Brand New – The Concordian

Brand New – Science Fiction (Procrastinate! Music Traitors, 2017)

After eight years, pop-punk band Brand New released a great album, Science Fiction. This album is beautiful, dark and explores the tolls of mental health issues in exhaustive detail. Every song on the album has a different sound—some have guitar sounds influenced by southern rock, as well as the band’s classic emo stylings. Jesse Lacey’s deep vocals sound fraught with intense emotion, especially on the songs “Waste” and “Desert.” The lyrics paint a powerful and descriptive picture of personal mental health issues. This line from “Same Logic/Teeth” stuck with me: “Every new layer you uncover reveals something else you hate / And then you cracked your head, and broke some bones / And when you glued them back together you found out you did it wrong.” Although, some songs sounded dull, like “Could Never Be Heaven,” Brand New nonetheless came out with an emotionally potent album that has the potential to resonate with anyone.

Trial Track: “Waste”

Score: 8.5

If you’ve never been to Osheaga, you don’t know what you’re missing. Heat, dehydration, screaming crowds, exhaustion and, most notably, a lineup of more than fifty amazing musicians playing at Jean-Drapeau Park for three long days. Despite the less-than-stellar conditions, Osheaga is the most anticipated summer event for any music-savvy Montrealer. This year between Aug. 3 to 5, twenty talented artists—along with many more—will flood our city and play for tens of thousands of people. With big names like Snoop Dogg, Feist, Florence and the Machine and Brand New, Osheaga is bound to be the best three days of your life. Festival passes are now on sale. Let this mixtape be your precursor to Montreal’s most anticipated summer weekend of 2012.

SIDE A: Homegrown, Canadiana

1. “Help, I’m Alive” – Metric – Fantasies
2. “My Moon My Man” – Feist – The Reminder
3. “Grind” – Down With Webster – Time to Win, Vol. 1
4. “We Found Each Other in the Dark” – City and Colour – Little Hell
5. “A Song About California” – Hey Ocean! – It’s Easier to be Someone Else
6. “I Don’t Know” – The Sheepdogs – Learn & Burn
7. “Tom Cruz” – Plants and Animals – La La Land
8. “Cover Your Tracks” – Young Galaxy – Shapeshifting
9. “Journey of a Lifetime” – Zeds Dead – Single
10. “High for This” – The Weeknd – House of Balloons

SIDE B: Come from afar

11. “Mind Eraser” – The Black Keys – El Camino
12. “Drop it Like it’s Hot” – Snoop Dogg – R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece
13. “Howl” – Florence and the Machine – Lungs
14. “Kissing the Lipless” – The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow
15. “Electric Feel” – MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
16. “Helicopter” – Bloc Party – Little Thoughts (EP)
17. “Cough Syrup” – Young the Giant – Young the Giant
18. “The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows” – Brand New – Deja Entendu
19. “Jacqueline” – Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
20. “Only Happy When it Rains” – Garbage – Garbage