Words by Jim Testa
Jim Testa founded the highly influential zine, Jersey Beat in 1982 which he continues to edit to this day. Through writing for his own publication and a number of other outlets, including as a staff writer for Hudson County’s Jersey Journal, he has championed local, regional and national up-and-coming bands. Punk has always shunned credentials, but rest assured that Jim won’t lead you astray.
HOME RUNS
anocean – climbing walls (self-released)
My problem with shoegaze is that it’s often boring; this never is. So kudos to lowercase anocean from the fertile Baltimore/DC area, four veterans whose credits include No One Sphere, Thrushes, and Mittenfields. If the word “shoegaze” got your attention, stick around. Anna Conner’s and guitarist Kyle Franta trade lead vocals. She brings an airy, whispery to the proceedings, with gentle waves of guitar, bass, and drums percolating underneath, as on “Happier Without,” which strikes a pulsating ’70s vibe that reminded me of Fleetwood Mac (in a good way). Franta takes the lead vocal, where roiling, distorted guitars are mixed quietly enough that they never harsh out the vocals. And man, is this rhythm section (Pete Ryan on drums, Dave Mann on bass) ever in the pocket groovewise. It’s what’s going on under the dreamy vocals that holds your attention, and the vocals that make it dreamy. You may gaze at your shoes, but you won’t nod off.
ARMATAGE SHANKS – Story Untold (self-released)
Norway’s Armatage Shanks started life as a Green Day tribute band, eventually writing their own originals (in English) and building a following. Then they disappeared for 12 years. Ironically, given their name and history, “Story Untold” sounds quite a deal more like the Offspring than Green Day. Which means if you like energetic, chunky, melodic songs with big shoutalong hooks, you should check them out. The band shows no signs of rust or impending middle age; every song has energy, as well as a nice variety of riffs. “We are the rejects, we are the forgotten ones,” they sing on “Rejects,” sure that will resonate with anyone who still listens to pop-punk in 2025.
BE MY DOPPELGANGER – “Lost Songs” (self-released)
Be My Doppelganger were a top-notch pop-punk from the mid-2000’s to 2014, part of the global Ramonescore thing that coalesced around the Insub Festivals and Pop Punk Message Board back in the day. They disappeared after their third full-length, “Artless,” but now we’ve got this collection of “lost songs,” recorded for those sessions but never released. Too often, songs from the vault were there for a reason, but any pop-punk fan will be glad to hear these. “Denyer” has that anthemic fist-pumping energy of the era, with some crazy guitar skronk that sets it apart from much of the generic mush of the era. “Kickin’ Around” invokes a Mikey Erg/Phil Spector Big Love Song vibe, “Loud & Clear” lives up to its title, with a clean and powerful vocal melody backed by some nice guitar fretting, and “Just Don’t Matter” has this whooshing instrumental intro before the band breaks into the usual 4/4 clamor. It’s possible these songs got left off “Artless” because they represented some new directions the band was exploring. It’s a shame we’ll never know.
DEFECTING GREY – “Circuits” EP (Fake Chapter Records)
Brothers and indefatigable Jersey band veterans, C.J. and Vince Grogan have teamed up with drummer Mike Polilli (Buzzkill, Atom Driver) for Defecting Grey, a power trio with deep roots in Jersey’s indie rock scene. With C.J. on lead vocals, guitar, and keyboards and Vince on bass and backing vocals, these three guys deliver a big, glorious, melodic kick in the ass, one that wouldn’t sound amiss on ’70s AM radio next to Cheap Trick or The Raspberries. Yet Polilli’s effortless speed and the Grogans’ fusion of psychedelia and punk can also scream Eighties Indie ala Husker Du. That’s not to suggestive anything here sounds imitative or stale; rather, every song blasts its way into your cranium, whether leaning toward power-pop on “Flat Earth Theory” or veering toward a space-jam freakout on “Low Status Sound.” ”Jersey Strong!” says I, pumping one hand into the air while holding a slice of pizza in the other.
EXPECTATIONS – “This Year’s Nonsense” (self-released)
This was meant to be a little side project that Chris Avello (Hot Cops, Tape & Wire) could work on while waiting for a band project to come together, but it somehow morphed into a first-class collection of impeccably delivered and well-constructed songs. Avello calls it a pop-punk album, and I’ll give him that, especially on the bouncy “Poison Berries.” Sonically, though, it hews closer to Ted Leo or Superchunk than, say, Screeching Weasel. The template for most songs features chunky chorded guitars with Avello’s boyish vocals carrying the melody, but there’s also a stripped down, emo-ish ballad, and almost every song goes between simple verse/chorus/verse songwriting. First-rate.