If Jakobs Castle were a physical place, it would exist somewhere in the present that’s also rooted in history—and that’s exactly how Jakob Nowell approached the 14 songs that make up Enter: The Castle. As the son of Sublime’s legendary frontman Bradley Nowell, there is no denying that Jakob is influenced by his father’s music and legacy. However Jakobs Castle is anything but a nostalgic rehash. Instead these songs are remarkably cutting-edge while still retaining the keen sense of melody that endeared his father’s music to millions of people all over the world. Nowell has described the project as “mixing California’s past with the fresh mystery of internet underground culture” and that’s a good place to start. But it’s only the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to the sonic and emotional depth of this varied collection of songs.
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.