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Weekly Adds: 2/22

  • Post Author
    by Music director
  • Post Date
    Tue Feb 22 2022

Every Tuesday at WSUM, our Music Director, Arthur, chooses his favorite new releases to add to our music library. Here are this week's favorites, presented to you by WSUM's Music Journalism Club.


Gully Boys, Favorite Son 

HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “I'm Not Yours”, “Favorite Son”

GENRE: Punk, grunge, bubblegrunge

RIYL: Bugsy, VIAL, Keep for Cheap, Thank You I'm Sorry

Gully Boys continue to solidify themselves as a force to be reckoned with on their latest effort, the biting Favorite Son EP. A fast paced, just shy of 20 minutes record, the three piece (at the time of release) explores self preservation and standing one's ground, and boasts clearer, cleaner production than in their previous releases. Vocalist Kathy Callahan's melodies soar, boosted by harmonies from her collaborators Nadirah McGill and Natalie Klemmond. The beats behind the trio are as polished as they are aggressive- even when they fall apart into punk chaos, it is with a clear and deliberate intent. 

Sigra DeWeese


Big Thief, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

GENRE: Indie rock, folk rock

HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “Simulation Swarm”, “Time Escaping”, “Certainty”, “Change”

RIYL: Adrianne Lenker, Sharon Van Etten, Better Oblivion Community Center

After releasing a series of singles over the course of six months, Big Thief returned with their fifth studio album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You. Fans and critics alike had been eagerly awaiting the band's return and the album did not disappoint. Many agree this is the group's best work to date. It is an ambitious double record that covers many themes while managing to remain incredibly focused and sincere. The album was recorded in four separate sessions, in four distinct locations (upstate New York; Topanga Canyon, California; the Colorado Rockies; Tucson, Arizona), each with a different engineer. You are able to hear the distinctions in the recording sessions throughout the album when the music changes from slower ballads, to pop tracks with existential themes, and a few songs with an undeniable Western twang. Frontwoman Adrianne Lenker ties the record together with beautiful imagery in her songwriting. Lenker produces layer upon layer of metaphor but expertly cuts through them with extremely vulnerable and direct lyrics. The record opens with “Change”, a song about death and old relationships where Lenker earnestly asks, “Would you live forever, never die, while everything around passes?”. Dragon New Warm Mountain is a stunning record that demands your attention and pushes far beyond what the band's previous records have achieved.

– Beth Walsh


Shamir, Heterosexuality

Shamir: Heterosexuality Album Review | Pitchfork

HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “Gay Agenda,” “Caught Up,” “Marriage,” “Nuclear”

GENRE: Alternative pop, R&B, indie

RIYL: Xenia Rubinos, ABRA, serpentwithfeet, Kevin Abstract

I am unfortunately reminded, at least once every day, that we live in a heteronormative world. Philadelphia-based artist Shamir's latest record, Heterosexuality, is a soaring, biting condemnation of the confines that world tries to set around queer people, and the pain and pleasure that come with breaking free of them. Beginning with industrial synths and crashing percussion that echo Trent Reznor and ending with soft, jangle pop guitars and beats better befitting bossa nova than Nine Inch Nails, Heterosexuality runs the gamut of both sound and emotion, all of it narrated by Shamir's bewitching countertenor and no-holds-barred lyricism. Heterosexuality, in all of its complexity and ambition, is a masterful antithesis to the watered-down, corporate cash-grab Pride anthems, a record written by and for queer people that, like its creator, isn't going to bend over backwards to make you comfortable. As Shamir proclaims on track two (“Cisgender”) in a bout of brilliant wordplay, “I'm not gonna pass for you – you gotta get past.”

– Anna Thompson


Patricia Taxxon, Gloria

HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “Tongues,” “Scum”

GENRE: IDM, deconstructed club

RIYL: Sophie, Arca, Aphex Twin

The best way to describe this is electronic soup. Abrasive, loud and glitchy, filled with bleeps, bloops, robotic vocals, samples and unidentifiable noises. Most certainly brain-tickling headphone music. While it doesn't quite fit the bill for pop, references, textures and structures of pop music appear throughout. The album art is a perfect descriptor of the music: flashy and glamorous, but also messy and chaotic. “Tongues” displays, along with some incredible synth work, an unexpected but welcome take on two 2000's pop classics, 3OH!3's “Don't Trust Me” and Mike Posner's “Cooler Than Me.” The vocal samples on the track are twisted and processed into inhuman, metallic moans while you're also being assaulted by alien sounds and euphoric synths. And that's just one example of the many brilliantly creative moments in this work. Overall, it's a curious adventure into a disjointed electronic minefield.

— Karl Hahn


The Simps, Siblings 

HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “Tesla,” “Everyone's a Critic,” “Green Eyed Girl,” “Heavy,” “Guardian Angel”

GENRE: Psych-garage, new wave, post-punk, lo-fi, synth pop

RIYL: Eyedress, Zzzahara, Current Joys, Molchat Doma

In late 2018, fate delivered budding indie musician Zzzahara to an Eyedress show, where the artists immediately bonded over their shared cultural background and eye for post-punk influence. The duo's creative chemistry was electric – Eyedress relocated to LA and invited Zzzahara to play guitar in his band on tour while they worked to bring The Simps, their collaborative project, to life. A hypnagogic blur of racing instrumentals and moody, half spoken lyrics, Siblings is an unparalleled ode to these two artist's unique bond. “Tesla” draws listeners in with an ambient, haunting organ note before allowing syncopated drums and a rattling bassline to take over. The opening song's dark, textured instrumentals carry into “Everyone's a Critic,” providing a seamless transition for this cynical yet defiant monologue. “Green Eyed Girl” is rambling and desperate, with an echoing vocal track that seems to issue forth from a deep emotional chasm. In contrast, “Heavy” defies its title with airy acoustic elements, a bouncing drum beat, and vocals spun from new wave nostalgia. As the album draws to a conclusion, “Guardian Angel” and “Cinderella's Daughter” leave listeners dizzy with swaying guitar tracks, meandering lyrics, and a drumline like a slowing heartbeat. The result is something which feels half-dreamed, half-remembered – a benevolent vision of love, heartbreak, and honesty. 

— Claire Borgelt 


The Tulips, Message for the Living

HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “Disco Heart,” “Ain't Funny Now,” Make It All”

GENRE: Psychedelic-folk, soft-rock, indie

RIYL: The Luminners, Birdies, The Paper Kites

Seven years after the release of their last album, indie-folk rock band The Tulips return with their latest release: Message for the Living, a dreamy 10-track record interwoven with 1960's influence. Calming and gentle, the songs have an ethereal quality about them, lyrics like “Love ain't enough//You scare me a little like the moon does the sun” mimic poetry and are accompanied with soft vocals and crescendo-filled soundscapes. Reverberated guitars, layered sound and acoustic instrumentation edited with ornamented production work together to produce a sound that echoes natural beauty. The music feels delicate, flowery melodies that could serve as a score for an A24 meets National Geographic collaborative production. Hailing from downtown LA, the band claims to take songwriting inspiration from both the old folk movement and their surroundings, often recording in non-studio spaces and historic sites in order to capture a unique sound. The mixed influences on their creative process comes together to produce an album that rings with an aura of sweet nostalgia. An unexpected surprise, this album is alluring, hypnotically beautiful. Like golden sunlight streaming through rain clouds or the figure of love-at-first-sight you cannot shake from your mind, Message for the Living has an intense, indescribable, loveliness about it—a quality that allows it to replay in your mind over and over. 

-Ria Dhingra


Cult of Luna, The Long Road North

HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: : “Cold Burn”, “The Silver Arc”, “An Offering to the Wild”, “The Long Road North”, “Blood Upon Stone”

GENRE: Atmospheric sludge metal, post rock

RIYL: Mastodon, Neurosis, Isis, Amenra

Cult of Luna has become one of the quintessential bands in the atmospheric sludge metal space and have proved their worth by releasing some of the most iconic albums in the genre. Most notably their 2006 album, Somewhere Along the Way. Almost 25 years after their inception, Cult of Luna demonstrate they can still produce amp-splitting material and are back and firing on all muck-doused cylinders with their newest album, The Long Road North. The sirens of the apocalypse wail on the opening track, “Cold Burn” as the band introduces listeners to the pummeling sound that comprises most of what is on this album. Not all the album is as oppressive as the opening track, as there are shorter and much softer tracks such as “Beyond I” that are nestled in between the longer, and ear bursting tracks. However, the band is at their strongest when they are their most aggressive. Songs like “An Offering to the Wild” build anticipation for the sonic slugfest ahead, and it's moments like these that make the louder and heavier moments feel more important. While the shorter tracks do add a much-needed break from the madness, some of them just don't feel like they pan out. An additional highlight of this album is undeniably the vocals from lead singer Johannes Persson. His delivery on these songs adds another layer of intensity to the already blood pumping album The Long Road North is. 

Niels Peters


Black Dresses, Forget Your Own Face

HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “GAY UGLY AND HARD TO UNDERSTAND,” “doomspiral,” “MONEY MAKES YOU STUPID”
GENRE: Electro-industrial, electropop, post-industrial

RIYL: 100 gecs, PASSENGER OF SHIT, Fire-Toolz

Black Dresses isn't even a band anymore, but they just released a new highlight of their discography. Despite the duo breaking up in 2020, Forget Your Own Face is somehow here (yes, they're still broken up) and it's their most commanding work yet. It seems that every Black Dresses release sees the pair finding more confidence — while past releases like Peaceful as Hell and WASTEISOLATION seemed vaguely hesitant at times, even during Forget Your Own Face's mellowest moments, every lyric on the albumis sung/rapped/screamed with confidence. Some songs like “earth worm” fall flat and just generally don't go anywhere meaningful (“My ears are ringing in this bitch”), though at other times, like on “MONEY MAKES YOU STUPID” and “GAY UGLY AND HARD TO UNDERSTAND,” this album's penchant for aggression just works. It's also filled with moments when the energy changes suddenly — when discordant, unhinged screamo suddenly (yet smoothly) resolves and transitions into a poppy chorus or a mellow confession — and to me, that's what makes a Black Dresses song memorable. 

Amelia Zollner


Spoon, Lucifer on the Sofa

HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “Wild”, “The Hardest Cut”

GENRE: Blues rock, indie rock

RIYL: Rolling Stones, Built to Spill, Pavement

Spoon delivers a strongly back to basics tenth studio album with Lucifer on the Sofa. Spoon follows up their foray into experimental music with a return to a stripped down classic rock sound that has been their signature sound for two decades. This return to their early sound also comes with child-like themes found throughout the lyrics and composition. The lead guitarist Daniel largely carries the instrumental side with Casanova melodies that takes one back to their messy adolescence. The enthusiasm and passion truly comes through on tracks Satellite and Astral Jacket shows the bands commitment to consistency with thought provoking and emotionally evocative music.

Carter Ewen

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MUSIC JOURNALISM CLUB WEEKLY ADDS WSUM

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