During the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine, we could all use a little sunshine in our lives. The new record from classic Maryland pop-punkers All Time Low might just be the perfect way to let that light in.

The band’s seventh full-length studio album, 

is a cheery, bright masterpiece, especially coming off of their last release, the dark, nostalgic 

 released in 2017. The new album looks forward; to healthy, adult relationships and a happier life.

The record opens loudly with the leading singles, “Some Kind of Disaster” and “Sleeping In,” two perfect examples of how the band has matured but still stayed true to their roots. On the latter, they sprinkle in references to Britney Spears and silly pick-up lines among the lyrics to craft a song that might have been right at home on one of their first albums. “Getaway Green,” too, feels like classic All Time Low, with a bit more bubblegum as Alex Gaskarth sings, “We were getaway green / In a world of black and white.”

The title track is a love letter from Gaskarth to anyone struggling to make a name for themselves, or maybe even to himself in a past life: “Everyone wants to be somebody / I just want you to see how good you are / You don’t have to lean on the crutch of a daydream.” The song is an upbeat instant classic, with a hopeful refrain and fast-paced beat.

The listener doesn’t get a break from the energy until the seventh track on the album, “Monster,” a dark, cynical track featuring rapper blackbear. The song lets the band step outside their usual genre into something a little more funky and heavier on bass and percussion. Next, “Pretty Venom (Interlude)” provides a mostly-acoustic rest, a haunting, almost-ballad to a relationship gone wrong.

A highlight on the album is “Favorite Place,” a rousing love song featuring The Band CAMINO in which Gaskarth pleads to the subject for a closer relationship: “You’re everything I love about / the things I hate in me / so come on, come on, come over now / and fix me with your grace / because I’m not too far, and you’re my favorite place.” The next track, “Safe,” is another high point, with a toned-down verse that drops into an energetic chorus with driving drums and guitar riffs and lyrics that focus on escaping the past.

While there really aren’t any bad songs on the album, “Glitter & Crimson” is the one low point, an almost too-shiny, production-heavy track about pushing through the bad parts of a relationship to get to the good again.

The record closes out its bright and shiny adventure with one last nostalgic track, “Basement Noise,” an ode to the band’s history as “stupid boys” practicing in their parents’ basements together during high school.

 is summer in April, sure to be blasted out of open car windows while driving down the highway as soon as the weather matches the feeling this music gives. All Time Low are adults now, and while their music reflects that, they still manage to find a way to connect with the audience that they’ve built up over fifteen years. In a time where the world feels incredibly dark, this album is sure to provide a gleaming new shade of positivity.

All Time Low provides a gleaming new shade of positivity on ‘Wake Up Sunshine’

, middle school dance icon Kesha stampeded back onto the pop music scene, ready for vengeance after a highly-publicized and difficult legal battle with producer Dr. Luke. Now, three years later, she is ready to continue the healing process by letting loose and having a whole lot of fun.

(her second as Kesha, rather than Ke$ha), bursts open with the club-ready “Tonight,” which would be right at home next to “TiK ToK” and other Ke$ha classics, with irreverent lyrics about going out with friends over a danceable beat. The next few songs follow in similar fashion — she seems to enjoy her well-needed freedom on leading single “My Own Dance” and gospel-influenced “Raising Hell.”

This theme continues throughout the album, most clearly in “Potato Song (Cuz I Want To), in which Kesha tells the world that she is absolutely done with doing what everyone expects: “I’ll grow some potatoes/And flowers, then I’ll make sandcastles/Then I’ll eat some cake, ‘cause I want to.” The song trots along to a big band soundtrack as the singer freewheels through the verses.

Where the pop star really shines is where she dials it back, leaving the heavy beats behind for the ukulele duet “Cowboy Blues” and country folk-tinged “Resentment.” Both tracks showcase her unexpectedly smooth vocals. Meanwhile, the lowkey ballad “Shadow” is a rousing anthem about ignoring haters, the 90s R&B “Honey” is a sassy song about fighting with another girl over a boy, and “BFF” is a charming duet with the singer’s real-life best friend Wrabel about intimate platonic love.

Other high points include “Little Bit of Love,” another upbeat dance track, and “Kinky,” where Kesha gives her past self Ke$ha a feature and sings about non-monogamy.

While the album contains many great tracks, its weak point is continuity: it seems to be one-third club tracks, one-third country rock, and one-third … absolutely anything else she wants, ranging from Katy Perry-esque pop (“Chasing Thunder”) to 8-bit samples of Nintendo music (“Birthday Suit”). While certainly fun, Kesha’s lyrics are simplistic and usually explicit, even on more serious tracks. But she doesn’t seem to care much about being offensive. She sings in ‘Shadow,’“I love singing f*ck in all my songs/Cause the only who got time to get offended/Are the ones who’ve probably never gotten off.”

It’s clear that Kesha has certainly overcome much of the anger she showcased on 

.The singer has found her footing, and this record is a sure indicator of what she’s ready for.

Kesha finds her footing on ‘High Road’

Exotic Location Recordings · October 18, 2019

Jimmy Eat World hit double digits while you weren’t looking. Most bands “sell out” well before their 10th LP, but Jimmy Eat World’s October 18th release proves they have the same energy they did at the dawn of their commercial career in 1996.

The album starts out with the title track, a rock song with an inspiring message – a pleasant surprise for the listener expecting a more electronic sound like that of the previous release, 

. “Surviving” looms large with what might be the band’s strongest performance on the record, with a powerful guitar riff that keeps up throughout as Jim Adkins sings, “In a lot of ways you’re still that lost kid / You can still survive but not exactly live.” As the song fades out, “Criminal Energy,” bursts in with a fitting amount of anger and fun as a new, shredding guitar line starts up, much more raw and angry than the one before.

The energy stays up for much of the rest of the album, whether the tempo follows or not: even the slower tracks on the record have a fun vibe. The record also includes a handful of rock ballads like the more produced, electronic “555.” This track might have felt at home on Jimmy Eat World’s more recent albums, where they leaned more heavily on post-production elements, and its lyrics about feeling stuck in one place lend to that. However, it is another great moment on the record, where the listener can sit back for a moment and get lost in the music.

Other high points include “One Mil,” “Diamond” and “All the Way (Stay),” the last of which is a jazzy number that makes its saxophone line work while still keeping up a youthful rock sense that is impressive for a band that has been around this long, and shows that they are still able to incorporate new elements into their music. The song’s lyrics fit that feeling, too – Adkins sings about the beginnings of new relationships, saying, “There’s what I want and what I need / And the latter takes a while to see / It doesn’t matter how often or how old.”

While these high points do exist, many of the songs on

 sound like they could have come from practically any piece of Jimmy Eat World’s discography. This suggests they have not changed much over the past 23 years. “Delivery” sounds like it could have come from my mom’s car radio in 2004, while “Recommit” similarly feels like a sleepy, over-produced throwback, despite its feel-it-in-your-chest bass line.

Despite its shortcomings, the writers of “The Middle” have made it as far as 2019 is something to be respected and celebrated. 

 stands as a passionate album full of emotion, something that a lesser band may not have been able to keep up. Jimmy Eat World have made it clear in their tenth record that while they may no longer be operating in the heyday of emo rock bands, they won’t let that stop them from making great, timeless music.

Jimmy Eat World release ‘Surviving’

Listeners who were expecting Blink 182 to return to their roots on their newest album will likely be disappointed. Listeners who expected them to continue the trajectory from their last album may also be disappointed.

The pop punk legends’ ninth full-length, aptly titled 

 – their first with Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba taking the place of Tom Delonge on guitar – as the band’s poppiest release yet. However, it fails to follow up that album’s success in that it lacks excitement from start to finish.

The album opens with “The First Time,” containing a drum riff that seems to be pulled straight from “Feeling This” — perhaps aiming to appease fans who wished for the ‘old’ Blink after 

. While not the best song on the album, it is one of the more Blink-sounding tracks. It sets the mood for the rest of the record as Mark Hoppus sings, “First love, first high, there ain’t nothing like the first time,” having fun while still lamenting the good ol’ days before growing up.

Blink growing up isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While missing their trademark rude lyrics and certainly becoming poppier, the album absolutely has high points. “Darkside” and “Pin the Grenade” both have the high-energy choruses that I was hoping for, with Travis Barker’s drumming once again setting him apart as one of the greatest in the genre. “Hungover You” is another track that sticks out.

The band has also matured in their lyrical content. Many of the songs are about relationships and breakups, but others go deeper. “Happy Days” deals with Hoppus’ mental health struggles, while “Heaven” was written about a mass shooting that took place in a bar near Barker’s California home. Far gone are the kind of lyrics that fans may remember from “Happy Holidays You Bastard.”

The most Blink 182-sounding songs are also the shortest; “Generational Divide” and “Ransom” each clock in at under two minutes. They seem to serve as a reminder that while the band is still who they once were, with crazy drum parts and intricate guitar lines, they’re maturing and becoming something new at the same time.

asks for and deserves two listens: the first to get over the loss of a great band, and the second to find a new one. I would recommend giving it at least that.

It’s time to let go: Blink 182 releases another lackluster album

It’s probably been a while since Paradise Rock Club saw a didgeridoo.

That definitely changed after Australian singer and multi-instrumentalist, Xavier Rudd, played there September 24, nearing the end of the World Tour for his 2018 album, 

. A handful of audience members sporting wide-brimmed hats waited expectantly to see the rocker from Down Under. In addition to his loyal following in his own country, Rudd has a smaller, but very dedicated fanbase here in the United States, many of whom were in attendance and ready for a riveting night of music.

Opener Bobby Alu, a Samoan-Australian, started the show by playing a baritone ukulele. He explained to the audience how his cultural upbringing influenced his music, setting the tone for a unique, intimate night. His music could easily have been played in his beach hometown of Byron Bay, with his smooth voice giving off Jack Johnson vibes. He also incorporated his impressive percussion skills into the set, playing a captivating solo on a full kit, as well as parts on bongos and other traditional wooden percussion instruments. To end his set, Alu taught the audience some of his native Samoan language and encouraged them to sing along. Despite the relatively unknown artist, there was a strong sense of camaraderie in the crowd.

Xavier Rudd w/ band @ Paradise Rock Club. Photo by Trea Lavery for WRBB.

The main event began when a barefoot Xavier Rudd walked onstage with his two backup musicians, playing “The Mother”, which is a song celebrating nature from his 2005 album 

. As the lights flashed, a twinkling, starry backdrop came into view behind the band, making the audience feel like they might actually be out in the Australian outback.

, Rudd included plenty of songs from the other albums in his vast discography. Between many of the songs, he played instrumental breakdowns on didgeridoo and drums, often simultaneously. His musical breakdowns, as well as his overall style, ,incorporate elements of folk, reggae, and rock, keeping the audience energized throughout the whole performance.

In addition to the expected guitars and drums of the typical contemporary artist, Rudd incorporated less common, more traditional Australian instruments into his set, like the didgeridoo. His performance further emphasized his loyalty to Australia by waving an Aboriginal flag: a yellow sun on a backdrop of red and black. The singer is known in his home country for his activism on behalf of the Indigenous community, and being far from home didn’t stop him from relaying that message. Other topics he spoke about include climate change and oppressive governments, and while he didn’t explicitly name the current American president, it was clear he didn’t just mean his own.

The first song where the audience truly sang along was “Walk Away,” one of the more popular tracks from 

. The title track from the album also received a considerable amount of excitement later on in the set, making it clear that Rudd’s newest album had been a hit with this particular crowd.

One of the most energetic points in the set was when Rudd came down into the audience, donning a glittering sequin jacket for “Flag.” Sparkling as his jacket reflected the stage lights, he joined the crowd in singing along to the song’s strong reggae beat, prompting plenty of shouting and excitement.

Unlike his opener, this was by far the most interactive his set got. While he did break from playing a few times to address his listeners, most of the set flowed from one song to the next with very little speaking in between. However, this wasn’t a detriment to the rapt attention of his fans, and instead only added to the intense, uninterrupted energy in the room.

As an encore, Rudd performed “Lioness Eye,” followed by one of his most popular tracks, “Spirit Bird.” As the opening notes played, the room fell into complete silence, only breaking when the audience sang along passionately to the chorus.

“Rain, hail, or shine, though, aren’t we lucky?” Rudd told the audience during his set. “There’s plenty of love in this room.”

Xavier Rudd @ Paradise Rock Club

Tacocat is jaded. They woke up one morning in November 2016 to a presidential candidate, very different from the one they expected, winning the American presidency. And now, they just want to be done with everything that’s happened since.

The opener to the Seattle girl-punk band’s fourth studio release, 

, “Hologram,” is a reassurance to themselves that things are going to be okay because “Power’s just a hologram.” Right after that, on “New World,” singer Emily Nokes imagines what would happen if she woke up and everything was not just fine, but 

, with no jobs, no responsibilities, and of course, no parking tickets.

The album is different from Tacocat’s previous releases, in that it’s more serious: its bubblegum guitars can’t completely mask the intense apathy that its lyrics describe, as well as their political disappointment. That being said, 

 still has the required silly songs that the band is known for, with “Little Friend” as a raw ode to the loyalty of a beloved pet, and “Meet Me at La Palma” as a cute, retro-vibey ode to getting drunk on “seven dollar margaritas that are bigger than your head” while dancing the foxtrot at a neon-lit bar.

Other high points on the album include “Grains of Salt,” a surf-punk bop about putting aside the norm,ending with the iconic line, “Don’t forget to remember who the fuck you are;” “Crystal Ball,” which layers up instruments from a muted start for an energetic chorus sums up the same apathy from before, but with respect to heartbreak; and “Rose-Colored Sky,” the most melodic and metaphoric piece on the album, wonders what it’s like to be on top in a man’s world.

While there are definite high points to the record, the rest of it tends to blend together, as it consists of the same prominent features – grating guitars and nasally, punk vocals – from the band’s earlier releases. That isn’t to say that those songs aren’t good – they just don’t stand out in Tacocat’s discography or even on the album itself.

 is a great album, and it puts a cleaner, shinier finish on the music that already made Tacocat great. It rocks out in exactly the way we need right now: pretending like it doesn’t care, but letting that spark of optimism still shine through to the outside.

Tacocat is politically optimistic on ‘This Mess is a Place’

I could barely write this review because I had to keep getting up to dance around my living room. I dare you to listen all the way through without doing the same.

Body-positivity rap and pop queen Lizzo’s third studio album 

 (her first on a major label) has firmly cemented her in the 21st-century pop music canon. With viral singles like “Juice,” released just a few days into 2019, she has been propelled from small stages to sold-out headlining tours and a spot at Coachella.

Opening with the title track, Lizzo kicks the listener with her powerful vocals, reminding everyone of her incredible talent right off the bat as she belts “I’m crying ‘cuz I love you.” The song would feel right at home in a smoky Prohibition-era speakeasy, but Lizzo’s growly voice and the beat behind the piano still makes the track feels incredibly contemporary.

The album slows down around the middle, with songs like “Jerome” and “Crybaby” giving the listener a chance to sit back and be whisked away by Lizzo’s screaming emotions before being woken up again for the club-ready dance banger “Tempo,” complete with the reminder that “slow songs are for skinny hoes … I’m a thick bitch, I need tempo.”

Other highlights on the album include “Like a Girl” and “Soulmate,” two rollicking love ballads to the self, with lyrics like “Buy my whip by myself / Pay my rent by myself / Only exes that I care about are in my fucking chromosomes” on the former and “She never tell me to exercise / We always get extra fries … I get flowers every Sunday / I’ma marry me one day” on the latter. “Better in Color” fits in this category as well as yet another song in her discography meant to celebrate the color of her skin that is also, of course, a bop.

 spans genres, with clear jazz influences, old-school R&B and soul, features from rap icons Missy Elliott (“Tempo”) and Gucci Mane (“Exactly How I Feel”), 80s pop elements and even a few instances of some the singer’s own impressive flute skills.

The album’s in-your-face attitude brings it down in some places, with the sweepingly huge production distracting from the singer’s talent when looked at as a whole. However, it is this same larger-than-life feeling that sets it apart from other recent pop releases.

On ‘Cuz I Love You,’ Lizzo reigns supreme

In 2019, it’s hard to believe that when Green Day released 

, the band’s major-label debut, listeners berated the band for selling out. Now, after many more releases which have arguably gone downhill, the album stands out as an iconic piece of the pop-punk giant’s discography.

 peaked at number 2 on the Billboard charts the year of its release, and for good reason: It contains legendary hits like “Longview,” with its signature bass line; “Basketcase,” which is, in my opinion, the best song Green Day has ever released; the re-recording of “Welcome to Paradise,” which was originally included on their previous album 

; “She;” and “When I Come Around.”

The best-known songs from the album aren’t the only ones that hold up as bangers. The opener “Burnout” tells fans right away that the band isn’t going away even though they’ve gotten bigger: “I’m not growing up / I’m just burning out.” On “Chump,” the opening lines “I don’t know you / But I hate you” and raw guitar rips bring any 21st-century listener back to a time of teenage angst (regardless of how old they happened to be back in 1994), and in the best way. “Coming Clean” evokes the same feeling, as vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong, age 22 at the time, sings, “Seventeen and strung out on confusion / Trapped inside a roll of disillusion / I found out what it takes to be a man / Well, Mom and Dad will never understand.”

Songs on the album cover standard topics like relationships, but also traverse subjects ahead of the album’s time, including Armstrong’s anxiety, panic attacks, and sexual orientation. While many modern punk and punk-adjacent artists have followed this trend, at the time, Green Day were atypical in lending their voice to these issues.

The album’s sound matches its lyrics well — although some songs include heavy guitars, it still manages to feel light and fun, capturing the youth of the band’s members. The raw production, a signature of the punk resurgence to come, completes the angry, passionate sound the genre is known for.

Clocking in at just 38 minutes (if you count the hidden track “All By Myself”), 

 is a quintessential example of the raw energy that ’90s pop-punk is known for. Between intricate bass lines performed by Mike Dirnt and Armstrong’s emotional yelling, it is easy to see why the album is credited as bringing punk music back to the mainstream.

Green Day’s ‘Dookie’ Turns 25

 are immature and meaningless, and with few exceptions the songs will fade into the background without leaving any lasting impression, much like the members’ masked faces on the album cover.

Weezer’s fifth self-titled album is a far cry from their first 25 years ago, and the change is…not great.

starts off with Rivers Cuomo—now nearly 50—singing in Spanish, “Hasta luego, hasta luego / Hasta luego, adios,” for no particular reason on “Can’t Knock the Hustle.” The opener is a poppy ode to gig culture that also combines mariachi instrumentation and the singer’s odd almost-rap vocals to create a weak start for an album that doesn’t get much better.

This is the band’s second release in 2019, just one month after a covers album (the 

) which was similarly badly received, despite including the band’s viral cover of “Africa” by Toto. Their last few albums, including 2017’s 

, have shown the band’s devolvement from 90s gritty pop rock icons to the harbingers of simple, boring, overproduced songs, and this new release is no different.

Some of the songs on the album are plain lifeless (“Piece of Cake,” “Byzantine”), while others are more confusing than anything else. It’s unclear whether “Zombie Bastards” is about humans caring too much about appearances or an actual zombie apocalypse; “The Prince Who Wanted Everything” seems to be some sort of failed tribute to the singer Prince that sounds more like a Beach Boys Christmas song. Meanwhile, “High as a Kite” feels like what would happen if Mary Poppins finally took a chill pill, which is ironic, as Cuomo name-drops the Disney character later in “Too Many Thoughts in My Head.”

Not all is lost on the album, though. “I’m Just Being Honest” is the high point, with catchy guitars and lyrics that deal with the singer’s difficulty with being well-liked in the public eye. Another leading single, “Living in L.A.,” is a dance-y song that will definitely get stuck in your head.

Die-hard fans will want to cleanse their palate when they’re finished with this release by going back and listening to “Buddy Holly” or “Island in the Sun” if they want to maintain any of the respect they had for Weezer. The album leaves the listener wondering when the band will finally grow up – or give up.

Weezer disappoints with the ‘Black Album’

Big Machine Records · February 22, 2019

Badflower has provided a mature debut, talking about real issues and kicking their listeners’ ears in while they’re at it.

If you’re looking for a punch in the face, LA-based rock band Badflower is happy to provide.

, released Feb. 22, is a 55-minute-long hit to the gut, both sonically and lyrically. Each song lands a new blow with no time for you to catch your breath – and that’s a good thing.

 landed them the title of iTunes’ artist of the Week, they were hailed as part of a new generation of rock, sticking to the genre’s sacred tenets without the over-production and theatrics of many of their contemporaries. 

 generally follows that theme for the band, although it does lend a bit more theatricality than their previous releases.

The chaotic opener “x ANA x” breathtakingly kicks the album off. A whiplash-inducing headbanger, the song features lyrics about singer/guitarist Josh Katz’s stage anxiety. The song is followed up by “The Jester,” an ode to feeling alone in a world with all eyes on you. “Ghost,” the single which brought the album attention when it dropped, is a better litmus test of the album’s tone, with its lyrics dealing with self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

The band does not shy away from talking about difficult topics on this album. In addition to the first few (and middle, and last) songs that talk about mental health in very explicit terms, other topics include same-sex relationships (“We’re in Love”), sexual abuse (“Daddy,” which is seriously difficult to even listen to), drug abuse and the violence in the meat and dairy industry (“Murder Games”). “Die” talks about, in no uncertain terms, the Trump presidency: “If deplorable is moral ‘cause it’s what you’re told / Then take your Bible and swallow it whole…/ Impeach the asshole and all of his friends.”

While the album spans a lot lyrically, it doesn’t give the listener much downtime or variation sonically. “24” and “Cry,” two heartbreaking suicide ballads, are the only real slow points, and offer a much-needed breath from the onslaught. The intensity of each individual song is great, but with 13 tracks, the album as a whole isn’t necessarily easy to listen to in one sitting.

At the same time, “OK, I’M SICK” is peppered with My Chemical Romance-esque drama that makes it fun to listen to, with each song providing unique guitar riffs that ensures the harshness doesn’t blur together.

Badflower has provided a mature debut which is sure to provide a return to real rock music, talking about real issues and kicking their listeners’ ears in while they’re at it. The band is still figuring out how to balance their sound, but are bound to create a whole new world of rock in the future.