Post-Nothing Rock: Scarlet Street - NO ALTERNATIVE (2025)

Why I Like it:

Ok folks. There's something that has been ruminating, brewing, even simmering in my mind for a few months and it's time to get out in open. Full disclosure, this is absolutely an old man (or lady in my case) yelling at cloud scenario. I do get to a pretty good band though, if you stay with me for a few minuets. Anyways...

Our music websites have been slowly dying out, bought up by corporations that don't give a shit about the quality deep dives, alternatives takes, and the covering of lesser known bands that may not have the influence hype. The music journalists have been cut out of the picture, mainly replaced by cheaper alternatives *cough* AI *cough*. The latest one that I am refereeing to is the gutting of BrooklynVegan, Alternative Press, Revolver, and Goldmine by Veeps (the irony of linking a Pitchfork article does not escape me). Just to add some salt to the wound, Veeps was founded by Good Charlotte’s Benji and Joel Madden. Fucking Good Charlette people.

BrooklynVegan's gutting especially hit me in the heart. I used to follow their website and read Andrew Sacher's excellent emo/hardcore/punk lists and takes. Also the podcast that was done by a few of the staff members was a well of music news/concert reports/and new releases.

Alright enough of my gripping. I can acknowledge that this was something happening for quite a few years now. It just feels like that was my last bastion of hope fading away, and it's an era I am grieving a little. Many of the music journalists that I greatly respect have now gone to a paid subscription model on Substack (the aforementioned Andrew Sacher and legend Steve Hyden being a couple examples), run a podcast that usually requires a subscription to a streaming music platform, and/or require Patreon to access full content. This is likely our reality now...and I'm still getting to an acceptance phase of it.

So what's my soundtrack of my inner turmoil, stemmed from late stage capitalism? It's No Alternative by Scarlet Street. They are also pissed and ready to talk about it. It sounds like the through line of the album is we collectively as a society are having less and less control of our lives. You see it on any social media platform that feeds you the things 'they' think you need/should buy. Or also the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer sentiment. Here's a meme that can convey this in fewer words that I could:

*Sidebar note- I've seen an interesting video about the very topic of society collectively and slowly losing control here, if you want a rabbit hole. Anyways back to the program.

I found it very thought provoking when lead singer Ben in an interview mentioned that he thinks that in 10 years only nepo babies will be making music because it won't be economically viable for lower class bands. Even within this era's emo/punk/rock scene, you see one of the bigger bands Foxing breaking up because they couldn't make ends meet as band (or at least that's what they've mentioned in interviews before).

The body of work as a whole has that New Jersey hardcore/emo sound sound that pairs very well with the emotional turmoil. There's even some La Dispute spoken word elements in the last song "THERE'S A HOLE HERE//IT'S GONE NOW" that bookends the album nicely.

I would be remiss if I don't mention one of the bands this album sounds like. However, I'm going to take a page from the Emo Dads Podcast and call them cheeseburger. You could say, a brand new cheeseburger...if you catch my drift. I think this is sonically like cheeseburger but with less lyrics about girl problems (or someone from Taking Back Sunday taking your girl) and a more philosophical gaze at our society. Homerun!

The thing that really got my admiration for Scarlet Street is that not only are they taking a good hard look at the current day music industry and our society, they are walking the walk. They have said fuck the social media overloads and aren't playing the game to get our attention. There's no hyping or promoting on the socials. Just look at this post on Instagram to get a taste of the band's 'posts'. They are doing the grind, practicing their art, and trying to make that small difference in the scene. I deeply respect that choice, and am honored to do my part in hyping them now.

_____________________________________________________________