The Alt Weekly Roundup (9/5)
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.
Dosser – “Joy Thief”
Dosser’s 2020 EP Brainscan was classic shoegaze through-and-through, but they handle things a bit differently on “Joy Thief.” It’s a much more straightforward and riffy song than anything they turned in on their debut, leaning a bit more into fuzzy alt-rock than straight-up gaze—think of the shift from DIIV’s Is the Is Are to Deceiver. In any case, the band’s follow-up to Brainscan will be one to look out for.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Expert Timing – “New Queen”
Following on the heels of “The Bigger Picture,” Expert Timing’s “New Queen” is hard-rocking and acerbic, with Katrina Snyder singing “wish I could picture what it’s like at the top / respect and admired, your new queen / I’m breaking the habit of being something I’m not / cause I am the female that the future forgot” over some grungy guitars in the chorus. If the two tracks out now are any indication, the group’s new album Stargazing—out later this month on Count Your Lucky Stars Records—should definitely be on your radar.
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
A Place for Owls – A Place for Owls
Colorado indie rockers A Place for Owls have come a long way. Their debut EP You Are Still in Every Song I Sing was a solemn acoustic affair, snowy and folksy. Their new self-titled full-length is anything but; it’s layered and open, and these songs burst with keys and gang vocals and feedback. It has a little of everything, from the sugar rush of “Do I Feel at Home Here?” to the stargazing emo of “Where Do You Want to Go?” to the bright and jangly “Smoke Monster,” and the band knocks it all out of the park.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Old Moon – “All It Takes”
With its jangly, reverb-soaked guitars, Old Moon’s “All It Takes” conjures neon lighting, smoke machines, and big ’80s hair. There’s a fantastic build up in the pre-chorus with Tom Weir singing, “when I’m the outside / looking in / I can’t begin to understand / how it feels to lose yourself / when you’re dancing around the room,” as the drums switch their focus from the snare to the cymbals at the final line to kick into the chorus, creating a natural contrast with the more open, dreamy verses. Old Moon’s new album Under All Skies is out on Relief Map Records in a few weeks.
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Richard Edwards – “Ketamine”
Richard Edwards is one of the most talented songwriters of his generation, and “Ketamine,” his latest solo single, is no different. It’s haunting and atmospheric, appropriately enough for the first single from a record called Ghost Electricity / Vampire Draw.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Discussing the Sun – “Shade”
Discussing the Sun’s “Shade” uses its psychedelic soundscape as a means for reflection, with lyrics like “blame the acid / complex post traumatic dissonance / I feel it in my skin / its consequence for all the ways I’ve been runnin’ from who we were then” over hypnotic programming and somewhat chaotic drumming pushed forward in the mix. Coming in at under two and a half minutes, the tune’s a bite-sized, but intriguing, introduction to the band, whose first album Feel It All is out this month on Lonely Ghost Records.
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Byung – Humid Memories
Humid Memories taps into the same vein of spacious, atmospheric indie rock that made something like Ixora or, more recently, New Preoccupations so beloved. Byung’s voice carries the same breathless flow as Greg Dunn’s on Moving Mountains’ self-titled LP, and it fits the relaxed tone of the music that fills the space behind him. It’s an inviting, comforting record, and a song like the shimmering single “The Plains” is fitting for this time of year.
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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