The Itch

01/10/2025

Happy ! What'cha listening to?

Here's what's on repeat for us:

The Smoking Popes f. Local H - Allegiance

Memphis May Fire f. Blindside - Overdose

Pop Evil - Wishful Thinking

Museum Of Light - Blunt Force Drama

01/10/2025

While The Itch comes to a consensus on a top 20 albums each year, there are always a few albums that make their personal lists without making the collective one... sometimes even at #1! As we wrap up The 2024 Itch Awards, check out Aaron, KC, and Dan's personal picks!

Aaron:
Joey Valence & Brae - No Hands
RARITY - Lower Feeling
Charly Bliss - Forever

KC:
Four Year Strong - Analysis Paralysis
Keith Wallen - Infinity Now
The Funeral Portrait - Greetings From Suffocate City

Dan:
Wage War - Stigma
Seether - The Surface Seems So Far
Bad Omens - Concrete Jungle [The OST]

01/09/2025

Once again, The Itch has brought our individual tastes to the table and hashed out a collective list of our favorite records of the year. Enjoy Aaron, KC, and Dan's co-signed Top 20 Albums of 2024!

- Savage
- Exit Emotions
- Sleepyhead
- Obsidian
- Oddworld
- Dark Side of the Brain
- Veritas
- Negative Spaces
- Ignore This
- The Phantom Five
- There Goes the Neighborhood
- The Death Card
- Aurorawave
- Freaking Out
- Carnal
- Post Human: Nex Gen
- Sundiver
- From Zero
- Keep Me Fed
- Fission

01/08/2025

Everybody loves a good comeback story. This year featured some big ones in the rock world.

First, we had the return of The Exies, fronted by 2x Itch guest Scott Stevens. 17 years after their last release, the band dropped the Closure EP and performed a pair of electrifying reunion shows, including one at The Machine Shop that we were fortunate enough to attend.

Then, alt stalwarts Anberlin brought in Memphis May Fire's Matty Mullins to keep the rock rolling during Stephen Christian's hiatus, turning out the excellent transitional album Vega to solidify the pairing.

And finally, Linkin Park got the entire music world talking with the surprise introduction of Dead Sara's Emily Armstrong as their new co-vocalist, before dropping the original era–feeling From Zero to general acclaim.

We're excited to have each of these artists back, and looking forward to what comes next.

01/08/2025

One of our favorite things is seeing the excitement of a new band's first release. And 2024 gave us plenty of reasons to get excited about the future of rock. Scroll through to see our favorite debut EPs and LPs, and check out our new podcast episode for more about them!

The 2024 Itch Awards: itchrocks.com/247

unpeople - unpeople EP
House of Protection - Galore EP
Gore. The Band - A Bud That Never Blooms EP
Father of Peace - The Year of Madness
Aurorawave - Aurorawave
FLAT BLACK - Dark Side of the Brain

01/07/2025

Since this show began, we've seen an increase in the number of artists releasing EPs in support of, in lieu of, or in addition to LPs. So for the first time, we compiled a list of our Top 20 EPs of the year to compliment our Top 20 LPs. Listen to our new episode for more on these excellent artists!

unpeople – Unpeople
Gore. The Band – A Bud That Never Blooms
The Exies – Closure
House of Protection – Galore
Heartsick – Mind, Body, Spirit & Covered
Palaye Royale – Songs for Sadness
Silly Goose – Bad Behavior
ANNEX VOID – Will I Dream
10 Years – Inner Darkness
Daughtry - Shock to the System Part One
BlackgoldMusic – Back With Another One & Cypress Hill Mixtape
Aloe Blacc – Rock My Soul Volumes 1 & 2
Hang Your Hate – Greater Picture Paranoia
Liily – Liily
Homesafe – What Did You Find Out?
Serj Tankian – Foundations
The HU – The Trooper
PLUSH – Find the Beautiful
Devour the Day – Fragments of Us
TRAWL – Tempest

01/07/2025

NEW EPISODE!

The fifth annual Itch Awards are here, honoring the best rock releases of 2024. We've got albums galore, featuring a plethora of past and future guests. Who were our favorite debuts and breakouts of the year? Who dropped the best EP and LP? And what are we looking forward to in 2025? This is a big'n, so grab your pen and paper and take notes, because we're about to fill up your queue.

Enjoy: itchrocks.com/247

01/07/2025

New Episode! "E247 The Itch Awards and Top 20 Albums of 2024"

This week, we're scratching The Itch for awards season, baby! The fifth annual Itch Awards are here, honoring the best rock releases of 2024. We've got albums galore, featuring a plethora of past and future guests. Who were o...

This week, we're scratching The Itch for awards season, baby! The fifth annual Itch Awards are here, honoring the best rock releases of 2024. We've got albums galor…

01/06/2025

The Itch had so many fantastic guests in 2024. Here are the ones you listened to the most!

Cheers to unpeople, Jutes, Hang Your Hate, The All-American Rejects, Eva Under Fire, Keith Wallen, Jason Hook, Fury in Few, Fire From the Gods, and Gore. The Band! We look forward to seeing what you do in 2025!

Thank you to everyone who listened to any episode, interview or otherwise. You can listen to these and all the rest at itchrocks.com, or search for The Itch Rock Podcast on your podcast platform of choice!

01/06/2025

Coming tomorrow on The Itch...

01/05/2025

A little late because I was out of town when it arrived, but shout out to the wholesome homies in for being the first band to send The Itch a holiday card! (Now if only I could display it without having to explain that gesture to my niece... 😂) Keep your ears peeled for more on them, their tour, and their debut album next month!

01/03/2025

The holidays are a slow time for rock releases. But if you look hard enough, new gems can be found come January!

Harsh Language - Hear Hooves, Think Zebra
easterlin - gaussian blur
newhaven band - The Timeskip EP
Tarnish - View From My Window EP

01/02/2025

Did you know that our 8-time guest Eva Marie of Eva Under Fire is also the subject and star of a 20something-time award winning short film about substance addiction? And that The Itch even has an executive producer credit? Check out our new episode for more on the film My Rockstar, including a fascinating possible future for the film!

Listen here: itchrocks.com/246

01/01/2025

2024 was another big year for Eva Marie and Eva Under Fire. And one of the biggest moments was sharing stages with some of her heroes (who she might even now call friends) like Lzzy Hale of Halestorm and Amy Lee of Evanescence. Check out our new episode to hear the wild stories, and go back in our archives to our first conversations to hear Eva predict that this would someday happen!

Enjoy: itchrocks.com/246

12/31/2024

FINAL EPISODE OF THE YEAR!

Eva Marie of Eva Under Fire joins us for her annual recap of another wild year, and sends us into the new year with one heckuva preview of the music she's set to drop in 2025!

Happy New Year's Eva, friends!

Enjoy: itchrocks.com/246

12/30/2024

PLAYLIST UPDATE!

30 great tracks from December, led by Itch guests Wes Anderson Music, Dorothy, Dead Poet Society (+ The Warning), and (spoiler) VUKOVI and Sick Puppies!

Plus: Good Boy Daisy, Isa Nielsen, Superheaven, Mark Tremonti, Envy of None, Coheed and Cambria, Cassyette, Bloodywood + BABYMETAL, annisokay, Flobots, Eric Bass Presents, Windwaker, Pogo Car Crash Control, LANDMVRKS, Daisy Gr***de, The Velveteers, Peni Parker, and others who lack FB pages!

Enjoy: bit.ly/itchnewmusic

12/27/2024

The holiday spirit was in full swing as Aaron followed up KC and Dan's St Louis sighting by checking out The All-American Rejects with The Maine and Andrew McMahon at the Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom in Chicago! Check out our new episode for a rare double up concert review!

Enjoy: itchrocks.com/245