By It’s our Bandcamp Picks of the Week, featuring Bôa’s percussive post-Britpop record WHIPLASH and Bloodstains’ vintage self-titled punk album!
Bôa – WHIPLASH
Genre: Alternative Rock, Post-Britpop
Favorite Tracks: “Let Me Go,” Walk With Me,” “Whiplash,” “Strange Few”
Bôa are embracing their shining future. Not only is it unbelievable that nearly 20 years have passed since their last material, but these new recordings truly sound like they’ve picked things up from where they left off. Today’s astronomic surge of popularity of their hit “Duvet,” also the iconic theme song for the Japanese anime SERIAL EXPERIMENTS LAIN, largely catalyzed their reunion. With so much fevered attention from younger generations brewing, naturally, any artist would seize that opportunity. Yet, Bôa’s desire to re-enter the studio was genuine: 2024’s WHIPLASH is a miracle, sounding like no time has passed, continuing to warmly guide their listeners away from existential gloom.
New fans swept off their feet by the enduring and poignant “Duvet” will be delighted to hear that WHIPLASH has those tonalities in abundance. Opener “Let Me Go” twinkles with the trademark acoustic, jangly strings of their hit, carrying a hint of marked maturity as the group’s nostalgic sound has aged finely. Comeback single “Walk With Me” rumbles with dense blankets of guitar underpinning main vocalist Jasmine Rodgers’ harmonic pleas to “Share this space” and “Come and keep me company,” alluding to hopeless romanticism. More potent words appear on the uneasy “Worry,” a lyrical standout exploring the heart-swelling trepidation of overthinking and crumbling as a person: “I’m worried I’m burning inside / I’m worried I worry all the time / And my head and my heart are on fire.”
Not everything is similar to “Duvet” though, as Bôa tread new ground. “Strange Few” is driven by a resolute, marching melody, with pounding percussion underscoring the repeated bridge (“What if it could be / Written in black, written in black?”), sewn together by sentimental strings. It’s quintessential brooding alt-rock with an addictive pop hook. “Seafarer” has a shimmering guitar tone, almost new wave-y, evocative of Ride’s optimistic, psychedelic alt-rock of GOING BLANK AGAIN. Even “Crawling,” adorned by chipper keys, is distinctly uplifting amidst the overbearingly vulnerable self-reflection casting over the other tunes.
WHIPLASH is fantastic because it’s a continued display of Bôa’s excellence: approaching human notions of relationships, social change, and the like in an accessible manner. Their reach is boundless. Where you may ever find that your whole life has turned upside down, taking solace in Bôa’s songs assures two things: that it’s okay and you’ll be alright, and that it happens to everyone. You’re not alone—Bôa has made that clear upon returning to touch the hearts of their fans again. Their future, then, is one where they’re endlessly welcomed back with open arms. Listen to their moving new record on Bandcamp. [Dom Lepore]
Bloodstains – S/T
Genre: Punk
Favorite Tracks: “Public Hanging,” “Nuclear Age”
When I think of truly seminal records, LIVING IN DARKNESS emerges in a flash. Agent Orange’s 1981 offering defined a niche of punk where surf, skate, and hardcore could come together in an inventive and thoughtful package. It was, in a way, everything I loved about punk realized with maximum licks. Clearly Bloodstains share my fiery affinity—why else name your band after that record’s single defining track? (Also, their best single overall.) And this February’s self-titled LP holds all the evidence regarding their Agent Orange obsession. The way “The Last Rites” opens as if you’re staring down a huge drop on your board; the neurotic, craggily guitars that define “Nuclear Age”; and how “Anti-Social” is a blown-out dispatch from some dark tunnel in outer Los Angeles.
Bloodstains are students of a punk that’s steeped in big traditions and ideas, but nonetheless lash out with fresh disdain, panic, angst, etc. Their spirit is their own even as the building blocks resonate with deep familiarity. The key to robust nostalgia like this, then, involves going beyond merely working in the same vein—you’ve got to outdo the source material. “Public Hanging” has more venom and subversive wit than other like-minded SoCal punks. That, and the song’s stinging sneer does wonders to extend the record and infuse new energies/sentiments. “Suburban Suicide,” meanwhile, sees their core sound grow with both an undercoat of abstract pop and vaguely New Wave tinges; it’s a repositioning of Bloodstains’ framework to show a hungrier approach and ceaseless curiosity. Even “Stray Bullets,” which pumps in more metal bits and an air of theatricality, shows what happens when the group wildly swing for the fences.
What we really get across BLOODSTAINS is the truest way to bridge the past. Sure, it’s about recreating sounds and production bits and little aesthetical nuggets to foster connection. But that’s the groundwork, the skeleton to something sharp and meaningful. Bloodstains take it further by engaging with what matters: the sense of isolation and anxiety that Agent Orange defined; the mix of the anthemic and surly that creates a textured experience; and the way the dark and vulnerable, playful and serious could meld into something transcendent. Ideas, it would appear, have true staying power, and those can be packaged in all the familiar hooks and whatnot but they’ll always retain their true shine and singular value. It’s sort of like wearing a patched leather jacket: If you have the confidence, you’ll always be a gnarly badass.
It’s in connecting with those sentiments, then, that Bloodstains escape the fate of so many loyal punks and cruise into the realm of something that adds to the conversation in a way that also maintains its own long-term potential/significance. Whether you know and love icons like Agent Orange, BLOODSTAINS is already iconic for reminding weird punks everywhere that there’s magic in the past and a future on the edge. Listen to it over on Bandcamp. [Chris Coplan]
Comments