Justice Tripp lives in the future. For nearly two decades, the musician has consistently been ahead of the curve: first with Trapped Under Ice, where he led the way for a new wave of heavy hardcore, and then as the mastermind behind Angel Du$t, where he blazed the trail for the current generation of aggressive musicians to branch out into unabashedly melodic territory. Tripp’s work is marked by an ever-evolving creativity that’s made him highly influential, but which has often put him a number of steps ahead of the very trends that he’s helped to inspire. Now Angel Du$t are back with their new album, Brand New Soul: a fearless and open-hearted tribute to all things rock, offering listeners a chance to be right there with them on the cutting edge. Tripp might forever be keeping an eye on the future, but Angel Du$t’s time is now.Since forming in 2013, Angel Du$t has always been something of a musical catalyst. “For better or worse, it seems like it’s hard for me to do something that’s cool at that moment,” Tripp laughs. “Even with Trapped Under Ice, we weren’t that big of a band when we were active, and then with Angel Du$t it was pretty divisive.” Trapped Under Ice had ushered in a renaissance of metallic hardcore, but as they were winding down, Tripp found himself pulled in a very different direction. “I’d been touring in heavy hardcore bands since I was 13, but my favorite band is Bad Brains and that band had all these major key sounding songs–I just wanted to play something new,” he explains. Angel Du$t’s 2013 demo Xtra Raw and 2014 debut album A.D. were lightning-quick blasts of punk, combining d-beat gallop and hardcore thump with a giant dose of catchiness. A decade on, these records and their follow-up, 2016’s Rock The Fuck On Forever, have proven to not only be modern classics, but also crucial templates for the current boom in hardcore’s visibility and popularity. At the time, however, these were daring sounds for a musician primarily known for his ability to capture rage in a song. “I lost friends over it,” Tripp recalls of Angel Du$t’s early years. “People were so offended and upset by me making this music. Angel Du$t isn’t about self-hatred, it’s about love. And at the time that didn’t feel like what people wanted from me–they wanted me to be the evil guy.”
Far from deterred, this desire to upend expectations became a central tenet of Tripp’s work. 2019’s Pretty Buff and 2021’s YAK: A Collection of Truck Songs found Angel Du$t veering even further into full-on guitar pop, highlighting Tripp’s seemingly infinite well of hooks as well as his knack for imaginative production and lush arrangements. “People can be afraid to grow, afraid to change,” he says. “But I want to be an artist, I want to change and I want to evolve. I love punk and hardcore, and that’s always going to have a place in my heart, but I want to challenge things.” Enter: Brand New Soul, a record that manages to bridge Angel Du$t’s past, present, and future into a 13 song, 29-minute, one-of-a-kind rock and roll joyride.
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1525 Newton Street Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia 20010, United States
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