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Liner Notes (June 26th, 2021)

Posted by Jason Tate
Sunflowers

Hello Saturday.

This week’s newsletter has a love letter to Mark Hoppus and some thoughts on the music and entertainment I enjoyed over the past week. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed this week and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

If you’d like this newsletter delivered to your inbox each week (it’s free and available to everyone), you can sign up here.

A Few Things

  • The news that has been on my mind all week is Mark Hoppus revealing he was diagnosed with cancer and has been receiving treatment. Like I am sure many reading this newsletter, Mark has had an immense influence on my life. Blink-182 changed my life. They are the reason I love music. But it goes beyond that; they’ve been so ingrained in my life since childhood that I saw them as role models. People I wanted to be. From their hairstyles to their clothes to their attitudes, Blink-182 was a lifestyle. And I always looked up to Mark. From his humor to his incredible ear for melody, I was drawn to his music as much as I was his entire persona. The fact that I’ve been lucky enough to get to the spot where we goof around on Twitter together is something I will always cherish. And this news knocked me right on my ass. Cancer. It’s a word that’s been ever-present in my life. My mom’s fought it off multiple times. I’ve lost family to it. I’ve lost friends to it. It’s a stalking menace of a mother fucker. I have faith in the medicine and believe Mark will beat this. But even thinking about a world without Mark in it brings me to the verge of breaking. So, more than anything, I just want to say: Mark, we love you and thank you for absolutely everything you’ve done for so many. From the lost boy sitting in his parent’s basement falling in love with your music to a late thirties man with grey in his beard still finding comfort in your songs: thank you. You’ve changed countless lives, including mine. I would not be the person I am today without you. And I look forward to one day seeing you perform live once again, maybe with a giant flaming “Fuck Cancer” in the background.

In Case You Missed It

Music Thoughts

  • I spent a good portion of my week just listening to Blink-182 albums. I started with Cheshire Cat and worked my way through the entire discography. I even stopped to spend more time with Neighborhoods and Dogs Eating Dogs than I have in a long while. The music, in so many ways, is like the best comfort food. It brings me a feeling of peace and happiness. It makes me smile. I think I’ve gone through a few phases in my life, from “Blink-182 is my favorite band” to “they’re too popular and everyone’s favorite band” to “I’m too cool for Blink-182” right back to today, where I just don’t care anymore what people think because they make happy. We all need more things that make us happy in our lives.
  • Florrie released another hit. I don’t know if we’ll ever get a proper album at this point, but these singles have all been fantastic.
  • The Maine’s final single “Pretender” I was going to hold off on and just keep waiting to hear the entire album. But I saw some people complaining about the production being muddy, so I wanted to listen and see what they were talking about. Hmm, I guess I can hear it a little bit in the chorus, where it feels like the vocals are pulled back a bit, but it’s nothing that bothers me—fun little song. I’m ready to hear this damn thing already.
  • The sun has been out in full force. In fact, we’re currently sitting in the mid-90s here in Portland; it’s supposed to move over triple digits in the next few days. Yuck. But it’s got me in a massive pop-punk kick. Like, for the first time in years, I’m actively looking at new pop-punk bands and even wading into the world of YouTube to see what people are listening to and discovering. I’m finding YouTube creators that remind me so much of myself at that age. I think that means if I was born 20 years later, I’d be a YouTuber. Hmm … anyway, I’ve been listening to the new Meet Me @ The Altar EP, and it’s as good as I was hoping it would be. Fun little easycore record from a band just bursting with potential. KennyHoopla’s Survivors Guilt is precisely what every single cookout needs this summer. I’ve also been enjoying the last Poorstacy album, and I kinda like what I’ve heard so far from this Settle Your Scores band as well. I’m assuming this upcoming JXDN album is going to be another mainstream success. Also, I messed up the name of the FigureItOut album last week; it’s actually called Searching for More. As I’ve been sitting around looking at new and old bands in this genre, I have to laugh at how this genre has had way more legs than I think anyone ever expected it to. Not even I thought that in 2021 this genre would continue to resonate with people of all ages. But I’m kinda here for it. It’s fun to see some new takes on the sound.
  • Lucy Dacus released her new album this week, and it’s as good as expected. Just top-notch songwriting and the kind of thing that’ll have legs the rest of the year.

Entertainment Thoughts

  • We made it about 20 minutes into Good on Paper and had to bail. I like the two lead actors but just couldn’t do it. Has there been any good romantic comedy that I’ve missed recently that’s worth seeing? I feel like Together Together was the last in the genre I really liked.
  • I often cite Batman: The Long Halloween as one of my favorite graphic novels of all time. It’s definitely up there in the top ten. So, I was cautiously interested in seeing how the animated version would turn out. I … was pleasantly surprised. The first part is well done. And, no, it is not a replacement for the comic, but as its own entity, I think it works, and I’m actively looking forward to the second part.
  • Netflix’s Shadow and Bone was fine. I never really got pulled into the world as much as I wanted to, and I don’t think this held up to other things we’ve seen recently (His Dark Materials, Carnival Row) that I enjoyed more.
  • I started watching War of the Worlds while Hannah was gone over the weekend. I only made it three episodes in, but it was kinda interesting. I am a sucker for anything aliens or post-apocalypse, so even when this is a little plodding, I’m still interested enough to continue on.
  • I have nothing but positive praise for Superman & Lois. I started watching just because, of course, I’ll give anything Supes a try. And I’ve kept watching because I genuinely enjoy the show, the characters, and I think it’s one of the best takes on Superman I’ve ever seen on screen. In fact, I’m going to go watch the latest episode as soon as I finish this here newsletter.

Random and Personal Stuff

  • Apparently I am now a bar trivia answer. Um. Unsure how I feel about this. Nothing screams “has been” quite like that, right?
  • It’s hot. It’s so fucking hot. Perfect night for some fried chicken and sides if you ask me.

Ten Songs

Here are ten songs that I listened to and loved this week. Some may be new, some may be old, but they all found their way into my life during the past seven days.

  1. KennyHoopla – Smoke Break
  2. Lucy Dacus – First Time
  3. Florrie – Street Lights
  4. Blink-182 – Wendy Clear
  5. LANY – Dancing in the Kitchen
  6. Modest Mouse – Back to the Middle
  7. Poorstacy – Choose Life
  8. Beabadoobe – Last Day on Earth
  9. FigureItOut – Dammit (Acoustic)
  10. Sara Keys – Picture of You

This playlist is available on Spotify and Apple Music.

Community Watch

The trending and popular threads in our community this week include:

The most liked post in our forums last week was this one by Donnie Ruth in the “Blink-182” thread.

I hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend.

Previous editions of Liner Notes can be found here.

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