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.
Carpool – “Open Container Blues (feat. Brianna Wright of Cliffdiver)”
On the first single off their upcoming My Life in Subtitles, Carpool had a simple question: can we just get high? The follow-up finds vocalist Stoph Colasanto and Cliffdiver’s Briana Wright wandering around with the “Open Container Blues.” A five-minute tune that takes its time growing from the loping riffs running in counter to each other at the start to a chorus draped in synths and riffs, “Open Container Blues” goes down as smooth as a can of beer in a public park on a sunny day.
My Life In Subtitles by Carpool
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Teens in Trouble – “Playlist”
Teens in Trouble, the project of Lizzie Killian, just dropped the last single for their upcoming album What’s Mine. “Playlist” is a song about songs, how they make us feel, what they mean to us, and how we use them to travel through time. They video showcases Killian’s own record collection and also features cameos from other artists like Mike Park, Lucy Giles, and more.
Jami Fowler | @audiocurio
Porcelain – “World I Know”
Austin, TX, noise rockers Porcelain just announced their self-titled debut, due out February 16th, along with the ferocious new single “World I Know.” It’s a whirlwind of fuzzy riffs and croaked invective against people who let “fears drive our lives.” It follows last year’s stand-alone “COA” single.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
1ST VOWS – “Clean Up Good”
Ryan Hunter has been making soulful R&B under the name 1ST VOWS since 2015 and just recently released a heartfelt rendition of Jeff Buckley’s “Everybody Here Wants You” as well as an original single “Clean Up Good” that earnestly expresses an underlying desire to allow himself to fall in love and be loved in return. Hunter has never missed in any of his projects that followed post-hardcore act Envy on the Coast, and the return of new music from 1ST VOWS is welcome. Self-produced at his LA based studio Spooked Horse with fellow composer Warren Trunz, the upcoming EP is slated for release on 1/26.
Loan Pham | @x_loanp
overtheweather – “hate is nothing but a boomerang that comes back to hurt the hater”
Kicking off with the line “speed bumps are pointless on roads full of potholes / weekends don’t feel right surrounded by assholes,” overtheweather’s “hate is nothing but a boomerang that comes back to hurt the hater” hits like a glitter bomb to the face. Both the instrumentals and vocals hit the perfect balance of raggedly raw and technically tight, calling for repeat listens to catch all the drum fills and intertwining guitar lines.
hate is nothing but a boomerang that comes back around to hurt the hater by overtheweather
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Be Safe – Unwell
Be Safe sounds exactly the way that you’d expect a band from a place called Frostburg to sound. On their nocturnal new LP, the emo band sounds chilly and glassy-eyed; shimmery riffs wind and wind until they’re about to snap, and when they do on songs like “Replaceable Man” and “Dark Cloud” it feels well-earned. For the most part, though, Unwell is soft and meditative, clean and soft as fresh snow; pulling from largely forgotten emo groups like Karate, Benton Falls, and Colossal, it’s about as close to a perfect debut full-length as an emo band can release in 2024.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
VTB – “Centerline”
Ventura, CA, post-punk trio VTB released their first full length album 91016 through Bleakhouse last Friday, and it might just be my favorite listen this year so far. The opening track “Centerline” unfurls into desolate fuzzed out ruminations highlighted by synths and a certain drawl that reminds me a bit of Iceage. The album itself is dark and driving, shimmering with grit and power without succumbing to the tedium that often befalls most post-punk bands.
Loan Pham | @x_loanp
The Sink – Reaching for Light
Reaching for Light, the debut EP from Ottawa, Ontario, four-piece The Sink, is fifteen minutes of the most frenetic metalcore I’ve heard in years. It isn’t the sort of stuff that labels like Ephyra or The Coming Strife have been pumping out–as great as all their releases are–instead, it’s closer to the stop-start chaos of mid-2000s titans like Every Time I Die or The Chariot. When they do employ clean vocals, which is rare, they’re more textural than catchy; the chorus of the ruthless “Something Simple” is the eeriest, most atmospheric moment on Reaching for Light.
Reaching For Light by The Sink
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Esther Rose – Safe 2 Run (versions)
A more traditional folk take on a handful of tracks from last year’s Safe to Run, Esther Rose’s new EP Safe 2 Run (versions) is a must listen for anyone who yearns for classic fiddle and haunting harmonies. The tunes here are dripping in a warm feeling that is able to surpass the simple nostalgia of O Brother, Where Art Thou? style folk cosplay, instead taking those musical trappings and making them feel assuredly modern. Safe 2 Run (versions) is the best kind of “companion” EP—one that stands on its own while also seeming to strengthen the original release by showing the beauty of the tracks in a different setting.
Safe 2 Run (versions) by Esther Rose
Aaron Eisenreich | @slobboyreject
Sir Chloe – “Seventeen”
Sir Chloe dropped their debut LP last May, and already they’re back. “Seventeen,” the band’s latest single, cuts back on the fizz that propelled much of their previous work. “Seventeen” doesn’t bask in the sun so much as languish in it, the constant high of I Am the Dog supplanted by rapid dynamic peaks and valleys.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
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