Newsletter March 15th
SPOTLIGHT RELEASES:
o THE P.A.’S
o ROSEGOLD BLINDFOLD
o FRAUD
o WRETCHED INFERNO
o TRAUMA KIT
Pock and Rop
by Kat & Nora & Pat │ [MD Playlist Link]
no adds this week they were poopy stinky smelly
GRMLN – Control (03.10.22) Single
GRMLN has been cranking out new release after new release, but this is my favorite that’s been dropped in a while. Reminds me of freshman year and first getting into him. It’s a chill and cool indie rock tune for y’all.
Wednesday – Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling ‘em Up (03.11.22) [EP]
Ok the cover album is out and it’s extremely chill (good). Wednesday does a great job of making the covers of the songs sound different from the originals. My favorite track on this EP is definitely Had 2 Try, which is a cover of a Hotline TNT song, another band that I have sung high praises for. Give it a listen and let me know what your favorite cover is:) pls
Kids Ski Free – Kids Ski Free (02.25.22)
POM #2 at like the dialogue part of the song, so if you don’t want to play the s word (shit) don’t play the very end
Ok there was a song off of this EP on my release radar this week and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I listened to the entire EP and also thoroughly enjoyed it. My favorite song off of this release is Sorry About Your Leg, closely followed by Film School Graduate. Those two are some nice n’ lovely fuzzed out rock for your ear holes to listen to.
METAL
by Tony
Dark Funeral March 18 Levithan/We Are The Apocalypse
Black metal titans Dark funeral are back. Fans of At The Heart Of Winter era Immortal should feel right at home with this release. Breakneck blasts with atmospheric passages at the start and end of the song make it an enjoyable four and a half minutes. Not as grand as At The Heart Of Winter of course, and without the Iron Maiden influence, but still a good track. Very excited to hear the rest of the album now. Satanic. Fast. Dark.
Meshuggah April 1 Light The Shortening Fuse/Immutable
Like most Meshuggah for me, its not Nothing. But still on its own this song pretty good. I was a bigger fan of the single before this, but the album is shaping up to be really damn good. I am a pretty big Meshuggah fan, so I get pretty selective with their stuff. I am also not a fan of “djent” bands outside of Meshuggah. But if you are maybe not as into Meshuggah, or like djent, this song (and especially the single before it) won’t disappoint. DUN. DUNDUN. DUNDUN.
Striborg February 25 The Uncanny Valley/The Uncanny Valley
I am not a huge black metal fan, but I know a good amount. I am just not the expert that everyone on the internet is. I know even less about Dungeon Synth. But I do know Striborg. This guy has been pumping out music at an alarming rate for a while now, and for me his album Spiritual Catharsis is the one I go back to most frequently. But for someone that likes Atmospheric and Depressive Black Metal, and knows nothing about Dungeon Synth, this is pretty cool. Definitely recommend at least one listen of this project (even more so Spiritual Catharsis). Depressive. Strange. Uncanny.
Hip-Hop
by Brandon
Primal Winds – Can't Tell Me Nothin’ (3/13/2022) Single
This track is actually the third single off of Primal Winds’ upcoming album, Crowd Control, which I am extremely excited for the album to drop. Primal Winds combine innovative punchlines with a g-funk-style that is sure to please the ears. This is topped off with hints of reggae that are sure to intrigue the listener even further.
Lil Durk – 7220 (3/11/2022) Album
Lil Durk is back with a BANGER of an album, complete with tracks featuring the likes of Future, Gunna, and even Morgan Wallen??? I especially enjoyed how every track was so different, with aggressive songs like “AHHH HA” and more chill vibes such as “What Happened to Virgil.” This album delivers the gap in rap you’ve been missing and is sure to be talked about for years to come.
World
by Alec │ [World Playlist Link]
Parannoul – White Ceiling / Black Dots Wandering Around (2/23/22) EP
I know you radio MFs know/like Parannoul. This is a B-sides EP that released in February, if you liked To See the Next Part of the Dream, this EP is definitely more of the same. Shoegazey emo rock with “crappy” indie vocals and lofi production. Check it out if that’s your thing!\
JYOCHO – Let's Promise To Be Happy (2/16/22) Album
Do you like math rock? I know I(and a lot of other people at the station) do. Well, here’s some more mathy rock/pop for you! Uses more acoustic instrumentation than some other Japanese math rock bands, as well as very good melodies and shit. Also recommended by Remy and math rock enjoyer extraordinaire/Electronic Director Ben, so you know it’s sick.
Shoutin’ out an oldie(that I have just heard): Elephant Gym – Balance (5/8/13) EP
I’ve just heard Elephant Gym for the first time, and this EP is so fucking sick. I’ve been playing the hell out of it on Hub, and their version of Japanese math(though the band is based in Taiwan) is insanely good. Please check this release out, it’s goes so crazy. Galaxy and Dance Together are my favorite tracks off it.
Blues
by Jack │ [Blues Playlist Link]
Amber Woodhouse, Wilderwater – Biggest Little Secret (10 March 2022) Album
Amber Woodhouse and Wilderwater are both pretty small artists, with just over 2000 listeners on spotify, but the quality here is pretty remarkable. Specifically, Amber’s voice is just phenomenal. I also think the instrumental is pretty solid. Probably not my favorite track I’ve put on the newsletter, but it’s a slow week, so I’m not feeling too picky. Overall, it’s a good time.
Classic of the week: Robert Johnson – King of the Delta Blues (1937) Album
Throwing it way back for classic of the week. This is probably one of the first actual “rock n roll” albums of all time, and as with a lot of the blues of the time it is incredibly steeped in gospel (Specifically the satanic imagery is incredibly interesting, and I highly recommend this video if you’re curious about the history of the devil and music: Deals with the Devil: A Brief Musical HistoryThe Dark History of Robert Johnson and the Crossroads ) as well as folk and African American traditions. Also, Robert Johnson is an icon, and this album
Jazz
by Sean
Daggerboard, Henry The Skipper Franklin - Daggerboard and the Skippe
Stand out tracks include “Oaxacan Standoff” followed by “Video Culture”, listen to that bass grove on video culture and tell me its not hot, this song is some weird blues surf rock jazz song IDK listen to it.. “The Dream within a Dream” gets a 4 thumbs up out of five.
Open Channels – BADBADNOTGOOD
This song is GOODGOODNOTBAD. Allegedly it was released physically exclusively , so could be new could not be, but it dropped on spotify. This is some experiemental stuff, “free jazz” perhaps IDK.
High Pulp - All Roads Lead to Los Angeles ( single )
Its funny this song has road in the title and sounds like mario cart music. I wonder if that’s intentional. Its good jazz fusion , pretty freaky actually.
Tom Keenlyside – A night at the espresso
This is jazz, also sold at barnes and noble sooo... I was lacking on any guitar jazz last week so here is some, this whole album captures the vibe of a jazz club on a rainy week day, not that ive ever been to one, I am just imagining. But the production is tight, the songs are well composed and intricate. The opening song “Skweet” (skete lol) is a instrumental track that involves some sweet guitar tone and jamming that goes everywhere. Listen to “all of you” it has some vocalist on it and she uses the word “lore” which I find quite comical.
RPM
by Ben │
Julia Gaeta – Weight of You (03/09) Single
This track gives me serious “club in a cyberpunk megacity” vibes. It’s dark, atmospheric, and its combined elements of industrial and pop give it a unique color. It feels easy to get sucked into the soundscape it creates. Definitely be on the lookout for her album when it releases!
Richard Evans – Sentinel (02/25) Album
Synthwave, vaporwave… man, I almost waved this release goodbye when I first listened to it. This album is just OK. Nothing special, in all honestly. Very 80’s style vaporwave synth sounds and melody lines, somewhat weak sounding drums that don’t really punch through or add much percussive energy, and the clean vocals sound a bit out of place within the context of the songs. Track one starts off with a fun kind of filter sweep and heavily processed vocals and dives headfirst into a vaporwave inspired verse-section. Then you’re pulled right out of the pink and purple void you were floating in by the dry vocals. “Life” is what you first hear from the singer, but it’s not really what’s being added to the tracks. The rest of the tracks did grow on me a little as I kept listening, but I think Stockholm syndrome was doing some heavy lifting.
Paris Music Corp. – Almost Lost (date) Single
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming… discussing tracks with creative sound design and fantastic use of sonic space! Varying percussion elements placed in different layers of the space really open this track. It’s wide open, but that empty space is not wasted. An ambient synth-strings melody and its accompanying harmonized partner cycles in the background, reverberating off the sonic walls and filling the space. The lower layers are filled in with dark and somewhat industrial pads and “wubby” bass lines (That’s right, wubby.) To top it all off, you’ve got the classic beeps and dial-up sounds accentuating the spaces between the melodic elements.