreaker tribute act (or in some cases, a Superchunk tribute act), they’re most likely an Orgcore group. Key bands in the genre include the pride and joy of Gainesville, Hot Water Music in all their donkey-braying, twin-guitar employing glory. Alkaline Trio, before they fully embraced Hot Topic and became whatever the hell they are now and Against Me! before they recorded Transgender Dysphoria Blues. Orgcore bands also tend to embrace a DIY ethic and definitely fall more on the punk side of pop punk. Modern bands such as Joyce Manor, Tigers Jaw and Lemuria have carried on the Orgcore sound, and given it a fresh indie makeover, fit for Gen Y consumption, making sure that the genre won’t be going away soon.

Easycore:

Easily the funnest subgenre in pop punk, easycore has a multitude of ways you can define it. Also known by the names popcore or happy hardcore (actually a totally different genre, but I digress) at its most basic it’s simply pop punk with breakdowns. But at its most advanced, it’s pretty much one of the most insane and downright funnest genres in pop punk. The genre is generally agreed to have gained its name from New Found Glory’s 2008 Fall tour entitled “The Easycore Tour”, which also featured A Day To Remember and Four Year Strong as support acts. These three bands essentially form the trifecta of modern easycore, and influenced acts such as Set Your Goals and Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! in the process. Easycore contains much influence from genres such as metalcore and hardcore, with gang vocals and breakdowns being a prominent trait. Some bands such as Abandoned By Bears and Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! also prominently feature keyboards in their work, which can lead to a more upbeat and zany sound. Compared to most other pop punk subgenres, easycore definitely takes itself the least seriously, but in that respect it’s easily the funnest and most visceral of all the pop punk subgenres. Sometimes you just need something that’ll make you want to mosh to your hearts content, and there’s nothing wrong with that. When that time comes, chuck some Four Year Strong on and get ready for a beatdown in the key of happy.

Tr00 pop punk:

Coined by the humorous scene blog Stuff You Will Hate, “tr00 pop punk” refers to the wave of pop punk bands who’ve appeared in the last decade and taken the genre by storm.  The key thing that defines these types of bands would have to be their over-reliance on incredibly emotional and angst-ridden lyrics. True, angsty lyrics are a staple of pop punk as a whole, but these bands elevate them to a borderline emo level of annoying. Much like easycore, tr00 pop punk also features prominent gang vocals, but it forgoes the breakdowns and aggressive vocals for a more “traditional” pop punk sound. Key bands in the genre include The Wonder Years (post-2009), The Story So Far, Real Friends, Neck Deep and Man Overboard (pre-2011) It’s hard to determine the exact origin of tr00 pop punk, but I’d say The Wonder Years “The Upsides” and Man Overboard’s “Real Talk”, both released in 2010 were probably the catalysts for the genre as a whole. When you picture kids with ‘Defend Pop Punk’ shirts, and played out pizzacore memes, you’re probably picturing the average fan tr00 pop punk kid. Personally, I like it, but if the thought of Tumblr kids posting Real Friends memes makes you want to run for cover, you’d best steer clear of this one.

Ramonescore:

In 1976, New York based punk rock band the Ramones released what would arguably become the blueprint for punk rock, their self-titled album. Following this, the band released a string of great albums throughout the 70’s such as Leave Home and Rocket To Russia that would cement their legacy as punk legends. In the late 80’s, bands such as Screeching Weasel and The Queers would take the template that the Ramones had originally pioneered and give it a fresh update for the hardcore era, standing in stark contrast to the heavier contemporaries of their time. Throughout the 90’s, record labels such as Lookout! and Asian Man would release multiple albums by Ramonescore bands, furthering the genres appeal throughout the decade.  Ramonescore arguably reached its apex in the early 2000’s, when bands such as Teenage Bottlerocket and The Ergs! emerged and  Ramonescore often crosses over with Orgcore, so occasionally you’ll get bands like the aforementioned Ergs! who blur the lines a bit between the subgenres. Ramonescore can be pretty fun at times, but holy shit it is easily the most derivative out of all these genres (although, that’s kinda the point, to be honest) .Ramonescore is one of the more stagnant of these subgenres and has mostly fell out of fashion in recent years, since there’s only so far you can go with three chords and your best Joey Ramone impression. However, some great recent bands in the genre such as Masked Intruder have emerged lately, proving that there’s still room for those those infamous chord progressions and black leather jackets in pop punk.

And there you have it. Part 2 should come sometime soon, focusing on more pop punk related genres. Thanks for reading 🙂

The Top 10 Most Disappointing Albums Of 2014

10. Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues

[Trigger Warning: This may be hard to stomach] It’s hard to remember back in 2003, when Against Me! were simply a nice little folk punk outfit, plugging away on Plan-It-X records and entertaining the masses with their politically inclined songwriting, and penchant for sweet riffs. Unfortunately, over time they seem to have suffered the same problem most punk bands do: letting the message getting in the way of actually creating good music. Ditching the folk punk sound for a cookie-cutter, paint-by-numbers punk themed around transgender issues sounds nice in theory, but it makes for an extremely boring album. Before you start crying “transphobic” at me, I’m not slating Laura Jane Grace for her gender inclination at all. All I’m saying is, when you construct an entire album based around transgender issues, and that album happens to be comprised of screechy, repetitive two-and-a-half minute punk songs, it tends to wear thin after a while. Probably something to take onboard for the next album, guys.

9. Sam Smith – In The Lonely Hour

When Disclosure’s “Latch” dropped back in early 2013, the world was introduced to Sam Smith and his inhuman falsetto. After following this up with the one-two punch of Lonely Boy’s “La La La” and his own “Stay With Me”,  hopes were high for Smiths’ solo debut. Unfortunately, In The Lonely Hour proved to be 33 minutes of dull-as-dishwater pop music, with none of the charm that Smith’s previous features and singles contained. Unsurprisingly, In The Lonely Hour has now been nominated for two awards at the 57th Grammy Awards, and seems to be a frontrunner for Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, considering the Grammy’s are the sole reason Adele has a career. Time will tell if Smith has the chops to craft a great album in him, but In The Lonely Hour was easily one of the biggest snoozefests of 2014

8. FKA Twigs – LP1

FKA Twigs early EP’s showed quite a bit of promise from the London-based singer. Taking well worn trip-hop and R&B tropes and giving them a fresh update for the 2010’s was a pretty bold move to do, and it paid off well for her. Unfortunately, her first album proper (funnily enough, titled LP1) didn’t seem to have much on offer, other than rehashed ideas from her early EP’s. “Two Weeks” was a great single, fair enough, but when you craft an entire album where every song sounds like a variation on “Two Weeks”, you’re not exactly gonna be turning any heads. Taking everything annoying about Grimes Visions,  and sounding like a derivative version of Jessie Ware’s Devotion, LP1 brought absolutely nothing new to the already crowded Alternative R&B table in 2014 (although she’d probably shoot me for saying that), sounding like a latecomer that forgot that the party already peaked 2 hours ago. Despite her claims that her music is punk as fuck, Twigs should probably try and fine-tune those vocals a bit and forge more of an individual identity for herself, because LP1 isn’t doing her any favours in the originality department.

7. Damon Albarn – Everyday Robots

With Thom Yorke’s Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes dropping back in September, and a new solo album from Noel Gallagher announced for March 2015, 2014  seemed to be the year every 90’s brit-rock icon wanted to embark on a solo career. Damon Albarn’s Everyday Robots arrived back in late Febuary, and was a rather ho-hum, middle-of-the-road debut from the former Britpop icon. Combining the worst excesses of Think Tank era Blur with the most snoozeworthy parts of Gorillaz more “experimental” moments, Everyday Robots makes for a rater dull release that adds nothing significant to Damon Albarn’s progression as an artist However, this late into hiscareer, where we really expecting Albarn to pull another Parklife or Demon Days out of his system? Maybe you should stick to ripping off Radiohead and Pavement, and stick to the the touring rounds mate, it can’t be any worse than this piece of garbage.

5. SBTRKT – Wonder Where We Land

SBTRKT’s self-titled album and his early EP’s were some killer recordings, with the producer exploding out of the UK’s future-garage scene, ready to make his mark on the world. Wonder Where We Land, however, is a classic example of trying to cram way too many ideas into a single record. The album boasts feature artists out the yin-yang, with some of them making the songs work (‘sup Ezra Koenig) and others really falling flat (hello, ever single track Sampha graces with his vocals). Where SBTRKT’s self-titled felt like a slow-build up of fiery talent, Wonder Where We Land feels like that flame slowly running out of oxygen, before finally collapsing into a pithy little shadow of its former glory. The production on this album is so overly minimal, and spread so thin that it’s less “peak of the empire, top of the rock” and more bottom of the barrel. If SBTRKT had decided to maybe trim the fat a little bit and ditch some of the features, Wonder Where We Land could have easily been one of the best albums of the year. As it stands though, it feels like an undercooked meal, with too much dressing and garnish and not enough meat on its bones. Here’s hoping he’ll address these for the next album.

4. Real Friends – Maybe This Place Is The Same And We’re Just Changing

In the past year, Real Friends have caused quite a stir in the pop punk community, with their 2013 EP. They, along with fellow bands such as Neck Deep and The Story So Far have been credited with breathing new life into the semi-dormant shell that is pop punk, along with also bringing a whole new level of angst to the genre’s table. Whether you agree with that or not, one thing’s for sure, their new album sure leaves a lot to be desired Once you get past the mouthful of an album title, you’ll find out that Real Friends debut LP is less youthful pop punk abandon, and more sad, bitter, mid-20’s angst over girlfriend problems. It takes talent to make pop punk sound this borderline depressing, but somehow they managed to pull it off. I’m amazed this was released on Fearless Records, as the label’s previous signees Tonight Alive or Chunk! No Captain Chunk!, have put out rather upbeat and accomplished sounding pop punk albums recently. Maybe Real Friends needs to sit down, take a couple of anti-depressants and cheer up a bit. I’m not saying every pop punk band needs to sound like Sum 41, but god damn, chill the fuck out and lighten up guys. Either that or start saying you play emo instead, don’t be a dick and say you’re one thing and do the other. That’s what shitty bands like The Gaslight Anthem do, guys. You don’t want to be The Gaslight Anthem, do you, Real Friends?

3. Prawn – Kingfisher

My god, this album was a snoozefest. Prawn are an emo band that have been kicking about the scene since about 2006, and Kingfisher was their attempt at hopping onto the emo revival trend. Too bad they couldn’t find out a way to not sound uninspired and imitative of every other crap band that heard “Never Meant” on a random Tumblr page and desperately wanted to be Mike Kinsella. Taking the formula that previous bands such as Snowing or Dads had picked up on, Prawn take all of 40 minutes to make you realise that maybe Topshelf Records should rethink their priorities when it comes to signing bands. I think it was about midway through “Glass, Irony” that I desperately wished I was listening to something, anything that didn’t contain twinkly guitars and soft rock vocals. If you ever want an example of how NOT to write emo revival album, Kingfisher should be your blueprint. And if you ever happen to come across a copy of this album, do yourself a favour and just skip it for a copy Analphabetapolothology, you’ll get infinitely more enjoyment out of essentially the same formula. I hope to god that 2015 becomes the year that twinklecore American-Football ripoffs finally become passe in the emo scene, because good lord was this forgettable.

2. Future Islands – Singles

After building up a name for themselves touring circuit since their inception back in 2006 (whoah, eerie…) Future Islands exploded onto the musical landscape this year after a very meme-worthy performance on The Late Show With David Letterman of their song “Seasons Change”. Unfortunately, outside of “Seasons Change” (which is a seriously great song, don’t get me wrong), the album reeks of filler and underdeveloped ideas. Singles might be the most accurate name for an album I’ve ever heard in my life. After 42 minutes, the band’s new wave synthesizers and Samuel Herrings pseudo death-metal-growler-turned-lounge-crooner vocals really begin to grate on you. Aside from one superb single, there is really nothing on this album that grabs your attention and throttles you to your core. The album probably would’ve made a fantastic EP though, so maybe that should be an indication to stick to your guns, guys?

1. Parquet Courts – Sunbathing Animal

Hey, remember back in 2001 when The Strokes released Is This It? Remember how cool their mixture of 60’s garage rock sounds and 70’s punk execution seemed at the time? Yeah, it’s not 2001 anymore though, it’s 2014, and that formula the New York group pioneered has now been well worn into the ground. Too bad nobody told Parquet Courts though, as they hell-bent on riding the garage rock revival wave well past it’s use-by date. Sunbathing Animal is easily the most frustrating album I’ve heard all year, every song on the album sounds identical, with every song being a variation on the same 3 chord riff. And at 46 minutes, it really wears thin after a while. The terms “buzz-band” and “sophomore slump”get thrown about with reckless abandon in music journalism nowadays, but my god, do they ever suit Parquet Courts perfectly. There is nothing on this album that you haven’t heard a million times before, imagine every cookie-cutter indie rock album you’ve ever listened to and then throw them all in a blender. That’s a rough approximation of what listening to Parquet Courts sounds like. Within a year, I guarantee you nobody will even be able to recall what this album sounded like. And thank god for that, I say.