Tuesday 2/9: The Armed—"ALL FUTURES"
Today, we share our thoughts on a new song by the hardcore juggernauts The Armed.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc. Three days of the week are free but you can get access to all five weekly posts by subscribing for $5/month via Substack or $2/month via our Patreon.
Today, we share our thoughts on a new song by the hardcore juggernauts The Armed.
The Armed—"ALL FUTURES"
Eli Enis:
The Armed have been my favorite hardcore band for a minute now and I can say with confidence that this new record they’re about to drop, ULTRAPOP, is going to make them a household name in the genre writ large. I think a good way to describe them is The 1975 of hardcore, except with none of the ego (until last week, they never revealed their lineup and made it as challenging as possible for journalists to decipher their inner workings). But they have The 1975’s for-broke charisma, genre-bending antics, and aesthetic cohesion. “ALL FUTURES” is a pop song—or perhaps a stadium-sized rock song—writhing and bulging inside of a hardcore host. It’s hardcore for people who don’t love hardcore that somehow doesn’t sacrifice its appeal for actual hardcore heads.
Eric Bennett:
I don’t know what I thought The Armed would sound like, but this is at least slightly it. Having only known them as a hardcore band with an air of mystery that Eli really likes, I pretty much assumed they might be out of my depths. I sure am glad that assumption is wrong! “ALL FUTURES” is teeming with wild, chaotic elements, and despite it’s disorder, still feels like there's a great pop tune sitting as the skeleton. It’s chorus feels like avalanches of sound coming down on you, and is overwhelming, but I really get a kick out of that sensory overload.