Krazy 4 Kravis

Dogleg “Wartotle”

Sam: This is hardly the debut of an extremely old-ass man opinion of mine, but I can’t believe how much better “emo revival” got in the last two years. Everything before this was trash and I only liked it if I squinted and tried my hardest - I remember seeing M***** B******* at Fest and actually apologizing to the people I convinced to join me because it was so objectively not good. Fell in love with Dogleg with the release of “Kawasaki Backflip” but this makes that sound like M***** B******* by comparison. The levels of CD-R energy on this song are off the charts. Children are the future.

Josiah: It’s so funny when Sam blanks out band names because he’s trying not to be rude but then it seems like he’s saying some sort of wildly inventive new slur. This video opening with a skit is so annoying, and it’s also absolutely hilarious that it’s in cinephile anamorphic super widescreen. Is this really emo? It sounds like all the bands people have ever told me sound like Superchunk, who I’ve never really heard. Anyway, pretty good. This is a good way to hear the bands I’ve heard people talk about for the first time.
 

Grumpster “Growing Pains”

Sam: “Was this song cut from the Mallrats soundtrack?” - me offering the highest praise I know for this total mid-tempo mid-fi power-pop gem with a music video that occasionally reminds me of the Dude Ranch insert. And how sick of a band name is “Grumpster?” I don’t think Josiah and I have ever properly talked about Asian Man Records but it’s honestly super fucking cool how Mike Park has kept releasing new and interesting music with a consistent aesthetic BUT without exclusively kowtowing to nostalgic expectations. 10 years ago there’s no way I would have expected “my” labels like No Idea and Kiss of Death to have faded into the background while the guy from Skankin’ Pickle proudly carried the torch into the future, but 10 years ago I was also dumb as shit, so.

Josiah: Wow this has some really nice twee elements to the vocals too. I can hear the Mallrats for sure, but it’s less late nineties cosplay and more timeless basement show energy. Some great harms and palm muting too, and they used the old MAD Magazine font for the titles. Sucks how I want to dunk on Sam and I can’t think of anything because I like this song and, ultimately, like him.
 

Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987)

Josiah: Movies have never been worse than they are right now, and they’re also releasing even less of them. Sure, we sat through A Quiet Place II and whatever other shit recently popped up on RARBG, and we’ll probably sit through the next A24 hype drop too, but it’s disappointing and boring to be a movie buff in 2021. Fortunately, Sara and I have been using our frustration as a motivation to dig into more art house shit than ever before. Éric Rohmer is our absolute fav as his films pack so much romance, philosophy and beauty, with perfect tracking shots of different French cities. And he has such a large body of work. You almost can’t go wrong, but his best work is the underrated 1987 comedy Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle. It’s a coming-of-age film about two young woman — one from the country, one from the city — getting into misadventures as they try to figure their lives out. It looks cool, it has a hilarious trashy disco soundtrack and, most importantly, it’s packed with jokes.

Sam: I love to think about being into watching real movies, like reimagining my life as someone with a deep appreciation for the art of cinema that connects me to a global community of smart, interesting people (and Josiah - I kid!). I even got a Criterion subscription and Josiah made me a list of movies he knew I'd like. I watched one of them and I loved it! He's a good friend that way. But when forced to choose between an underrated ''80s comedy directed by a guy with an acute accent in his name and a movie where something in space explodes, no long tracking shots of different French cities can save me from myself, and space.
 

Fievel Is Glauque “Hit Me Now”

Josiah: It absolutely, unabashedly delighted me when Sam got so mad about this band last week, so much so that I have been listening to the album on repeat. Just like, walking to Canadian Tire listening to this avant-garde cigarette music. The best part is, I know there are moments on the album that are unbelievably annoying but I’m choosing to ignore them. Instead I want to highlight “Hit Me Now” because it’s a lovely and soft indie pop tune that has some wistful romance that would go nicely in, say, The Muppet Show (I got my second vaccine and was fully horse tranq’d but couldn’t sleep, so I binged a bunch of episodes at 4am). There’s beautiful pinch harmonics and Rhodes and strings and sax. C’mon Sam, you want to admit that this is so good. To quote the song: “Anyone can make a mistake. And it’s really too late and it’s too bad.”

Sam: I'm not listening to this because the basketball game is close and I won't do this dance with you.

Sam again: Okay it didn't seem fair to ignore this horrible band and abandon the committed principles of this podcast newsletter just because I'm annoyed my hatred made Josiah like a thing more so I went outside and listened to it and was dejected to find that... this one is good. The other one was bad, but this one is somehow good! I'm also listening on laptop speakers so the diffuse indie intimacy probably helps, and maybe conjruing The Muppet Show tricked my brain, but I'd hate to die a poser and have to live my truth. Last week's song still sucked, though.