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New Music Monday: The Max Levine Ensemble

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Max Levine Ensemble Backlash artPop punk gets a bad rap in the world of music. The cultural consensus seems to be that it is a genre for high school students, whose taste will eventually mature out of it. On their latest album, Backlash, Baby, The Max Levine Ensemble proves that is a facile claim. The album comes out on November 20th through both Rumbletowne Records and Lame-O Records.

Backlash, Baby is filled with catchy, fast songs, with only a few tracks as exceptions. Contrary to the pop punk stereotype, however, the band’s lyrics are clever and inquisitive. “My Valerian,”for example, compares a lover to the sedative herb. The track runs at mid-tempo, making it one of those few exceptions, but the guitars still thunder in the foreground.

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The Max Levine Ensemble - My Valerian

“Sun’s Early Rays” follows “My Valerian” on Backlash, Baby, but quickens the pace. The track is strongest example on the record of a grown-up pop punk song. It’s fast, it’s catchy, it’s got a great hook, but the lyrics are not simplistic. “Sun’s Early Rays,” as the band’s David Combs told BrooklynVegan in an interview “is about global warming and the video [see below] is a loose metaphor for that.”

The Max Levine Ensemble - Sun's Early Rays

For any listener interested in a catchy, fast-paced, and clever record, The Max Levine Ensemble’s Backlas, Baby is a great choice.

Backlash, Baby is available for preorder through Amazon, Lame-O, and Rumbletowne.

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New Music Monday: David Bowie
new music monday david bowie chicago 2002 08 photoby by adam bielawski

Editor's note: This post was written before we learned of the death of Mr. Bowie. Our condolences to his family. 

In 2013, David Bowie returned from a decade-long hiatus with The Next Day. The album was well-received critically and found Bowie back in the art-pop territory he has long found his own. Now, two years later, David Bowie is back with another new album, Blackstar. Even after 26 studio albums, Bowie has managed to make a record unique from all his others.

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New Music Monday: Our Most Anticipated Albums of 2016
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This week's New Music Monday is breaking format slightly by focusing not on a record that's come out recently, but on what's to come. Below you will find three artists whose records are some of our most anticipated albums for the coming year.

 

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New Music Monday: Bruce Springsteen
new music monday bruce springsteen photo

Born to Run may have celebrated the 40th anniversary of its release this year, but it was a different Bruce Springsteen record that saw a box set released in its honor in 2015: The River. Titled The Ties That Bind: The River Collection, the set contains a wealth of content, including (deep breath): a remastered version of the original double album, the collection of songs that comprised Springsteen's scrapped initial version of the album, outtakes from the recording of The River, songs that were dropped from the final tracklist, a documentary about the making of the album, two and half hours of concert footage from the 1980 tour, and footage of Springsteen and the E-Street Band rehearsing for that tour. All in all, The Ties That Bind has 52 tracks and four hours of video, not to mention a hefty coffee table book. Suffice to say, it's quite the package.

Originally released in 1980, The River was Springsteen's followup to Darkness on the Edge of Town, and in many ways the record came out of its predecessor. After finishing Darkness, Springsteen found that he had more to say about the themes he had addressed on the album. There were tracks that did not fit on Darkness for one reason or another, but which still needed to see the light of day. Those songs would eventually become part of the The Ties That Bind, Springsteen's initial (but unreleased) take on The River. The Ties That Behind, however, was not what Springsteen wanted for his followup to Darkness. As the artist himself noted, "Originally [The River] was a single record. I handed it in with just one record, and I took it back because I didn't feel it was big enough. I wanted to capture the themes I had been writing about on Darkness. I wanted to keep those characters with me and at the same time added music that made our live shows so much fun and joy for our audience."

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