Liberties, Vol 11

"Orgcore" is a name for a niche type of punk music that rose in popularity in the mid-00's and is now starting dwindle in popularity. It's name comes from the website where it's popularity originated, Punknews.org. It's a term that only means something for a small group of people online, but it's been omnipresent in my life as a music fan so far.

I used to use my first period spare in high school to read Punknews and learn about as many different bands as I could. At first, anything that wasn't ska and NoFX seemed daunting to me, but eventually I started find myself gravitating the punk bands I was reading about, which is a process I think made me more open to new types of music later on in my life.

Like many music genres, orgcore is hard to pin down and more of a "know it when you see it" type of deal. Punknews beat the Propagandhi drum harder than anyone else, but they are not orgcore. Banner Pilot are a common example of orgcore's tropes being commodified and "jumping the shark". I would describe it as mid-up tempo poppy punk music with gruff vocals and lyrical themes of depression, self-doubt, drinking, and uncertainty.

Eventually, I started to care less and less about the genre because I found that too few bands were finding new and exciting ways to play it. I still look back upon it fondly because of how invested I was in it during my youth. It felt like there was a whole sea of exciting bands at my fingertips, but it also carried an exotic feel of secrecy.

My theme for Liberties this week is orgcore that has stuck with me and still stirs things inside me. A playlist to carry me through this dark, wet, dead, and cold time during the winter known as the baseball off-season.