In the spirit of full disclosure, the album cover you see above for KEN Mode’s forthcoming Success (6.15 on Seasons of Mist), looks an awful lot like my couch. Shit, I look an awful lot alike the man on the couch. My couch is covered with blankets and pillows and there’s a work laptop sitting on my couch this very morning, and there are loose papers scattered on the couch, too. At one point this morning, I was bent over in the fuck my life pose. Better living through technology, yo! I can have a shit day at work from the comfort of my own home and it’s only 9:30 in the morning.

My friends, therein lies the appeal of bands like KEN Mode, Metz, Pissed Jeans, and others I lump into the frustration rock genre. They get the rigors of modern life. They get the mental toil of being constantly connected. And, they do something about it.

In the video for “Blessed,” that something is a sturdy pose. It’s a scowl. It’s a yowl. It’s a mountain of frustration leveling life. And, man, does it feel good when accompanied with an earth-moving rhythm section and guitars like shrieks of the damned. Fans of the old AmRep noise rock style, take notice. You have a new top jam for your collection.