Dustin's Best of 2017, #1: The Menzingers - 'After the Party'

This shouldn't come as a surprise. The Menzingers are one of my favorite bands (A few years ago I was hesitant to call them a top 5 band, but it's safe to say that they're easily a top 5 band for me now), so I knew that I'd enjoy After the Party to some degree, even if it didn't end up being my favorite. But not only is it my favorite album of the year, it might have become my favorite Menzingers album over the last 11 months. "Lookers" was my favorite song released in 2016, and if I'm being completely honest with myself, it was also my favorite song of 2017. At the very least it was my most listened to song of 2017.

Like many people around my age (or just people in general), I have a lot of inner struggles with the concept of "growing up" because... well, what does "growing up" even mean? When you're younger you look up to adults and assume that they know what they're doing, but then you hit an age where you realize that it was all a facade and nearly everyone is faking their way through it. Yet even knowing this, those feelings of inadequacy don't really go away. And that's where albums like After the Party come in. They're not the first band to write about not knowing what to do or where to go when you're almost 30, and it's up for debate whether they're the best band to do it, but they are the band that resonated with me the most.

I'll be turning 30 next year, and while I feel like I'm beginning to feel like I've found some aspects of life that I'm comfortable with (namely a job that I feel content at and I can imagine myself being at for a long time), I'm still worried that I'm not quite living up to the societal standards set for people my age. I know everyone moves at their own pace- everyone knows that- but when I see my friends getting married, or having kids, or even adopting pets, I can't help but feel like I'm falling behind in life, especially when in the last year I ended a relationship and moved back with my parents. It's a dumb thing to let my mind get caught up in, for sure, but it's something that I think we all do. But singing along to these songs helps ease the pains that come alongside the perception of feeling like everyone is doing better than you.

You can stream or purchase After the Party below.

Recommended tracks: "Tellin' Lies," "Thick as Thieves," "Lookers," "Midwestern States," "House on Fire," "Your Wild Years," "After the Party"



I also recorded a cover of "Charlie's Army" about a month after the album came out. I had forgotten all about it, so when I said that Rhombithian was the only album of 2017 that I had covered a song from, I was lying. Oops. Anyway, here's that cover:

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