The Alt Weekly Roundup (8/22)
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.
Field Medic – “i think about you all the time”
Field Medic’s “i think about you all the time” is a lovely little snapshot of obsession. The breezy melody, acoustic strumming, and endearing lyrical turns like “I’m all twisted up like MC Escher / can’t find my way out / Labyrinth Bowie now / it’s bittersweet to remember” mark the tune as one of the moments on his upcoming record grow your hair long if you’re wanting to see something that you can change where the light manages to push through the more inward-gazing darkness that seeps through so many of the songs.
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Glassing – “Sulk”
“Sulk” is Glassing at their best. It perfectly balances the band’s sludgy and atmospheric tendencies, a blistering metal track that sounds like it’s unraveling at every moment.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Martha – “Baby, Does Your Heart Sink?”
Starting off with a winding riff that leads into the opening lines “cast your mind back as far as it will go / to the last time we were dancing at the Darkest Timeline Disco,” Martha’s new tune “Baby, Does Your Heart Sink?” is an instant classic. Everything that makes the band great is here in droves—the bummer chorus wrapped up in a sugary delivery, the sick, egoless guitar solo, and the overall feeling of joy that rises above the ubiquitous doom of modern life. It’s the third track off their upcoming record Please Don’t Take Me Back, which seems like it should be an absolute ripper.
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Twain – “2 Lovers”
Twain’s new single is, well, beautiful. “2 Lovers” is a song that definitely feels rooted in a place. According to songwriter Matthew Davidson, “The bar in the song was called Manhattan Inn, in Greenpoint. I was briefly employed there as a bar-back. There was a beautiful room in the back with tables and benches against each wall and a fucked-up grand piano in the center of the room.” Davidson’s voice is the star here, floating through the air above the instrumentation that would fit very well into a movie soundtrack.
Jami Fowler | @audiocurio
The Arrival Note – “We Had a Deal”
Pre-release materials compare The Arrival Note’s Vol. 2 to Elliott’s False Cathedrals, but it’s the grit of that band’s debut, US Songs, that shines through most brightly on lead single “We Had a Deal.” When The Arrival Note dropped their self-titled EP earlier this year, it was as a duo; now, they’re a full-fledged four-piece, and it shows. “We Had a Deal” has more crunch to it than even the last EP’s most aggressive tracks, almost taking on a post-hardcore edge in the way the cleaner production highlights Joshua Howell’s throaty bellow. It makes for a nice companion piece to the latest single from labelmates Feverchild.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Looming – “Pocket Change”
The open, echoey guitar and the fat, driving bass in Looming’s “Pocket Change” create an eerie, ethereal feel, as if the song exists on the edge of two worlds. The tension builds until about two and a half minutes, when the band lets loose and tears to the end of the song. It’s a pretty stunning track that should definitely get you curious for the group’s upcoming record.
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Why Bonnie – 90 in November
90 in November, the debut full-length from Texas’ Why Bonnie, trades in the dream-pop layers of the band’s early EPs for a full-bodied Americana-tinted indie rock sound. Much of it is bleary and mid-tempo with hooks delivered in hushed tones; it’s a perfect soundtrack, as the title suggests, to a sweltering summer morning.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Bummer Camp – “So Last Year”
The pick scratches, fuzzy guitar tones and active, melodic bassline that start Bummer Camp’s (Eli Frank from Teenage Halloween) “So Last Year” immediately pull you into their uptempo garage rock soundscape. The song is bouncy and fun, even as the synths hang overtop of everything like a sword about to drop, reflecting the lyrics that document the crumbling of a friendship. Check out the video by Preston Spurlock below and give Bummer Camp’s self-titled EP a listen when it’s out this Friday.
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Aren’t We Amphibians – “Mother Nature”
“Mother Nature,” the first single off Aren’t We Amphibians’ upcoming Read the Room EP, is everything you could want out of a scrappy emo song: it’s got those mathy, jammy riffs, charmingly off-kilter vocals, and of course an eminently scream-able hook. Queue it up and let it rip, because the San Diego trio’s cooking up something special.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Bolinas – “Taro Lines”
St. Louis band Bolinas have a new single out that marries shoegaze elements with pop and emo sensibilities. “Taro Lines” is about songwriter Chris Thomas’s skepticism of tarot cards, the zodiac, and other religious practices people use to guide them or blame things on. He explains, “People sometimes need something to blame rather than facing the real issues troubling them. I am one of those people, unfortunately, but I try my hardest not to. This song is a reckoning of sorts with those ideas and a recollection of when I let someone really get into my head about a predestined range of emotion and behaviors I’d exhibit as a “Pisces’ ‘ and using tarot to make sense of it.” It is a fuzzed out jam that feels like a humid night at the end of summer.
Jami Fowler | @audiocurio
M.U.T.T. – “Night Moves”
An ode to the people that get you through the shitty work day, M.U.T.T.’s “Night Moves” is a hard rocker with a bit of a psychedelic touch. Lyrics like “just staring at a wall / while the clock’s ticking by / telling the world to fuck off / can’t wait to see you tonight” reflect the mind-numbing, soul-crushing nature of so much modern work, and that feeling stretches into the song’s video which shows the contrast of the narrator’s idyllic time with their partner punctuating the stream of work, driving, and bad luck. The band’s first EP is set to come out later this fall.
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Normal – Lemonize
There are many bands playing vaguely grunge-inspired alt rock these days, and Normal is only the latest of them. But Lemonize, the Michigan band’s debut, helps stand out from the pack with its helping of hardcore influence. The cathartic screamed hook of “Lucid Dreaming,” for example, sounds miles away from what bands like Narrow Head are doing, giving Normal a unique edge in the genre.
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.
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