The Alt Weekly Roundup (4/12)
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.
Latewaves—”Extra Pale”
My last show before the pandemic was on a chilly Thursday night in February. It was a Latewaves gig, and I spent it headbanging and trying to drown my broken heart in $2 PBR’s. And that’s exactly what their music sounds like. “Extra Pale” is the lead single off their first full-length album, which opens with a catchy riff that mirrors the energy of their live performance. It’s fun, loud, and full of attitude, as frontman Mikey Pellegrino snarls “Feeling extra pale/I’m feeling ugly as all hell.”
Madison Van Houten | @madisonvanhalen
Lume—False Calm
The latest from Lume feels like a slow-motion panic attack. False Calm strips away any vestiges of post-hardcore from the band’s sound, leaving in its place haunting, eerie slowcore straight out of a nightmare.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Star 99—My Year in Lists
My Year in Lists, the debut EP from Los Angeles’s Star 99 pinpoints the exact comfort of a basement show donning a half-working PA and the noise over conversation. Nearly all tracks wrap up under the three minute mark, churning an old school punk-mixed power pop charm. In the vein of Remember Sports and Camp Cope, the four-piece are the newest players in the game making music that we miss.
Jane Lai | @soldtogod3000
Whitehall—Swordfish Catcher
Whitehall’s sophomore LP is out just in time for spring. The South Carolina indie-pop troupe deals in making melancholia danceable, and Swordfish Catcher is perfect for a sunny day on the porch with a nice tall glass of sweet tea.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Seasonal—”Rubber & Plastic”
It’s been over four years since the last Seasonal release, but “Rubber & Plastic” is worth the wait. The first single from their upcoming debut LP The Summers to Come, “Rubber & Plastic” is a gorgeous song that pulls as much from post-rock as it does from emo.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Stars Hollow—”Through the Windshield”
“Through the Windshield”—the latest from Des Moines-based emo group, Stars Hollow—is a brutal, unhinged tune, winding in and out of sick riffs, melodic motifs, and intricate breakdowns. Each band member is all over the place in the best way possible, creating a chaotic feeling that matches the title of the track, while never actually crashing, as the band in truth could not be tighter. It’s all capped with some gory, “As Your Ghost Takes Flight”-esque lyrics. “Through the Windshield” is the second track out off the group’s excellent forthcoming record, I Want to Live my Life.
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Skullcrusher—Storm in Summer
Each new Skullcrusher release has been a big step up from the previous, and Storm in Summer keeps up that trend. It introduces some folk influences into her sound, helping to flesh out her sparse singer-songwriter style a bit; the gorgeous opening track “Windshield” is the biggest song she’s ever released, and the title track is positively infectious.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Noda Yuki—soda sickness
I don’t know much about ambient music, it is a definite blind spot for me. What I do know is what makes my ears happy, and soda sickness does just that. Osaka’s Noda Yuki has made an album that is sweet and bouncy, like the titular soda, but without the stomach ache after. It makes me feel like I am walking through a pastel pixel art game where my quest is to just explore the sounds. I think I like ambient music.
Jami Fowler | @audiocurio
Good Sleepy—”Sun Aside”
Being open to discovering new music and embracing artists across genre lines is laudable. But it’s also okay to know what you like, and Chris Hansen at No Sleep Records seems to have a direct line into my brain. The label signed Worcester, Mass., trio Good Sleepy in 2020. If you’re down with fuzz, twinkly arpeggios, throaty vocals, and a general basement aesthetic, then “Sun Aside,” the second single off their forthcoming LP Everysinglelittlebit (out May 20), is for you. But Good Sleepy achieve that difficult balance of giving you more of what you crave without retreading anything that already exists in your collection.
Michelle Bruton | @MichelleBruton
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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