The Alt Weekly Roundup (6/20)

Posted: 20th June, 2022 by The Editor

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.

Present – “New”

Present’s “New,” oscillating between gauzy verses and a thick, battering, riffy hook, has got a similar energy to the best Momma songs. The band’s only got two songs to their name, but if “New” is anything to go by, Present deserve the world.

Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison

Cheekface – “Pledge Drive”

Cheekface are back, all fans of talk-singing power pop rejoice! The masters of quirky, darkly relatable lyrics just released “Pledge Drive” and it is just the right amount of fun and funky to dance to as we head toward oblivion. Click play if you like songs that mention quinoa.

Jami Fowler | @audiocurio

Halogens – Live at House of Independents 

Jersey pop rockers Halogens dropped their debut LP You’re Being Weird last October, but they were only able to perform their record release show this past March. Three months later, the band’s entire set is available to watch live through Refresh Records’ Youtube page, and it’s great. It’s pretty clear from this video that the songs on You’re Being Weird were always meant to be heard live, even if it’s live from your computer.

Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison

Plato III – The Devil Has Texas

The 2000s hold a rich history of rap and indie rock convergence. This internet-fueled blend of influences brought about great evils like Donald Glover rapping over Grizzly Bear, but Polyvinyl putting out their first hip-hop album is a pretty cool place to be at in 2022. Guitars are everywhere on Plato III’s The Devil Has Texas—shimmering for atmosphere behind 808s and Springsteen-punching to the heavens between verses. Instrumentally, it’s all vibes, but Plato’s lyricism brings a cheeky earnestness to the spacey beats. Dreamy and introspective without the corn, The Devil Has Texas is well worth a listen.

Chris Burleson | @chris_b_kreme44

Slime Lush – Custom Slaughter

Slime Lush manage to distinguish themselves from the horde of other shoegaze projects by cutting it with substantial psychedelic influences. It makes Custom Slaughter appear, though a debut, like the result of a band with years of experience under their belt. 

Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison

The Deer – “I Wouldn’t Recognize Me”

The Deer’s new single,  “I wouldn’t Recognize Me” employs a dizzying array of instruments from fiddles to synths, and somehow lakes them all mesh. Songwriter and frontwoman Grace Rowland wrote the song as a letter to her younger self, a way of telling her “to care for herself like she does for the world, to take a stand for what she believes in, and to be ready for it all to change.”

Jami Fowler | @audiocurio

Moodring – Stargazer

Moodring’s debut LP Stargazer falls somewhere in the grey area that divides the alt-metal of White Pony from the melodic metalcore of Divide the Great Line. Those are big shoes to fill, but the Florida band is up to the task. Moodring places a bit more emphasis on hooks than either of those bands did, and the result is grunge-tinged anthems like “Stargazer,” tense post-hardcore gold like “Constrict,” and gloriously metallic space rock like “SYNC.wav” and “NIKE.” In other words, Stargazer is a winner.

Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison

The Alternative’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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