Tales of the Salty Bag

 Near the end of 2019 Rational Anthem put out It's Only Permanent , I didn't initially blog about it because it's a pop punk masterpiece and I didn't want to do it a disservice. That should be enough to get you to go check it out. If you require a bit more of a breakdown here you go.   I've been listening to Rational Anthem since I found them through Traffic Street in 2009...I want to say it was the Apocalypse Meow split (or was it through Troublemake? Doesn't really matter) and have thoroughly enjoyed them since day one, but there was something about It's Only Permanent that really hit me in the Blink 182 void. To me this feels like what should have been Blink's follow up to Dude Ranch, it's a sound adjacent to the best parts of Blink's TOYPAJ but without the contrivedness..contrivity? (I don't know, Blink 182 after Dude Ranch felt a little too contrived at times [though I celebrate their catalogue through Self Titled]) or immature lyrics. I

The album Lucky by Fifteen is amazing. Yes, this album came out in 1999 so this may or may not be new news to you. I had never paid much attention to Fifteen until I heard My Congressman as the intro song to Murf Meyer is Self-Medicated - Weekly Dose podcast. This lead to me checking out Lucky and I'm so happy that I did. Jeff Ott has a unique singing voice which may take a while to really sink it's hooks into you (I know it did for me), but once it's hooks are sunk you can just sit back and enjoy. Jeff's cadence phrasing add to the depth of the lyrical content perfectly. The darkness present in the lyrics is offset by the optimism that the subject matter is delivered in in addition to the sarcastic sense of humor. The music is primarily rooted in east bay pop punk with hints of grunge. Lucky makes me angry that 24 years later the exact same conversations are happening while simultaneously provides me with motivation to be a better person.  When I saw tha