Aster Tracks

2024 is over, in most cases we’ve really put pressure on ourselves to have this out by or before Christmas. This year though, I wanted to make sure the write ups didn’t feel like the result of burnout. So, where a normal AsterTracks year end list would have fifty or so releases on it, this one has six. At the bottom of this post you can find a playlist with thirty songs, however, one each from the top ten EPs and albums, and ten assorted singles. The normal Reddit disclaimer is also present, need it now more than ever. I am still proud of Aster Tracks, the artists we’ve connected with, and what it has brought to my own life. This will continue into 2025. My plans this year is to try new things and be less devoted to mass reporting on every album I listen to. I hope you continue to check in. Just like last year, if you're here from Reddit, start here. EP of the year goes to Ignite // Decay by Wave Break released independently When it dropped, Ignite//Decay felt like a massive momen...

The day you are reading this Evelyn Gray's second full-length, "I HAVE BEEN FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE" has been released. This follows 2022's how to be alone EP, which, had a slightly longer run time than this new release but didn't quite show the variety of Evelyn as an artist. Between the two singles from FIGHTING we already have started to see the evolution of her as a songwriter and vocalist so I was excited to dig into the entire project to see just how far she had come. We already covered “AIR” the first single, but it should be reiterated how much this track does with such little material. With just vocals and some percussion, “AIR” is one of the heaviest songs I’ve heard this year. It's also just very forthcoming to write a song about the fantasy of your own death in contrast and combat with it taking form. The following single “HIDING” was telling of what the entire first side of the album was going for. While “AIR” establishes the tortured subject matte...

LA's oldphone is bringing you an emo and hyperpop mix from Lonely Ghost records. I don't have a relationship to the music of oldphone though I am familiar with the name thanks to the Lonely Ghost stamp. Like any DIY artist whose name I hear quite a bit I had planned on jumping on when a new project came around and now the sophomore album is here. If you came for emo, oldphone have a lot to offer. The album's intro, "Flicker," gives us a twinkly riff, some clapping, if you close your eyes, you can imagine the sweat in a tiny club. The same live energy is applied to the following "The City's Alive" but blended with hyperpop percussion. "A sunset" is another track where oldphone feels really tuned in. Where the record starts to fall apart is the production, specifically in the vocals. Songs like "urchildhoodisnevercomingback" are composed very smoothly with elements of both sides of the genre-mash but whose vocal melodies sound comp...

In 2022, Washington's GUPPY put out Big Man Says Slappy Doo , an excellent garage rock album with tight jams and zany lyricism. From there the band put out "Texting and Driving" in 2023 as a single. The hook on the track is stadium rock big and its sonics completely pushed the boundaries of what came before. Now the band put out their new record, Something is Happening... which came out back in May of this year. Yes, not to break immersion, Something is Happening released five months ago but given how much GUPPY means to this blog and the fact the record came out during our break this year I wanted to make sure this got out before year end list season. It's always been clear GUPPY has a sense of humor, but we actually start on a serious note. The album's title track serves as a narration to metamorphosis, an internal shift so impossible to pin down but also one which makes all the sense in the world. "Candied Pecans" as well as "Nature Song," ...

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 ...