punk this week: eraser, 1-800-mikey, the go, spread joy + 27 more

Hey, it’s Punk This Week. Before we get to this giant-sized new music recommendations column, an announcement! I’m running a Labor Day weekend sale: 25% off annual subscriptions and gift subscriptions. That’s $30/year for you or a beloved punk rocker (ends Wednesday).

Back to business. This column is a doozy—31 blurbs about new records. Partially that’s because it’s Bandcamp Friday, which always brings out a wealth of new stuff. There are new records out this week by Eraser, 1-800-MIKEY, Spread Joy, Generacion Suicida, Anytime Cowboy, Loose Lips, Military School, Retail Simps, and so many more. And the Go released their lost record! It’s seriously an unreal week for new music.

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Eraser: Operator! [Siltbreeze]

On “Trey” off their new album Operator!, Sonam Parikh alludes to the recent lynchings that have been falsely being labeled suicides. That gets flipped into this insistent chorus that addresses that horrifying reality as a petty domestic squabble: “If you were gonna fix it then it would’ve been fixed.” It’s a narrative carryover from their excellent debut Hideout; Philadelphia’s Eraser have a tendency to weave the seemingly superficial with the traumatic. They’re playful in the darkness, clear-headed but coping.

There’s an undoubted lightness to the band’s approach on Operator!, be it the album’s phone menu bookends or the full-band bounciness of the perfectly titled instrumental jam “Imp.” Then there’s “DVD,” an absolute showstopper. Led and largely defined by the near-drone of Kat Bean’s scuzzy and massive bass rumble, Sonam’s mini-synth stabs accompany their list of technological trash—seemingly an allegory for the fucked state of living online. Pier Harrison’s guitar takes to the woozy stratosphere on “Crindy,” and it’s essentially a second vocalist on “Innard Skynyrd.” Whether Juliette Rando’s literally blowing the whistle or providing the album’s bounce, she’s the urgency and the engine. 

Operator! continues the streak of Eraser records that are punchy, digestible, and profoundly cool. It’s not just that the influences and danceability are there, though that helps. It’s that they nail a few ideas perfectly and get out of their own way. When they don’t need words, they don’t reach for them. Sonam’s synth performances are a key example of this. It’s simple and fun, but prodding. Time to move.