“Bad Art & Weirdo Ideas” – Beach Slang
This is the first great New Music Friday of 2016. The first two Fridays of the month were rather slow, lacking both a large number of new releases and a bunch of eagerly awaited albums. But this week there are three new albums I’ve been looking forward to. And based on the review aggregation sites, 4–5 more that I should give some attention to.
With the lack of good, new music so far this year, I’ve been playing the catch-up game with music I missed in late 2015. Beach Slang’s The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us has probably been my most played album of 2016 so far. It’s a wonderful, tight, power-punk album that recalls both fellow Philadelphians Restorations and Japandroids’ epic 2012 album Celebration Rock. Had I paid attention to it when it was released back in October, it may well have ended up as my favorite album of 2015.
This song, as well as most of Beach Slang’s music, is perfect for the heart of winter. They are big, warm songs clearly made for summer. But when our hearts and bodies are cold in January, these help reduce the chill a little.