The title stands for 3 Letter Names, as that is how I’ve seen these artist’s names most commonly written. Incidentally, all the bands have strong Gainesville, Florida connections as well. It seemed wrong to use the 3 letter name friendly “GNV FLA edition” for a title, seeing as that is already a Less Than Jake album and I’m not including their music this week.
Sure, the first artist’s “aitch — double-u — em”* doesn’t roll off the tongue, but who wants to write out Hot Water Music every time? They’ve only been featured once on the blog (“Trusty Chords”, obv), but I should be typing HWM and Hot Water Music more often for how badass they’ve been for so long.
The second band’s name, JER, is only 3 letters anyway. They got a few shout-outs and an embedded tweet on two weeks ago’s “Ska Punk edition“, but I failed to include any of their musical projects (We are the Union, Skatune Network, JER, probably more).
We conclude with Laura Jane Grace, referred to as LJG throughout the myriad articles written about her new album Stay Alive. A few weeks back the “Obscure kind of perfection edition” was about her other three letter abbreviated band, Against Me! (AM!)
*I watched the Scripps** Spelling Bee on ESPN as a kid. I remember pretty deep in competition they had some poor kid spell the letter H. I’d never considered there was a way to spell letters. From the existential dread on his face, he hadn’t either.
**We live in San Diego now, so I see Scripps everything, everywhere. Most frequently seen is Scripps hospital in Encinitas, as it’s directly across the street from the vegan fast food mecca, Plant Power.
Hot Water Music “Bury Your Idol”
This a single off the 2017 HWM album Light It Up. It took a couple years to hear the album for the first time, but the tenth and twentieth times came much quicker. I doubt the people in the neighborhood surrounding my old office miss the loud, gristly, out of tune renditions of this record. It was one of my go-to favorites to release some stress after a bang-your-head-on-the-desk Meet call or two. There were plenty of chances.
JER “R/Edgelord”
This is the first song by the new band, JER, from the CEO of SKA, Skatune Network. The album is put out on Bad Time Records, like a few of the artists from the past Ska Punk blog.
It has been a pleasure exploring their YouTube channel, to find so many many ska covers. We’re talking pop songs, video game soundtracks, tv/movie theme songs, and yes even a cover of the emo classic, American Football’s “Never Meant”. They are so talented, playing all the instruments, arranging the songs, and of course the dancing.
There is also a pretty sweet making of video showing JER playing this track as a demo (and dancing).
Laura Jane Grace “The Swimming Pool”
She released this album with an interesting accompanying concept video. It features LJG lying in the bathtub reading a magazine. It’s a single continuous shot while the entire LP is played. Great concept and at about 5:11 you get a good look at her accidentally blacked out arm sleeve. This song is the first from the record, but the youtube video is the whole thing, provided by last week’s record label heroes Polyvinyl.
