
We’re taking a little break to rest and renew our ears. We’ll be back in June, but in the meantime check out one or many of our dedicated playlists here.
A Music Blog For People Who Like Music, Blogs & Music Blogs
We’re taking a little break to rest and renew our ears. We’ll be back in June, but in the meantime check out one or many of our dedicated playlists here.
We’ll be on vacation for the next two weeks, but like Timbaland once said “never should’ve left you (left you), without a dope beat to step to (step to).” So here’s the best new punk, post-punk, grunge and garage to hold you over until we get back.
Headed off to a little vacay to get some sun and give the ears a little break, but before we do here’s the best of what came through the inbox recently. New music from Mouth Washington, Nathaniel Paul, Drelli, New Wales, Scores, Matthew Leger, Said Sara, Wes Hoffman and Colourmusic.
Sure, a large portion of the country is stranded due to hackers shutting down a fuel pipeline / our continued dependence on fossil fuels despite ample technology available to make us not be, but at least we still got great pop music to keep us sane / distracted.
Whether you call it 8-Bit Rock, Glitchpop or Super Nintendo Shredding (no one calls it that, but they should) you know it when you hear it. The instantly recognizable bleeps and bloops of our youth re-contextualized into classic pop, rock, punk, metal or hip hop song structures. It’s usually at least a little silly and always a lot of fun, but seldom is it as sophisticated as “Fairy Tech” from Cody Uhler is. This is less of an appropriation of video game culture for pop exploitation than it is an original composition that could serve as the coolest soundtrack to the coolest level on the coolest game. The power ups and extra lives are strong with this one.
Indianapolis super group 81355 (pronounced BLESS) brings together Oreo Jones, Sirius Blvck, and David “Moose” Adamson for a project that can be best described as adventurous hip hop. Jones and Blvck’s flow and lyricism are as good as it gets, and Adamson’s hook is haunting and hypnotic. The production keeps things interesting, combining a tinkly music box vibe with the occasional tuneful but none the less trunk rattling boom progression. All in all it’s an incredibly inventive and musical approach that still checks all the boxes hip hop heads want.
Subtitles? Stage direction? What’s with the brackets? Doesn’t matter. Is there humor? Sure. Along with passion, frustration, vulnerability, and a lot of supercharged rock on this album. [laughs] is the second, and latest full length from the Chicago quartet, Kali Masi. Here we get ten tracks of songwriting that take the best parts of pop rock, punk, emo and serve them up with excitement. Clever dynamics and tasteful production take the listener from an epic slow-burner to open the record, to a sheer head-banger to close it out. The stops along the way treat us to themes of inspiration, nostalgia, and longing, with classic riffs, offbeat hooks, and vocals that croon as well as scream well-crafted lyrics. The subtitles under any fan of real, smart punk rock will definitely read [enjoys] while spinning this one.
With “Zyko” the New Candys show that you can keep it simple and still be engaging and rocking. Most of the song is built on a repetitive 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 down beat that you would usually hear as an intro or build up to an explosive chorus, but here it’s the groundwork for the whole song. Sure they add and remove layers and guitars move in and out, but most of the band most of the time is playing that simple, driving rhythm. The overall effect is one of the same effortless cool of the 80’s shoegaze movement, just don’t try to dance along.