Jeff Rosenstock announces new album 'HELLMODE' - out 01 September via Specialist Subject
Jeff Rosenstock announces new album ‘HELLMODE’
out 01 September via Specialist Subject in the UK / EU
New Single & Music Video for ‘DOUBT’ Out Now
Massive North American Fall/ Winter Tour On Sale Now
Photo credit: Matt Price
Today punk rocker and EMMY-nominated ‘Craig of the Creek’ songwriter Jeff Rosenstock does the unthinkable: he is actually announcing an album before releasing it. ‘HELLMODE’, Rosenstock’s fifth studio album, is coming on 01 September via Specialist Subject in the UK / EU.
Jeff Rosenstock makes increasingly chaotic albums for an increasingly chaotic world. “To me, the album feels like the chaos of being alive right now,” Rosenstock says of ‘HELLMODE’. “We’re experiencing all these things at the same time that trigger our senses, and emotions that make us feel terrible. We’re just feeling way too much all at once!” With each passing year, it feels like the temperature of the universe boils five degrees hotter, and with each new album, Rosenstock’s music grows more unwieldy and lawless. Louder, faster, more feral. Which brings us to 2023—a planet on fire, a mere 90 seconds to midnight on the doomsday clock, and the release of Rosenstock’s anarchic new record, which was recorded with Rosenstock’s long-time studio producer, GRAMMY-nominated Jack Shirley, at Hollywood’s EastWest Studios.
Rosenstock recently shared ‘LIKED U BETTER,’ which The New York Times dubbed “as blistering as it is catchy.” He is back today with ‘HELLMODE’’s amazing lead single ‘DOUBT’ and its animated music video, made by some of his ‘Craig of the Creek’ pals.
“I wanted to make an anime-inspired video that captures the feeling of dread you feel when you know you’re gonna have to deal with some bad shit, and then that bad shit ends up way worse than you had even imagined,” says Rosenstock. “I’ve also always wanted to make a video with some of the ridiculously talented artists at Craig of the Creek. We met up at Tony’s Darts Away in Burbank - which I feel obliged to shout out because they didn’t kick us out even though five of us sat outside there for about 3 hours and ordered one pretzel and one coffee in total. Everyone started throwing ideas around and pretty quickly, Najja, Dashawn & Deena started sketching out their storyboards right there at the bar. Soon enough a tiny animation pipeline was formed with Cory and Jon and poof boom bang uh-oh video happened. It was pretty incredible to see it all come together!”
Jeff Rosenstock & his band will be embarking on a massive North American tour spanning coast to coast between September and December. Dates and tickets available HERE.
Tracklisting:
1. WILL U STILL U
2. HEAD
3. LIKED U BETTER
4. DOUBT
5. FUTURE IS DUMB
6. SOFT LIVING
7. HEALMODE
8. LIFE ADMIN
9. I WANNA BE WRONG
10. GRAVEYARD SONG
11. 3 SUMMERS
More on Jeff Rosenstock & ‘HELLMODE’:
‘HELLMODE’ marks the fifth studio album the prolific Rosenstock has released in the last ten years under his own name, following the dissolution of his beloved cult projects Bomb the Music Industry! and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches. Also tucked into his rapidly expanding catalog is a live record, a ska reimagining of his 2020 album ‘NO DREAM’, and various dumps of stray songs and loose singles. And somewhere on the side, he has found time to score the Emmy-nominated animated series ‘Craig of the Creek’.
Rosenstock’s rising profile and critical acclaim over the last decade have been something of an anomaly. He’s a proud torchbearer of the punk sonics, aesthetics, and ethos of his youth, leaning into pop punk and ska sensibilities that were deemed Decidedly Uncool by the gatekeepers of the time. (On any given day at a big outdoor music festival, he is likely the only musician who will bust out a saxophone solo.) But when Rosenstock celebrates these styles, he somehow ends up getting praise from tastemakers and landing on prominent year-end lists. Maybe it’s because his appreciation doesn’t feel like cheap nostalgia or surface-level cosplay. Everything he does is just so damned sincere.
That success is something Rosenstock has been conflicted about, and fuels some of the anxiety that runs through ‘HELLMODE’. “It’s weird feeling success at the worst possible time, while the world falls apart,” he says. “These things I’ve been unintentionally working towards for the last two decades have come to fruition now, when everything is on fire.”
To record ‘HELLMODE’ in the summer of 2022, Rosenstock once again enlisted his longtime studio collaborator, Jack Shirley, the Grammy-nominated master of heaviness who has recorded all of Rosenstock’s studio albums. But this time, they took a slightly more ambitious approach, booking time at the legendary EastWest Studios in Hollywood. They recorded to tape in Studio 2, the same hallowed ground where System of a Down recorded Toxicity, and where Whitney Houston laid down vocal tracks for The Bodyguard soundtrack. The newfound studio resources produced the biggest and most expansive Jeff Rosenstock record to date.
“I looked at it like: Well, we’re never gonna make a major label debut record. But I really like the sound of a lot of those records from the 90s—the Rob Cavallo stuff, the Jerry Finn stuff,” Rosenstock says. “So what would we do if we were in the studio trying to make that kind of record? It’s funny, I feel like in 2023, you can write an unabashedly poppy punk song and it’s probably not gonna be on the radio anyway, so it doesn’t feel like a sellout move. We felt free to make something that just kicks as much ass as possible.”
But for all its textured turmoil, there are also surprising glimpses of clarity and grace to be found in HELLMODE, when Rosenstock deliberately slows things down in places that are prettier and more delicate, rare moments of shelter in the storm. Which only makes it more rewarding when these moments unexpectedly unravel and spiral back into extreme, manic chaos, like abruptly being flung into a Nintendo game on level 99.
Follow Jeff Rosenstock:
Bandcamp| Twitter| Instagram| Facebook
The Press on Jeff Rosenstock:
“You know, the least we deserve in trying times like this is great punk music. Punk music that stands for something. This next guy is one of my favorites. He’s angry, urgent and prescient, and while I’m super bummed that he and his band is not here live tonight, at least we won’t have to pay for a studio roof that they surely would have ripped off. “ - Seth Meyers
"Like a stealthy D.I.Y. superhero, Jeff Rosenstock has a way of suddenly appearing when he’s most direly needed." - The New York Times
"New York’s most anxious punk delivers hook after hook on an album that deals with evergreen sociopolitical concerns yet sounds like it could’ve been written 30 minutes ago." - Pitchfork (8.0)
"[Jeff Rosenstock] is not one to languish, only to enlighten, abetted by his sharp, cynical wit, not to mention a clear ear for catchy hooks. Factor in the full-bodied production and stylistic switch-ups, and you’ve got yourself a contender for one of the best pop-punk releases in recent memory." - Bandcamp Daily
“When NO DREAM dropped without warning, it worked as a forceful reassurance. Even if none of us know how to process this shit, we are not alone” - Stereogum (#14 on The 50 Best Albums Of 2020 So Far)
“Rosenstock's songs are meant to be sung—or, more accurately, shouted—in densely packed rooms of sweaty friends.” - GRAMMY
