Categories: Updates

Music Review: You Are Who You Hang Out With – The Front Bottoms

(Fueled by Ramen)

Vacillating between intimate and anthemic, The Front Bottoms have proudly worn their hearts on their sleeves over their decade-long-plus career. It’s essentially their mission objective: pointing to the everyday hardships of life with whimsical musical cues that remind you that everything will be okay. The New Jersey folk-punk duo carry through with that positive outlook on their eighth LP, all while taking the occasional detours to keep things fresh. While the bulk of the album retains a bittersweet, pop-punk sensibility, in part due to Brian Sella’s emphatic speak-singing, they do venture into ’90s leaning power pop with chugging riffs and open-hearted singalongs on Clear Path and Not Joking. Clearly, they’ve taken cues from fellow counterparts Modern Baseball and the Sidekicks’ final releases before they both dissolved. The life-affirming Bleachers-meets-Springsteen Outlook is another noble attempt at emulating their hometown roots, but they can’t quite put their own spin on the trope. It’s a shame how the rest of You Are Who You Hang Out With can’t sustain the peaks it reaches with quasi-confessional observations (there’s a song called Emotional, for crying out loud) that, while occasionally powerful, come across as rote.

source

TATANKA

Musician turned web developer turned teacher turned web developer turned musician.

Recent Posts

ᒃᘡᓱᖅ ᑭᔅᑰᓯᒻᒃ (The Harbour of Mirrors) A Mi’kmaq Journey of Reflection, Identity, and Light ⚧️ (AI Gen)

AI Gen Process/Software: L’nu (Human), ChatGPT.com, Meta.ai, Producer.ai, DAW: Audacity 3.7.5, OS: Linux (Ubuntu 25.04)…

1 day ago

(NSFW) The Sea Remembers Her Name: A Transcendental Garifuna Odyssey of Rebirth and Return (AI Gen)

“I called you Blue Roses because you were different… unusual… rare. You were something special...…

3 days ago

(NSFW) Łizh Házhó’į́ Bidził: The Angel Of Broken Feathers And The Music Of Survival (AI Gen)

AI Gen Process/Software: Human, ChatGPT.com, Meta.ai, Producer.ai, DAW: Audacity 3.7.5, OS: Linux (Ubuntu 25.04) Łizh…

6 days ago

Breathing the Infinite: A Psychedelic Odyssey Through Sound and Story (AI Gen)

AI Gen Process/Software: Human, ChatGPT.com, Meta.ai, Producer.ai, DAW: Audacity 3.7.5, OS: Linux (Ubuntu 25.04) Breathing…

7 days ago

🔥Fogo Da Favela: How Baile Funk Became The Voice Of Resistance In Rio’s Hills 💜 (AI Gen)

AI Gen Process/Software: Human, ChatGPT.com, Meta.ai, Producer.ai, DAW: Audacity 3.7.5, OS: Linux (Ubuntu 25.04) Fogo…

1 week ago

“Orbital Lantern” – Journey Beneath the Whole of the Moon (AI Gen)

Process/Software: AI Gen Process/Software: Human, ChatGPT.com, Meta.ai, Producer.ai, Moises.ai, Kits.ai, DAW: Audacity 3.7.5, OS: Linux…

1 week ago