What time is it? What day is it? What month is it? 2023? What happened to 2022? It’s cold outside. Wait, it was warm outside a few days ago, wasn’t it? Where is the sun? Why is it dark outside right now? Who just released a new album? They just released an album last year, right?
This year is nearing its close and it certainly feels like we ask ourselves most of the questions above every year. Time moves by so damn fast and as the saying goes blink and you’ll miss it. Or blink and the band Blink 182 will break up, change members, and get back together with the original lineup.
2023 boasted big albums by big bands – Metallica, Foo Fighters, Blink 182 (naturally), Queens of the Stone Age, The Gaslight Anthem – this is just naming a few. A lot of music by up-and-coming and independent bands also was released this year, to no surprise.
It is now December, but an album was released back in April that can still be heard echoing among those who appreciate the do-it-yourself mentality of punk rock and feel-good vibes of melodic pop punk. The hype for this album, hell this band, is very real and watching it unfold over the course of the year has been really exciting.
Stop the World from NOT was officially released on April 14 via Wiretap Records (US) and Brassneck Records (UK). NOT is the result of four friends getting together through their love and admiration for The Descendents and ALL and using that influence and drive to make their own contagiously catchy and fun-sounding punk rock. “We’re just four ALL/Descendents fanatics that had some time to kill during a pandemic. ALL are such a special band that aren’t making records anymore, so we just thought it was time that a band flew the flag again,” stated on the NOT Instagram band profile.
“Stop the World” is not only the name of the album but also is the opening track. This song was released as a single to help spread the word about the band and give us all a taste of the melodic and pop-punk sound they were formulating back in December of 2022. This track serves as a good introduction to NOT and naturally it can serve as an all around anthem for those of us still struggling and adjusting to the world outside our front doors. “We fell into the old cliche, We’re working our whole lives away, What my parents did I said I never would, Can’t live like this for good,” lead singer Davey Warsop croons amidst dreaming of better days.
While the year is drawing to a close, a good portion of 2023 saw NOT putting themselves out there playing shows, talking about the album and building a following among the punk rock scene. The band even released the debut album Stop the World on vinyl, which sold rapidly and led to a second pressing. “Hyperactive” is a fast-paced punk rock tune that is so quick and loud that it perfectly fits the tone of the band and the work they put in for this album. “I got way too much to give, With so much life to live, but my mind is like a sieve, I’m hyperactive,” exclaims Warsop on this track, the words practically among most of our minds over the course of the past few years.
Other standout tracks include “Alien,” which will leave the listener singing along and smiling, “Unfuck the World,” the angsty and upbeat track that will have fists pumping and beer cans crumbling, and “Anxiety,” the most relatable track lyrically on the entire album. Stop the World is available on most streaming services for download and copies of the album on vinyl are still available to order from Wiretap Records or Brassneck Records. Don’t hesitate to pick this album up; it’s one of the best to be released this year.