#30: You Drink a Lot of Coffee for a Teenager
#30: You Drink a Lot of Coffee for a Teenager
America Part Two; Your Grandparents;Let’s Swim, Get Swimming; Psychedelic Digestion Therapy; fish narc
America Part Two
I’m currently visiting my in-laws in rural-ish Texas, a place that gives you plenty of time to wonder if maybe it’s time for a sequel to the USA. What compels a person to, say, fly an InfoWars flag (?) in front of their house on Independence Day weekend? And place the InfoWars flag (??) more prominently than the American one?
America Part Two—the band, not the hypothetical future state—hail from New Jersey and are on a mission “to Perpetuate Love and Fight Hate,” per a press release announcing their latest album, Price of a Nation. The band also “utilizes their platform to journalize the experience of being a young adult in America today,” such as “social issues, growing up, political climate & love.” How does that differentiate them from, say, almost every other band in existence? It doesn’t! But hey, you have to fill these press releases with something, right? Still, I’d love to hear more about the story behind the song “Cry Millennial Cry”:
Spent my last ten bucks on a dime
Gonna watch TV ’til my head ain’t got no eyes
They say the housing market’s at an all time high, yeah
Mama’s gon’ be fine
But all the food I can afford is fried
Your Grandparents
Over the years, we’ve seen Diggin’ Up Grandpa, Gramps the Vamp, Grandma’s Boyfriend (years before this), Grandpa Loves Rhinos, Grandpa Vs. Prowler, and Let’s Eat Grandma. So when a Your Grandparents showed up, I expected silliness. But this LA trio’s name is homage, not non-sequitur:
“Our parents and grandparents put us on to the music that inspires us, which is very true to our name. One day we’ll be parents and grandparents doing the same.”
Though their first idea was pretty goofy.
“Cole suggested the whole ‘Grandparents’ idea. We first thought of ‘Grandpa Squad’ but that wasn’t it, haha. So we went with ‘Your Grandparents’ which was Chaz’s idea.”
Yes, Grandpa Squad is terrible, but I’m more intrigued by the names of Your Grandparents’ members. Cole? Chaz? Who’s the third, Tanner? Turns out it’s Kyle, which actually fits thematically if you consider “Kyle” the male version of “Karen.” (They also go by Ghettoblasterman, Jean Carter, and DaCosta, respectively.) With those ΔΤΔ Fall 2021 Rush names, you may expect them to throw down some tasty Dave Matthews-style grooves, but Your Grandparents keep on surprising with a slightly retro blend of soul, hip-hop, and R&B. They frequently drop Digable Planets as an inspiration, which fits because “So Damn Fly” recalls that group’s lesser known, but fantastic album, Blowout Comb.
Let’s Swim, Get Swimming
One of niches Band Name Bureau proudly champions is “mathy bands with silly song titles.” Don Caballero are probably the founding fathers of this demographic; see the wall-to-wall gems on 2000’s American Don, including “Details on How to Get ICEMAN on Your License Plate,” “A Lot of People Tell Me I Have a Fake British Accent,” and “You Drink a Lot of Coffee for a Teenager” (a favorite of BNB pal Michael Girgis).
Following confidently in their forebears’ footsteps is British group Let’s Swim, Get Swimming. I can’t find any information about the origins of their name, but they’ve got the “ridiculous song titles” part down: “I Could Probably Watch Shrek Again,” “The Big Lebowski is a Flippin’ Great Movie,” “I’m Into Ludes,” and my personal favorite, “You’ll Have to Speak Up, I’m Wearing a Towel.” (That last one is an A+ Simpsons reference that’s frequently quoted around my house.) Keep at it, boys.
Psychedelic Digestion Therapy
Six melodious pieces. This music embodies the nonsense of life during crucial times humanity is undergoing. It's believed that digestion plays a highly important role in the well-being of earthlings and balance; the immortality of sound within the cosmos of abnormal ideas and thoughts. This album says more than can be mentioned, Psychedelic Digestion Therapy have no doubt that this record will do its duty in fulfilling its purpose in your mind. While recording these songs, light-hearted artists were able to combine our digested voices with the exact sentiments depicted in humankind's pivotal moments of loneliness. The group hereby create a soothing inner feeling in our listeners. This album says more than can be mentioned, Psychedelic Digestion Therapy have no doubt that this record will do its duty in fulfilling its purpose in your mind.
Ooooooooooooookkkaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy. [Slowly backs away.]
fish narc
We’ve never discussed GothBoiClique, have we? That’s surprising, as the LA Soundcloud-emo-rap collective has an undeniably terrible name, and it gained notoriety years ago thanks to member Lil Peep. Deemed the “fresh-faced avatar of post-emo angst that’s not quite rap or rock” in a deeply annoying Pitchfork interview, Peep was a quickly rising star when he overdosed in 2017, just 10 months after that Pitchfork interview and two weeks after his 21st birthday. I found Peep’s music godawful, but his death was a big deal. Rolling Stone lamented, “He could have been his generation's Kurt Cobain.” “He’s a literal icon of history,” says fish narc—lowercase for emo-ness, obviously—whose own rise to prominence is partly due to producing Peep’s 2017 EP, Goth Angel Sinner.
Per, ugh, r/GothBoiClique, fish narc’s name comes from his zodiac sign (Pisces), “the theme of one of his favorite rock albums from a Seattle band, where being a fish is symbolic and important,” and his basically looking like a narc. He’s released plenty of music on his own, most recently last year’s WiLDFiRE. It builds on that “post-emo angst that’s not quite rap or rock” style Pitchfork mentioned, or, as the man himself put it:
I’ll give it up for artists like fish narc, though. Genre means nothing to them, so they have no qualms about mixing everything together, no matter how ill-advised it seems, such as…
Emo rap with a Kate Bush vibe? Kids are crazy these days.
POST-SCRIPTS
Hey, speaking of unlistenable emo-rap: BNB alumnus guccihighwaters released a live album, joke’s on you: the bedroom ballads. It’s from a livestream “filmed in an intimate setting designed to look like his bedroom recording studio,” says the press release, where he was “accompanied by a string section, fuzzy pianos & his signature minimalist lo-fi beats which paint a melancholic atmosphere.” Pass.
In other alumni news: Punk as a Doornail has a new album, Dead as a Sad Snail—apparently Dr. Seuss is a member—and its first single is a song called “Crack & the One Armed Baby.” Punk as a Doornail, you may recall, features a guitar made out of a skateboard.
Long-running punk outfit the Menzingers have a really sad song called “America Pt. 2” they released after George Floyd’s death.
The next Band Name Bureau will be ON TIME, DAMMIT.
One more from fish narc: