February Playlist: What Kind of Monster

Another month, another month-end playlist. Here's what I spent my extra-long February listening to:

1. T.I.W.Y.G. - Savages

(from Adore Life)

Don't mess with love. Or Savages, for that matter. Click here to read my review of their new album, Adore Life.

Awkward Pop Songs

JANK (all the coolest bands use CAPS LOCK nowadays) are a band from Philadelphia whom I came across the other week whilst idly poking around the nooks and crannies of Bandcamp. My decision to purchase their album, Awkward Pop Songs, was mostly due to the name of its ninth track Spilt to Bill, which I found hilarious.

Before I had even seen the video above, I strongly suspected that Awkward Pop Songs was an album conceived in some guy's band-postered bedroom and fuelled by innumerable slices of pizza. It just has that sound to it: slackerly yet energetic, high-fively yet wistfully nostalgic. More than anything, this album reminds me of after-school N64 session and hanging out in student digs that smelled like joss sticks and damp.

Awkward Pop Songs is a good name for an album, but I'm not sure it reflects JANK's sound entirely accurately; vocally, they're somewhere between Brand New and blink-182, but the music behind those vocals is more restless and complex than the usual emo/pop-punk fare. Fidgety Pop Songs would perhaps have been a more appropriate title.