What were your top releases of 2023? Another year is coming to a close, and I thought it might be an idea to compile a list of the top 23 of 2023. It could be either albums released in 2023 or just your top plays of the year. Post your suggestions in the comments below, and I'll add up the votes into a post at the start of January.

Anything new and exciting, or sticking with the old standards?

Whether it’s streaming on Bandcamp while you work/study, playing through your phone/DAP on the bus, or spinning on your hifi, let everyone know what’s getting you through the week in the comments down below!

Invidious link to listen for free.

It’s time for album club #5! I'm a few days late with this one, and have also decided to switch the format to monthly instead of every 2 weeks. If we start getting more participation I might look at increasing the frequency again.

This week I went with a Canadian classic. D.O.A.'s Hardcore 81. The album that lent it's name to a genre. Released in 1981, this was D.O.A.'s second album. Formed in 1978, by this point in their career the band had already opened for the Clash, and toured extensively around California with some of the other founders of hardcore punk. They would soon lose a drummer to Black Flag, and go through some lineup changes of their own. In the middle of all of that, they released what is likely their best album, Hardcore 81.

This post will stay pinned for a month, in order for anyone interested to leave their thoughts on the album. December 31st will see the launch of Album Club #6.

I've been thinking about this post for a while, ever since a similar one went up on the old Hardcore community on the now defunct waveform.social. Basically an introduction/why are we all here, and what's the point?

Why Punk_Rock?
Like many of you (I assume), I moved over to Lemmy after watching Reddit slowly (or sometimes rapidly) go to shit over the past decade+. From Front Page of the Internet to Digging it's own grave for that sweet ad revenue. I started this sub-lemmy for two main reasons:

1. At the time, most of the other punk subs on Lemmy hadn't had new posts in half a year or more, and/or had almost no active members. I wanted to create a sub that was actually active and enticing to people during the great Reddit exodus(es).
2. Most of the punk subs on Reddit were, well... boring. I mean, I get it, for some people listening to Teenage Bottlerocket on repeat for weeks on end has a certain comforting appeal. However, there's more out there in the big wide world than US Top 40 punk. Reddit has always been famous for headline readers, and it seemed more often than not, that's all the punk subs were too. Bad Religion or the Interupters get hundreds of upvotes in minutes, likely from people who don't even click through to listen to the music, but anything unfamiliar would get ignored, or worse, downvoted. That lead to a painfully repetitive catalogue. Some subs tried blacklists or posting guidelines, but it often didn't seem to make a big difference.

Rules? What do we need rules for?
That's not to say that you can't post Bad Religion or whatever else you like here. Feel free. I'd like to keep this place as rules-free as possible. I think, as a whole though, we can do better. What I was always looking for on Reddit was new music. Something I hadn't heard before. That's what I'm trying to do here. I want to help people find new favourite bands that rip as hard as what they're used to. That said, in this sad world we live in, basic ground rules almost always have to be stated:

1. Don't be racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc. Basically just don't be a degenerate.

There, that was easy wasn't it?

A quick note about Spotify
Yeah, yeah, it's convenient. It's also absolute shit. Spotify is bad for artists, it's bad for listeners, it's bad for the internet. You know who Spotify is good for? Spotify shareholders and executives, that's about it.

That said, I obviously don't expect everyone to stop using it. Post Spotify links if you must, however there are better alternatives out there. One of the big ones is Bandcamp.com. Users get all the free streaming they want, there are apps in addition to the website, and most importantly, over 80% of the money, on average, goes directly to the artist or label putting out the music. That is why all of my posts (where possible) feature a Bandcamp link. Help support the artists you love whenever you can.

Holy fuck this is wordy
Yeah. Sorry about that. At the end of the day, I never really aspired to mod a community again, and I'm hoping the amount of actual moderation required remains minimal. If everyone sticks to the golden rule Just don't be a degenerate, we should be fine. So have fun, find new music, post news, scene updates, favourite songs, whatever you'd like (that's punk related), and hopefully we all come across new and exciting music along the way. Invite your friends, the more the merrier!