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.
No Edits – Time You Kill / Torch It
In ’21, No Edits released a great debut LP called Life in Retreat under the name Fixtures; they’ve since rechristened themselves and just announced their sophomore LP, We All End Up the Same, which will be out next month. They dropped the first two singles from the album together, and both show off the band’s sound well; “Torch It” leans into the heavier, shoutier aspects of their post-hardcore sound, while the five-minute “Time You Kill” harkens back to the time in the ’90s when math rock referred more to bands like the group’s stated influences in Burning Airlines or Chavez than to noodly, softer stuff.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Through and Through – TNT Demo
Through and Through does everything you want from a hardcore demo, giving you enough of a taste without staying too long, though I’m not the biggest fan of the instrumental intro. It’s one of those demos that I find slowly addictive, and I just found myself throwing it on throughout the past few days. It grabs from an era of hardcore I am fond of–early 2000s hardcore–and fits alongside a small but growing number of bands that are grabbing from a similar inspiration–Anklebiter, Full Stride, Steamroll–albeit with some harder pit parts that remind me of Wrong Side.
Hugo Reyes | @hvreyes5
hemlock – “Drive & Drive”
444, the upcoming hemlock album due out in October, is a sort of soft-launch for the full-band version of hemlock; its twelve songs were previously released as solo releases by bandleader Carolina Chauffe over the years, and the takes that appear on 444 are fleshed out and reimagined with Andy Krull, Bailey Minzenberger, and Jack Henry–members of Friko, Free Range, and Red PK–rounding out the lineup. “Drive & Drive” (originally from last year’s may EP) is a great taste of the album, which begins as a slight singer-songwritery ballad before flowering beautifully over its 98 second runtime.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Alienator – Time to Die
In a time when my inbox has FFO descriptions and pitches that get regurgitated on blogs and zines, there is none of that with Alientor. I just saw the album art for World of Hate, thought it looked sick, and gave it a listen. Among a certain group of hardcore folks and people whose opinions I trust, it was rated as one of the better releases of last year. I just did not get it. I don’t know if Time to Die is better or if my ears were open. I think I had slotted them under another hardcore 82 thing just by looking at the album art. But that assumption based on the art is a bit wrong. Yeah, it certainly goes fast at many points, but so much crossover is sprinkled there. “Ugly Face” ends with a bit of solo flair. There are mosh parts that are more indicative of maybe Raw Power or, more obviously, Corrosion of Conformity, but through the prism of a punk or hardcore kid. There are still bits of a hook I can pry out that occasionally stick out to me. Or sometimes, it’s a slow-down two-step that I can’t get out of my head. It is what I want from crossover: fun as hell and with the amateurish charm of hardcore kids playing metal and maybe without the full chops to pull it off.
Hugo Reyes | @hvreyes5
wakelee – “Criminal”
It’s a hot, hot summer, and that’s wakelee weather. “Criminal,” the Brooklyn trio’s new single, is a breezy indie rock tune that, in a perfect world, you’d be hearing from every passing car’s open windows.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
The Alternative’s ‘New Music Friday’ playlist
Each week we compile a playlist of songs our staff has been jamming. We post it on Fridays on Twitter and then include it in each edition of the Weekly Roundup to make sure you don’t miss any of the great music we’re recommending.
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