The Alt Weekly Roundup (8/2)
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.
Snow Ellet – “Wine on the Carpet”
Snow Ellet announced this week that the Suburban Indie Rock Star EP, one of our favorite releases of the year so far, will get a digital re-release with two new songs on August 13. “Wine on the Carpet” is the first of those two new songs, maintaining the band’s hot streak for stellar pop-rock tunes that yearn for the sound of early-aughts emo. One of the lower-key songs to come out of the project so far, “Wine on the Carpet” is remarkable for the way it authentically earns its ending in under 2 minutes’ time, Reyes remarking in wonder “this is the perfect year to be a better me” at the song’s climax.
Jordan Walsh | @jordalsh
It will forever be a mystery how Australian indie pop duo Carb on Carb never took over the scene. But if ever a song could change that, it’d be “Be My Mirror.” A sterling powerpop song with enough grit to keep their cred, “Be My Mirror” is an absolute earworm.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Hate Club’s “Portland” is a grungy slow burner, with the first minute featuring a lone guitar and Audrey Goodmote’s vocals before the rest of the band kicks in for the chorus as she sings, “I still count the time by you / and I wonder if you do that too.” The song blossoms into an undeniable rocker, closing out with an intense coda beneath the repeated line “you deserve to forget about me.”
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Something about Gustaf’s new song “Book” makes them sound like a hyped New York rock band from the late 2000s — I’m not sure if it’s the fuzzy ‘70s production sound, the deep and slinky post-punk bass, or the general swagger and charisma of the whole ordeal. Regardless, “Book” is surprisingly fresh, the group vocals and the back and forth chanting all packing a vibrant, fun experience into a usually dusty aesthetic. Their debut full-length Audio Drag For Ego Slobs is out October 1.
Jordan Walsh | @jordalsh
Within the first few seconds of Sad Park’s video for “Nothing Ever”, I knew they were going to be very much my jam. A song about anxiety stealing your joy backed by chugging guitars and bass? The drummer wearing a Worry hoodie? Catchy L.A. pop punk with a twist that would be at home on a Prince Daddy tour? I am 100% in.
Jami Fowler | @audiocurio
Bands like Sparing are rare these days. Their style of pop-punk/melodic hardcore seems completely dead in 2021, which is a shame, because they do it really well. The spirit is clearly alive and well on Old Dreams, which boasts roofs and hooks that’d make The Movielife proud.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
It’s 2021. Why are we still being shamed for liking pop music? That’s kinda the theme for BAXTR new single, “In Pop We Trust.” A group that’s never shied away from being unbridledly spunky within the pop-sphere, the trio only amplified this sound with this party anthem full of distorted guitars, vocals akin to pop soda fizz, and colorful gang chants. Mixing in the music video, the single is unapologetically pink, electric, and catchy as hell — nailing every foundation for a great pop track. I’ve yet to hear a bad BAXTR song, and I have a feeling I never will.
Hope Ankney | @hope_ankleknee
The Sound as Language label has been quietly dropping a stream of incredible records all year, many of them ambient, experimental, or electronic. Unweather’s soundtrack to Methuselah (out August 7), which is described as “an interactive digital narrative by artist and experience designer Elle Bulger,” is their latest and one of my favorites so far, a gorgeous mixture of video game sounds and orchestral world-building. “Questions for the Ancient One,” which came out this week, is a tense, pulsing track that at times reminds me of something like 22, A Million if it were smoothed out and stretched thin to emphasize the lurking, creeping empty space around the edges.
Jordan Walsh | @jordalsh
“anyone seen my serotonin?” — the first single from the forthcoming diet weed EP — is a brutal onslaught of raw, frantic folk punk. Tommie Summerville’s vocals sound as if they are wrenched from the absolute depths of their psyche as they belt out lines like “I’ll go out on top in a blaze of glory / with a gun in my hand and a bottle of whiskey” and “waking up at 5 to make a living / I die inside every time I hear my alarm.” It’s a fun two and half minutes.
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Young Culture’s new Godspeed EP wastes no time. It’s all straight-ahead earworm pop rock that hovers around 3 minutes; it gets in, it gets you hooked, it gets out. It’s one of the band’s best skills, and it absolutely leaves you wanting more.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
The Alternative’s ‘New Music Friday’ playlist
Each week our editor Lindsy Carrasquillo compiles a playlist of songs our staff has been jamming. We’ll post it on Fridays on Twitter and then include it in each edition of the ‘Weekly Roundup’ to make sure you don’t miss all of the great music we’re recommending.
The Alternative is ad-free and 100% supported by our readers. If you’d like to help us produce more content and promote more great new music, please consider donating to our Patreon page, which also allows you to receive sweet perks like free albums and The Alternative merch.
