Every Tuesday at WSUM, Music Director Amany chooses her favorite new releases to add to our music library. Here are this week's favorites, presented to you by WSUM's Music Journalism Club.
Parannoul, After The Magic
HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “Polaris,” “Insomnia,” “Sound Inside Me, Waves Inside You”
GENRE: Shoegaze, indie rock
RIYL: Asian Glow, sonhos tomam conta, Weatherday
Parannoul made waves across bandcamp and shoegaze circles alike with his 2021 release of To See the Next Part of The Dream. Through all the buzz, After The Magic emerged and has not only affirmed but surpassed expectations. A brilliant, beautiful mix of post-rock elements and grandiose guitar noise against strong lead vocals. The track, “Polaris” showcases this, starting off like a pop rock track and transforming into a dreamy, stunningly layered song. The production has improved noticeably with this release to create an expansive soundscape that feels melancholy and cold but warm and comfortable on the inside. The wide variation of instrumentation from strings to synth to bass keeps it sounding both innovative and exciting.
— Evie Erickson
Emelia Austin, From Another Sky
HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “Hand Soft,” “How Can I Be?,” “Goodbye Indiana”
GENRE: Indie rock, indie pop
RIYL: boygenius, Snail Mail, IAN SWEET, Wednesday
Los Angeles singer-songwriter Emelia Austin released her debut album From Another Sky earlier this month. The album is short and sweet with a runtime of only 32 minutes. The record begins with a heavy guitar on “Hand Soft,” as Austin sings about a lover's soft touch after a shower. She layers her vocals and creates a lush, warm harmony throughout the song. The album lightens with songs like “How Can I Be?” with the strumming of an acoustic guitar and a happier string arrangement in the background. If you like the guitar heavy instrumentals of a Boygenuis track and the dry vocal quirks of a Snail Mail song, this is the album for you.
— Beth Walsh
The Go! Team, Get Up Sequences Part Two
HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “Whammy-O,” “Gemini,” “Look Away, Look Away”
GENRE: Indie rock, alternative hip hop
RIYL: The Apples in Stereo, The Avalanches, Kero Kero Bonito
Originally conceived as a solo project by film director Ian Parton, The Go! Team combines distorted guitars, double Dutch chants, Bollywood soundtracks to create something entirely new. Get Up Sequences Part Two features an expanded six-piece lineup, allowing the project to reach new levels of complexity. The album begins with “Look Away, Look Away,” a collage of glittery marching instrumentals and syncopated lyrics featuring the Star Feminine Band before channeling old school hip hop influences on “Whammy-O” with refreshing self-assuredness. In the end, it's a degree of unwavering brightness and novel delight in traditional melodies which sets this album apart.
— Claire Borgelt
Lil Yachty, Let's Start Here.
HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “the BLACK seminole.,” “IVE OFFICIALLY LOST ViSiON,” “drive ME crazy!”
GENRE: Psych-rock
RIYL: Tay-K, SahBabii, Lil Ugly Mane
Let's Start Here. is Lil Yachty's most experimental project thus far. Elements of synths, psychedelic electric guitar and soulful features (Diana Gordon on drive ME crazy, and Foushee on pRETTy), combined with Yachty's vocals create something that could be completely unique to him in future albums. I personally really like” IVE OFFICIALLY LOST ViSiON.” The song starts with chaotic noises compiled together and eventually leads to a beat switch with fast paced drums which builds up to a slower drumming pattern combined with heavy and distorted guitar playing. The song says a lot about Lil Yachty's feelings of inadequacy within rap culture. Lil Yachty is making the conscious decision to expand his audience and test his abilities and talents with the creation of Let's Start Here.
— Sophia Pietan
babyfang, In The Face Of
HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “GOAN GO,” “ALL THEN,” “IDWTAI,” “END CREDITS”
GENRE: Grunge, punk, alt-rock, psychedelic
RIYL: Yves Tumor, NNAMDΪ, Horsey
In The Face Of is the brooklyn-based babyfang's debut full-length album. With influences from punk, grunge, alt and psyche rock, In The Face Of is a captivating listen from start to finish. Throughout the album, babyfang's sound oscillates from more traditional alt-rock sounds to more experimental and noisy punk. “GOAN GO” is my favorite out of the more alt-rock half of the album, featuring potent guitar riffs and snappy vocals that form a song that sounds like it could have been a forgotten single from an Yves Tumor project. The intensity of In The Face Of reaches its zenith on “IDWTAI,” the penultimate track of the album. As “IDWTAI” progresses, it devolves into madness, giving center stage to fervent vocals, vigorous drums and powerful guitar hooks.
— Quentin Holle
The Men, New York City
HIGHLIGHT TRACKS: “Peace of Mind,” “Eternal Recurrence,” “Anyway I Find You”
GENRE: Garage-punk
RIYL: Iceage, Protomartyr, The Strokes
The Men, a group formed in Brooklyn way back in 2008, came out strong on their 9th studio album. Their sound is stripped down. The songs were recorded live, giving them a raw sound which is a change in direction for the band. The themes of the album are centered a lot in the way life always finds ways to repeat itself, and just moving on. This is evident on the track “Anyway I Find You”, which is also one of the tracks that puts the most focus on the vocals, allowing the listener to really soak in the message. Beyond that, the guitar stands out on New York City, as expected with a garage-punk album. Many of the songs have an amazing riff near the end, such as on “Eternal Recurrence” or “Round the Corner.” This album brings the energy on each and every track and never slows down, perfect for those looking to workout, or really just anyone with love for punk.
– Kian Murphey
