Four March Music Releases You Shouldn't Skip Over

I didn't have as much time to listen to new music releases this month, so this list is ignoring some heavy hitters. Instead, I'm going to justify why you should listen to two releases from bands you've probably sworn off in the past due to unjustifiable sins against your listening ears. And then throw on two more releases from bands you might not have heard of yet. These are all worth listening to, so take some time to jump on Spotify and do so.

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Anti-Flag's The General Strike
Released March 20th
Purchase

Oh god, I know. Trust me...I know. Anti-Flag is awful now. I'm right there with you. I grew up jumping around my bedroom and singing along to the "Woooooooooooooah!"s of their hyperbole-ridden, angst-filled anthems. I held on to the legacy way longer than I should have. Terror State was/still kind of is a favorite of mine, though some of the songs are just too cheesy for me to listen to anymore. I even followed them along to For Blood and Empire, though my heart wasn't really in it anymore.

I think the cheese overwhelmed me at this part of the opening track. I walked away from the band, and was happy ignoring them for the next several years. But for some reason I decided to check out their newest release, The General Strike. I was ready to hate it, but I just couldn't. It's good.

Shuffled: Punk Plus Edition

Every other Wednesday I hit the shuffle button on my 90 gigabytes of music and post the results. I might have to justify some of the stuff in my library, but hopefully it will help inform you of new music -- Or at least be entertaining.

This edition turned out very punk-filled, except for the first track by The Dodos. While most of my musical tastes have matured into the indie territory since high school, punk is still a very comforting genre for me. When life gets complicated, it's always nice to put on one of my favorite punk albums and unwind by acting like a complete fool, singing and drumming along in my car. It takes me back to a simpler time in life, when bills and jobs weren't a worry. Maybe it will do the same for you.