What would popular music be without workaholics? There are several, for all genres and shapes, there are those who are proud of it and those who live in the shadow of that idea, finding ways to excuse themselves so that those on this side think little of it. Jeff Rosenstock places himself in this second group out of a desire to do it and humility. One could consider his hiding to be a gesture of self-defence and shame, but his actions speak for themselves. Rosenstock comes from another fibre, born in the 1980s, when DIY disliked the system in order to create its own path. He learnt – we learnt – a lot from that. Then, even before the streams took over, he decided to set up Quote Unquote Records in 2006, an independent label that works solely on donations and which has created a brand image for the musician, between DIY and the spontaneity of creation.

Before that, he led Bomb the Music Industry! and tore out every page of the rule book for bands who wanted to be famous in the Internet age. He wrote his own book, without rules, with songs that cry out for freedom from the fantasies of the advanced models of healthy capitalism. He makes songs that don’t want to be anthems, but shouts from the spontaneity of those actively working for change.

Between 2006 and today a lot has changed. And many things have happened in Rosenstock’s life that could have altered the emphasis on a punk-independent culture, the main one being the creation of the music for the Cartoon Network series Craig of the Creek. It gave him another audience and, somewhere along the way, an Emmy nomination. His chest could have been filled with empty collaborations and unnecessary ambitions for someone with a near-immaculate (nobody’s saint) DIY career. Going to a proper studio – EastWest Studios, with producer Jack Shirley – to record HELLMODE must have been the biggest crime Rosenstock ever committed. Well, it would be a crime if HELLMODE sounded like a betrayal, but it’s so full of euphoria, paranoia and movement, it goes up and down like a sugar crash and gets upset about everything. Somewhere in that instability, he enables the unpredictability that pulses through each song and makes HELLMODE a joint bath of sweat, empathy and eternal adolescence. A toast to those who do a lot and do it well, to those who, when they change cars, continue to drive the same way. Guys like Rosenstock give you the strength to believe. AS

VEENHO is a noise-pop band that makes lo-fi collages, marked by the dichotomy of noise/melody-chaos/harmony, melodic and captivating solos and short, poetic and salvific lyrics. They emerged in 2017, the year in which they released two EPs (the first produced by Filipe Sambado and the second by Gonçalo Formiga, from Cave Story) and performed in some of the country’s most emblematic venues. This was followed by a break, during which some of the members dedicated themselves to other projects (such as Lena d’Água, Primeira Dama & Sua Banda, Sun Blossoms).

“Lofizera”, VEENHO’s long-awaited and acclaimed debut album, was released in the summer of 2023. A regular presence in countless charts and “best of the year” lists, such as Mindies, Altamont and Almanaque, it was considered the third best international album by the editors of Time Out and Ípsilon, and the second best national album by Pedro Ramos (Futura, Rádio de Autor).