The Alt Weekly Roundup (10/7)
Posted: by The Editor
The Alternative Weekly Roundup is a column where our staff plugs a variety of new releases in a concise, streamlined format. Albums, singles, videos, and live sets. Check back each Monday to see what we were jamming the week prior.
I Wish I Could Skateboard—”The Way Things Turn Out”
On “The Way Things Turn Out,” Boston’s I Wish I Could Skateboard are at their most plaintive and self-effacing. “Are you proud of me for doing exactly what’s been laid out in front of me?” Patrick MacPhearson exclaims at one point, which hits during a whirlwind of piercing guitar stabs that simmer until they boil over. There’s hints of a band like Pile’s grunge-inflected guitars in IWICS’s cacophonous take on emo, and their new album dropping on 10/18, The Way Things Turn Out, is packed top to bottom with more of these churning bangers.
Keegan Bradford | @franziamom
Brightside—”Just Like Dancing”
Pittsburgh’s Brightside (who put out a couple great releases on the now-defunct Broken World Media, and once toured with TWIABP) have slowly returned over the last couple years from an indefinite hiatus, releasing a 7” in 2018 and gigging frequently throughout the city. Last week they dropped another new single called “Just Like Dancing” that’s refreshingly punchy and energetic, which is when this band is at their best. Think The Cure meets The Killers meets Never Hungover Again-era Joyce Manor.
Eli Enis | @eli_enis
Just Friends—”Stupid”
“Stupid” is a firecracker of a song, exuding the boisterous energy Just Friends is revered for. It’s anthemic and burly, with brisk riffs and brass instrumental pieces snaking their way through the mayhem.
Bineet Kaur | @hellobineet
Hit Like A Girl—”No More Dysphoria”
Hit Like a Girl’s newest track “No More Dysphoria” is a power-pop, synthy, psychy anthem of vocalist Nicolle Maroulis’ experience being non-binary. I’ll let them explain: “This song is about my experience being non-binary. Sometimes non-binary is misconstrued as strictly feeling somewhere in the middle of the gender spectrum. My experience with it is there are days where I wake up, and I feel 100% like a binary cis woman, and there are days where I wake up and I feel 100% like a binary man.” Read more at Hit Like a Girl’s Bandcamp.
Olivia Keasling | @residentkilljoy
Great Grandpa—”Bloom”
Folk and emo congeal in “Bloom.” Great Grandpa’s syrupy new track is about the anxiety that restlessness can bring about, and how triumphing over it is easier than it may seem.
Bineet Kaur | @hellobineet
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