The Best of Q1 2024

Today means something different to everybody. To some, April 1 is a fun day for goofs and gags; to others, it’s just another day we have to pay rent. To obsessive music writers, today marks the official beginning of “Q2” 2024. I know that makes me sound like a business bro or some hotshot market analyst, but I’ve found increasing validity in breaking up the year into four even chunks like this. Not only does this cadence make me more mindful of the passage of time, but it also acts as the perfect vantage point to look back and take stock of what has happened over the last few months.

Whenever I talk to people, even the biggest music nerds, a common sentiment is the feeling that it’s harder than ever to “keep up” with new music. I agree, but I also think that feeling means you’re putting too much pressure on yourself. Every week is an avalanche of new music, and it can be overwhelming to keep up with. Throw in the constant stream of new singles, music videos, tour announcements, splits, interviews, podcasts, and month-long album rollouts, and it’s no wonder why fandom can start to turn back on itself and feel like a job. 

I’m of the mind that if you’re feeling that pressure, you need to reframe your relationship with music. New music will always be there, and you can’t possibly listen to everything. We here at Swim Into The Sound are passionate music geeks. We love sifting through press releases and keeping track of album cycles. We make playlists and try our hardest to check out new music each Friday. Sometimes, we take a month off, but it always comes back to our obsession and love for music in (hopefully) equal measure.

What follows is a collection of our staff’s favorite albums from the first three months of 2024. Each writer has selected one release that they’ve been gravitating towards, all in the hopes that you will find something new to love or check out. Thanks to a massive influx of new writers, our team, and our taste has never been so diverse. You’ll see everything here, from throat-shredding heavy metal to laid-back lounge fare, twinkling emo, and pastoral indie rock. Go check these records out, save a few, and check them out in your own time. No matter how well you’re staying “up” on the new stuff, we hope you find something here to adore as much as we have. 


Cheekface – It’s Sorted

Self-released

As a Cheekface superfan, It's Sorted is not exactly the album I wanted… It's better than that. I think I wanted them to keep making the same irreverent indie rock album that made me fall in love with them (Emphatically No.) over and over again until it stopped hitting the same. Cult followings of indie artists can be a bit like stubborn children who don't know what's good for them. Instead, Cheekface gave me new things I didn't know I wanted: shiny pop productions to go with the big pop hooks, big vocal stacks, Metallica worship, a surprisingly vulnerable acoustic(ish) moment, and, "wait a minute, did you just trick me into liking ska?" Believe it or not, It's Sorted is the band's most cohesive record yet. The songs explore themes of identity in a country where we are often defined by our jobs (or something like that). While the production often takes wild creative liberties in different directions, it is always with purpose that serves the song (producers of songwriters, take note). The qualities that make Cheekface Cheekface are alive and well on It's Sorted. If anything, they are flexing (Mandy Tannen's basslines really are their largest muscle, haha) that Cheekface has gotten even better at being themselves. Ever since I found out that frontman Greg Katz has a degree in philosophy, I have been joking that Cheekface is like a modern Socrates. The band never really tells you what they think explicitly, but their lyrics will make YOU think, whether you like it or not. And I do.

Katie McTigue - @pacingmusic

Read our review of It’s Sorted here.


Faye Webster – Underdressed at the Symphony

Secretly Canadian

After a stint of TikTok virality that seemed to be handpicked by the Algorithm Gods themselves, part of me wondered if a Faye Webster pivot was on the horizon. I was painfully aware of the primarily teenaged crowd watching the show through their phone screens at Webster’s Brooklyn Steel show last October and was curious if there was a part of Webster (or the Business Folk backing her) that wanted to lean into this demo to take advantage of the moment. Luckily for us, that’s not the way things rolled out. 

Webster’s Underdressed at the Symphony sees a seasoned jazz pop veteran lean into the niches that make her great—trance-like jazz interludes and conversationally quippy lyrics—while also widening her sound through heavy synth leans, vocoders, and lyrical repetition. The record is a collection of songs about losing yourself (“Wanna Quit All the Time”), finding yourself (“Feeling Good Today”), and what happens in the in-between (“eBay Purchase History”). Webster paints a picture of her ever-changing state of mind while simultaneously leaving listeners enough room to fill in the blanks for themselves through vague enough lyrics and uncrowded instrumentation. Webster’s lyrics feel like you’re a fly on the wall of her internal monologue: half are things she’d say out loud, and half are thoughts she keeps to herself (two of my favorite lines being “And I’m looking at you talk like okay / Your eyes are so pretty by the way” on “eBay Purchase History” and “I’m feeling good today / I ate before noon / I think that’s pretty good for me” on “Feeling Good Today”). Webster packs this record with things that shouldn’t go together but do: cutesy-bop interludes, jammy synth loops, full-blown orchestras, existential crises, a Lil Yachty feature, and that classic almost-Hawaiian guitar tone we all know and love. Truly something for everyone from the reluctant queen of mellow pop. 

Cassidy Sollazzo - @cassidynicolee_


Flesh Tape – Flesh Tape

Power Goth Recordings

Flesh Tape’s self-titled record was the first thing that I bought on Bandcamp in 2024, and it’s endured as my favorite release of the year so far. It’s great, noisy guitar rock music that makes me wish I owned bigger speakers. Since this cassette came through in the mail, I’ve been listening to it front to back nearly nonstop while playing Madden, letting the massive wall of distorted guitars take me away as I throw interception after interception. I have some stuff from Nothing and Hotline TNT in a similar rotation, and I think Flesh Tape fully stands next to them as a band in that lane. In particular, the back half of this record is incredibly strong, with “Catalytic Converter” and “Sunny” landing as my two standout tracks.

Josh Ejnes - @JoshEjnes


Friko – Where we’ve been, where we go from here

ATO Records

Recently on Twitter dot com, I saw Jordan Walsh say that the new Friko album, Where we’ve been, where we go from here, would fit seamlessly with the early 2000s Saddle Creek catalog. As I’ve listened to this album over and over and over, I haven’t been able to get that comparison out of my head. The Chicago band’s frontman, Niko Kapetan, channels all the best parts of a young Conor Oberst’s urgency, loquacity, and recklessly wobbly vocals. At the same time, drummer Bailey Minzenberger drives the songs forward with fervor and no shortage of delightfully messy cymbals. Clever time signature changes keep tracks like “Crimson to Chrome” and “Get Numb To It!” fresh where so many folky-emo bands have stumbled into monotony, and the lullaby-like “For Ella” and “Until I’m With You Again” follow haunting piano melodies down to the band’s tender core. While Friko forge a sound undeniably all their own, strands of my youth’s bygone styles have tied this comforting, chaotic record up as my favorite so far this year.

Katie Wojciechowski - @ktewoj

Read our review of Where we’ve been, where we go from here here.


From Flowers to Flies – We Built This Machine

Broken Windmill Music

It’s only natural to occasionally wonder where the people you went to school with ended up. I often think back to my time attending my alma mater, Sonoma State University, and the people I walked the halls of our music building with fondly. To my surprise, earlier this year, I discovered that three of those classmates, along with another friend, started a band together and released one of the most engaging and complex records I have heard thus far in 2024. Across every second of its uninhibited 45-minute runtime, listeners can expect prog-rock sensibilities, improvisational brass solos, scream vocals, variations of the Dies irae (to my absolute delight), and so much more. When a handful of incredibly skilled, dedicated music majors get together in a studio, the end result is, unsurprisingly, one of the most versatile and detailed rock-fusion records you’ll ever hear. Jam-packed with subtle references to their countless influences and overlapping eras of music, We Built This Machine stands as a brooding, genre-fluid experience from the heavy-hitting newcomers to the DIY music scene, From Flower to Flies. 

Ciara Rhiannon - @rhiannon_comma


glass beach – plastic death

Run for Cover Records

plastic death is a summer album. Who cares that it was released in January? This is the perfect soundtrack for a June evening, driven with the windows down while blasting this beautifully rambunctious album. The opening track, “coelacanth,” has my heart as it features a wonderful piano accompaniment, but the following tracks, “rare animal” and “commatose” are equally compelling. glass beach has done a fantastic job of expanding upon their previous album’s sound by pushing their technical and creative abilities, challenging the listener as they lead you through an hour of rhythmically complex and harmonically lush music. Whether you enjoy post-punk, shoegaze, fifth-wave emo, or an even more niche internet genre, plastic death offers all that and so much more.

Britta Joseph - @brittajoes

Read our review of plastic death here.


girlsnails – california kickball

Self-released

In a year of highly anticipated releases, the debut LP by girlsnails stood highest among them. After stumbling across their 2019 self-titled EP last spring, I was immediately enraptured and impatiently awaited what was next from the Surrey/Vancouver, BC band. Delivering equal parts math rock and emo, the album leans into those genres but also plays loosely at their edges. The vocal work and albums’ mathier moments feel like a cross between Laufey’s stylistic jazz melodies and the more technical pieces of the American Football discography. With papercut penmanship, the band embraces a confessional diary-style lyricism that veers gently into abstraction more than once as the earnest pangs of regret peal in almost crystalline purity. Whether it's the tumbling finger dynamics and clear, lilting vocals on “ramune” or the immense instrumental builds and vocals runs on “say square,” california kickball is a run of just quality, occasionally anthemic, and frequently beautiful, jazzy, mathy emo that’s just as technically impressive as it is pleasant. For long walks where you can see your breath or half cloudy days spent lying in the grass, girlsnails has you covered. 

Elias Amini - @letsgetpivotal


Glitterer – Rationale

Anti-

I’m a little shocked to say that Glitterer’s third record, Rationale, is my favorite of the year so far, given I was never a Title Fight girlie. These songs sucker-punch punks with pop perfection. My favorite track, “No One There,” smuggles one of the best hooks of the year under the guise of a vocal cord-straining shout of the title. Not only are the songs catchy as hell, but the hooks are full of probing questions about how best to exist around each other. From the incredible one-two of “There I was again / making everything about me in the end,” which opens the album, to the life-affirming “this is what I’m supposed to do / nothing else I know is true / ‘cause passion is arbitrary” on “The Same Ordinary.” If you’re craving pit-stirring shout-alongs, Glitterer has you covered.

Lillian Weber - @Lilymweber


Gulfer – Third Wind

Topshelf Records

I’m starting to get the sense that emo music isn’t the coolest genre in the world. It's embarrassing, unsustainable, and not a label that many bands lean into or wear with pride. When I first discovered Gulfer back in 2018, Dog Bless quickly became a formative math rock release, an album that also felt like it capped off an era of emo in a way that is really only visible in retrospect. One pandemic later, Gulfer has released a self-titled record, a split, and a handful of sparkling singles that all built out the Montréal group’s precise sound. Turns out that was also the proper amount of time to marinate and mutate into something that pushes far beyond the restrictive realms of emo or math rock. Third Wind is a spectacular indie rock album that sees a band exploring the bounds of their influences to create something wholly unique in a space where that sort of exploration is not always well-received or rewarded. There’s so much to love here: the immaculate poppy sensibility of “Clean,” the autotuned articulation of the climate crisis on “Cherry Seed,” the hardcore outpouring of “Too Slow,” and the hypnotic repetition throughout “No Brainer.” How about the way lead singer Joe Therriault plays with his word choice on “Prove,” stretching the song's title out, lilting back and forth on the “oooooo” until it becomes completely unrecognizable. This is all backed by unparalleled instrumentation that, yes, has a background in emo and math rock, but also feels indebted to shoegaze and indie rock in a way that makes it feel far more than the sum of its parts. A new act for a band who already proved themselves to be some of the greatest to ever do it. 

Taylor Grimes - @GeorgeTaylorG

Read our review of Third Wind here.


Hannah Frances – Keeper of the Shepherd

Ruination Record Co.

Hannah Flores has been releasing emotionally naked folk records for over half a decade, reckoning with the loss of her father across five projects, but her latest feels like a reintroduction. On Keeper of the Shepherd, Frances doesn’t grab your attention so much as she takes your face in both hands and holds your head to hers. Take the opening track “Bronwyn,” where a full rock band crackles and coils around her multi-tracked howls in an all-consuming whirlwind that calls to mind the best of fellow full-voiced powerhouses such as Weyes Blood or even Joni Mitchell. Repeated Christian imagery throughout the deceptively jaunty title track and “Vacant Intimacies” captures how truly distant the love of God can feel beside the fresh absence of someone whose love was tangible. Yet each of these seven songs comes with a personal revelation on how to live not just with loss but how to live as your own person. There’s a tendency in art to mythologize suffering, but Keeper of the Shepherd is a document of healing and moving forward. Hannah Frances knows that the most beautiful art often comes from a place of clarity and confidence that suffering cannot support, which is why on “Haunted Landscape, Echoing Cave,” even as she mirrors the climax of its bookend, she simply declares, “I am leaving.” We’d all be wise to follow her. 

Wes Cochran - @ohcompassion


Knifeplay – Pearlty (2024 Remaster)

Topshelf Records

Knifeplay’s uniquely raw and emotional shoegaze is the perfect soundscape for quiet days inside, long car rides in dreary weather, and abrupt moments of self-understanding. Pearlty originally came out in March of 2019, only about 1,800 short days ago. In that time, Knifeplay has accomplished the difficult feats of releasing their 2nd full-length album, getting signed to a label, and remastering an already amazing album. The timing of the remaster is a bit poignant to me because I started graduate school around the time Pearlty came out. The album is so heavy with emotion that it could drown me if I let it. It’s sonically in the sweetest spot of ambient and active. My personal favorite songs to get lost in are “Suffer” and “Lemonhead,” both of which are just long enough to fully re-contemplate dropping out of school for the nth time. Pearlty’s remaster has given me some new perspective on my “life timeline” and has soothed months of accumulated burnout. It is a beautiful product of a band’s attention to the details of their craft, and for me personally, it is a signpost that says, “Five years down, you’re almost there.”

Braden Allmond - @BradenAllmond


Tapir! – The Pilgrim, Their God and the King of My Decrepit Mountain

Heavenly Recordings

Somewhere in the confluence of centuries of myth and folk music is Tapir! (exclamation point required). After unfolding over the past couple of years, the London six-piece strives heavenward on The Pilgrim, Their God and the King of My Decrepit Mountain, their debut record presented as a three-act musical quest. The first two “acts,” released in 2023, fell under my radar, so I encountered the LP in continuity, not piecemeal — I encourage you to do the same. Not because Tapir!’s pastoral anthems can’t stand on their own, but because of the feeling that flows in as the final chord of the 7-minute closer “Mountain Song” rings out. The band recognizes the subservience of narrative to composition and allows the orchestration to speak for itself. Lore and lyrics capture equal aspects of the story being told; the group is wise enough to opt for balance over proggy density. As they swim through seas of sound and summit the grassy knoll, the listener is guided every step of the way by a comforting presence, ephemeral and silent. Get lost in the fantastic, knowing Tapir! will help you safely return from your travels.

Aly Muilenburg - @purityolympics

Read our review of The Pilgrim, Their God and the King of My Decrepit Mountain here.


Theophonos – Ashes In The Huron River

Profound Lore

Absolute societal degenerate type shit. Years-long diet of sewer rats type shit. Prison stabbing blood loss type shit. Seedy cult ritual docuseries type shit. Black tar cartwheel type shit. Scanners-level cranial burst type shit. Sludge-flooded dungeon type shit. Crime scene photo developer type shit. Wearing the skin of your enemies type shit. Kool-Aid Man Kamikaze piloting himself into the walls of the factory that made him type shit. Convicted criminal pump-up playlist type shit. Thinking about car bombing the DMV type shit. Nightmarish boss battle type shit. Hydroplaning into Hell type shit. Boot-stamping every proud boy in the tri-state area type shit. Laser removing a tattoo you got to cover up the scar of an unconventional piercing type shit.

Logan Archer Mounts - @VERTICALCOFFIN


Waxahatchee – Tigers Blood

Anti-

The sixth album from Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield, Tigers Blood, brings the singer/songwriter’s country sensibilities to the forefront. While it's not the first Waxahatchee record to draw upon Crutchfield’s Southern upbringing, the feeling is omnipresent throughout this album. Deep into her career, Crutchfield’s songwriting continues to get better and better. In addition to the wildly catchy singles, Tigers Blood is full of great tracks, one after the other. Additionally, Crutchfield’s phenomenal voice is aided throughout the album by the recurring presence of MJ Lenderman on guitar and backing vocals. We may only be a quarter of the way through the year, but Tigers Blood has set the bar high for 2024.

Nick Miller - @nickmiller4321


Yard Act – Where’s My Utopia? 

Island Records

Everyone I know had a shit winter. Whether you’ve got SAD or are just sad, the lonely months seem to hit deep this year. All winter, I was grabbing for fuzzy comforts like Greg Mendez, Nirvanna The Band The Show, or the “Hell Naw” dog. I was trying to shake the doldrums, but nothing could get ‘em loose – until I listened to Yard Act’s riotous, effusive, and nimble new record. Plenty of punk-adjacent bands have made their dance records in the past few years (Turnover and Parquet Courts being the ones to commit the hardest), but nothing has been as wide-open, voracious, and filled with pure joy as this record. It’s the celebration of reinvention, an ode to the bloom. It’s filled to the brim with danceable hooks – like the chorus of “Dream Job,” which sounds like a sample from an iconic disco song that doesn’t exist, or the earwormy, ever-descending chorus of “Petroleum” – because, as spelled out in lead single “We Make Hits,” “We’re all gonna sink. And we just wanna have some fun before we’re sunk.” Where’s My Utopia? answers its titular question with a shapeshifting joy-spreader of an album. It’s an intellectual, physical, and emotional utopia that can only be found on the dance floor. An invitation to shake the doldrums while we still can. 

Joshua Sullivan - @brotherheavenz

Cheekface – It’s Sorted | Album Review

SELF-RELEASED

Despite being “America’s local band,” I had not heard of Cheekface until the release of “Plastic” in August of 2023. This was the third single from their (at the time still unannounced) fourth studio album, and after seeing the reaction from veteran Cheekface fans online, it became clear that I was missing out on something. It also became clear that, much like the band, their fans have no interest in what is cool. They are drawn to lead singer and guitarist Greg Katz’s dry, “talk-singing” delivery, which at times can feel like Steve Burns with a post-graduate degree and GAD giving you clues on how to survive the shiny new toaster world we live in. 

This was also part of the appeal to bassist/vocalist Amanda Tannen when the band formed in Los Angeles around 2017, stating she wanted to “be in a band that is not cool.” If you can get past the initial turn-your-nose-up-at-anything-earnest feeling you might have, you are liable to find yourself grooving along to these songs as you think critically about the morality of Ring Cameras and 3D printers. It turns out that doing things on your own terms resonates with people, regardless of the risk for potential uncoolness or overly earnest sentiments. Despite having no major label (the band self-releases all their music on Katz’s own New Professor Music), Cheekface continues to do their thing- selling out shows and growing their audience with each release. Cheekface is a cult. You either get it or you don’t. 

The first track on It’s Sorted gets to the heart of that success (or lack of it).Success is cringe / I wanna be on the fringe,” Katz sings on the anxiety-ridden opener. The song manifests as a mission statement for the band as drummer Mark Edwards’ consistent, pounding rhythm mimics your speeding heart rate. “Me and panic woke up together / this is not one night, no it is forever” Katz sweats out before settling on making avocado toast for breakfast. On “Popular 2,” the band waxes poetic about doorbell cameras and the panopticon, stating, If I’m never gonna be alone / here in my community neighborhood home / then I wanna be popular to watch / on the movie you put on from the camera on your porch.” The future is here, and the future is weird. Take comfort in the drone flying overhead! You can’t possibly be lonely if a TV show of your life is being filmed every time you leave the house or rustle your blinds. 

An anthem for growing at your own pace, “I Am Continuing To Do My Thing sees Katz personifying his messy life. He is NOT jealous of the success of his former college friends. Who cares if their careers are taking off or their bands are blowing up? This track really highlights Cheekface’s sense of humor- one day, you’re “dispassionately vaping while you water the plants,” and the next, you’re “vaping in the parking lot with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.” If you compare your success to others, you’ll never be happy. Advice that’s almost as good as, “If you steal a cop car, you will never get pulled over” from the same song’s second verse. 

The first half of the album closes out with “Life in a Bag,” a song that locks you in with a swirly synth and bouncing bassline for another track about being ok where you’re at. The almost-rapping of the verses can be off-putting at first, especially if you are poisoned by too-coolness like myself. Lines like “heaven is just wiggly air, and I’m alive now” can feel like trying to down a sugary shot without making a face, but if you open your heart to sincerity, you will soon be singing along to “Life in a bag, living my life in a bag, thank you for putting me in this bag.” 

If you couldn’t already tell, Cheekface is a lyrically dense band. They have a lot to say about the minutiae of the world, but they’re also going to make you dance. They keep you guessing in the back half of the album, offering a departure from Side A's funky and upbeat sound. An ode to new beginnings and American materialism, “Trophy Hunting At the Zoo is only a minute long and features noisy downpicked guitar alongside pitched-down vocals. They have fun with anatomy on “Largest Muscle” and go from unserious to inspirational in the same verse- “your eyes are your largest muscle / they can recognize me when I’m wearing a hat.” How do we do that?? Katz is right if you really think about it. He’s also right about one of the most poignant lines on the record, moments later singing, “Your mind is so big and supple / you can turn that thing around at any point.” The human spirit is resilient. 

It’s Sorted closes out our journey (pun intended) with two of the best songs on the record- “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Plastic.” The former speaks again to that resilience: “We hum through our days of constant striving, and everybody seems to hum in time / the lies come free, the truths behind a paywall for $1.99.” The group wraps things up by contemplating if you can 3D print love on the album’s closer. All this needless complication and technology might make things simpler, but it comes with the cost of everything looking like the same gray plastic. 

In just under 30 minutes, Cheekface sorts the emotional recycling of your mind, leaving you cleaner and clearer than when you started. It does feel sorted- into good and bad and weird and cool (and not cool). It’s serious and anxiety-ridden, and it’s also silly. Despite thinking about everything, Cheekface faces the problems of the world with a certain nonchalance and positivity- and it might just make them the coolest band in the world.  


My name is Alex, and I make music as Birthday Dad! I released my debut album, The Hermit, in 2022 and have vinyl available now from Refresh Records! Follow me on Twitter and everything else! @iambirthdaydad

The Best of January 2021

Shame-cr-Holly-Whitaker-billboard-2017-1548-compressed.jpg

Well, it’s January, and that means we’ve entered another terrible, horrible, no-good-year. January is one of my least favorite times of the year for no particular reason other than the fact that it feels like a month-long Monday. Getting “back to it” has never been harder than it was this year, but, as usual, music helped me make it through. 

New music is especially exciting in January because all of it feels fresh. There’s just something cool about seeing that “2021” at the top of a newly released album, even if the novelty wears off quickly. It’s refreshing to start on a clean slate when it comes to music, even if most of what I’m listening to still comes from previous years.

Despite the fact that COVID has thrown off pretty much every album rollout in existence, we have still received a wealth of fantastic new tunes this month. As usual, I wanted to write about all of these excellent new pieces of music, but reality had other plans. I quickly came to terms with my fickle inspiration, realizing that I can’t write full reviews, premieres, or detailed breakdowns about all of my favorite music no matter how hard I tried. My mind went back three years to 2018, where I composed short new music round-ups at the end of each month, which allowed me to highlight some of my favorite releases from the preceding 30-some-odd days. 

I figured why not pick that effort back up again and see how far I can take it? Writing about that many new releases each month was taxing, but it also forced me to keep up on new music and kept me from overthinking my writing. Will I keep this up all year? Probably not. Will I try? You’re damn right. Enough preamble. Without further adieu, I’m excited to present my favorite pieces of new music from January of 2021.


Camp Trash - Downtiming

Count Your Lucky Stars Records

Count Your Lucky Stars Records

First up, we have the debut EP from Florida’s hottest new emo-pop act. Emerging as an enigmatic anomaly, Camp Trash was one of those bands that managed to steadily gain buzz on Twitter, eventually leveraging that hype into a record deal with Count Your Lucky Stars despite not having a single song publicly released. Opening track “Bobby” is a bouncy and energetic emo track that’s equal parts Oso Oso and Get Up Kids. Whether it’s the ragged “Sleepyhead,” the acoustic “Potoimno,” or the anthemic “Weird Carolina,” it’s hard to think of anything that’s missing from Downtiming. It may only be 12 minutes long, but this is a tremendous little emo release with just enough pop sensibilities that you’ll be singing along to these tracks in your car in no time. If Downtiming had been released in the early 2000s, this EP would have been lauded as much anything off of your favorite Vagrant Records release.


Beach Bunny - Blame Game

Mom+Pop Music

Mom+Pop Music

One year ago, half of the music industry saw Beach Bunny as a “TikTok Band,” a dismissive label for a group that managed to garner millions of streams based thanks to their confessional songwriting and sharp hooks. The fact that their songs went viral on TikTok wasn’t key to their success; it was proof that they were on the right track. After a string of fantastic EPs and singles, Beach Bunny released their debut album in February of 2020, an album that unilaterally proved the group’s success was no fluke. Centered around lead singer Lili Trifilio’s defiant voice and effervescent melodies, Honeymoon announced Beach Bunny’s arrival in earnest. One year later, they’ve given us Blame Game, a four-song EP that acts as a follow-up to the feelings explored on last year’s LP. Focusing on the same topics of love life, shitty guys, and sexist double standards, Blame Game shows that Beach Bunny is here to stay, and I cannot wait to see what sugary sweet bubblegum melodies their next release possesses. 


Abe Anderson - Seasick Lullaby 

Brace Cove Records

Brace Cove Records

Much like pirates would eat a lime or lemon to stave off scurvy; I need a steady diet of brass and horns in my music to feel genuinely at peace. That’s why it was so refreshing to hit play on Seasick Lullaby and be greeted with two minutes of triumphant horns that warmly welcomed me into the release and gently caressed my soul. I shouldn’t have been that surprised, as Abe Anderson is most known for his work in Minneapolis groups like Niiice. and Thank You, I’m Sorry, both of which have no shortage of gorgeous brasswork courtesy of Anderson himself. However, what did come as a surprise is how brilliantly Anderson’s voice stands on its own. Whether it’s the winding wistfulness of the album’s title track or the head-over-heels adoration of “Love You More,” every song on this release possesses the same fuzzy, hazy, dreamlike feel-good quality which makes this record an absolute treat to listen to.


Cicala - Cicala

Acrobat Unstable Records

Acrobat Unstable Records

If bands had commercials, Cicala’s would probably be pretty close to that oft-quoted Reese’s commercial. I can practically hear the dialogue, something along the lines of “Hey, you got your emo in my country!” to which the other party would reply, “You got your country in my emo!” The result wouldn’t be a chocolate-covered peanut-buttery confection, but Cicala. Opening with a jangly guitar and lyrics of a truck stop in Oklahoma, this album blends emo stylings with country licks to an immensely satisfying degree. The album ranges in scale from Red Rocks to a lowly worm, all of which are filtered through Quinn Cicala’s pleasant delivery and emotionally-intelligent perspective. An amber-coated album made for porch beers and mountain excursions.


Cheekface - Emphatically No.

New Professor Music

New Professor Music

“Everything is normal,” the three members of Cheekface repeat monotonously at the beginning of “Best Life,” echoing a mantra that most of us have tried to convince ourselves of over the course of the last 365 days. After a brief instrumental interjection and takedown of Portrait mode, lead singer Greg Katz exclaims, “we are writers! creatives! we work remotely!” and I was hooked. Now, I know I’m a straight white guy, and most music is created by people who share those qualities, but it was still striking to hear my recent day-to-day experience reflected so clearly in song form. From there, the track goes on to discuss everything from furiously Juuling to getting a stick-and-poke of a Gucci logo because it’s cheaper than therapy… And that’s just one song. Emphatically No. is a hyper-detailed and charming depiction of a definitively un-charming world, all of which is delivered in a plainspoken style reminiscent of Parquet Courts with lyrics that evoke Stephen Malkmus. It’s a portrait of a very specific place in time from a very specific millennial perspective, but if you identify with any aspect of it, you’re guaranteed to see a piece of yourself reflected here to a remarkable and affirmative degree.


Cathedral Bells - Ether

Spirit Goth Records

Spirit Goth Records

When most people think of DIY music, they probably picture four skinny, weed-smoking white dudes tapping on guitars making midwest emo music. That’s certainly a visual that’s easy to call to mind, but it’s not representative of the entire DIY scene… not by a long shot. DIY includes hardcore groups like For Your Health, Gilt, and Hazing Over. It has pop acts like Get Tuff, Jhariah, and Cheem. It covers ska powerhouses like Jer and Grey Matter. It ranges from acoustic bedroom pop like Jungheim and Loser Camp to grungy rock acts like Bombastic Dream Pussy  and Oceanator. There’s shoegaze, punk, lo-fi electropop, and more. In short, it’s unfair to paint the “DIY Scene” as a collective of a few dozen midwest emo groups. Now, with Cathedral Bells, we finally have DIY goth music. Complete with buoyant bass lines, gorgeous reverberating guitar riffs, steady electronic drumming, and far-off shoegazey vocals, Ether is the perfect record for someone in the DIY scene who also happens to love bands like The Cure and New Order. 


Mikau / ps.you’redead - razor x blade

Chilwavve Records

Chilwavve Records

Last year, Mikau unleashed their debut album Phantoma on the world. Upon my first listen, I was instantly transported back a decade to my senior year of high school, where I was listening to nothing but screamo every waking hour, much to the chagrin of those around me. Now, razor x blade sees the group teaming up with Buffalo “danceviolence” band p.s.you’redead for a chaotic 9-minute split that winds from auto-tuned croons to jagged and thrashy pandamonium. It’s a feast for the ears and a nostalgic throwback to anyone who spent hundreds of hours in high school listening to turn-of-the-decade post-hardcore while playing Modern Warfare and downing Mountain Dew.


Shame - Drunk Tank Pink

Dead Oceans

Dead Oceans

Fitting that this roundup should end with Drunk Tank Pink since Shame’s debut is one of the albums that kicked off my tradition of monthly round-ups all the way back in 2018. For the most part, Drunk Tank Pink finds the band continuing to build their fresh-faced take on post-punk while also pushing at the edges of what the genre can do. Lyrics walk the line between serious and self-deprecating while their deliveries can range from across-the-the-room shouts to poetic dinner-conversation-level monologues. Guitars jangle and strum forward in angular ways as opposed to straightforward riffage. The rhythm section rises and falls with a dynamic range rather than arrow-straight precision. It’s quite literally the perfect sophomore record in that the group didn’t lose anything that made their debut feel so fresh and attention-grabbing, yet they also managed to progress their sound forward in new and exciting artistic directions. 


Quick Hits

Get Tuff - in sickness and hell - Dark DIY electropop that’s as demonic and blood-drenched as it is catchy and 🥺

Tiberius - Lull - One of my biggest surprises of the month, this DIY release helmed by Brendan Wright is evocative of indie rock greats like Broken Social Scene. Read our full review here.

The Sonder Bombs - Clothbound - An album full of deep feelings armed with acerbic lyricism, boppy melodies, and charming amounts of ukelele. Read our full review here.

Portrayal Of Guilt - We Are Always Alone - A violent, ever-rageful, and always-changing sophomore album from one of the most exciting bands in the hardcore scene.

Arlo Park - Collapsed in Sunbeams - A chill, vibey, and lovestruck album that seems designed for laid-back Sunday mornings and wistful afternoons.

Joe Vann - Found in the Smoke - One dash of emo, one pinch of Americana, and a big heaping helping of synthy embellishments, Joe Vann’s surprise-released debut album is a relaxing modern Americana outing.