The Alt Weekly Roundup (3/18)
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.
Autoignition – This Is Moving Forward
In a couple of weeks I’m going to see Koyo, Anxious, One Step Closer, and Stateside. Autoignition would fit perfectly on that bill. Their earlier material had a bit more melodic hardcore to it, but on This Is Moving Forward, they’ve gone full pop-punk, and they do it exceptionally well. There’s a bit of The Movelife in here, of course, and some Midtown, but Autoignition doesn’t exist in the shadow of the bands who came before them; even on their first album, they sound comfortable standing beside them.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Gouge Away – Deep Sage
On Deep Sage, Gouge Away sound like they can’t control themselves. Songs collide into one another without warning and vocalist Christina Michelle has a tendency to repeat a single line over and over until it sounds like she’s shouted herself hoarse. Gouge Away’s first album in six years has an urgency to it belied by its long gestation period, even when the songs are more alt rock than post-hardcore, like “A Welcome Change” or “Newtau.” It’s the farthest-reaching album of the band’s career, and it feels like a coronation.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Big Hug – A Living You’ll Never Know
Big Hug’s Don’t Threaten Me with a Good Time EP introduced them as a feel-good emo group in line with the revival sound, but with A Living You’ll Never Know, they throw it back a bit farther. “Never Change” has the unpredictability of an early Moneen song, and closer “Gary on Earth” is the band’s best track to date, calling back to Braid’s scuzzy pre-Frame & Canvas material. It puts them in conversation with likeminded bands like yubiori, Flight Mode, or Resignation, approaching the sounds of the ’90s having learned the lessons of the 2010s.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
bedbug – pack your bags the sun is growing
Since bedbug became a full band with 2022’s bedbug, their powers have only grown. On the new LP pack your bags the sun is growing, bedbug turns in some of their most exciting material yet, from the fuzzy and fizzy “the great bonfire” to the electronic “mount moon”; it’s the project’s most adventurous–and best–release to date.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Torrey – Torrey
Torrey’s new album is a perfect soundtrack to the early spring we’ve been having in Jersey. All lush melodies and soft warm guitars, Torrey is dream pop at its most vibrant.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
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