Album of the Week: Being So Normal

So sometime in the next two weeks, Puke on Your Birthday is going to publish its 10,000th blog post. I don't have anything big planned. I am, however, considering it a Y2K-style event, in that I am afraid that Blogger is not going to be able to handle the extra digit, and the whole website is going to explode. I'm trying to back it up in as many ways as I can until then. If not... it was nice knowing ya, see you over on Wordpress I guess.

Record Club:

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WEEK 390 — July 19-25, 2026

Being So Normal

by Peach Pit

LISTEN:

Spotify | YouTube | Bandcamp | Apple

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PICKED BY VOTE

CATEGORY OF VOTING: "Gloria's Wall, Pt. II" — This is a sequel to last year's category, "Albums on Gloria's Wall." Sigur Rós won that one, and Gloria was perturbed at the negative reviews that resulted from that one. Mainly because she's not choosing the vinyl albums that adorn her wall based on musical quality! Only on how cool the cover art looks! The issue this year, with a fresh slate of eight albums on that living room wall the last time I checked, was that four of those albums were ineligible (mostly through the no repeat artists rule). So I asked Gloria to choose a fifth album for the poll. And wouldn't you know it, that album won. The good thing is that Peach Pit was chosen by Gloria for inclusion purposefully, and not via Gloria's Wall. Feels like Gloria would want it that way.

LOSING ALBUMS: Different Rooms by Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer; Gongjuung Doduk by Mid-Air Thief; How You Been by SML; Paris by Nils Frahm.

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ALBUM DETAILS

GENRE: Indie pop, indie rock, indie surf, bedroom pop, indie surf, jangle pop, slacker rock

RELEASED: September 15, 2017

LENGTH: 37:21

TRACKLIST:

1. Drop the Guillotine
2. Being So Normal
3. Techno Show
4. Alrighty Aphrodite
5. Chagu's Sideturn
6. Not Me
7. Hot Knifer
8. Private Presley
9. Tommy's Party

LYRICS: Genius.com

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ARTIST DETAILS

PRONOUNS: I couldn't find any specific info on the band members' individual preferences

ABOUT: Peach Pit formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 2016. Frontman Neil Smith plays rhythm guitar as well, while Christopher Vanderkooy is on lead guitar, Peter Wilton is on bass, and Mikey Pascuzzi is on drums. The members apparently formed the band for a high school project originally, but didn't make it official until they released an EP in 2016. Their 2017 debut was successful enough that everybody quit their day jobs (Amazon drivers, carpentry, brewer at a local brewery). They've been nominated for three Juno Awards, and have opened for a host of famous bands and artists. They describe their sound as "chewed bubblegum pop."

DISCOGRAPHY: Being So Normal is their first of four albums. Most recently, they released Magpie in 2024.

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ADDITIONAL INFO

READING SOME SHIT: this interview in Static doesn't have a date, but I'm assuming 2024

WATCHING SOME SHIT: "Alrighty Aphrodite" live on Audiotree

RECORD CLUB CONNECTIONS: An incomplete history of Record Club in fruit: Fiona Apple, Watermelon Man!, "Toast and Bananas" by blink-182, "Orange Juice" and "Strawberry Wine" by Noah Kahan, "Watermelon Sugar" by Harry Styles.

Already mentioned was Peach Pit's nomination for Group of the Year at this year's Juno Awards. The Beaches beat them in that category.

MENTIONS ON THE BLOG: It should come as no surprise that Gloria has chosen a couple Peach Pit songs for Monday Morning Mixtape (027 and 057). Though both songs are from Magpie, not Being So Normal, so we're starting fresh here.

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RECORD CLUB ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

This week's discography dive album: Gal by Gal Costa

This week's follow-up album: Workin' Man: Willie Sings Merle by Willie Nelson

This week's keeping up album (probably): Foreign Tongues by the Rolling Stones

Listen with us! Keep your favorite Record Club artists in the rotation!

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COUNTDOWN:

69 Weeks Until Week 420

We are tracking and counting down every week from here on out till Record Club Week 420. We started this countdown 69 weeks out. During Record Club Week 420, we will be covering Donny Most by the esteemed Happy Days virgin Donny Most. The goal for Week 420 of Record Club is that it will feature 69 reviews from 69 different people. 

THIS WEEK: We are 30 weeks away from Week 420.

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Happy listening, RC family!
Have a great week!