Lurking in the dark corners of the internet rap underground toward the tail end of the blog era was GothBoiClique, which spawned out of popular image blogging site Tumblr. The tongue-in-cheek name, coined by Long Beach, California-born Filipino singer and producer Jerick “Jay” Quilisadio aka Cold Hart, ended up sticking. Alongside Wicca Phase Springs Eternal and Horse Head, Cold Hart built the foundation of what would become one of the generation’s most influential musical movements of the 2010s and beyond, changing the definition of punk and emo. The GBC collective’s boisterous lineup of Lil Peep, Døves, Fish Narc, YAWNS, Mackned, Lil Tracy, and JPDreamthug took 2000’s rock into the modern Soundcloud age.
Joyce Manor is a band who have never relied on gimmicks. Since forming in Torrance, California, in 2008, the band—vocalist/guitarist Barry Johnson, bassist Matt Ebert and guitarist Chase Knobbe—have built-up a feverish fanbase by writing catchy, pop-punk songs that seem straight-forward on the surface but teeming with carefully crafted nuances upon multiple listens. This is undoubtedly true of the band’s sixth studio album 40 oz. To Fresno, an album that has songs that span the last eight years, yet comes together to form a cohesive album that marks the next chapter of Joyce Manor. “This is an interesting record because the final track ‘Secret Sisters’ was actually a B-side from [2014’s] Never Hungover Again and ‘NBTSA’ is actually a reworked version of ‘Secret Sisters’ that barely even resembles the original song,” Johnson explains. Although Joyce Manor were planning on taking a break prior to the pandemic, Johnson soon began writing to keep boredom at bay and much of the remainder of 40 oz. To Fresno came out of that period of focused songwriting.