Napalm Dream

Last updated
Napalm Dream
Napalm Dream.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedJune 30, 2011
RecordedMarch 2009 to June 2011
Genre Pop punk
Length33:00
Label Mandible
Producer Justin Perkins, Amos Pitsch
Tenement chronology
Napalm Dream
(2011)
The Blind Wink
(2011)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
PunknewsStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
Scene Point BlankStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Napalm Dream is an album by Appleton, Wisconsin-based rock group, Tenement. It was originally released by Brooklyn, New York punk label Mandible Records in 2011. In 2012, it was reissued as a deluxe double cassette box set by Drugged Conscience Records. The box set included the album in its entirety on one tape, and the album's demos on the accompanying tape. It also included a booklet; hand made by the band themselves. [3] Limited to 100 copies, it sold quickly and was soon reissued on cassette again by Fullerton, California's Burger Records. [4] In 2012, Napalm Dream was ranked #381 on The Village Voice 's Pazz & Jop critics poll. [5]

Contents

Maximumrocknroll included Napalm Dream in their "The Best Of The 2010s" feature; adding: "...Tenement is not only the most creative and enduring band of that moment, but also transcends any reductive reading as ’Mats revival” (or whatever)." [6]

English rock band Martha covered "Dreaming Out Loud" as a b-side to their 2022 Dirtnap Records single, "Beat Perpetual". [7]

Reception

Punknews: "What does it mean to live in the Midwest, to grow up in a small, dead-end town overshadowed by a nearby metropolis? Appleton, Wisconsin's Tenement seem to provide an answer on Napalm Dream, which embodies a particular Midwest sound while creating its own particular contribution to the cultural landscape/wasteland of Wisconsin and similar areas." [8]

Razorcake : "...This record is absolutely beautiful. It not only sounds completely realized, but it honestly sounds like they’re pushing themselves. It’s urgent, with established foregrounds and backgrounds. Even at its most desperate it’s still catchy. If you’re too tired to listen to music, this record is there. If you’re drinking with friends, this record is there. It also looks like they let a lot of people in on the recording, to which they benefited immensely. Who knew that feedback over piano was so moving? Female backing vocals? The best. Once again, the Midwest produces an earnest, melodic punk classic, but this time they end it with a hardcore rager. This record is important."

In a 2014 "Songs Of The Week" feature for ESPN 's Grantland , music critic Steven Hyden reveals that he'd just discovered Napalm Dream which he describes as "really great in-the-red pop-punk in the vein of Hüsker Dü and the Descendents" adding: "I’m an idiot because I was asleep until now. Don’t be an idiot like me." [9]

Chicago Reader called Napalm Dream "perfected fuzzy midwestern pop punk" and claimed it to be "following in the hardcore-inflected, catchy-as-hell footsteps of Screeching Weasel and Naked Raygun". [10]

NME referred to Napalm Dream as a "Blinding Husker-Du-via-Green-Day pop punk LP" and stated that Tenement turned "witnesses into evangelists" on the national tour following its release. [11]

In a 2020 feature for BrooklynVegan , Jeff Rosenstock cited Napalm Dream as an influence for his album No Dream and said, "I remember hearing this and being blown away that a punk record could sound so fucking good without sounding over produced - and that it was a band in our scene!" [12]

Track listing

All compositions by Amos Pitsch except where noted.

  1. "Stupid Werld"
  2. "Simple Things (Can Seem So Involved)"
  3. "Earwig"
  4. "Dreaming Out Loud"
  5. "Spit In The Wind"
  6. "When Time Caught Up"
  7. "City Bus #30"
  8. "Rock Eating People"
  9. "Blammo"
  10. "Running Into Mirrors"
  11. "Skyscraper"
  12. "A Death In The Family"
  13. "Schadenfreude" (Jesse Ponkamo/Amos Pitsch)

Related Research Articles

Skate punk is a skater subculture and punk rock subgenre that developed in the 1980s. Originally a form of hardcore punk that had been closely associated with skate culture, skate punk evolved into a more melodic genre of punk rock in the 1990s similar to pop punk. Since then, it has predominately featured fast tempos, lead guitar playing, fast drumming, and singing. Occasionally, skate punk also combines the fast tempos of hardcore punk and melodic hardcore with the catchy hooks of pop-punk.

<i>Zen Arcade</i> 1984 studio album by Hüsker Dü

Zen Arcade is the second studio album by American punk rock band Hüsker Dü, released in July 1984 on SST Records. Originally released as a double album on two vinyl LPs, Zen Arcade tells the story of a young boy who runs away from an unfulfilling home life, only to find the world outside is even worse. Zen Arcade and subsequent Hüsker Dü albums were instrumental in the creation of the alternative rock genre, and it is considered by some to be one of the greatest rock albums of all time.

<i>New Day Rising</i> 1985 studio album by Hüsker Dü

New Day Rising is the third studio album by American punk rock band Hüsker Dü, released in 1985 on SST Records. The album continued the move away from the fast hardcore punk of the band's earliest releases toward slower, more melodic material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hüsker Dü</span> American punk rock band

Hüsker Dü was an American punk rock band formed in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, in 1979. The band's continuous members were guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist/vocalist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart. They first gained notability as a hardcore punk band, and later crossed over into alternative rock. Mould and Hart were the band's principal songwriters, with Hart's higher-pitched vocals and Mould's baritone taking the lead in alternating songs.

Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like the term "post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad constellation of groups. Post-hardcore began in the 1980s with bands like Hüsker Dü and Minutemen. The genre expanded in the 1980s and 1990s with releases by bands from cities that had established hardcore scenes, such as Fugazi from Washington, D.C. as well as groups such as Big Black, Jawbox, Quicksand, and Shellac that stuck closer to post-hardcore's noise rock roots. Dischord Records became a major nexus of post-hardcore during this period. The genre also began to incorporate more dense, complex, and atmospheric instrumentals with bands like Slint and Unwound, and also experienced some crossover from indie rock with bands like The Dismemberment Plan. In the early- and mid-2000s, post-hardcore achieved mainstream success with the popularity of bands like At the Drive-In, My Chemical Romance, Dance Gavin Dance, AFI, Underoath, Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, The Used, Saosin, Alexisonfire, and Senses Fail. In the 2010s, bands like Sleeping with Sirens and Pierce the Veil achieved mainstream success under the post-hardcore label. Meanwhile, bands like Title Fight and La Dispute experienced underground popularity playing music that bore a closer resemblance to the post-hardcore bands of the 1980s and 1990s.

<i>The War on Errorism</i> 2003 studio album by NOFX

The War on Errorism is the ninth studio album by the American punk rock band NOFX. It was released on May 6, 2003, through Fat Wreck Chords.

<i>The All-American Rejects</i> (album) 2002 studio album by The All-American Rejects

The All-American Rejects is the debut studio album by American rock band The All-American Rejects, originally released October 15, 2002, by Doghouse Records before being re-released on February 4, 2003, by DreamWorks Records.

Toxic Reasons were an American punk rock band, formed in 1979. The band released nine full-length studio albums between 1982 and 1995.

The Neats were a Boston rock band that existed from the late 1970s to early 1990s. They first recorded for the independent Propeller label, which in 1981 released the song, "Six", a swirling, Vox-washed slab of garage rock reminiscent of Question Mark & the Mysterians. The following year, their well-received debut, 7-song EP, The Monkey's Head in the Corner of the Room, was released on Boston's Ace of Hearts Records. It was voted one of the best EPs of 1982 in the Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop poll. Three full-length albums followed. The band featured well-crafted songs and a psychedelic power pop sound in a similar vein as The Dream Syndicate and The Feelies. They occasionally played on the same bill as Mission of Burma; they once toured nationally with R.E.M.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Copyrights</span> American pop punk band

The Copyrights are a pop punk band from Carbondale, Illinois, made up of Adam Fletcher, Brett Hunter, Kevin Rotter, and Luke McNeill (drums). They are currently signed to Fat Wreck Chords. They are known for what Alternative Press calls "both the sloppy, slacker pop-punk of, say, early Green Day with the slightly more polished sheen of Teenage Bottlerocket or recent Bouncing Souls".

Apollo Up! is an American post-punk/pop punk/indie band based in Nashville, Tennessee. Billboard described the band as post-hardcore. Their sound has been compared to Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, and Fugazi.

Tenement is an American three piece rock band from Appleton, Wisconsin, United States, formed in 2006. They are often associated with the American hardcore punk scene. Their recorded output has been described as everything from "noise pop" to "fuzz punk", while in a live setting they are often known for experimentation, improvisation, and high-energy performance. The visual art of singer/guitarist Amos Pitsch is associated with most of their records, as well as several records by other notable punk and hardcore bands. In January 2013, NME included Tenement in their "rising stars of 2013". CMJ called Tenement a "breakout artist to watch" in 2014. In 2015, Tenement was included in Spin 's "The 50 Best Rock Bands Right Now". In 2016, they were included in Rolling Stone 's "10 Great Modern Punk Bands".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dead Fucking Last</span>

Dead Fucking Last is an American punk rock band that was founded in 1991 in Los Angeles, California by Tom Davis, Monty Messex, Adam (Ad-Rock) Horovitz and Tony Converse.

Chumped was an American pop punk band based in Brooklyn, New York, United States. The band formed in 2012, and released two extended plays before releasing their sole LP, Teenage Retirement, in 2014 on Anchorless Records. The band announced an "indefinite hiatus" in 2015 and performed their final show in February 2016.

The Blind Wink is an album by Appleton, Wisconsin-based rock group Tenement. It was properly released in December 2011 by Chicago hardcore punk label Cowabunga Records, following a cassette that the band released themselves for a West Coast tour in January 2011. It was re-issued in 2016 by Canadian hardcore punk record label, Deranged Records.

Bruised Music, Volume 1 is a compilation album by Appleton, Wisconsin rock group Tenement, released by Grave Mistake Records and Toxic Pop Records. It is composed of singles and rarities from the band's first four years. The album was ranked #1170 by The Village Voice on their 2015 Pazz & Jop critics poll.

<i>Predatory Headlights</i> 2015 studio album by Tenement

Predatory Headlights is a double album by Appleton, Wisconsin-based rock group Tenement. It was released in June 2015 by New York-based record label Don Giovanni Records. Perhaps due to its length and frequent genre cross-over, it was initially ignored by many established music publications but eventually ended up on Rolling Stone's "15 Great Albums You Didn't Hear In 2015" list and Spin magazine's "2015 Overlooked Albums Report". According to The New Yorker, the album "Highlights the strongest aspects of the group's songwriting". It was ranked #100 by The Village Voice on their 2015 Pazz & Jop critics poll.

Bruised Music, Volume 2 is a compilation album by Appleton, Wisconsin rock group Tenement, released by Grave Mistake Records and Toxic Pop Records. It is composed of singles and rarities from the years 2010 to 2014.

The Self-Titled Album is an album by Appleton, Wisconsin-based rock group Tenement. It was co-released in July 2016 by Forward Records and Deranged Records, following the release of a cassette version that the band wrote and recorded in the span of a week ahead of an East Coast tour in 2015.

References

  1. Tenement: "Napalm Dream" > Review on Punknews.org.
  2. Green, Loren. "Tenement: "Napalm Dream" > Review". Scene Point Blank. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  3. "Tenement - Napalm Dream - Double Cassette /100".
  4. "A Look at Burger Records and the Longevity of the Cassette Tape". 8 November 2013.
  5. "Pazz & Jop Stats".
  6. "The Best of the 2010s, Part Three".
  7. "Watch The Video For Martha's New Song "Beat Perpetual". 14 July 2022.
  8. "Tenement - Napalm Dream [12-inch]".
  9. "Songs of the Week: The Majestically Underwhelming Return of U2". 7 February 2014.
  10. "Event Alert: Shorty Clothing and Gen Art". 23 September 2009.
  11. Garrett, Jonathan (5 January 2013). "Rising Stars of 2013". NME. United Kingdom: TI Media. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  12. "Q&A With Jeff Rosenstock". 27 May 2020.