Hoboken Calling
New music from 3 Dollars, North Hudson's Bist, and Dave Entwistle's Starlight Junkies
3 DOLLARS - “Suppressed Memories” (Smart Punk Records)
Teenage bands are supposed to sound like they’re figuring it out as they go, but Hoboken’s 3 Dollars didn’t get the memo. “Suppressed Memories,” the first shot from their upcoming “Plus Tax” EP, lands like a band tired of being underestimated and ready to take on the world.
This thing rips. Twin guitars slash and burn with a precision-meets-chaos dynamic that recalls Quicksand at their most locked-in, with Tyler Wachtel playing the technician while Arthur Pawley goes for full blunt-force trauma. Pawley’s vocals don’t so much “sing” as rip through the track - equal parts emo catharsis and post-punk sneer - while the rhythm section (Ben Kamel on drums, Costas Krassos on bass) hits with the kind of weight that can blow out your speakers.
Yeah, they’re still stuck playing all-ages rooms, but there’s nothing juvenile about this. It’s Hoboken grit, born ‘n’ bred, planted firmly at the intersection of emo, hardcore, and punk, and not interested in asking permission.
The video, shot by NYU filmmaker Rio Rosario, leans into the band’s personality without sanding off the edges - there’s a self-deprecating humor, but it doesn’t dilute the impact. If anything, it makes the whole thing feel more real.
Call it what you want, but it smells like teen spirit the start of something to me.
BIST - Not Quite Conscious (Social Club Records)
North Hudson trio Bist were apparently in such a hurry to drop their debut that they neglected minor details like, say, putting it on Bandcamp or sending a copy to their friendly neighborhood rock critic. So yes, like the rest of you, I had to go hunting for it. Consider this your public service announcement: it exists, it’s streaming, and it’s worth the trouble.
Not Quite Conscious pulls together 10 tracks (a few you may have already caught as singles), recorded with Max Rauch at Domestic Bliss. The band’s still stuck in the all-ages punk/hardcore circuit - front man Greg Reyes graduates high school in June - but this is a band that already understands how to operate as a unit.
And make no mistake, they are very much a unit. Reyes’ guitar doesn’t dominate so much as it weaves, locking in with Jade Recio’s melodic, supple bass lines and Joaquin Narucki’s drumming, which is confident enough to open the record with a brief solo. It’s the classic power-trio geometry: three sides, no weak angles. Mike Watt would approve.
Reyes, who splits his time between music and a pretty serious basketball career, sings like someone with nothing to lose. He’ll drift into a fragile falsetto one minute, then snap into something raw and ragged the next. Lyrically and emotionally, the record leans heavy on longing and low-grade heartbreak, It’s not exactly a feel-good vibe, but it’s often a pretty one, even when the guitar tone gets scrappy.
Where Bist really clicks is in that sweet spot between indie jangle and punk. Standout tracks like “Scratch Off,” “Sweet Bloom,” and “Headphones” carry an easy, head-nodding momentum, while still sneaking in rhythmic left turns. (It probably doesn’t hurt that Narucki moonlights in a Superchunk cover band - those instincts show.) Then there’s “Lampshade,” which eases off the gas for something moodier before ramping back up for a finish that feels earned rather than tacked on.
What happens next is anyone’s guess. Reyes could end up chasing jump shots instead of guitar hooks, and Bist might become one of those “remember them?” bands people name-drop in a few years. For now, though, they sound like a trio with real momentum - and enough sense to let it carry them wherever it goes.
STARLIGHT JUNKIES – “Just One Life” (Self-released)
File this under “life comes at you fast.” Amid the general background hum of existential dread that fills our days, Dave Entwistle shows up with a song that basically shrugs and says: yeah, so what are you gonna do about it? Curl up, or turn it up?
“Just One Life” leans hard into the latter. Under his Starlight Junkies banner, Entwistle ditches any funereal gloom for something that practically glows in the dark—bubbly percussion, glossy synths, guitars run through enough processing to sound like they’ve been to space and back. It’s busy, bright, and just a little sugar-rushed.
And then there’s Dave himself, sounding like a motivational speaker who traded in the seminar circuit for a microphone and a stack of energy drinks. “One life, just one life,” he insists, before barreling into a bridge crammed with every sonic idea he could fit in the trunk. “Run like you’ve never run, love like you’ve never loved.” Subtle? Not even a little. Effective? Annoyingly, yes.
It’s basically YOLO with better production values. And while the message isn’t exactly new, Entwistle sells it with enough sparkle and velocity that you stop rolling your eyes and start nodding along. Because, yeah - if you only get one shot, you could do worse than making it sound this alive.