So Totally – Double Your Relaxation | Album Review

Tiny Engines

“Time is a flat circle,” a dirty, disheveled Matthew McConaughey said in the television show True Detective. If you’re not distracted by his messy hair and the thousand-yard stare from his character, he was really onto something. This also applies to music, which is influenced by cyclical trends, scenes, and waves just as much as any other art form. As a fan, it can be exhilarating to watch a specific type of sound catch as artists build off the shared inspiration in their own unique ways. Of course, once something gets big enough, every record company and their mother wants to capture that sonic inferno, and indie rock is no different. The shoegaze scene is exploding right now, with bands like Wednesday, They Are Gutting a Body of Water, and Hotline TNT leading the charge toward a heavy and hazy new era of rock music.

So, with this trend being the "Next Big Thing" in rock, imitators are bound to come out of the woodwork replicating atmospheric vibes that are inauthentic and empty at their core. However, the Philadelphia quartet So Totally is up next, not just in riding the wave of shoegaze but in pushing the sonic scope of the genre forward, reminiscent of their Pennsylvania counterparts like Spirit of the Beehive and Feeble Little Horse. But the band isn’t a Johnny-come-lately in the shoegaze neighborhood; they've been living on this block for quite some time. Just look at their 2019 record, In the Shape Of…, and you'll discover those very same scuffed-out guitars turned up to max power. The same goes for the group’s debut EP, A Cheap Close-Up of Heaven, from 2016.

Before they became a band, the members of So Totally initially connected over their shared affinity for the band Land of Talk, which would explain how they have such a knack for creating ear-wormy melodies. Their distinct sound commences with singer/guitarist Roya Weidman’s silky vocals, strategically tucked underneath glistening guitars and powerful grooves. Her bandmates, guitarist Matt Arbiz, bassist Ryan Wildsmith, and drummer Joe McLaughlin, can set the table better than any waiter at Nobu with their chameleon-like instrumental blend of dream-like pop to heavy shoegaze. It's a sound that leans heavy into the 90s, think My Bloody Valentine having a situationship with The Breeders and The Pixies. 

So Totally’s sophomore album starts with “Welcome Back,” which feels like a sample platter offering all the band's ideas wrapped into one song; it's a rhythmic, vibey excursion that whisks the listener away with no idea where they’ll end up. The way the music seamlessly intertwines from a blissful dream to razor-edge guitars is a pure delight, all the while, it seems like Weidman is singing through a walkie-talkie. The lead single, “Distinct Star,” leans towards shoegaze with a pop spin; from the melodic distortion to the whispery vocals, it's a mix that goes down smoothly. “Doz Roses” is a song that showcases this band's potential with searing guitar sounds jam-packed with hypnotic melodies from Wiedman, creating an immersive experience you never want to escape. 

So Totally pays tribute to the vintage alternative rock sound of yesteryear with “Weak To Leaf,” which sports shredding solos and mega walls of noise, resulting in a song that’s reminiscent of early-90s Smashing Pumpkins and also one of the best on the entire record. Mid-album cut “BTW” has a dreamy intro and mystifying vocals that intertwine with glimmering guitars, giving the feeling of drifting away on a nimbus cloud. A couple of tracks later on “Baby Step To Revenge,” Wiedman's hauntingly blissful melodies ride a wave of atmospheric, moody music. The song feels more like a cinematic excursion, instantly ready to elevate any late-night drive. 

The title “Double Your Relaxation” was taken from a self-hypnosis tape, with pieces of the recording inserted throughout the album. The phrase refers to “the exact moment one can enter the psyche and become susceptible to influence.” This phrase offers insight into how So Totally creates their music: lulling the listener into a sense of comfort and openness so that they can carve their riffs and melodies somewhere deep in their psyche. It's a clever spin on the shoegaze genre, keeping things fresh for the listener without feeling too redundant, especially given this recent influx of pedal-heavy music. The songs might challenge you on first listen, but once you become accustomed to their sounds, you will want to stay fully immersed in their world. Between the hypnosis tapes woven throughout and the brooding vibes of the record, it starts to feel like something you could imagine Batman playing to psyche himself up right before he jumps across rooftops hunting down supervillains.

The Bandcamp genre tags for Double Your Relaxation are all the evidence you need to witness this band’s lofty aspirations: “doom love,” “grunge wedding,” “dream pop,” “rock,” and “shoegaze.” You can do nothing but admire their ambition, not wanting to wash, rinse, and repeat the same shoegaze music that has taken over social media. Take the music video for the vibe-heavy ballad “Strange Way,” which is a freakish mix of stop-motion animation and film that looks like a psychedelic's wet dream. This isn't some copy-and-paste by-the-numbers shoegaze band, you can tell how seriously they take their craft. Double Your Relaxation is an album that not only respects and honors the shoegaze sound of the past but pushes the genre forward into a brighter future.

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David is a content mercenary based in Chicago. He's also a freelance writer specializing in music, movies, and culture. His hidden talents are his mid-range jump shot and the ability always to be able to tell when someone is uncomfortable at a party. You can find him scrolling away on Instagram @davidmwill89, Twitter @Cobretti24, or Medium @davidmwms.

GUPPY – Something is Happening… | Album "Review"

Lauren Records

I should warn you. I’m pretty passionate about the band GUPPY. 

Last year, I saw GUPPY live for the first time when they came to San Francisco to open for Chris Farren. Halfway through the set, I turned to the people next to me (acquaintances from a Discord server) and yelled, “THIS IS YOUR FAVORITE BAND NOW.” I was just stating the obvious. Afterward, I went up to the band to introduce myself. “I love you,” I said to J, the front person and primary songwriter. “Thank you,” they said sensibly. “I just don’t understand why they aren’t the biggest band in the world,” I said to my husband Ben in the car on the long drive back to San Jose. “How could anyone hear them and not love them?”

GUPPY is J Lebow (vocals and guitar), Ian Cohen (drums), Kabir Kumar (guitar) and Marc Babcock (bass)

I think the magic of GUPPY is their friendship. The four band members have the kind of friendship that feels rare for adults; effortlessly shifting between “your mom” jokes and real-ass intimacy. That’s pretty much what their music does, too. Each member is essential to the group chemistry and unapologetically themselves. They listen to each other when they talk and when they play. Being at a GUPPY show feels like being a weird kid in middle school and then finding a group of older, cooler, weird kids you can be yourself around (yes, I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower at a formative age). It’s a safe space.

It’s also a FUN space. After all, this is a punk band… kind of. “Texting and driving and driving and texting // I’ll be arriving while driving while texting,” J talk-sings on “Texting & Driving” over a funky bassline and percussion that sounds like it may involve a cowbell, bongos, and/or horse hooves. The fun is always fun, but it is never only fun; that is to say, every GUPPY song has additional emotional depth and purpose beyond their ridiculous antics and zesty one-liners - of which there are many (“I’m catching Kony. It’s me - I got him // I made a trade for Osama Bin Laden // Mission accomplished because America’s awesome // They wrote the scripture and I’m just their golem” - seriously, listen to "Texting & Driving").

With a trademark mix of stubbornness, mischief, and good-natured introspection, GUPPY is a perfect candidate for the “tenderpunk” genre label patented by illuminati hotties shredder Sarah Tudzin, who, oh yeah, also happens to be GUPPY’s producer. GUPPY’s new album Something is Happening…  has an undeniably punk spirit; there are themes of resistance and rebellion, there are loud guitars and yelling, there is a song called “I’m Fighting a 10 Foot Tall Nancy Pelosi” that goes out repeating the line, “I’d rather eat the pavement than lick your boot.” But there are also quiet moments of self-soothing, earnest vocals softened by tight harmonies, and a little too much silliness to come across as properly tough. Tudzin lets the huge songs be huge and the tender songs be tender (holy dynamics, Batman) and always lets GUPPY be GUPPY. It would be hard to stop them.

Something is Happening… documents the struggle of trying to be emotionally vulnerable in a way that feels much more relatable and believable to me than anything designed to fit in on Spotify’s “sad girl starter pack” playlist (I will now refrain from complaining about how everyone is ripping off Phoebe Bridgers because I’m tired of hearing everyone complain about how everyone is ripping off Phoebe Bridgers.) “Feelings, they cannot kill you,” J sings on the title track, articulating a pretty good thesis statement to summarize the album*.

*I should warn you. I actually know that this is the intended thesis statement of the album because I heard J say it to lead guitarist Kabir Kumar while we were at their house practicing for a Sun Kin show. That’s right, despite my overall weirdo behavior in San Francisco, we all became friends and collaborators and are actually playing together at that same venue where I first saw them in just a few days. That’s also right - I am totally cheating at music journalism right now with a bunch of insider information. I’m sorry if you made it this far without realizing that and now feel cheated. Let’s look on the bright side though: I am totally cheating innovating at music journalism right now with a bunch of insider information.

(I will now shut up for 2 minutes and 30 seconds while you listen to the title track of Something is Happening… which also happens to be the first track on the album and the first line of the first song on the album. Isn’t that cool? Is there a word for when the first line of an album/book/movie is also the title? Wow, that slide guitar is beautiful. I’m so excited that you’re listening to this album, I really think you’re gonna like it because it’s very good.)

From “Something is happening…”:

Something is happening…
don’t know what it is
But I think I could like it
if I just learn to let it in

If I don’t like it
If it’s not good
Letting it in now
I think I still should

Feelings they cannot kill you
even feelings that want you dead
Living here in this moment
the clouds have come down to my head

Damn. Right, so, the magic of GUPPY is their friendship. The other magic of GUPPY is primary lyricist J’s unique ability to view the world with an outsider’s detachment that is somewhere in between “childlike wonder” and “the blue alien guy with horse hooves and tentacle eyes in Animorphs who has to morph into a human and try to act normal.”

That latter is especially felt when they describe matters of the human body, which happens, like, a lot. J’s ability to communicate their emotions through descriptions of physical sensations, and their ability to notice these things to begin with, is totally baffling to me as a songwriter and as a human**.

**I should warn you. I am a giant prude. I am totally weird about various human body things, in fact, really do not even like typing the word “body” this much, and find several lines from this album super uncomfortable, which just makes them all that more impactful.

From “American Cowboy”:

Standing in front of an open fridge, trying just to keep my chill
Putting my hands in my roommate’s yogurt for something I can actually feel
My hands are feeling sticky
but I’ve got no regret
‘cause all my thoughts and actions
are the fucking best
I’m an American cowboy
and my stomach hurts like shit
I’m gonna find out what you love, and I’m gonna demolish it

Seriously, doesn’t that give off the vibe of someone who is new to having hands? (Someone who is used to having hooves, perhaps?) I have often wondered, "How the hell does J's brain work?" “Wondered” is the wrong word; more like “aggressively interrogated” both J themself and other people close to them. I feel that if I could document the answer to this question, it would be a great scientific breakthrough, and we could use this information to benefit the human race.

I am not alone in this thought. I once heard Chris Farren ask Kabir, "Has J ever made normal music before?" For some reason, my gut reaction was to get defensive, and I said, "Have YOU ever made normal music before?" (narrowly escaping “Has YOUR MOM ever made normal music before?”), but then I immediately realized that this was a very good question that I also wanted to know the answer to. Later, I asked J a version of this question and they told me about the first song they ever wrote. I can’t remember what it was now, but rest assured, it was totally unhinged. It’s funny that Chris Farren is now in here for a second time. I hope he doesn’t mind. You should stream Chris Farren.

Sandwiched in between the vivid sensory descriptions of mundane-ass everyday stuff, you may occasionally find poignant reflections on the human condition on “Something is Happening…” Personally, I find them to be more impactful that way.

From “Mayor Pt. 2” (also see Mayor “part 1”):

Why does it smell like scrambled eggs when I’m driving on the freeway?
What’s the difference between love and hate when I feel it in my body?

Ok, but why does this remind me of that one Mary Kate and Ashley song, and also, why do I feel seen and heard and deeply touched by the fragility of life and the ways that grief can hit you at the most unexpected moments triggered by a familiar smell or taste and the crippling pointlessness of sitting in traffic?

Who makes the finest pizza? What killed the dinosaurs? Why does it smell like scrambled eggs when I’m driving on the freeway?

“I don’t care if it’s stupid, it still means something to me” J sings on one of the album’s sillier songs, “Candied Pecans.” I get the feeling that if something means something to any member of GUPPY, then it means something to them all. That’s friendship right there.

Mission accomplished because America’s awesome

IN SUMMARY

Animorphs is a science fantasy series of youth books written by K.A. Applegate and published by Scholastic. It is told from the perspective of a group of kids and one blue alien guy with sick tentacle eyes and horse hooves who has to morph into a human to fit in. The blue alien guy isn’t that great at being a human, but he’s trying his best to navigate the new sensations of walking on only two legs, communicating with words instead of telepathy, tasting and smelling stuff, and eating food. Also, sometimes everyone morphs into animals and fights other meaner aliens to save humanity. Then they morph back into humans and ignore all their trauma. 

Something is Happening… is an indie rock album by the beloved LA-based talk-sing band GUPPY, produced by Sarah Tudzin (illuminati hotties shredder and producer wizard) and released by Lauren Records. It is performed by a group of best friends and narrated by front person J. Lebow, who is a human with a lot of empathy and imagination. J is trying really hard to navigate human stuff like figuring out what to do with their arms, doing laundry, telepathically communicating with animals, tasting and smelling stuff, and eating yogurt. Also, sometimes they morph into a dog and/or fight a 10-foot-tall Nancy Pelosi to save America. Then they morph back into a human and process their feelings through songs.

GUPPY – Something is Happening… | Album “Review” is an article written by Katie McTigue and published by Swim Into The Sound. It is told from the perspective of a girl who is a fan and friend of GUPPY, and also has a sick band, and has decided to pretend to be a music journalist for some reason. Katie isn’t that great at being a music journalist, but she’s trying really hard to write something that sounds smart and has journalistic integrity despite being super biased that GUPPY is the greatest band in the world. Also, sometimes she morphs into a dog and/or fights a 10-foot-tall Nancy Pelosi to save America.

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Katie McTigue is in the band Pacing or maybe is Pacing; idk, branding is weird. You can find her @pacingmusic on Twitter and Instagram and pretty much everywhere.

Get tickets to see GUPPY with Pacing on 5/23 in San Francisco!

Snarls – With Love, | Album Review

Take This to Heart Records

In 2007, archaeologists in Italy unearthed a special find from an ancient tomb. Two skeletons who were buried face to face, arms wrapped around one another, locked in an embrace for literal millennia. These are the Lovers of Valdaro, a 6,000-year-old couple whose love was preserved for eternity. On a sliding scale of romance, their visage is on the pretty extreme end, but devotion is an extreme feeling. Just think of the word we use when we feel that way about another person: a crush. Personally, I’d never interrogated the meaning of that word until I was about halfway through Snarls’ blistering and lovestruck sophomore effort, With Love, and felt myself getting short of breath. The culprit was the chorus of “Moon Tides,” a mid-album highlight in which front-person Chlo White compares herself to waves, churning and crashing under the unwitting influence of a celestial body: 

And I see you standing there
And I’ve never felt more in love
And I’m spiraling into
The whitest light for you

It’s a fitting analogy that hits hard in part due to these words and the desperation of White’s delivery but also because she’s battling against a tornado of crunchy guitars and reverb that destroys any comfort to be found in the verses’ harmonies. The driving bass and guitar build until they threaten to crush the singer under their weight, making that particular schoolyard turn of phrase seem more appropriately literal than ever. On With Love, the warm and fuzzy feelings that come with a crush are thrown into sharp relief with Snarls’ most heavy and hard-hitting songs as the band explores just how painful love can get.  

Consisting of White, bassist Riley Hall, and guitarist Mick Martinez, Snarls are no strangers to heartbreak, whether it’s the overtly romantic kind or the disappointments they’ve endured as a band. Their debut album, Burst, dropped during the first wave of lockdown in 2020, cutting what could have been a breakthrough moment brutally short. Instead of wallowing in that misfortune, the Columbus trio regrouped and got in the studio with producer/indie rock super weapon Chris Walla to record 2021’s What About Flowers? EP, redefining their sound in the process. As such, the band’s second full-length album comes almost as a re-introduction. While Burst never strayed too far from pillowy shoegaze-infused pop, the scuzzy bass line that kicks off LP2’s anthemic title track should instantly let anyone know that Snarls are still here and they’re playing for keeps.  

Throughout With Love, Walla helps Snarls expand their arsenal to include more drive and pure power than ever before while still allowing room for some sweeter moments like the welcome acoustic breather “Driving Faster” that comes after a relentless first half. The album’s two lead singles, “Big Fish” and “Heavy Drinker,” show off this expanded range. The former won me over immediately with tides of fuzz rising and falling around the propulsive chorus and brooding verses, but the lyrics eventually betray the insecurities that plague the love story at the album’s center. Sure, there’s an inherent dorkiness to phrases like “I’m always a winner, and I eat my chicken dinner” or “It’s my lone wolf mentality,” but that awkward charm adds so much character to the narrator of the album. On the other hand, I’m still unsure if the twee “Oh yeah!” refrains all over “Heavy Drinker” stick the landing for me, but by the time the bridge comes around and White is lamenting about how she knows she’s not “her type of girl,” it’s hard not to root for her. This push and pull between adoration and inadequacy lies at the heart of these songs, with the band twisting their noisy pop rock to plumb the depths of feeling that come with love. 

With Love, is at its most impactful when that emotional dynamic is portrayed in the music as borderline claustrophobic. “Baby Bangs” sees the song's narrator obsessing over their appearance, acknowledging the vanity in it while still surrendering to the fear they won’t be good enough for their partner. It all comes to a head as thundering guitars come crashing down on the steady rhythm section while White gets lost in a storm of self-doubt, repeating: 

Wish I wasn’t so narcissistic
Wish that I was easier to deal with
Wish I could love you without needing
Some type of therapeutic assistance

This commitment to a crush can lead to some of these songs running together in the second half of the record. The grungy hook on “Star Power,” in particular, plays like a more downtrodden take on the more fiery one from “Wishing Bones,” which wouldn’t necessarily be a negative if the two weren’t placed one after the other in the tracklist, leading to the latter completely overshadowing the former. That being said, even this grievance reinforces how inescapable love can feel. No matter where a thought starts, it all circles back to one person in your mind. That tunnel vision taps into the paralyzing pain of knowing (or at least thinking) that there’s nothing you can do to win over your crush: who you are isn’t attractive to them, at least not in that way, trapping you in an endless cycle of yearning. 

Unrequited love and rocky relationships are hardly fresh wells of inspiration in music, but Snarls consistently maintain a balance that brings out a teenage melodrama with a queer twist that sets With Love, apart from many other indie rock records. It’s an appeal that feels somewhere between recent phenomena like Olivia Rodrigo and boygenius but without people being annoying about them online. Although that could change - artists with the ability to capture how apocalyptic young love can feel tend to spark that level of fervor among people currently in the throes of it, and they often don’t stay small! 

If Snarls have proven anything in their brief history, it’s that they aren’t ones to be kept down. Instead of drowning in self-pity, they either make the most of the hands they’re dealt or pivot to a new perspective. The last two tracks on the album could serve as an encapsulation of that hard-won optimism. “Sugar Rush” dots its lumbering groove and jagged guitar riffs with gorgeous vocal harmonies that accentuate the sweetness of the song’s titular metaphor. White lets herself revel in the temporary and even unhealthy nature of this relationship, reasoning, “Let this liquid courage ignite me now / Nothing lasts forever, so why not try it out?” Even if this thing can’t last, why not at least enjoy how good it feels in the moment? 

That reckless abandon gives way to a healthier conclusion in the closer “Star Crossed / Lovers of Valdaro,” where White focuses on the more tender moments of this relationship, like listening to a song that reminds them of this person or how they comforted them during a spell of second-guessing. The last line of the album is “I like who I am when I’m with you,” and while this may sound like a familiar sentiment, it hits home as a sort of personal silver lining in the context of the record. Whether or not a partnership works out in the long run, it’s still worthwhile if you enjoyed most of your time with that person and grew because of them.

All of this brings me back to the titular Lovers of Valdaro: a couple that died young, estimated to be not much older than 20, and as such, they probably never got to find out just how strong their bond was. Still, a snapshot of their love story has now been viewed by millions of strangers in a world that barely resembles the one they left. People regularly live to be four times their age, and the vast majority don’t stay with the person they were with at 20. That’s exactly what makes their eternal embrace and the endless canon of star-crossed lovers in reality and fiction so beautiful. With Love, is Snarls’ attempt to etch something fleeting into stone. Or maybe it’s simply good old-fashioned catharsis. Either way, it’s another example for people to turn to when they need to understand or just feel what it means to be in love. 

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Wes Cochran lives in Portland, OR where he works, writes, and enjoys keeping up with music of all kinds, with a particular fondness for indie rock. You can find him @ohcompassion on Twitter, via his email electricalmess@gmail.com, or at any Wilco show in the Pacific Northwest.

Microwave – Let’s Start Degeneracy | Album Review

Pure Noise Records

What’s your drug of choice?

For some, it might be nicotine. For others, it might be weed. And some might not have any at all, claiming edge or sobriety. I personally have a caffeine addiction - cold brew or iced coffee is a morning staple in this house. As a kid, I swore up and down that I’d never get addicted to anything, but here I am, writing this review with a slightly diluted coffee in hand. Growing up, right?

While one could get addicted to almost anything - a substance, a routine, a morning coffee - I think that the power of emotion is particularly addicting. We, as humans, are always chasing a dopamine hit, looking for the next experience that will hit just right. Microwave’s latest release, Let’s Start Degeneracy, is a one-two punch that examines religious trauma and drug use through the lens of memory and all the conflicting emotions that come along with it. At times upbeat, sad, and even nostalgic, this record was a gut punch in a way that I could never have predicted.

I’ve been looking forward to this album for literal years, as in April 2022, Microwave began releasing singles that would eventually find their way onto the LP. The first track released, “Circling the Drain,” was a huge success and seemed to be stylistically in line with what the band had been writing up to that point. The group released a few more singles over the next two years that, while vastly different from “Circling the Drain,” promised that LSD was shaping up to be another great album from Microwave.

I’m a huge fan of the albums Much Love (2016) and Stovall (2014) in particular, and I find myself listening to them regularly. Much Love is a warm, oddly comforting album, and I love playing it on my commute home from work. I let each song wash over me like a hug, allowing tracks like “Drown” and “Lighterless” to take my mind off the drive. (If you see me sobbing along to every word, mind your business!) In contrast, when I feel like having a cathartic screamo sing-along, I’ll blast “The Fever” off Stovall. The build of this song is incredible, layering the instruments and pushing the vocals until the last chorus explodes with raw emotion. It’s purely incredible. With their third album, Death Is A Warm Blanket (2019),  Microwave leaned into a dense, heavy grunge sound. Tracks like “The Brakeman Has Resigned” and the title track, “DIAWB,” showcase the band’s ability to write gritty music that makes you want to absolutely throw down. Each album is like a microcosm to me, creating its own little world and mood.

Since Microwave took their time with their rollout of LSD, fans had been waiting for two years to explore the next world the band had created. You can imagine my surprise when I clicked on the first track of Let’s Start Degeneracy, and a beautiful hymn began to play. I sat in stunned silence as “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling” flowed out of my speakers. This was the last thing I expected as an opening track. What exactly has Microwave been up to?

A sizable departure from their previous work, Let’s Start Degeneracy shows Microwave experimenting and pushing boundaries with their sound. Instead of layers of gritty guitar texture, heavy drums, and vocals that would occasionally verge into screamo territory, this album features warm synths, restrained guitar, and smooth vocals that allow the lyrics to take center stage. The songs are lighter, with a spacey feel that sounds extremely modern. The tracklist reminds me of a shelf of tchotchkes, each song a sentimental collectible, with the album itself as the shelf. The band currently has an inspiration playlist pinned to their Spotify page with ten tracks ranging from Frank Ocean and Mac Miller to Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead. The crazy part is that you can hear bits and pieces of all those disparate sounds at various points on this album as the band dips into adjacent genres while still maintaining their personal style at the core. 

In “Circling the Drain,” perhaps the closest song on the record to Microwave’s previous grungy sound, Nathan Hardy shouts in the exuberant-yet-jaded chorus: “You can dig for pity in the hearts of your peers / Or cover up your eyes and make the world disappear / You can start a fire / But everyone’s singing the same stale song.” Whenever the song gets to this part, I want to stand up through the sunroof of my car and scream the lyrics in an in-that-moment-I-swear-we-were-infinite kind of way: “I’m here justifying the future, not redeeming the dead!” This is my favorite song on the album and one that is eternally in my listening rotation. 

Furthering the nostalgia that this record elicits, “Strangers” sent me back a few decades, reminding me immediately of the 1995 DC Talk album Jesus Freak that I would constantly play on my clunky CD player as a little kid. The guitar tone and subdued vocals are eerily similar, which is interesting considering that DC Talk is a contemporary Christian band, and Microwave’s album opens with a hymn cover. Coincidence? Probably, but the parallel is undeniable. “Strangers” is a mellow track with a little bit of groove, with Nathan sighing over a dancy beat that he’s “ready to leave.” The song is followed by an equally calm track called “Concertito in G Major.” As the title suggests, this delightful piano piece is a welcome interlude on the album. The sounds of running water and an otherworldly voice humming and muttering lyrics create a beautiful soundscape that I wish lasted longer. I am reminded of quiet afternoons at home, practicing the piano for hours as a teenager. The pairing of these two tracks is oddly charming and is a wonderful listening experience.

Of course, a major highlight of Let’s Start Degeneracy is the title track that made me recall my heavy indie/electronic phase of the 2010s - it’s a little bit beep-boop and a little bit weird, but what else would you expect from a song whose acronym is LSD? “Laying on the carpet, barely tethered to the ground / Shut the door and turn your lights off…I wanna wrap around and break you like a glowstick.” Man, I would’ve eaten those lyrics up in 2014. The repetitive synths and sound effects are addictive earworms that I couldn’t shake for days. Although the song is upbeat and fun, the lyrics wrestle with the serious subject of drug use and facing a strict religious upbringing. The band themselves have openly mentioned that much of the album was inspired after Hardy and drummer Tito Pittard took ayahuasca on a trip to Peru. The message is intended to be one of healing: Hardy says, “It’s about learning to be happy and take care of yourself.” These sentiments are summarized in the chorus of “Let’s Start Degeneracy:”

A fleeting moment of clarity
At the end of a dead-end street
Caught up in shit you don’t believe
Shoveling a way out
Mixing styrofoam and gasoline
Better living through chemistry
Ready to be a liability
Blowing out a war cloud

As someone who attended a strict church during my adolescence and then went to an equally strict religious college, the lyrics of this song resonated with me deeply. Growing older has forced me to reckon with my own beliefs and standards, and though everyone’s journey is unique, it is comforting to know that I’m not alone as I grow, heal, and change. While Microwave writing music like this wasn’t on my 2024 bingo card, I understand why they did. Seeing a band I admire open up and be vulnerable with their audience is special. Not every artist offers such an intimate view into their internal struggles and thoughts, and Microwave did it beautifully on this album.

Sitting with myself after listening to this album, I am sorting through the mixed bag of emotions it elicited in me. It felt like I was sitting in a movie theater watching scenes from my childhood played back to me: I’m twelve and gripping a clammy hymnal in a church pew, then I’m eight and listening to my parents’ CDs, and then I’m a lonely seventeen and practicing the piano at home on a rainy afternoon. I am moved to smile, to wince, to laugh. I am again pushed to look inward and face my fears and feelings. I did not expect this album to move me as deeply as it did: I anticipated a rock-heavy, emo romp, not ego death set to music. But I’m not upset about it, not even a little bit. I’m grateful.

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Britta Joseph is a musician and artist who, when she isn’t listening to records or deep-diving emo archives on the internet, enjoys writing poetry, reading existential literature, and a good iced matcha. You can find her on Instagram @brittajoes.

Clementine Was Right – Tell Yourself You’re Going Home | Album Review

The Blue Turn

On Tell Yourself You’re Going Home, the third LP by Denver’s Clementine Was Right, songwriters Mike Young and Gion Davis give us a joyous road trip album–a rock and roll Paris, Texas for nomads weaving their way through state lines across every corner of the United States. Rowdy country-rock anthems, paint-huffed hellions, wood-chipped workers, cowboy chord croonings, and “boys, boys, boys” sleeping in the river: Tell Yourself You’re Going Home is one hell of a party. For Young and Davis, the party is bigger than ever with over 30 friends contributing to Clementine’s lineup.

Clementine Was Right continue their signature blend of barroom rock and country campfire ballads heard on 2020’s Lightning and Regret and 2022’s Can’t Get Right With the Darkness. This time, the production is a little more polished and calculated. Whether it’s a perfectly placed backing vocal harmony singing “It’s ketchup, we’re fuckups” or guitar licks that flicker like flames in stereo, there are little flourishes here and there that bring the recording side of CWR to the next level. The production choices and sequencing of tracks make the album feel like a house party hosted by the band themselves. Throughout the album, you’ll find Young and Company holding your hand, dragging you through a crowded living room, leading you to the bathroom to get high, and meeting you out back for a smoke.

Tell Yourself You’re Going Home is largely carried by Young’s brilliant Springsteen-esque songwriting. Young, who consistently bills himself as a poet, happens to be quite the storyteller, and each song on Tell Yourself is a chapter or short story into a slice of American life. With drug-addled characters slipping in and out of excitement and despair, “Attic Full of Barbie Limousines” feels like it could fit somewhere in the pages of Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son. Elsewhere, cuts like “Coca Cola Vigil” and “River Boys” tell tales of working-class grief with such specifics you’d think Young is letting us in on a secret. 

Tell Yourself You’re Going Home isn’t a downer, though. The darkness found on these ballads is often balanced with Young’s constant reminiscing on the many friendships he’s made across life and state lines. As previously mentioned, Clementine Was Right created this album with the help of upwards of 30 friends. The narrative of the album complements the band lore quite well. These 30 creatives live all over the place, and as the songs take us from California and Colorado to Mississippi and Tennessee, you get the feeling Young and Davis are meeting up to record with the very same characters depicted in the songs.

On an album so thematically heavy about friendships, it’s no surprise that two of the highlights are when Young lets a bandmate take the lead vocal role. “Attic Full of Barbie Limousines” is possibly Clementine’s best song–it’s certainly a contender for my favorite (though “Nazarene Sheen” from the band’s debut is hard to beat). Young, perhaps graciously or with full artistic genius, lets drummer Dick Darden hop in the vocal booth for a song Young wrote. Darden’s suave rasp couldn’t be more perfect for the bouncy, somber-disguised-as-happy country tune.

Then there’s “Goddamn Universe,” the penultimate track written and spoken by Gion Davis. On this track, Clementine Was Right drop the country-rock act and put on their post-rock boots. Davis recites his poetry over ambient guitar squeals and soft percussion, and the result is the most unique song in CWR’s catalog. Though the sonic qualities cause the song to stand out, it’s Davis’ lyrics that truly bring the track to another level. Rich with cross-country imagery like “Tennessee is a hallway stretching between the lottery numbers in a gas station and sprays of redbud trees in some unmarked canyon” and “I have measured out my life in Cook Out trays,” Davis puts me in every corner of America I’ve ever been. His lyrics sit perfectly between “I have no idea what this means” and “I know exactly what he’s talking about.” Davis is a powerhouse of lyricism, and “Goddamn Universe” is, frankly, a very beautiful song.

There are so many themes and ideas woven through the songwriting of Tell Yourself You’re Going Home it would be impossible to dissect them all in one simple album review. The album isn’t just about road-tripping and partying–it’s equally about returning home from your travels and realizing what has changed while you were gone. Whether it is returning to your birthplace, returning to a city you lived in briefly, or returning to the ones you love, there is this sense that you should “tell yourself you’re going home” no matter where you’re headed. It’s this constant homeward-bound sentiment trickling through the tracks that make Tell Yourself You’re Going Home Clementine Was Right’s strongest album yet. 

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Russ Finn is a writer and musician who leads the band Dialup Ghost in Nashville, TN.