Aster Tracks

In 2021 Matt Lewin and Mica Tenebaum put out Mercurial World an excellent pop record made even better by its deluxe version only the following year. At the time, I thought Magdalena Bay was rather underrated but now with the release of album two, Imaginal Disk, I see just how wrong I was. This duo seems to be everywhere online right now and, given how strong this record is, it's no wonder. When they put their minds together, Matt and Mica can make anything sound fun. The record opens with "She Looked Like Me" a track which goes all in on American's stripping the language and culture from migrant families as well as the military violence against them in their own homeland. All of this is heavily criticized in a huge pop song made appealing because it's so much fun sonically. When you're in pop music this is a valuable skill to have. More audiences are willing to overlook evil, forcing them to have fun to something they will be made uncomfortable by is something

I HAVE BEEN FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE, Evelyn Gray’s second album, is now only a month away. Two weeks ago, lead single “AIR” gave us a glimpse into the darkness surrounding this record’s themes with a bang. Now the second single, “HIDING // I SEE HIM EACH DAY // DIE BY MY OWN HAND” is here. The intro to “HIDING” feels massive yet deceptive. We are homed in on an image of a single voice only to find we are surrounded in the room we find ourselves in. Every time I think I’ve detected every vocal layer I register a new one. Getting past the displacing mental image the vocals here are much different than “AIR” or any other of Evelyn’s tracks in being a bit more singsong but still with the aura of strength all her music has. Similar to “AIR,” however, there is an element like an intrusive thought only now instead of wishing for the end it's laced with paranoia. For an entire minute, though it can feel even grander, she repeats the line “I see him each day,” over and over in different tones

  Last year Sister Sleep released In Bad Faith , an exploration into a revival of a certain era of post-hardcore and this blog’s runner up EP of the year. This year the band has come out with Phantom Threads, a shorter release at just three tracks and eleven minutes. While there is less to chew on this time around it’s only because Sister Sleep is going even tighter in on their presentation and the three songs here are all a treat. “Do You Believe in the Power of a Curse?” was a single from earlier this year and is included on the EP. This is sort of an emo-pop and synth rock hybrid. The former in the hook, the riffs and the marching band percussion. The latter in the synths themselves, the claps, the 8-bit break. All of it comes together in a really nice way and shows you from track one how much this band enjoys the type of music they play. In the same vein the cover of My Chemical Romance’s “The Ghost of You” closes things out and is pretty faithful but has a bit of the Sister Sleep

On October 4th MOTHICA announced all shows for 2024 would be canceled so she could focus on going to rehab to recover from a pill addiction. On "Exit Plan" she references this very struggle, likely lining up with a relapse in January. This record pretty blatantly outlines the state she was in mentally but it's hard to say it could have been predicted now. "How do you live when you don't want to die anymore" is the lyric I've sort of internalized as the mission statement of Kissing Death and I see now it was for her as well. I wasn't totally on board with Kissing Death initially, seeing it as another attempt at MOTHICA's first record. Now I see the two as counter parts from different genres. Where there was more nu metal influence on Nocturnal , Kissing Death has a darker dance feel. "The Void," track one on the record, is a short trance track who sets the scene in a much different way than "SLEEPWALK" from the first. "

Love them or hate them, Australia's Stand Atlantic are here to stay. The band have come a long way from their smaller pop punk roots, 2022's f.e.a.r. saw them veer slowly into a more mainstream alternative sound and with this new record, WAS HERE the transition is seemingly complete. My personal relationship with StAt has been a rollercoaster, 2020's Pink Elephant was the first ever blog recorded album of the year but from there I started to lose interest. F.e.a.r. , to me, was a little too unconfident sonically and used comedy as something as a crutch for this. Going into this new record I was worried we'd go down even more in quality, but I am pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoy this. From the opening notes of the record its clear StAt are done half committing. We all joke about Octane-core but in reality it feels like to get radio play coming from this genre you have to give up a lot of personality but StAt have made this work in their favor. "WAKE UP-

Madison, WI's Kat and The Hurricane have released debut album Got it Out independently on the day you're reading this. This is an all-queer band who has built a strong community following playing shows over the last seven years. I myself don't have a pre-existing relationship with Kat and The Hurricane but I'm always looking forward to absorbing new queer art. The three piece understand the assignment they've set for themselves here in terms of sonics. Opening track "Therapy" starts on a low-key synth and vocal piece immediately repeated with the full band treatment. While there is a nice blend there is an equal distinction and when they go all in, it's is all in . "Caffeine & Alcohol" sees vocalist Kat Rhapsody really go in on the classic synthpop melodies and does some vocoder riffing where the love of the genre really comes through. While I do think Kat and The Hurricane certainly know what they aim to sound like it would be dishonest