Those who, like us, need at least one tense experience to survive through the mellow/hypocritical holiday season, might want to consider witnessing Brooklyn's post punkers Talk Shop live at Alphaville on December 28. The trio's 2016 debut record is unapologetically grating and exists in an imaginary musical intersection between Violent Femmes and Olimpia's Old Time Relijun. Check out closing track Love Dart, streaming below

"Punk-Rock" is one of my favorite adjectives, in particular when preceded by the word "very." It helps me describe in a fun way otherwise gross scenarios (the constant influx of garbage entering my car, the shoes I wear with holes in the sole). This gritty aesthetic is something I've held near and dear to my heart since high school. The trap of listening to a lot of punk music though is that, after a while, it gets damn near impossible to yield to those primary principles that separate the punks from the poseurs, without like a thousands other bands. It becomes easy to get lost wondering just what punk should sound like in 2016.  Well, I'm going to lobby for something like Shop Talk.  Formed by members from both Liturgy and the Pygmy Shrews, the band delivers a sound that's so immediately compelling that I was smitten from the first jagged riff on their EP s/t. Shop Talk is dirty, catchy, and threatens to burst at the seams any second. Check them out at Cake Shop supporting Sleepies and Joey Sprinkles on September 16th.-Olivia Sisinni