Audacity, VHS, Mean Jeans
Recommended
This past April, Fullerton punks Audacity released Hyper Vessels—one of the most rollicking, anthemic albums of 2016. The raucous “Baseball” is a middle finger to America’s pastime, while songs like “Not Like You” brim with pop hooks and gang vocals, resonating with communal intensity. Other tracks pass coy homage to Alice Cooper-isms, like the proto-punk “Umbrellas.” With the venerable Ty Segall at the boards, Hyper Vessels captures Audacity’s snotty songwriting more often than the ferocity of their buzzsaw aesthetic. But it’s where these two poles meet that makes Audacity worth keeping an eye on. Opening are Portland’s reigning feel-good punks Mean Jeans, whose new record Tight New Dimension is chock-full of punk-party bangers like the already-classic “Are There Beers in Heaven?” The answer to that question remains unknown, but Mississippi Studios definitely has beer. RYAN J. PRADO