The Best of October 2021: Part 1

October brought us so much good music that I had to split our usual monthly roundup into two parts. Read on for shoegaze riffs, muscle-pumping hardcore, and one of the most stunning emo albums of all time. Click here to read The Best of October 2021: Part 2.

Hovvdy - True Love

At this point, you probably know exactly what to expect from a Hovvdy album; pleasant back-porch guitar licks, laid-back drumming, and just the slightest hint of twang. Last year I wrote about how much Heavy Lifter grew on me over the course of 2020, culminating in the album becoming a near-daily habit that coincided with the peak of fall. It feels like a cosmic coincidence that Hovvdy would drop their follow-up right as the leaves start to change and the wind regains its crisp bite. While it has yet to grow on me quite the same way that Heavy Lifter did, True Love is possibly the most accessible, catchy, and pleasant batch of Hovvdy songs to date. Whether it’s the soaring adoration of its title track, the familial connection of “Hope,” or the childlike innocence depicted on “Junior Day League,” the duo explore a wide range of folksy fall-flavored tunes throughout the album’s 40-minute runtime. 

Roseville - something about a fig tree

The Flower Bed

Much like their fellow Coloradans in Gleemer, Roseville are creating fuzzy, blissed-out dream pop songs that tackle less-than-blissful feelings. From the blurry album art to the mostly one- and two-syllable song titles, everything about fig tree screams shoegaze classic. The EP opens with a bright sway on “Safer” and winds its way from seasonally appropriate tales on “Halloween Song” to hypnotic riffage on “Out.” It may only be a bite-sized collection of five songs, but the sound on this EP is nothing short of colossal. Like all the greatest albums of the shoegaze genre, something about a fig tree is a release you can throw on and sink into like a bed of leaves or a slightly-too-big bean bag chair. 

The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Illusory Walls

Epitaph Records

An 80-minute post-emo, post-hardcore, post-rock album about the social, moral, and ideological rot of late-stage capitalism? AND it’s all passed through a conceptual Dark Souls filter? I am in. There’s simply no amount of hyperbole I could pack into this introduction that would do Illusory Walls justice, so I’ll just say that this was one of the most impactful first listens I’ve had with an album in years. The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die are perhaps best known for being forebears of the 2010s Emo Revival. Famous for their long name and even longer list of band members, everything about Illusory Walls seems counter to their previous work. It’s a darker, fiercer, and more focused album that was conceived amongst the group’s (now core) five members. 

While the singles range from a mixture of The Anniversary and Broken Social Scene on “Queen Sophie For President” and heavy metal riffage on “Invading the World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance,” the group rounds out distant corners of their world on songs like “We Saw Birds Through the Hole in the Ceiling” and “Your Brain is a Rubbermaid.” The cherry on top of this album comes with the one-two punch of its closing tracks. Both the 16-minute “Infinite Josh” and the 20-minute “Fewer Afraid” are absolutely jaw-dropping tracks that are guaranteed to inflict goosebumps upon any listeners who might take them in with an open heart. While “Infinite Josh” is built around a post-rock build and steadfast bassline, “Fewer Afraid” is a career highlight manifesto complete with a spoken-word passage and philosophical sentiments. The latter of these two songs evoked an actual joy-filled scream from me upon first listen when the band broke out into an interpolation of my favorite song of theirs from nearly a decade earlier. 

Over the course of this album’s final 36 minutes, the group touches on topics like death, the passage of time, religion, and the desire to make the world a better place. It’s inspiring, cosmically-affirming, and downright staggering. In one of the record’s most profound lines, friend of the band Sarah Cowell sings,

You cry at the news, I just turn it off
They say there's nothing we can do and it never stops
You believe in a god watching over
I think the world's fucked up and brutal
Senseless violence with no guiding light
I can't live like this, but I'm not ready to die

Even if you aren’t a fan of this band or emo as a whole, Illusory Walls is a boundless work that shatters nearly every preconceived notion one might have about the possibilities of this genre—an extraordinary feat of the medium.

Gollylagging - Aint That Just The Way!

Self-released

On the flip side of the emo behemoth that is Illusory Walls, we have Aint That Just The Way!, a scrappy 14-minute debut from the Boston-based quartet Gollylagging. Opening track “Capsizing” begins with a modest indie rock jangle but expertly piles up its own emotions until the entire piece erupts into post-hardcore riffage. The rest of the EP follows a similar format, combining hyper-proficient emo-inspired instrumentation with hardcore bellows and emotionally forthright lyrics. “Kangaroo” is expectedly bouncy, fun, and moshpit-inspiring while “Your Party” charges forward with a battering Dogleg-like momentum. Overall, a very energetic and promising release from a band that everyone should be watching. 

Knocked Loose - A Tear on the Fabric of Life

Pure Noise Records

There’s a reason Knocked Loose has become one of the most popular bands in hardcore, and with A Tear in the Fabric of Life, they offer a brief six-song reminder of why. In what may well be their heaviest release yet, the band distills and perfects their dynamics, alternating between atonal metallic passages and pummeling chuggy riffs. Similarly, lead singer Bryan Garris’ tormented piercing howl is punctuated by guitarist Isaac Hale’s punishing low growls at just the right times, resulting in a violent and raging excursion that jostles the listener from one spiteful sentiment to the next. 

Ship & Sail - True North

Self-released

I have been a fan and friend of Ship & Sail for as long as I’ve known Colin Haggerty. Even a cursory glance back through this blog reveals reviews, collaborations, and more stretching all the way back to his debut album in 2018. This is all to say I’ve thought a lot about it, and True North is far and away the best thing Ship & Sail has ever released. In keeping with tradition, Haggerty penned a long and heartfelt breakdown of the album we published on release day, which I strongly encourage you to go read. The record itself touches on familiar folky sentiments of past work but also stretches into exciting new territories. Album opener “The Plan” feels like a synthesis of all the best Ship & Sail songs released to date. Haggerty flexes his songwriting prowess with a stellar chorus on “Junkie Love” and grapples with mortality on “I Know A Way Around Heaven’s Gates.” Midway through the record, the title track centers around a beautiful duet between Colin and his late father that acts as a moving tribute and a beautiful song in its own right. The record culminates in “Lovely,” which shakes with a sort of Julien Baker confessionalism and is flat-out one of the most powerful songs I’ve heard all year. We should all be so lucky to have our lives memorialized in a collection of songs such as this. 

Mo Troper - Dilettante

Self-released

On Mo Troper’s Bandcamp page, the description for Dilettante begins with a definition. “Dilettante (n.): a person with an amateur interest in the arts; an album of postcard-length power pop songs. See also: Mo Troper IV.” This self-effacing introduction is actually the perfect pitch for Mo Troper’s vibrant and ever-shifting 28-song-long LP. Citing inspiration that ranges from Elliot Smith to At The Drive, this is truly an album without boundaries. Whether singing about coffee pairings, social media-induced capitalism, or decrepit action movie stars, every track is fueled by pure creativity. Most songs don’t even clear the two-minute mark, allowing for a massive collection of instantly-catchy hooks that Troper then throws over a vast swath of genres. As an album-length experience, Dilettante fits somewhere between the trifecta of Ween, Daniel Johnston, and Guided By Voices for a creative, catchy, and invigorating collection of power pop tunes. 

Superdestroyer - Such Joy

Lonely Ghost Records

Hmm, another album about the malaise of late-stage capitalism? Strikes happening across dozens of different industries? The most popular show in the world is a parable about the failures of capitalism? It’s almost like something over the last year or so has laid bare the indifference of the system in which we are forced to live… ah well, nevertheless. Such Joy, the fourth album from Superdestroyer, is a blistering 17-minute take-down of our world that openly grapples with the flaws of our endlessly greedy and increasingly imbalanced society. The release begins by wading the listener in with catchy emo chants and guitar tapping but eventually breaks out into hardcore shouts and spacy riffs. It almost feels as if the entire release is unwinding as you listen to it. Plus, each track is punctual, with most songs hovering around the 90-second mark and none stretching beyond three minutes. This makes each piece feel essential, even the instrumental trip-hop “Void” serves as a necessary pause to catch your breath before the final push. A genuinely creative and comforting collection of songs.

Quick Hits

If you’re looking for even more tunes from the past month (or so), we’ve published reviews of the new releases from Couplet, Church Girls, Sufjan Stevens, and Pictoria Vark. Alternatively, you can see my favorite songs from every album I listened to this month through this playlist. 

The Best of September 2021

A little bit of hip-hop, a little bit of folk, and the sounds of a bygone social media platform make up the best releases of September. 

Injury Reserve - By the Time I Get to Phoenix

Self-released

Looking at the discussion surrounding the new Injury Reserve album results in a fascinating combination of words; intense, terrifying, unique, tremendous, visceral, and raw. Overall, the most consistent sentiment about the album is “this is unlike anything I’ve ever heard in my life,” and that’s a fair assessment. After losing their friend and bandmate Stepa J. Groggs in 2020, By the Time I Get to Phoenix sees what’s left of Injury Reserve grappling with their grief in a public, album-length forum. The record is stuttery, disorienting, and heavy; all valid encapsulations of sorrow from a group who has lost someone close enough to be considered family. 

Eichlers - OHMYGOD

Self-released

I usually don’t write about singles in these roundups, but “OHMYGOD” is simply that good. Additionally, this article is the September new music roundup, but this song was technically released on the last day of August, so basically I’m breaking rules left and right just so I can write about how rad Eichlers is. Here’s the one-word pitch: Hyperska. That term is precisely what it sounds like; a bubbly mixture of hyperpop and ska music, both genres which have been surging in popularity over the last few years. Eichlers combines these two disparate sounds to great effect over the course of this two-minute banger. The vocals convey a sort of “what the fuck” relatability over a blink-182 guitar tone and electronic drums. Thirty seconds in and a series of upstrokes lead to a hyperpop build that sounds like Dylan Brady’s long-lost brother made it. It’s pretty much everything I love in one place.

Dormer. - Dormer.

Lossleader Records

Since I’m already breaking self-imposed rules, I’m also going to use this space to write about the excellent self-titled record from Dormer, which was released at the tail end of August. Dormer is the solo project of Charlie Berger, who is also a member of the shoegaze band Slowly and the dark dreampop band With Hidden Noise. Berger self-describes the project as “slowcore-inspired… sounds maybe like if Duster, Shipping News, early Death Cab, and slower Pedro The Lion songs had a baby… then that baby went on to make low-key music that very people listened to.” If that self-effacing pastiche of cuffed-up 90s indie rock doesn’t sell you, then I don’t know what will. Dormer. is a winding and listless album in the best way possible. The songs transfix and unfurl over three- and four-minute stretches that never wear out their welcome but all work towards constructing a singular, mystifying world. 

Sincere Engineer - Bless My Psyche

Hopeless Records

Deanna Belos initially rose to prominence within the Chicago music scene as a solo acoustic act. After years of house shows and bar gigs, she released Rhombithian in 2017, and Sincere Engineer unveiled itself to the broader music world as a fully formed band worthy of nothing less than absolute adoration. Buoyed by Belos’ unmistakable one-of-a-kind voice, the project weaved relatable tales of alcohol dependency, corndog dinners, and general fuck-upery. Each song dripped with hooks and catchy guitar. The lyrics were an unabashed portrayal of snow-covered life in Chicago that felt like a direct accompaniment to Retirement Party’s Somewhat Literate. Four years later, Sincere Engineer has solidified into a consistent lineup, and the group’s sophomore album takes all of those winning elements from their debut and re-formulates them into something totally standalone. Marginally less punky than their last LP, Bless My Psyche uses a fresh range of sounds as the backdrop for these ultra-relatable tales. Even if seven of the album’s eleven songs were released as singles in the lead-up to its release, it’s just a joy to have another 30 minutes to spend in Belos’ presence, wallowing in your screw-ups together. 

5ever - Forever

Many Hats Distribution

Do you remember MySpace? Remember getting random friend requests from bands spamming your account trying to convert you into a fan? What about the garish neon-covered HTML pages? Can you picture the endless sea of identical swoopy haircuts and Devil Wears Prada wannabes? Well, 5ever remembers. Not only do the Boston-based rockers remember, but they’re here to salvage the best parts of that era and revive them into something new. With a name based on a decade-old copypasta and song titles like “H.A.G.S,” it’s clear that the band knows their audience here. Lead single “Champagne” is a perfect introductory crash course to the shimmering bubblegum-flavored pop-punk sounds of the EP. These pop sensibilities eventually fold in on themselves, mounting in post-hardcore sentiments on “KACHING!” Forever manages to salvage some of the most admirable bits of artistry from an (arguably) dark era in music, making for an 18-minute time capsule that’s as potent as a scented gel pen. 

Common Sage - It Lives and It Breathes

No Sleep Records

Last year Common Sage released the abstrusely-titled Might as Well Eat the Chicken, We Won't Be Here in the Morning. If I’m being honest, it felt like pretty standard emo fare, but the EP must have done something right because in the time since it’s release, the group has signed to No Sleep Records and is now hitting back with the phenomenal It Live and It Breathes. Easing up on the emo roughage, the group’s sophomore effort melds the dynamic scale of TWIABP with the ultra-distressed 90s-tinged approach of bands like Sunny Day Real Estate. Songs grow and contract into sprawling epics of overwrought feelings and whiplash from lazy Sunday country to fist-balling punk at a moment’s notice. The instrumentals fit together nicely, coming across as rounded off and more approachable than the group’s previous work. Basically, everything fits together wonderfully, resulting in what is sure to be one of the most slept-on emo-adjacent releases of the year. 

Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - A Beginner’s Mind

Asthmatic Kitty Records

There are no two ways about it; I’m a Sufjan Boy. I literally run an entire separate blog dedicated solely to the man’s Christmas Music. While it sometimes feels as if I am legally obligated to consume everything he creates, that doesn’t mean I love it all. Occasionally, Sufjan gets too electronic or too meandering for my taste, but I’m always eager to see what he does next. A Beginner’s Mind sees my folk daddy teaming up with labelmate Angelo De Augustine for a collaborative concept album where each song is based on a different movie. Sometimes our singers place themselves in the shoes of a character; other times, they analyze the filmic events from an omnipotent distance. This leads to a Planetarium-level of commitment to conceptuality where the tales are allowed to be a little more personal and way less cosmic. This narrative thrust combined with the throwback to a more somber Seven Swans era of “Sadboy Indie Folk” results in what is easily my favorite Sufjan release since 2015’s Carrie & Lowell. 

Shortly - Dancer

Triple Crown Records

When I first saw Shortly in 2018, the band was just Alexandria Maniak standing alone on a stage with a guitar and a mic. She was first-up opening for Aaron West & The Roaring Twenties, and the crowd was rapt. I emerged from that set a die-hard Shortly fan but was disappointed to find she only had two publicly-released songs at the time. In the years since, Maniak has rounded out the project with a talented band, released an EP titled Richmond, and played probably more gigs than any rational person could keep track of. Dancer, Shortly’s debut full-length on Triple Crown Records, is a synthesis of everything learned along the way. It’s an album-length journey into the hard feelings, unique relationships, and unforgettable people that make life worth pushing through. 

Quick Hits

If you’re looking for even more thoughts on the past month of music, we also published full reviews for the new albums from Jail Socks, Big Vic, and Colleen Green. We also wrote about the incredible new single from Greet Death. Finally, here’s a playlist of my favorite song off of every new release (and single) I listened to during the month of September. 

My Most Anticipated Albums of Fall 2021

We’re entering the final quarter of the year, and, spoiler alert: most of your favorite blogs already have their album of the year selected. Not me, though. I have some favorites, obviously, but when I think about my Album Of The Year 2021, it’s still anyone’s game in my mind. 

On some level, it’s easy to get swept up in end-of-the-year festivities and opt-out of the constant swirl of new music, so I wanted to give a little preemptive roundup of all the records still to be released this year that I’m excited about. These albums range in scope from heavy hitters of the indie world like My Morning Jacket and Snail Mail to up-and-coming acts that everyone should be tracking like Snarls and Illuminati Hotties. In other words, I hope you find something new here, or at the very least something to be excited about, because there’s still lots of 2021 left. 

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Explosions In The Sky - Big Bend (An Original Soundtrack or Public Television) (October 1st)
The post-rock stalwarts are back with another soundtrack, this time for a new nature documentary from PBS titled Big Bend: The Wild Frontier of Texas. As someone who has spent their summer hiking the mountains of Colorado, I look forward to this record soundtracking my last few hikes of the season before things turn too wintery. 

Hovvdy - True Love (October 1st)
Simply put, Hovvdy are masters of fall music. Their last record, Heavy Lifter, was an inventive indie rock album that perfectly captures the languid, slow-paced feeling of the season. It’s moody, vibey, inward, and perfect for late nights as the weather gets colder. The four singles released thus far have been absolutely stunning, so I can’t wait to see what the whole album sounds like. 

illuminati hotties - Let Me Do One More (October 1st)
Pool-hopping season may be over, but that fact won’t crush the indomitable spirit of Sarah Tudzin. The “tenderpunk” pioneer is back with another album-length collection of vivacious songs that I expect will counteract the dark days of autumn. 

The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Illusory Walls (October 8th)
The fourth-wave emo figureheads return with an epic collection of tracks grappling with a society in decay. Whether taking on a proggy post-hardcore tone or more of an open-ended Broken Social Scene approach, this record is shaping up to be something career-defining. 

Kevin Morby - ​​A Night At The Little Los Angeles (October 8th)
2020’s Sundowner was a flawless fall record. Now, Kevin Morby looks to recreate that success by revisiting the album with a pack of 4​-​Track demos recorded for the project. Hopefully an even more stripped-down version of the record, I look forward to hearing songs like “Campfire” in an even more intimate environment. 

Virginity - PopMortem (October 15th)
Each year, Florida rockers Virginity outdo themselves. 2019’s With Time is a personable emo record with hooks for days. 2020’s Death to the Party upped the ante with even more ferocious performances and relatable lyrics. Based on this trend, PopMortem is set to be the band’s new gold standard. 

My Morning Jacket - My Morning Jacket (October 22nd)
The first new My Morning Jacket LP in-earnest since 2015’s The Waterfall, the group’s eponymous release is set to be a monument to their two-decade-plus career as some of the most wholesome alt-rockers in the music scene. 

Trace Mountains - House of Confusion (October 22nd)
Over the course of his last two albums, Trace Mountains has evolved from bedroom country-light into fully-fledged indie rock. Dave Benton may not have the audience I feel he deserves, but watching his sound, production, and musical ideas evolve over the last few years has been immensely rewarding. His newest album is said to be a darker, earthier counterpart to last year’s Lost In the Country.

Spirit Was - Heaven’s Just a Cloud (October 22nd)
In his newest solo project, the ex-LVL UP member combines hearty folk sounds with Sunbather-level black metal. This album is probably the one thing I’m most excited about in the rest of 2021 due sheerly to its potential to be uniquely “my shit.” 

Every Time I Die - Radical (October 22nd)
Every Time I Die is back, and it’s time to punch something. Crafting some of the most finely produced metal I’ve heard in ages, Radical looks to be an assemblage of bottled-up rage that’s been mounting for the last few years. A single cathartic outpouring that’s long overdue. 

Parquet Courts  - Sympathy for Life (October 22nd)
Parquet Courts seem to have let their last album do the talking. In the time since 2018’s Wide Awake, we’ve seen fascism, racism, inequality, and death all on a steady rise; all things the band predicted on that sixth album. Where they will go next is anyone’s guess, but I’d wager we will look back on Sympathy for Life in a few year’s time in awe of how prescient it was. 

Angel Du$t - Yak: A Collection of Truck Songs (October 22nd)
Once a hardcore band, now just a band, Angel Du$t aren’t afraid to challenge preconceived notions. Throughout their eight-year career, the supergroup has evolved from Turnstile-indebted hardcore to wildly inventive indie rock. It’s a pivot so flawless that even the most coked-up hardcore bro will have a hard time denying it. Get ready to dance your rage out.

The War on Drugs - I Don’t Live Here Anymore (October 29th)
The modern heartland rock kings return with their newest collection of songs. Seemingly continuing the somber approach of 2017’s A Deeper Understanding, Adam Granduciel and company seem to be crafting a record designed to soundtrack the indigo-colored sunsets and amber-tinted afternoons of late fall. 

Minus the Bear - Farewell (October 29th)
My favorite band from high school (one I saw live half-a-dozen times before I could even drive) is releasing a career-spanning live album. Captured on the band’s final tour in 2018, I simply cannot wait to revisit my final two hours spent with the band as they hit all my favorite songs from a decade-spanning career—a true gift. 

Save Face - Another Kill For the Highlight Reel (October 29th)
New Jersey-based shredders Save Face are unleashing their newest collection of songs on the world this fall. Fittingly releasing in the days before Halloween, the Skeleton-adorned and blood-encrusted record is likely the closest thing we will get to a new My Chemical Romance album, so drink it up, get spooky, and rock out. 

Snail Mail - Valentine (November 5th)
The long-awaited follow-up to 2016’s Lush is almost upon us. Initially heralded as a teenage savant, Lindsey Jordan was poised to be the “next voice” of indie rock music. She’s spent the intervening half-decade touring, discovering herself, and enjoying the final stretch of her teenage years. Valentine will likely be a synthesis of all those experiences and emotions. It will also likely be the soundtrack to your crush’s Instagram Stories for years to come. 

Radiohead - Kid A Mnesia (November 9th)
Sorry, but I love Radiohead. A box set of Kid A and Amnesiac is necessary. It may not be my favorite era of the band, but many people look back on this period of Radiohead as their best. Much like OKNOTOK, I’m eager to hear the songs left off the records and experience an overindulgent celebration of all the demos and recordings that missed the cut on these landmark alternative albums. 

Delta Sleep - Spring Island (November 12th)
A mathy combination of TTNG and Minus the Bear, Delta Sleep look at the world through a naturalistic lens and then filter those observations through prog-tinted indie rock. The band’s first album in three years, Spring Island, is building off the rubble of Ghost Cities into something more organic and awe-inspired. 

Snarls - What About Flowers? (November 12th)
If there were any justice in this world, Snarls would have been the biggest band of all time by the end of 2020. At the beginning of the ill-fated year, the group released Burst, a stunning collection of songs that felt primed for the mainstream… then the rest of the year happened. Rather than get dragged down, the group rallied and recorded What About Flowers?, an EP designed to reignite the spark that they’ve been patiently waiting on for nearly two years. With any luck, by this time next year, they will have the listenership they have always deserved. 

Courtney Barnett - Things Take Time, Take Time (November 12th)
The iconic Australian rocker returns from the shadows of 2018’s Tell Me How You Really Feel with an album that sounds more deliberately laid-back and easy-going. An excellent reminder to take things at your own pace and that good things will come in time. 

Ovlov - Buds (November 19th)
The Connecticut shoegazers are back with their first record since 2018’s Tru. While members have dropped other projects under the names Stove, Pet Fox, and Smile Machine, the group has announced their reformation in earnest with “Land of Steve-O,” a stunning signal of the album to come.

My 200 Favorite Songs of All Time

At the end of last year, this site rounded the corner on 150 total articles published. Once I hit that milestone, it immediately felt as if my 200th article loomed right around the corner. I had started to post more regularly than ever before, and running this website felt like a relatively healthy hobby to commit to during a global pandemic. At the onset of this year, I also made a resolution to post at least one article a week throughout 2021, and I’m proud to say I’ve kept that up all year, more or less. 

Also around this same time, I hatched a grand idea for my 200th article on this site to be a ranking of my top 200 songs of all time. I wanted to do full-paragraph write-ups for each song, articulating exactly what I loved about them on both a personal and musical level. I tried to start that piece a few times over the last year, but the idea was simply too overwhelming for me even to begin to genuinely chip away at.

However, what I have done over the last year is create an iTunes playlist of all my favorite songs. I’ve been updating and scrutinizing this list with some level of regularity, so it feels like a relatively complete reflection of who I am in 2021. Obviously, I couldn’t quite find the time to write about all 200 tracks, but I realized that if I was going to have them all collected somewhere, I might as well make it somewhere public. 

This isn’t a traditional post where I wax poetic for thousands of words. Instead, I celebrate Swim Into The Sound’s 200th post in a manner that’s very un-like Swim Into The Sound. At the bottom of this article, you’ll find a Spotify playlist featuring 200 of my favorite songs of all time... Err, well, more like 198 of my favorite songs, because neither “Weak Man, Weak Boy” or “Waltz of the Sea Wolf” are on Spotify. This playlist is in “reverse chronological order,” with my favorite songs up top. While I’m listing asterisks, I’d also like to caution that this playlist gets decidedly less ranked as it goes on. 

If you’re interested in reading about some of these songs in more detail, I wrote about my fifteen favorites back in 2019 for the site’s 100th post. That article approaches the topic in a manner that’s more befitting of this blog; long adoration-filled paragraphs about pieces of music that are very near and dear to my heart.

Even though this post is not the ornate 200-song-long write-up I first envisioned, it’s is still a celebration. Two hundred articles is a monumental achievement in my mind because it just feels so big–each hundred does. I still remember naming my first document in Google Drive and using the format “001” because I thought I would never pass 1,000. It’s not like I’m close now, but I at least understand what that quantity feels like.

This is also a celebration because I genuinely believe in everything that gets posted here. I have poured unquantifiable hours into each of the 199 posts that proceeded this one. This blog may seem amateurish or overly earnest at times, but it’s genuine to me, and that’s what I care about most. 

So thank you for reading this. Thank you if you’ve ever read Swim Into The Sound before, and thank you even more if you read the site regularly. 

Thank you if you’ve contributed to the site as a guest writer, said something nice on social media, or worked with me in any capacity. It all adds up, and every single piece of support means the world to me.

Running this site is genuinely one of the highlights of my life, and I thank you for being a part of it.

Thank you for coming along, and thank you for caring. 

The Best of August 2021

Groovy licks, spacious shoegaze, and vivacious bars make up the best releases of August.

Mud Whale - Everything In Moderation

Self-released

One indicator of a great band is how fast they can turn you into a fan, especially if you go into their record blind. I queued up Everything In Moderation on release day, not knowing what to expect. Once the opening track “Karmageddon” kicked in, I was sold within seconds. As the song’s tappy emo intro led to a Touché Amore-caliber scream, I knew I was in for a wild ride. The record has flavors of post-hardcore on “Haze Jude,” a Title Fight bent on “Scapegoat,” and even a jazzy little love song in “French Roast.” Whether through nifty emo noodling or barrel-chested bellows, Mud Whale’s debut is a beautifully polished and inventive record that’s packed with an impressive variety of sounds. 

Kississippi - Mood Ring

Triple Crown Records

Heartbreak is hard. That observation on its own isn’t compelling, but on Mood Ring, Zoe Reynolds manages to make it feel one-of-a-kind. Over the course of ten shimmering synthpop tracks, the record captures the life of a relationship from initial spark to inevitable heartbreak. There’s soaring jubilation and excitement on songs like “Around Your Room” and “We’re So In Tune,” but things begin to decay in real-time as you listen. By the time the closing one-two punch of “Big Dipper” and “Hellbeing” rolls around, the feeling of loss hangs heavy in the air. There’s catharsis to be had here in the form of big, singalong choruses that stick to your brain, much like the bubblegum depicted on the album’s cover. Whether filtered through a 1989-style pop music filter or celestial metaphors, Kissy’s emotions remain a powerful driving force throughout Mood Ring. Through this relatability, Reynolds provides the listener with a strong figure to aspire to, all but saying, “if I made it through this, then you can too.”

Ty Segall - Harmonizer

Drag City, Inc.

Being a prolific artist, while admirable, is not always enough on its own. Much like fellow psych-rockers King Gizz, Ty Segall is a textbook prolific artist; he releases solo albums, collaborations, and demos at a consistent clip that can sometimes feel more like an avalanche. I like Segall quite a bit, but I’ll admit I am not die-hard enough to sit with each of these releases long enough to do them justice. And they’re not all for me. Segall’s newest LP, Harmonizer, is definitively made for me. This record takes the chunky, funky, fuzzed-out riffs of Melted and lays Segall’s signature cocky, strut-worthy T. Rex-indebted vocals over-top for a groovy (and punctual) collection of tracks that will make you feel like a Robert Crumb cartoon. 

Snow Ellet - suburban indie rock star: re-release

Wax Bodega

When Snow Ellet dropped suburban indie rock star back in March, I never got a chance to write about it in a monthly roundup because, well, I slept on it until April. But now, with its re-release on Wax Bodega, I finally get an excuse to write about one of my favorite EPs of the year. In the time since suburban indie rock star’s initial release, the project has received Pitchfork reviews, Stereogum coverage, and even lined up a tour with pop-punk stalwarts Knuckle Puck, and it only takes one song to see why. Under the moniker Snow Ellet, Eric Reyes effortlessly delivers sunny Oso Oso vocals over slick riffs, all with the 90s alt-rock worship of Equipment’s All You Admire. This results in a distinct confluence of styles that Reyes self-describes as “pop-punk for the indie kids, indie rock for the pop-punk kids.” With a cover that screams ‘cassette by a turn-of-the-millennium indie band from the Pacific Northwest,’ it’s no wonder why this unique combination of sounds feels so tailor-made for me. Plus, now with two new tracks added onto the original EP, there’s never been a better time to jump on the Snow Ellet train. 

Indigo De Souza - Any Shape You Take

Saddle Creek Records

How are you doing? Like, how are you really doing? That’s the subtext that I read when listening to Indigo De Souza’s stunning sophomore album. At a certain point, Any Shape You Take feels less like a collection of songs and more like checking in on an old friend. The sentiments are honest, the topics are morbid, and the delivery is modest as if honed from years of familiarity. These lyrics are often placed over a controlled indie rock jangle but occasionally stretch to the outer reaches of the universe. For example, “Real Pain” begins at a subdued even keel but gradually erupts into a chaotic burst of noise and screams that track perfectly with the emotion of the song. Songs address complex and hard-to-pin-down subjects like breakups, aging, and finding comfort in closeness. All of this is tied up with a neat little bow on “Kill Me,” which is easily one of the best songs of the year. Any Shape You Take is a stunner of an album that helps me better understand the world. 

Farseek - Standstill

Self-released

Much like Oso Oso, Farseek feels like a project with a singular focus that can only be the product of an individual mind. Performed, written, and engineered by Cameron Harrison with friend Corey Jacobsen filling in on drums, the lineup and arrangement are almost identical to Jade Lilitri. Not only is that impressive, but it also takes a level of skill and vision that not many musicians have. It feels like every aspect of each song has been carefully considered. Every lyric, guitar lick, and drumbeat has been intentionally placed, resulting in five emo tracks that beautifully hang together and feel like a holistic experience. Standstill is tentpoled by “Crying” and “New Short Haircut,” both of which are energetic, dynamic emo songs that hang on beautiful details of fleeting moments. Clocking in at a lightweight 16 minutes, this is an unassuming emo release that will sink its hooks in and beguile you over time.

Wednesday - Twin Plagues

Ordinal Records

Wanna know how to suck me into an album instantly? Start with a lumbering, fuzzed-out riff. This approach is precisely what Wednesday deploy on Twin Plagues. After roughly a minute of swaying shoegaze, the opening title track bottoms out into an all-too-relatable bedroom indie rock verse. Soon enough, momentum takes hold once again, and the group swings back into the borderline-stoner rock riffage, combining these two elements in a whirlwind of raw feelings. This is the dynamic that’s constantly at play throughout Wednesday’s sophomore album, and it is nothing short of entrancing. The marriage of moody instrumental tone with the occasional country-flavored jangle and hyper-personal lyrics delivered in a disaffected style is an absolute revelation. 

A Great Big Pile of Leaves - Pono

Topshelf Records

Confession time: I’ve never listened to A Great Big Pile of Leaves before this year. They were one of those emo revival acts that just managed to pass me by, so I sadly couldn’t join in on the hype for Pono when it was announced but two short months ago. Now that it’s here, I’m simultaneously overjoyed and kicking myself for sleeping on this band for so long. I also felt the need to preface this write-up with my lack of AGBPOL history because everything I wanted to compare this album to came in their wake. It’s one of those instances where you don’t realize the breadth of a band’s influence until you discover them. Pono is a beautifully sunny emo-light record where groovy Turnover instrumentals merge with lackadaisical Seahaven singing and the occasional arid Balance and Composure guitar tone for a cosmic gumbo of dancy emo tunage. Much like Frank Ocean’s Blonde, Pono feels like it was released at the perfect time, effortlessly catching the post-summer glow of late August.

Big Red Machine - How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?

Jagjaguwar / 37D03D

I’m a Bon Iver guy from way back. I stumbled across For Emma, Forever Ago as it came out, and for a 15-year-old whose default mode was “pining,” that record spoke to me unlike anything I’d ever heard. Over time, I grew with Bon Iver, and I’d like to think that the project grew with me in turn. While nothing overtly revelatory, the first Big Red Machine album felt like a one-of-a-kind project when it dropped. That release saw Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver) and Aaron Dessner (of The National) meeting at an intersection of their respective careers and feeding off each other creatively. The “concept” of the album is explained pretty succinctly in the opening paragraph of the Pitchfork review, but musically, the result was an experimental, hypnotic, bleary edible trip of an album that allowed both artists to indulge in some of their less overt tendencies. 

It was clear from the first single (and became more evident each of the four subsequent singles) the second album from Big Red Machine was not going to be that inward. Instead, the sophomore effort from this indie-folk brain trust involved turning the project into a sort of Avengers of the music industry. While a far cry from the isolated-but-collaborative nature of their first release, How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last? is a little muddled but still fun in a different way. It feels less like ‘two dudes hanging out making loopy shit in the woods’ and more like “Vernon, Dessner, and Friends,” which is still viable. Does it reach the artistic highs of Bon Iver or Sleep Well Beast? Nope. Will that stop me from keeping it on repeat all season? Not a chance. 

see through person - sun

Acrobat Unstable Records

Let me spit some phrases at you. Jail Socks. Dance Gavin Dance. Dogleg. Fatty basslines. Extra-chunky riffs. Thrashy drums. Killer screams. If this combination of sounds seems too good to be true, all you need to do is click play on sun to see the light. The three-track EP from the Florida emo act is an exercise in explosive instrumentation, soaring vocal melodies, and bombastic emotions. It may only be 7 minutes long, but when taken in alongside last year’s chariot, it’s easy to see the bigger picture. If I were a betting man, I’d wager that the vinyl collection of these EPs will achieve legendary status in a matter of years, if not months. 

Telethon - Swim Out Past The Breakers

Take This To Heart Records

Come for the features, stay for the rippers. That’s the motto on Swim Out Past The Breakers, the excellent sixth LP from Milwaukee-based indie rockers Telethon. Even a cursory glance at the album’s Spotify page reveals features from labelmates Future Teens, upcoming popstar Jhariah, and even handsomeman Chris Farren. This leads to a stacked DJ Khaled-esque lineup, the difference here being that Telethon are genuinely talented artists in their own right who are also pursuing a larger vision. On the opening track, “Shit (Jansport),” the band offers a crash course introduction to their Hard Pop style as they vault from over-the-top Glass Beach zaniness to a big top circus riff before launching into a crowd-churning breakdown. On paper, that’s a chaotic mishmash of incongruent sounds, but somehow the band manages to make it all click. Just to give a quick machinegun blast of the sounds and topics contained within this album, there’s jangly alt-country, AC/DC guitar licks, email-inflicted strife, Xenomorph encounters, Blink-182 interpolations, and an ‘80s-style TV interstitial. 

In one seventy-second stretch within my favorite song on the record, the band name-drops Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell, chiptunes act (T-T)b, My Morning Jacket’s hoedowns, and skatepunk icons PEARS as influences. And that’s just the instrumental which sits underneath a blistering punk verse courtesy of Intolerable Swill. In true emo fashion, about half of the songs on the album are punctuated by pop-culture samples that range from Tracey Ullman-era Simpsons to the Robin Williams classic Parenthood. Put simply, Breakers feels like a bunch of music nerds making songs for other music nerds, and I mean that in the best way possible. The album is a kaleidoscopic transfusion of pop culture references, out-of-this-world instrumentation, and impressive vocal performances. Honestly, what are you doing still reading this? Go listen right now.

Pink Navel - EPIC

Ruby Yacht

One of my favorite songs on EPIC opens with a Boxxy sample, then goes on to name-drop Dunkey and Scott the Woz before turning the titular “Ze Frank” into a tweet-worthy boast. If you understood any portion of that sentence, then it’s likely that this mixtape is made for you. On Pink Navel’s eighth album, rapper Devin Bailey infuses hard-hitting beats with obscure pop culture samples and hyper online lyrics, resulting in a project that feels wholly unique and extraordinarily personal. 

The opening to “GRATEFUL BARD” comes across as a sort of manifesto for the project as Bailey raps, “I don’t like that quiet serious musician attitude / If you are a grateful bard then you should change the magnitude / Of how you magnify or flatterize all your disaster tunes / To get a group of kids to feel the same brand of the sad as you / What, uh, is that too much for an opening bar?” Not only do these lines deliver a clear modus operandi, but they’re also punctuated by a wink that hits you on multiple levels at once. 

The penultimate track, “AN INVOCATION FOR BEGINNINGS,” turns the record into an inspirational affirmation both for the listener and Bailey as they shift into a preacher’s cadence while reciting Ze Frank’s piece of the same name. This leads closing track “R U BASHFUL?” to feel more like a victory lap, a self-exultation that closes out 30 minutes of explosive creativity. Bailey says EPIC “encapsulates a release of frustrated energy at the world and at the web, in response is unfiltered positivity and joy, with a light shining so bright, the smug can only look away, or embrace it's wide, warm arms” and embrace the light we shall. Quick Hits

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I am officially abandoning this section of one-sentence reviews because they’re just too much work to keep interesting. However, if you’d like to see my favorite song off every release I listened to this month, here’s a Spotify playlist. 

If you’re looking for even more tunes from August aside from the albums listed above, we also published standalone reviews for the new Catbite, Pet Symmetry, and Killers albums.