Great Songs From Q3 2022.

(Spotify) || (Apple Music) || (YouTube)

Beach Bunny — Weeds

Over their past two records, Beach Bunny have impressed me one song after the next. They give such a good and airy feeling through the lightly applied vocals alongsie the metered and delicately grungy guitars. This album was such a perfect hot weather, mid-summer (not that midsommar) record and it was tough to pick just one song to share. (YouTube)

Glassing — Sulk

Glassing is such a sick band. They cover so much ground on their last full length and turned around pretty quickly with the release of another two song EP over this past summer. This song has something of a ‘spooky’ vibe in it at times which had to be used with a light hand, because otherwise it would have come across a little like a halloween costume pop-up shop as opposed to the more invasive and stressful sound it was going for. Vocals for this one do have some of the more growly and aggressive vocals at times, but what stands out most to me is the Chino-In-Elite vocals that are used through most of the verses. (YouTube)

The Beths — Knees Deep

Absolute masters of the deft touch, The Beths are back with another record of shimmering and poppy hooks that leave the listener feeling absolutely weightless. I love that you can make it traces of New Zealand accent in the pronunciation of words here and there adding to the ethereal characteristics of some of the songs, this one especially. There’s such a cool snow-crunch effect on the pedal during that final guitar solo too. (YouTube)

High Vis — Trauma Bonds

There used to be a really cool pop-punk band named Digger in the early 2000s and their record Monte Carlo was so rad. Definitely a favorite of mine from that era. There’s something about this song from High Vis that sounds similar to me. There’s still that 80s new-wave guitar tone and progression that sets this apart, but it took me forever to pinpoint what I was loving about this song, and it’s the structure and grit of the vocal lines that throw me back to that same sound. There’s a little bit of that yell sound that Citizen would employ in there too, I think. (YouTube)

Upupayama — Mas

This is the first song I’ve heard from this band, but they’re putting out some really rad psych/surf rock that I am completely here for. A great mind-releaser. I can totally see a music video inspired by the Sid and Marty Krofft teams, rife with tie-dye projectors, huge puppet staging and go-go dancers in tow. (YouTube)

Botch — One Twenty Two

I love how many messages I received when there was a new Botch track released. There was a sense of just how stoked everyone was that “the boys were back.” Now, I mean, it kind of stinks that it was confirmed that this song is just a one-time thing, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t make this song all that much more special. Apparently, this is a song that would have been a part of the David Knudson solo project, and with that knowledge, you can totally see how this song is so guitar-forward has so much of what makes that solo record along with all of those ear-bending and genre-pushing Minus the Bear records so great. But to hear Verellen’s vocals on this one is such a cool feeling. (YouTube)

The Mars Volta — Flash Burns From Flashbacks

I have so much to say about this record as a whole. I’ll probably talk about it again at the end of the year, but I love how much I absolutely hated the singles leading up to this full length release, and how much I ended up falling in love with so many of the songs individually, and even ended up really liking the singles that I initially hated but how much they were elevated as part of the full length. This song just has such a cool groove to it, carried primarily by the little pulses from the bass guitar, but accentuated throughout by the underlying keyboard tones and the big sweeps from Omar’s guitars. (YouTube)

Roc Marciano & The Alchemist — Quantum Leap

I’m such a huge fan of what Alchemist is capable of. On this record, he definitely strips away a lot of what makes his stuff stand out in such mad ways. This song utilizes the low-key flow to its absolute height, as the tone of the song carries such a subdued flow. What a rad song, a total old-school throwback sound. (YouTube)

Bjork — Ovule

I don’t think there’s a single Bjork song that I don’t like and that’s what makes it so tough to pick a true favorite. The process of trying to rank them against each other is so difficult, especially when you start getting to the places where she has completely redefined and reinvented genres, breaking rules and inventing paradigms and somehow, after decades, still finding ways to maintain her unique sound(s) and plow forward with songs and albums that will somehow feel innovative 15 and 20 years down the line. She presses her voice out like a woodwind instrument, a reedy sound carrying over the valleys of her vocal chords. She pronounces letters and words in ways that reinvent the language they continue to convey. The production on this song is so sparse, just a crunchy drum and bass percussion, some hums and thrums… but still a dancehall hit on any planet. (YouTube)

The 1975 — I’m In Love With You

I know The 1975 have a high ambition for their sound. I know they want to be remembered for their vision and their inability to stick with one genre, and how they weren’t just one hit wonders. That’s cool, man. But for me, this band is always at their absolute PEAK when they are writing untouchable pop hits like this. Lyrically, they’re empty and idealistic, but I’ll trade all of the any day for a song that is such a jam as this one can be. It’s simply so good. I haven’t loved a record from them since their smash hit “I like it when you sleep…” but if this track is any indication of the direction they’re heading with their next one, consider me smitten. (YouTube)

Sugar Horse — Disco Loadout

Before this song, I’d never heard of this band before. It’s pure sludge, a song that keeps coming even though the ropes of the bridge are brittle and tearing, even though the wood in the floor is rotting. It sounds like a step too far in the wrong direction, it pummels like ignoring a piece of sound advice. (YouTube)

Moby & Serpentwithfeet — On Air

Josiah Wise, better know as Serpentwithfeet, still holds one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard. His EP from 2016, Blisters, is still one of my favorite releases in the last 10 years. He appears on this song with his angelic and trilling vocals over a trancey and fairly minimal electronic jam that Moby put together in a very signature sound that dances on a stream of night air. (YouTube)

Plains — Problem With It

I raved about Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee)’s last record, and she is back with Jess Williamson with a beautiful sounding country-inspired record. This one has the twang and pioneer sound of what makes the country genre stand out on its own, but still maintains the spirit of most of her previous work with a lot of pop smarts and dear honesty, making me so excited to check out what’s next for this group. This song definitely holds strong as a proof of concept, and I’m pumped for the 14th for the rest of the songs to join. (YouTube)

Alice Glass — Lips Apart

Alice Glass’ output is just so undefeated. From the production to the way she crafts a phalanx of innocence with her voice, I love the entire persona that she’s able to put forth on record. Her full lenght is definitely one I’ll be discussing at the end of the year, and this bonus single just adds to the list of great stuff for her to be releasing in 2022. (YouTube)

Broken Bells — Love On the Run

Huge fan of The Shins and when he combines his strength with the clever and innovative Danger Mouse, you know that they can whip up something that will carry its own weight. This song is a beautiful example of the skillful hand of Danger Mouse at play, creating a sub-disco lounge jam with James Mercer’s vocals floating along the surface of it in a post-Gibbs Brothers tone, capitalizing on the strength of his elite ability to write delicate and saccharine hooks witht that unique vocal style all his own. The outro of this one runs a bit long, but it starts to take on an almost Wayne Shorter type of personality, a drifting, sad and longing ministry of the lights coming up when the party’s over. (YouTube)

The Cure — Miss Van Gogh (Instrumental)

Man, this is definitely not a 2022 release. Not by a good 30 years. But as far as I can tell, this is the first time they’re releasing this instrumental of a song that I guess never made it to the record? It’s so great. I could easily see this being released this year by a modern band and what that’s indicative of is the sheer massive impact and wide ranging influence of this band. The Cure was my first favorite band, and I played the hell out of Disintegration and Galore (probably the only Greatest Hits collection that I heavily claim), and still come back to that same nostalgia for the glam and dreamsound of what this band was always about. (YouTube)

LS Dunes — 2022

I may not always fall in love witht the output, but when Anthony Green fronts a band, I’m always going to sift through every aspect of the track to make sure I get a full sense of the thing. This all goes back to when I was still running Wrankmusic and wrote a “negative review” (PS: ‘negative reviews’ are one of the most transformative actions/periods of times of my life, something that I’m so against right now. That’s a whole other story, man.) of Circa Survive’s first record and got hit with an email from one of their fans who was defending it to the death, and we opened up a dialog about what made that record so special, etc. which ended up making me a huge fan at the time of not only that release, but the one that followed as well. I haven’t loved another of their full length records again since, but I’ve been sure to give them a complete listen several times through to make sure I was giving it a fair shake! Anyway, this is a cool collaboration of Green along with the bassist and drummer from Thursday, the [other] guitarist from Coheed and the guitarist from My Chemical Romance and they’ve combined to make a rad post-hardcore song with a powerful edge and a churning rhythm section that does a lot more in multiple listens than on first glimpse (the bass line throughout the song does a ton of work that can easily go ignored if you don’t hone in on the resonance). Cool twinkles adorn the higher register growls and pleas. I could certainly take on a whole record with this entire tone. Hell yeah. (YouTube)

The Comet Is Coming — Lucid Dreamer

Falling somewhere between an electronic track and a jazz track, this song (among a handful of others from the record) hit a very cool hybrid of what makes each of those musical styles so special in their own right. It’s a bit of a loop, and not a great deal of improv, but such a nice little trance. (YouTube)

Samia — Kill Her Freak Out

Samia has always done such cool tracks, and I think this one is another one of those that does a whole lot with very little. I love the petty nature of this one, the absolute low energy huntress that rises out of her demeanor. No matter how minimal the inconveniences are throughout her life, whichever trivial matters arise, I love that she still has a blank space in the shape of her vengeance on the subject of the song. I love that she’s predicted the dire future she’s bound to live and has bookmarked a plagued destiny for the actions she’s about to unveil upon its arrival. This song sounds like honesty to me, sounds like a whole lot of silence surrounding a certainty of the way we love when we don’t know that love can be long. (YouTube)

Into It. Over It. — Miyajima, JP

Evan Weiss’ output with IIOI started as such a powerful release. It felt like he was tired of jumping through the ropes of “ThE sCeNe” or whatever the state of music was at the time and started touring and releasing things his own way. The sound of the songs was raw and energetic and sweaty. I can almost see the glasses on his face set on a strange angle as his mouth was shaped into a wail, mouth pressed against the microphone at some venue in which he’d probably seen so many of his favorite bands (more than likely his friends). To see Into It. Over It. grow from a band that felt like a passion project from The Guy That Everyone Knew At Every Show to what he’s done throughout this year is absolutely astonishing. It’s so mature and nuanced, it’s thought out and produced with dimensions in mind. This is the furthest type of song that raw can get. It’s composed and orchestrated, it’s writing that sounds like the hours it took to perfect the catchiness without the straightforward saccharine nature that often defines the nature of the hook. Such a great feeling. (YouTube)

Malegoat — Moldy Records

And then on the reverse side of the split that contained that very song is this absolutely bananas track that made me say, “hoooly shit” out loud the minute I heard it. This song is a revelation, one of those moments that feels like they’ve been writing songs in this style for years and I found them under a rock, as they scattered. I can’t believe a song like this exists, a band like this exists and I’m just finding out about them in September, 2022. What a burst of wild energy. The guitars rattle like shudders in a windstorm, the vocals triumph in the youthful and manic spirit of a group of guys who just got home from a month on tour and focused the vitae of all of the bands and people they met into a song that smells like the midwest. So cool. My arrogance simply will not allow me to believe that I just discovered them after so long. Hell yeah. This is the kind of thing that makes digging through new music every week WELL worth it. (YouTube)