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.
Midrift – “Safe and Sound”
Compared to the two songs they released this spring, Midrift’s latest is a bit of a break. It’s still got the same hazy atmosphere as those songs, clearly drawing on shoegaze past and present, but “Safe and Sound” is crunchier, a bit rawer than the trio’s usual fare. Midrift’s profile is rising quickly, even without a full-length and despite none of its members being drinking age, and “Safe and Sound” proves there’s a reason for all the buzz.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Blush – Beauty Fades, Pain Lasts Forever
Singapore’s Blush have made the leap on Beauty Fades, Pain Lasts Forever. The trio has, in every way, improved on their debut LP Supercrush from 2023, amplifying what worked and cutting out what didn’t. Single “X My Heart” was a perfect slice of warm jangle pop, foreshadowing the turn they’d take on the washy “T.V. Mind” and the muted “Ultrablue!” and they go darker and heavier than ever before on the album’s foreboding closer “Swallowing 999999 Needles.” When it comes to the straightforward, heart-on-sleeve dream-pop sound of Supercrush, though, they’ve even managed to perfect that on the expansive “Poison the Well” and the sneakily catchy “Love Is a Dog from Hell.”
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Silver Gore – “Dogs in Heaven”
The experimental folk duo Silver Gore, comprising Ava Gore and Ethan P. Flynn, arrives with their debut single, “Dogs in Heaven.” Inspired by multiple viewings of All Dogs Go to Heaven with her family dog, Gore reflects on childhood memories and lost innocence as twee influences wrestle with glitchy textures and faint recordings of howling dogs.
Giliann Karon
Bones Shredder – “Sky Is Falling”
Randy Moore is primarily known for his work backing up Alkaline Trio’s frontmen in their side projects, but he takes center stage on “Sky Is Falling.” The newest single from his Bones Shredder project is warm and breezy, immediately betraying his Southern California roots, built on inviting licks and Moore’s effortless vocal performance. When the keys worm their way into the final chorus as the words of the hook glide together–”when the sky is falling” sounds like all one word–it’s a moment begging to soundtrack a road trip through the summer heat.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
OK Cool – Chit Chat
Chicago two-piece OK Cool hit a new level with their 2023’s fawn, which synthesized their influences into a quirky, bright eight-track and sub-20-minute burst of energy. They’ve outdone themselves again with Chit Chat, which ups the ante by being, nearly inarguably, a full LP at 10 songs and nearly half an hour. Like OK Cool’s best material previously, Chit Chat is exuberant, melodies spilling out of them like Mentos in a bottle of Coke. Songs like “Splitting” and “Ruined” show off their prodigious riffing, and just about every song has a monster hook–special shoutout to “Jeans (I Get It Now),” though.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Homecomings – “every breath”
Kyoto indie rockers Homecomings released one of 2024’s most underrated gems with late November’s sprawling, dreamlike see you, frail angel. sea adore you. They’ve kept busy since then, too, with the lovely “any day now” in March and now with the even better “every breath.” The trio’s five-minute new song rides a wave of pillowy guitars to a swooning, wistful finale that’s as beautiful as eruptive as Homecomings have ever gotten.
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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