Posted: by The Editor
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.
sinema / xheartworksx – consider it your fault
Texas-based post-hardcore bands sinema and xheartworksx (ex-Since My Beloved) are both coming off auspicious EPs, and they’ve just joined forces for a two-song split called consider it your fault. “The House Always Wins,” sinema’s contribution, is heavier than most of last year’s spectacular After the Flatline EP, leaning into the more chaotic, metallic aspects of their sound, and xheartworksx’s “Oh, Gone From Me” takes things in the opposite direction. It’s cleaner and more restrained than anything off their demo tape, unspooling from gentle spoken word to their trademark noisy screamo over its relatively long three minutes.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Lane – Receiver
Lane is a math rock band–but in the ’90s sense, not in the modern sense. Think the tricky, knotty guitar playing of the Dischord bands that didn’t go full weirdo, and you’ll have a nice idea what to expect from their second album Receiver. It’s a short record–the average track length is barely over two minutes–but each second is dense and complex. The title track imagines a more accessible Unwound, and the riffs in the cooing “Loie” sound like the guitar strings are unwinding.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Oso Oso – “all of my love”
The average reader of this blog probably doesn’t need to be told that there is a new Oso Oso track out and, to little surprise, it’s great. But, in case you missed it, there’s a great new Oso Oso track out called “all of my love.” The standard Oso Oso trademarks are here with jagged guitar lines that cut into each other, a direct catchy chorus that gets you singing along by the final run through, and little touches like the hit of handclaps that literally stop the song for a brief moment. Let’s hope this is the sign of a new Oso Oso record soon.
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Metafore – The Anatomy of Destructiveness
On Metafore’s debut EP, the Surabaya, Indonesia, quintet imagine the world after the end–and in their telling of it it’s beautiful. The Anatomy of Destructiveness is a loose concept album about the apocalypse and the ways humans can rebuild and recreate life afterward; musically, it’s as hopeful and moving as it sounds. The band uses post-rock as a foundation–although nearly all these songs have vocals–and mixes elements of emo, math rock, dream pop, and more to create a wholly engrossing world. The remixed versions of last year’s singles “Waktu-Waktu Baktu” and “Cahaya Pagi di Ruang Tengah,” which make up the bulk of the middle run, fit perfectly alongside the three new tracks, particularly the way in which the latter spends its final two minutes careening toward the stratosphere.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Armlock – “Ice Cold”
Armlock’s upcoming Seashell Angel Lucky Charm is a breezy, contented sigh of an album, and lead single “Ice Cold” is the perfect introduction to the band’s second record. It’s a lovely track built on a hypnotic, bouncy beat and smears of feedback, but it never approaches threatening.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Heading North – We’re So Back
Heading North’s We’re So Back is a record that immediately lives up to its name, as the group blasts off immediately with a drum fill into a chunky, infectious guitar riff. That chunkiness forms a nice contrast with Asha Edson’s strong vocals which cut through the relative sludge of the instrumentals. From there, Heading North don’t let up, ripping through twenty minutes of punk that’s dense and intricate in the best way possible.
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
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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