EP 248: Super 7 Playlists 2024
Killer pod this week. Check out the episode here, here, or here and check the playlist here or here.
What were the best punk & hardcore songs of 2024? Here were our choices:
I think this is a pretty good well rounded group of tunes, especially coupled with the awards short lists from last episode.
Let’s dive into my list:
Collateral “Mind Control” We Still Know 7” Fortress/Scheme Records
Do you enjoy the song “As One” by Warzone? How about “United and Strong” by Agnostic Front? “It’s The Limit” by the Cro-Mags? If not, you probably just don’t like hardcore, or USHC at least. Sure, you could like some other segment of hardcore’s big 2020s tent but the real thing? Ehhhh. So what’s the modern equivalent of those jams? “Hardcore for Hardcore”? That seems to be the one tossed around a lot these days and I’m not going to argue with it. I’d like to throw “Mind Control” in the hat too. Zero bullshit. Fast verses. Good Choruses. Catchy singalong over a breakdown with a perfect tempo. Out in 50 seconds.
So…do you like hardcore or nah?
Split System “Underground” Vol. 2 12” Legless Records
I love this song. It’s my favorite punk tempo - a pace that’s about as fast as can be where the guitarist can still down strum. The singer dances over the pulsating beat and the tune is peppered with guitar hooks, climaxing in a final salvo where the lead guitarist lets loose without seemingly ever hitting the G, B, or high E strings. It’s as killer as the chorus. This is my favorite song of the year of any genre.
Canal Irreal “Chicago” Someone Else’s Dance 12” Beach Impediment Records
I hated early ‘90s MTV cuz grunge blew, plus I didn’t like Liquid Television, Joe’s Apartment, Ren & Stimpy, that Tool video, or any other weird shit. Another thing I hated was slam poetry, a medium of expression that I must’ve been exposed to on there. Well this song is half punk jammer and half slam poetry masterpiece and I love it, so maybe I'm finally warming up to the style. I’ve been obsessed with this song since it came out, and why wouldn’t I be? Martin Crudo is one of the best hardcore punk lyricists and frontmen of all time and this is another one of his blessings to us plebeians. In this track he does an amazing job in the first verse painting the picture of being punished by some tourist schlub about his hometown of Chicago. In the 2nd, he lays about everything that he loves about his city that you won’t read about in the Thomas Guide, and in the 3rd he talks about the dark side of the city and how he’s learned to survive in it. It’s the duality of the song that makes it special though. The creative setup of the verses brings us to one of the most stripped down punk choruses imaginable (“I don’t care!”) - basically just one step above a “fuck you” chorus.
Fuck yea.
Thought Control “Full Of Shit” Sick and Tired of the Talking Heads 7” Crew Cuts Records
Hardcore was created by young angry kids and discontent is an essential element to the mix. If you’re going to write decent hardcore tunes, you have to either be living with it or have the ability to tap back into it. So just like Canal Irreal’s chorus (“I don’t care!”), Thought Control taps into the same simple rage circuit with their hook (“You’re full of shit.”) I remember watching the UFC at a bar in Pacific Beach probably 15 years ago and they had a special on $2 Mickey’s grenades (alright!). As that ice cold malt liquor hit my tongue, a flood of ridiculous memories of me as a 14 year old came flooding back. It’s wild how tastes or smells can transport you back to a place or time in your life. Now that I’ve quit drinking, luckily I have this Thought Control track to jam when I want to teleport back to my early teens, when I was pissed off at everything and nothing all at once.
Torena “No Control” No Control 12” DAZE Records
Vampires fear sunlight. Werewolves fear silver. Demons fear holy water. Heavy mosh bands fear brevity. Well, bands other than Torena. The newest pride of Oxnard, CA dropped another 12” this year - eight songs clocking in at under 15 minutes without a single one breaking the 2:30 mark. “No Control” is only 1:17, has fast parts and one of the gnarliest breakdowns of the year. Then it’s over and you’re on to the next or clicking back to hear this one again, just how it should be.
Public Acid “Slow Bleed” Deadly Struggle 12” Beach Impediment Records
It’s crucial to have pallet cleansing albums in your rotation. When you listen to too much new bullshit that sucks, what record do you return to in order to clear the slate? Last year for me it was the Speed Plans LP. This year, the Public Acid LP served not only as my pallet cleanser but as my favorite hardcore punk album of the year. It’s best as a sum of all parts and it’s hard to pick a fav track, so I just took the first one that hits after the needle drop.
En La Muerte “Bleed” Self Titled 7” Extinction Burst Records
I’ll try to not sound like a dusty barnacle here but the world would seriously be a better place if young bands tried to sound like this instead of 3rd rate beatdown bullshit. En La Muerte’s 7” sounds like first wave So Cal hardcore without coming off like its apeing a specific band or album. There’s definitely some early Suicidal Tendencies in there and probably some Circle One and Ill Repute too. It’s both extremely creative while still maintaining its raw edge and simplicity at the same time. Listen to “Bleed” and try to tell me I’m wrong.
Some honorables:
That’s it for 2024. It was a killer year that gave me more records that will stay in my rotation than any year since 2019, maybe longer. We had some important records too. Kriegshög’s LP seemed to transcend the raw punk scene to be pretty much universally loved. The Missing Link LP will hopefully be a blueprint for moshcore bands to show catchy songs can still be hard as fuck. There were more good demos this year than I can remember from any other year - not just decent demos, but killer ones that could’ve been EPs in other eras. Let’s hope some of these bands stick around and they aren’t just projects. Labels like Rebirth, Scheme, Fortress, Extinction Burst, From Within, and others are really doing cool shit that’s fueling the future of roots hardcore. As we move out of the post-COVID boom, the foundation is strong for the real shit to thrive.
On the home front here in San Diego, hardcore is still having a moment and shows are doing better than ever. If you want to see a piece of that, I did a zine documenting the year that you can purchase here. As much as podcasts and substacks like this one bloviate about hardcore on national and international levels, never forget the backbone of this thing is always in the room. Support your scene. If you live somewhere with a scene and don’t like or support any local bands, you’re a lame.
Cya in 2025.
- ZN