The Alt Weekly Roundup (12/6)
Posted: by The Editor
The Popdosemagazine 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.
Cloakroom – “A Force at Play”
The best Cloakroom songs have a sort of hypnotic quality. Dreary vocals drift over cascading guitars, walls of reverb away from ear to ear, and the whole thing comes together to feel almost supernatural. “A Force at Play,” the first taste of their upcoming Dissolution Wave out next month, might be the most succinct and melodic distillation of that formula yet. It’s one of the shortest tracks the band’s ever released at three and three-quarters minutes, and it’s probably their most vocal-centric song ever – but it’s still got that classic hazy, trancelike sound that helps Cloakroom stand out among their contemporaries.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Method of Doubt – Staring at Patterns
On Staring At Patterns, Method of Doubt is able to channel the spirit of so many different hardcore threads without necessarily trying to. It has the energy of Turnstile’s breakout EP Step 2 Rhythm and the newest Fury material, and at other times it wades into Dischord Records territory almost by accident. But whatever asides are taken, Method of Doubt still has the typical trappings of a hardcore band, putting a mosh or two-step part at the exact right time. Taken in totality, Staring at Patterns rivals the best hardcore records in what has been a stacked year for the genre.
Hugo Reyes | @hvreyes5
GUPPY – “I’m Your Daddy Now”
GUPPY’s new single was written after a bad first date, with vocalist J Lebow playing around with our idea of who Daddy is and what power it has. “I’m Your Daddy Now” is full of sleepy swagger, and I love the way Lebow’s voice and the guitar playfully slide along with each other. Plus, it was recorded and produced by Sarah Tudzin, so you can’t go wrong there.
Jami Fowler | @audiocurio
There’s a Light – “Dark Clouds Behind, Bright Skies Ahead”
“Dark Clouds Behind, Bright Skies Ahead” is aptly named; every second of There’s a Light’s newest single feels like it’s teetering on the edge of a revelation. When, in its final minute, the strings swell to a head and the beat picks up, the resolution feels earned.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Routine Fuss – “Cancelled Plans”
Routine Fuss is the project of Chicago musician/engineer Avery Black and “Cancelled Plans” is the first taste of the debut record that will be coming out next February. It perfectly satiates all the emo-pop cravings that I’ve been having lately. It’s got that perfect slightly overdriven guitar tone that makes the song sound huge. There is the occasional guitar tapping athletics, but it’s never overdone. And, of course, there is a huge chorus that centers the song.
Hugo Reyes | @hvreyes5
String Machine – “Gales of Worry”
It’s early December, but String Machine is staking their claim for “2022 record you should be excited for” with the release of “Gales of Worry,” a song that instantly demands your attention with its lush mix of melodic strings and frenetic keys over tight indie-folk instrumentation. The chorus of “yeah, I take another one down, / I can’t pick myself up now / so I take another one down, / and I pour myself out” has a timeless feel, while also being super catchy. By the time the horns come in over the coda, String Machine sounds like the height of early 2000s indie, or maybe a grittier Belle and Sebastian. Their new record Hallelujah Hell Yeah is out in February on Know Hope Records.
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Modern Life Is War – “Survival”
The third installment of Modern Life Is War’s Tribulation Worksongs series drops next Friday, and “Survival” is our first taste. The band’s first new music in three years, the single has a sense of swagger and melody that shows why, twenty years on, they’re still entirely deserving of their legendary status.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
The Popdosemagazine’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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