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.
Megan from Work – “Life into a Movie”
Fresh off last year’s Girl Suit, Megan from Work is back with a new single that keeps up the momentum. “Life into a Movie” is an effervescent pop-punk tune that splits the difference between Star 99 and Joyce Manor.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Greet Death – “Country Girl”
In a great feature by (ex-Alt editor) Eli Enis at Stereogum last week, Greet Death detailed the psychic damage that comes from singing such dour songs as theirs night after night and expressed a desire to make music with a slightly sunnier disposition. There should be an emphasis on slightly there, as the new songs still have the band’s entrancing sludge, but just a little less dirge-like (they’re the same but different now). This new outlook shines through on “Country Girl,” the new single and second track off Greet Death’s upcoming Die in Love. There’s a lightness in the percussion and the guitars float at a higher plane than on the more infernal New Hell, while the lyrics take a lovely John Carpenter-related diversion in the song’s second half.
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Somerset Thrower – “Never Going to Therapy”
Somerset Thrower’s “Never Going to Therapy,” the first single off their upcoming Take Only What You Need to Survive, is a gruff, summery slice of alt rock. It isn’t too far off from the hook-forward style Taking Meds toyed with on their last record, and it’s a great style for the ever-underrated Long Island punks.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Trick Play – “What’s the Deal?”
Trick Play is a new collaboration between Dan LaFave (Coupons, Geoff Gordon) and Erik Paulson (Remo Drive) and their first single “What’s the Deal?” should scratch a lot of the right itches for fans of those bands. The tune has a pleasant classic-rock crunch to it, a fuzzed-up guitar solo, and Lafave’s signature lyrical sprinklings that are just a bit off-center enough to catch your ear as he sings about “cousins kissing cousins” and “cops that don’t shoot straight.”
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
heaving. – “tremorsbeneathmyskin”
The latest single from Peoria, Illinois, post-hardcore band heaving. ramps up the melody while doubling down on the sludgy, ominous atmosphere. There’s a ton of bite to “tremorsbeneathmyskin,” especially during its crushing breakdown, but it never gets in the way of the chorus, which might well be the band’s catchiest to date.
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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