One of the most highly anticipated albums of the year, “GUTS” by Olivia Rodrigo, was released on Sept. 8. Following the breakout success of her first studio album “SOUR” in 2021, “GUTS” had much to live up to. This album is the young artist’s chance to prove that she’s not just a one hit wonder. I, however, will not be talking about any of that in this article.
As much as I would like to add on to the discussion surrounding “GUTS,” I would rather highlight an album that was released on the same day but only received a fraction of the same attention. An album that I believe more people should be listening to. The album I am talking about is “PUNK TACTICS” by Joey Valence and Brae.
“PUNK TACTICS” is hip-hop duo Joey Valence and Brae’s first major album. Being recorded entirely in Joey’s bedroom, the 24-year-olds aimed to recreate the punk-rap style of the ‘80s and ‘90s in this record, which I believe they were able to do with flying colors.
Before I go into detail about the songs on the album, I would first like to get rid of the elephant in the room. Yes, I know, they sound a lot like the Beastie Boys. When talking about the album, or any of their songs for the matter, it’s hard to not make the comparison, which is completely valid. The duo takes huge inspiration from the New York-based
band for much of their discography. They don’t just try to recreate what worked in the past; however, they really make the songs their own with their unique gimmicks and flair.
This can be heard in the album’s title track. “PUNK TACTICS” starts with what can only be described as a blast of excitement. It’s very loud and in your face, leaving you with no room to breathe in the best way possible, a common characteristic that all the songs on the album share. This serves as a fantastic start that tells you what the album is all about.
There’s also a good chance that you heard the song before, or at least the chorus. Joey and Brae released it as a single in the spring of last year. Due to the song’s general fun and energetic vibe it unsurprisingly started to trend on TikTok. It was used in everything from edits of users’ favorite characters to short animated music videos.
The songs “DROP!!” and “WATCH YO STEP” follow in the footsteps of “PUNK TACTICS” as fast-paced power anthems that makes you want to get up and start putting on your own music video, the latter even referencing the opening of “PUNK TACTICS.” One thing that stood out to me was the instrumentals of these songs. They start out as slow electric beats until their respective chorus, in which they explode out, turning into something that sounds more like traditional hip-hop.
“STARTAFIGHT” plays next, and I would say this is the song that sounds the most similar to what you would hear on a Beastie Boys album, mainly due to the constant repeating of the song’s name, something the group was well known for. It’s also around this point that you’ll probably start to notice that none of the tracks on the album are that long. Most of the songs end up lasting only a mere two minutes, with the entire album being a modest half hour. I see this as working out in the artist’s favor with none of the songs outstaying their welcome, making the album an easy listen.
Next up we have “DELINQUENT (TEEN TITAN),” which as you probably tell by the name, highlights the duo’s love of samples and references related to pop culture. It’s not uncommon to hear them make the occasional anime reference, with one of my personal favorite examples being, “…we ain’t got a label, you don’t get a quarter. Now we going platinum, ora, ora, ora.” I can see how some may be turned off by the constant name drops, but I believe they tend to work on their own without having to have knowledge of the properties.
“INTERMISSION” marks the halfway mark of the album. It’s a nice short break from what we’ve been used to hearing, with it even sounding like elevator music. From here on out through, we get much more experimental tracks from Joey and Brae, with the following song immediately letting you know that things are about to change.
“GUMDROP” is a minute-long hyperpop song that sounds nothing like what came before it. As someone who isn’t really a fan of the genre, I tend to find myself skipping this one upon plays of the album, but I can appreciate the duo trying something different.
Taking a complete 180, we now have “DANCE NOW.” The song’s name is very fitting as it will make you do as it says. It’s a very groovy song that has a unique jazz feel to it. This was originally released as a single and had me convinced that it would be my favorite on the album. That was until I heard the next song.
Simply titled “RN” the track serves as a fun track that will certainly hype you up. While the song tends to repeat itself in a similar way to “STARTAFIGHT,” the vocal work and instrumental more than makes up for it.
The song “HOOLIGANG” does pretty much the same thing but to what I feel like is a lesser degree.
“TANAKA 2” is what I believe to be the objectively best song on the album. For the first minute it just sounds like a typical song by them, that’s until Logic comes in and does his verse. You heard that right, this album has a Logic feature. I’m not going to act like I really care about Logic or his music, but his verse on this song does a lot to separate “TANAKA 2” from the duo’s other works.
Speaking of separating their songs we now have “STREET PIZZA,” which is just a straight-up punk song. The song features Joey and Brae shouting about making street pizza over heavy instruments. While that may not be the most punk thing to sing about, it certainly has that energy to it. I would like to note that on Spotify they have the artist “Bonjour Señor” listed as a feature. I tried to find more out related to this individual, but the only proof of his existence is this one song.
The final song on the album is “CLUB SANDWICH,” a song that returns the duo to their normal style of music. This works as a great track on its own, but I recommend playing the entire album before giving it a listen. It serves also as a celebration of “PUNK TACTICS,” referencing almost all the songs that came before it.
“PUNK TACTICS” is an album that takes you for a short yet fun ride. Once you start getting used to its unique style, it does something new and different. If you’re a fan of the Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill or Joey Bada$$ this is worth a listen. Joey and Brea really have something special going on, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.