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.
Steel Wool – Steel Wool
Steel Wool plays a style of music that’s quite popular these days, informed by shoegaze and slowcore without necessarily sounding like either, the sort of band you say “has Alex G vibes” without exactly remembering what Alex G’s deal is. On Steel Wool, the LA band makes the dreamy feel tactile; “Fading,” for example, juxtaposes raw screams with watery guitars, and the yawning riffs that close “Tired Movements” sound like they’re about to swallow the band whole.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Seeds – Ride the Savage Mustang / Enjoy the Rage
Last year Seeds dropped their proper debut EP, Has the Best Way Been Formulated?, but they’ve already eclipsed even the best material on there. The two-song Ride the Savage Mustang / Enjoy the Rage single is heavier, catchier, and angrier than anything Seeds has done before. “Enjoy the Rage,” in particular, might be the band’s best song to date.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Ensslin – Unread
Russian emo band Ensslin quietly returned earlier this year–after nearly a decade–with the single “Fake It,” and now they’ve got a whole new EP out. Unread is a bit cleaner, a little more muscular than their self-titled EP, not unlike the latest Arrival Note LP, but it’s still got all their starry-eyed charm. They’ve hinted that they’ve got more on the way than just this EP, too. If it’s half as good as Unread, we’re in for a real treat.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Punchlove – “Today You Can Learn the Secret”
Punchlove’s debut LP dropped a little over a year ago, but the Brooklyn shoegazers aren’t slowing down. They released “(sublimate)” in February, and now they’re back with another new single. “Today You Can Learn the Secret” is Punchlove at their noisiest and most aggressive, a wall of sound that sounds like it’s constantly on the verge of collapse.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Love Rarely – “Disappear”
Love Rarely melds math rock flair with screamo energy on “Disappear,” their first release of 2025. The Leeds five-piece have only tightened up since their debut single in 2022, and “Disappear” builds off the white-hot fury of last year’s Lonely People EP. It’ll be exciting to see where Love Rarely goes from here.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Plight – “Hole in the Sky”
New York foursome Plight just announced their new album, Plight, the followup to ’23’s Plastic Sun. As opener and lead single “Hole in the Sky” suggests, they’ve backed away a bit from the gazey space rock of that album, leaning instead into a hookier alt rock sound that plays to all their strengths.
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 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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