Needles // Pins

Needles // Pins

Needles // Pins

Dirt Cult

***"Maybe it’s the endless pieces of soft, soothing music being described as ‘a soothing balm for the stresses of the pandemic age’, but don’t you sometimes find yourself wishing for a solid rock’n’roll record to cut to your core and send your fists soaring towards the sky? Okay, our moshpits may not extend much further than the faces in our living rooms right now, but goddamit, some of us really just want some punk rock to help us feel alive. Here’s where Needles//Pins’ mighty fourth album comes in. From the surging rush of opener ‘Woe Is Us’ (sounds relatable), via the organ-drenched scuffle of ‘Winnipeg ‘03’ right through to anthemic closer ‘The Tyranny Of Comforts’, this is a record that takes your emotional concerns and bundles them up into sweet little packets of raw-throated, chest-swelling, moves-into-your-brain-and-never-leaves melody. They’re self-aware too; by referencing Cap’n Jazz’s ‘Little Leagues’ in the opening verse to ‘A Rather Strained Apologetic’, they lay bare that in a less complicated era you might have been tempted to call their take on punk ‘emo’. Hey, come back—OK, it’s not a Jade Tree special, but it’s got the same gravel throated delivery and honeyed approach to melody that Blake Schwarzenbach delivered on ‘24 Hour Revenge Therapy’. Needles//Pins are equally indebted to classic Canadian powerpop like The Pointed Sticks - hell, 1979’s essential ‘Vancouver Complication’ comp feels as much of a reference here as ‘Boxcar’. They know their history, they know their craft, and they know their shit. If you’ve...

Needles // Pins

Good Night, Tomorrow

Mint / Dirt Cult

Vancouver power-trash trio Needles//Pins began in 2009 as an excuse for three friends to hang out. Two LPs and a handful of 7 inch singles later, the band has come a long way but are still, at its core, a few friends having fun. 2017 sees the band set to release its third LP Good Night, Tomorrow, its first on Mint Records. The record is a progression both musically and lyrically from their older material while still maintaining the hook-centric philosophy of their previous releases. The band has become legendary in Vancouver for wild shows and gruff but catchy punk rock melodies. It draws from classic punk roots like the wiry pop of The Buzzcocks and the gravely anthems of Stiff Little Fingers, but has a unique West Coast approach that would align itself with the catchiest of the Lookout! or Dirtnap Records catalog. Though none of the band’s songs overstays its welcome, you’ll find yourself humming one of their hooks days after seeing them play or hearing the record. Recorded with Jesse Gander (Japandroids, White Lung) in Vancouver at Rain City Recorders, the record shows an organic growth from the power pop of their previous two albums. Guitarist and singer Adam Solomonian’s voice is gruffer from playing hundreds of shows, and you can see a richer appreciation of the group’s influences such as Jawbreaker and the Replacements at play in the song writing. Tony Dubroy’s solid bass lines and Macey Budgell’s heavy drumming combine to form a powerful rhythm...