Listen Up, Nerds Playlist 3: Prey On The Weak
Howdy, y’all. I’m back from Los Angeles and a well-deserved vacation from Doing Nothing to Do A Lot Of Things. I’m still battling jet lag and writing next week’s newsletter, but in the meantime, a friend asked me to put together a playlist of new stuff to listen to, so I went for a combination of new and old because I always think it’s fun to listen to new music and see where the attitude and style came from.
One thing I’ve always loved about physical releases is the acknowledgements and thank-yous sections in liner notes. I would dig through those and learn so much in the pre-streaming days. Now, you just get music that sounds like the music you already like. I promise that I’m not trying to be a crochety old man, but digital algorithms can only serve you recommendations that match the data, rather than the feel. Spotify also tries to stick within a similar timeframe, from what I can tell, so you wouldn’t get music like Demand and Outburst next to each other in a playlist, even if they sound like they’d be on the same compilation back in the day.
For the most part, I didn’t have to think hard with the new recommendations, but what ended up happening is that I made a bit of a showcase for Florida Hardcore. That is a-ok. I saw Seed Of Pain a few weeks back when they opened for Mindforce and I was blown away. I love the straight edge throwback of Burning Strong and Envision, two bands who do homage to the past the right way: expanding on tradition and keeping in faith but putting their own, refreshing sound on top. Ideation’s Blunt Instrument is a record that I feel late to, but maybe you don’t. The label that put it out, Dynastic Yellow Star Label, also released a demo from a band called Ordinance the other week. That demo has somehow escaped the usual Friday roundup but if you’ve read this far, don’t miss out on it. There’s a lot to love going on in the Sunshine State. Enjoy the playlist, I hope it’s sunny wherever you are. I’ll be back with something bigger next week, but not in a Big Things Coming way. Usual Things Coming soon 😤