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.
prom – From the Wayside
Over the summer I came across a split from the Brighton bands Wimp and prom, and both halves really grabbed me. Now, less than six months later, prom’s debut full-length is here. From the Wayside borrows from nearly every era of post-hardcore and emo––there are, at various points, echoes of everyone from Hot Water Music to Citizen, Sunny Day Real Estate to My Iron Lung, you name it—but they synthesize in a way that feels vital. The best songs on From the Wayside are the ones that provide a cohesive view of what prom can be: the warbling on-a-ledge melancholy of the title track, the 90-second bass-led temper tantrum “Notion,” the honey and vinegar seesawing of “Private Room.” Even though they may all pull in different directions, they each commit fully to the vision.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Babyxsosa – “Chanel”
“Chanel” is Babyxsosa’s first release since dropping her debut album BABYONCE last month, and it’s pretty different from what she did on there and on last year’s great self-titled tape. Unlike the sparse, spacey beats and wildly modulated vocals all over those projects, “Chanel” rides a comparatively traditional clubby beat and Babyxsosa doesn’t twist her voice into crackly, high-pitched arcs. It’s a much less outré offering from the Richmond native, but she wears this sound neatly.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
concealer. – [tarnished | ableedingsky]
After an admirable debut in July’s dissonance [all that keeps me away], Orlando five-piece concealer. have returned with a two-song single co-released by rising southern hardcore label Armageddon Records and screamo institution Zegema Beach. Indeed, [tarnished | ableedingsky] fits somewhere in between, blending the muscle of hardcore with the rawness of screamo; there’s a bit of metalcore in their sound, too–that last minute of “ableedingsky” especially. But these two songs are also the most melodic concealer. tracks to date, more deftly showcasing the band’s dynamic range than any of the tracks on the first EP. The bridge in “tarnished” is a great example, with Tristan Hill’s anguished lilt carrying the same emotion as the usual rough bellows.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Jadasea – “CURBB” (feat. Niontay)
On “CURBB,” Jadasea’s first single since his wonderful Too Many Tears in May, the South London rapper enlists Brooklyn’s Niontay on their first collaboration since 2023’s “Holding On.” The two have got a natural chemistry, with Jadasea’s drawly verse teeing up Niontay’s quirkier, mumblier flow perfectly. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another year for the two to team up again.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Ritual Error – Dial in the Ghost
It’s become far more common, over the past couple years or so, for up-and-coming bands to explicitly draw on the sounds of Revolution Summer and DC’s ‘80s hardcore scene. (It’s a cool development.) Ritual Error is one such band, a three-piece hailing from London who’ve just dropped their first LP. Where their demo, coincidentally released almost exactly two years ago, leaned heavily into the that sort of punk, Dial in the Ghost brings a dirtier ‘90s noise rock sensibility into the fold; tracks like the sinuous five-minute “Return to Lagos” and the swampy “Haldemann” would never have fit on the demo. There’s a helping of unpredictable CA post-hardcore a la Ebullition or Gravity in here, too, and while the influences are clear Ritual Error stitches the pieces together in a way that feels fresh. There might be many other bands doing what Dial in the Ghost does, pulling from the same influences, but there aren’t any who do it like Ritual Error.
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 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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