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.
Tiresome – Bleeder
Following their debut single in February, Sulawesi alt rock band Tiresome are back with four new songs. The Bleeder EP leans harder into the murkier, heavier end of ’90s rock than their first two tracks, with highlight “Jubilee” gesturing towards grunge and alternative metal. They don’t ever forget to bring the hooks, though, and it makes Bleeder a more rewarding listen than some of the other bands with a similar style–”Come Ashtray” is much, much catchier than a song with that riff has any right to be.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Dosser – “Learned to Breathe”
Dosser’s newest single “Learned to Breathe” is more immediate than the gauzy “Caught in a Web,” released in September, and ventures further into hard-hitting post-grunge territory for one of their catchiest songs yet. The Baltimore rock band have steadily progressed since their fuzzed out Brainscan EP in 2021 and sound more assertive as they take bigger swings on their newer material. The band have also teamed up with producer Jon Markson (Drug Church, Koyo, Soul Blind) and are expected to drop their follow-up album to Violent Picture / Violent Sound in 2025.
Loan Pham | x_loanp
ManDancing – “The Good Sweat (Alt Version)”
ManDancing is being reborn. After releasing a covers EP and a mixtape of new original tunes (with art by our very own Madison Van Houten), the band is ringing out the first phase of their life by returning to some older songs. They’ve already put out the long-lost original version of everyone else’s “(lost in the) ocean,” and now they’ve reimagined a track from their sophomore album, one of the best albums of the young decade. “The Good Sweat (Alt Version)” flips the raucous, almost danceable version of The Good Sweat’s title track, turning it into a mournful acoustic ballad.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Siddhartha Smile – Spring Forward
Siddhartha Smile captures ‘90s emo on their debut EP Spring Forward so well that it’s difficult to believe this isn’t some lost recording from that decade. It evokes mid-‘90s Jade Tree or Revelation Records releases centered around melodic punk rock with a distinctive high-pitched crooning and would sit comfortably amongst second-wave emo bands like Texas Is the Reason and Sunny Day Real Estate. The South Carolina band haven’t even played their first show yet and somehow they might be my new favorite band this year.
Loan Pham | x_loanp
Fin del Mundo – Hicimos crecer un bosque
After two EPs in 2020 and 2022, the Buenos Aires based dream pop band Fin del Mundo has unveiled a new eight-track LP. Hicimos crecer un bosque is as blurry and flowery as the cover suggests; singles “Una temporada en el invierno” and “Vivimos lejos” open the album with its brightest, most driving tunes before pulling things back with the aqueous “Cuando tomo termine” and the five-minute instrumental “Refugio.” That song, ornate and lively, is the real skeleton key for the whole thing; I can’t understand any of the lyrics, and letting “Refugio” wash over me helped lock me in for the rest of Hicimos crecer un bosque. It’s a really beautiful record, and the penultimate “Microclima,” the album’s shortest cut by quite a bit, might be the standout for me. It’s a slow rush of ambient synths and subtle beats that feels unique on the album without feeling out of step, and Lucía Masnatta’s soft voice sounds like she’s pleading from behind a wall of glass.
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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