Zamn Zaniel

Against Me! – White Crosses [Sire 2010]
Her last album before coming out was also Laura Jane Grace’s most grandiose which is why the fans of her earlier work as an anarchist became disillusioned, but that’s growing up isn’t it? Knowing that the violent expressions of youth give way, however eventually, to the empathy of adulthood. Empathy like names tattooed on skin and communal aches with the world. One could view this as her chrysalis moment, the anxiety all over the record from smashing white crosses until the subtle reveal at the end of an acceptance: “Does it look ridiculous? Well I guess that’s just what I have to live with”. And then she tells you – full throated roar – that God isn’t gonna give you everything. Rock on sister. 4.3/5

Against Me! – New Wave [Sire 2007]
Moving away from the watered down themes or tales of rage against the machine here the focus is hypocrisy, ignorance, but the liberal kind as a party lover turns into an addict, people with a genuine sense of wanting to help don’t realize their own complicity in uselessness and the stereotype of every American abroad set to cock rock as satire. The cost for them was being labeled sellouts just as they finally got a hit on modern rock radio and were able to play venues big enough to pay the electric bill. And as always is the coming out story told in the finale that most of us just assumed was the wishful thinking of a narrator. All of us who didn’t realize then were part of the joke when the announcement came 5 years later. 3.8/5

Lizzo – Cuz I Love You (Deluxe) [Nice Life/Atlantic 2019]
This plus sized now-icon has been the latest in unapologetic self-love and self-worth for women in the 21^st century, her reach due in no small part to being not just polished polished polished but because of her fierce earnestness. She’s a feminist who moved from rapping to singing carefully and successfully – check out the Missy to Gucci to LGBTQ+ anthem triple threat to see her nuances really shine. On the standard release Lizzo ends being horny yet patient, but buy the deluxe version which includes an appreciation of boys and a lesson in standards. Oh yea it also has “Truth Hurts”, ever heard of it? 4.1/5

Milk Teeth – Vile Child [Hopeless 2016]
Give them props for their cajones, no one else would have thought to put cutely melodic groan-ably derivative hooks that ran out of steam when Hole was done with them in the mid-90s next to a guy whose bloody murder scream is so off key it makes most of the stray cats on my block run back to their holes. A good Christmas gift if Westboro deserved any. 0.5/5

New Found Glory – Coming Home [Geffen 2006]
Comparing the shift from the previous records that Warped Tour kids proudly declared “easycore” somewhere in the late 90s to this one’s take on love and maturity is jarring to say the least and a rip-off of Blink’s identical move 3 years prior to follow up. But as a sucker for any meditation on the dynamics of real commitment I find myself drawn to it, especially the way Jordan Pundik’s new croon conveys more vulnerability and respect than his nasal yelp ever did. The caveat is that there is very little depth, read their lyrics by themselves and they seem trite, listen to their music by itself and yes there’s cohesion but don’t be surprised to be reminded of the joke about how most of these kinds of groups write one song and stretch it over 40 minutes to fill a record. It was a shame they went back to whining and that Chad Gilbert cheated on his wife with Hayley Williams after the fact, but before then this was a solid execution of love labor that deserved more than just the Sputnik-AltPress-AbsolutePunk treatment so many pop punk bands get. 3.8/5