Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
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.
Alinah – Our Time Forever
Our Time Forever, the new seven-track album from Texas duo Alinah, follows a couple of EPs earlier this year and a few one-off singles. It makes good on the promise those brief releases showed, delivering about fifteen minutes of noisy, blistering lo-fi screamo. Even when the go softer, like on “Autumn Leaves,” they’re still commanding. Plus, just for good measure, there’s a Saetia cover–and Alinah knocks it out of the park.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Dazy – IT’S ONLY A SECRET (if you repeat it)
Last week Dazy released “It’s Only a Secret,” the (sort of) title track to IT’S ONLY A SECRET (if you repeat it), which finds MSPAINT’s Deedee playing hypeman to James Goodson over scrabbling beats and a blistering solo. Now the full three-song EP is out, and it feels like a real look at Dazy past, present, and future. “It’s Only a Secret” points to possible new paths for Dazy, and “Weigh Down on Me” feels like a mix of classic Dazy and possible future Dazy, marrying Goodson’s laidback power-pop songwriting and noisy guitarwork with danceable beats. Then there’s opener “Big End,” which would fit neatly on OUTOFBODY or OTHERBODY. It’s a cool exercise, especially sequenced as it is, but more than anything else it’s a reminder that whatever direction Dazy takes, he’s in a league of his own.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Counsels – Resign/Align
Leipzig emo trio Counsels has released an EP every year since the dawn of the decade; 2023 was the first year they took off. That extra time helped, evidently–Resign/Align is the band’s most refined work yet. These songs are bigger than ever before, and the guitars have a shine to them only ever hinted at on 2022’s Manage Expectations. Joscha Hengstmann has really grown into his own as a vocalist too, sounding more comfortable than ever as a frontman and demonstrating far more control over his voice. Even “Body Heat,” which leans more into the post-hardcore energy of their earlier material, sounds cleaner and more confident than they did when that was their dominant mode, and it flows perfectly into the lush “Blue,” a perfect demonstration of how far they’ve come.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Buddie – “Impatient”
Crafted Sounds keeps cranking out the hits–their eclectic catalog scratches that fuzzy indie rock itch. Recent releases include Life on the Lawn by A Country Western and Somewhere Down Below by Gaadge. On their new single, “Impatient,” Vancouver trio Buddie dresses class struggle and resilience in bubbly guitar lines and abrasive power pop. Urgent lyrics reflect on isolation in a broken system, but a hint of feedback and glossy instrumental breaks transform this infectious track into something more casual and self-assured.
Giliann Karon
Squint – Big Hand
Get this: Squint mixes ’80s hardcore like Rites of Spring and Husker Du with ’90s alt staples like Archers of Loaf and Pixies. That might be an increasingly common pitch, but Big Hand has the juice in ways a ton of their peers simply do not. The St. Louis quintet’s debut album doesn’t sand the rasp out of Brennen Wilkinson’s voice, but they don’t need to turn to clean vocals to pull massive, massive hooks out of these songs. This isn’t a pop album masquerading as hardcore, though; there’s still a ton of fire in songs like “Golden State” and “Pack Rat.”
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
kennedy mann – Maybe Tomorrow
kennedy mann, the moniker for the frontperson for the woefully underrated Philly band Highnoon, just dropped her debut solo album, Maybe Tomorrow. Although it doesn’t stray too far from her main band’s work–expect lush, dreamy indie rock–it might well be her best work to date. “To Myself” has the effortless melodicism of ’90s pop rock, and “Falling into you” adds a trip-hop-flavored beat to the mix; it’s one of the easiest and most rewarding listens of the year.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Spright – Spright
Lots of bands have been pulling from ’90s alt-metal and grunge recently, but few of them really ever get that heavy. On their eponymous debut EP, Spright gets heavy. These songs are darker and uglier than most of Spright’s peers are willing to get, tracks like “Autumn” and “Spright” wrapping ragged screams in murky feedback, and closer “West” ends things off as a full-on post-hardcore assault.
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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