pulses. gave me a preview of season 3

 


Dumfries, Virginia’s own pulses. have teamed up with Zac Benson to bring us the first episode of their third season as a band with “XO (Sold Out).” Well, to be exact, they will hit us with the drop this coming Friday. If you’ve followed this blog you may recall that not only did pulses. make my top ten albums of 2020, then my top ten EPs of 2021, I also released a triple album review where I talked about the three Speak releases all at once. Now the band has let me peek behind the scenes to give you a bit of an early review of their new single.

 The track opens with a riff that really sticks with you in that there is a real progressive rock element to it and yet it is also very laid back. I think a major factor of what makes this work so well is not only does it come back up multiple times in the song, it’s totally isolated every time as it should be, it’s that good. Then the track explodes with the line;

“Time to wake up! Don’t be late!”

Prepare yourselves for that chorus because, trust me, you are actually not ready. I have had access to this track for a week now and in every moment of silence in my day-to-day I find myself singing that hook. That and the rhythm section in the chorus in general is sort of flawless in a way. It speeds up at just the right times, the notes hit you in just the right ways. I don’t want to give too much away but the line about your favorite song in the second verse is such a power move that I really have to respect.

With all of the full band stuff going on though, I think my favorite part is the outro. Right at the end we switch from pulses. to BD LCK with an entire fleshed-out beat similar to those found in the BD LCK catalog and the pulses. remix projects guiding us to the end. Something I didn’t realize I needed to hear on a track by this project.

I want to thank the boys in pulses. for allowing me to hear the song early and report to you all about it. As I said above, “XO” drops Friday and if you’ve been a fan of the band before you’re in for a treat because I really feel like this is their best showing yet. It is a perfect blend of the heavy elements of progressive post-hardcore and a chilled out relaxing vibe.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The BRAT review

Image
Oh my gosh, Claudia AsterTracks got a review out less than four months after the album is out! In all seriousness, I’ve been sitting on this review for a bit. It always feels weird to post long reviews about huge pop albums being an indie blog. Sometimes they’re just too long for MusicBoard though, so this one fit here. In spite of being gay, formerly terminally online and generally a fan of modern-day pop, I have actually never liked an entire Charli xcx project. I remember a very awkward conversation with an ex once after she found out I find it very hard to get to the end of even the twelve and a half minutes of Vroom Vroom. In spite of all of this I still want to stay current and know what albums are coming out, so I gave BRAT a try and I’m sort of blown away, I absolutely love this one. Something I noticed just minutes into BRAT is how the production is so bare and yet also feels so club ready . Opening track “360’ s ” beat is only about seven notes total with barely a drum...
Read more

Review: Get Off the Internet by Eliminate released via Create Music Group

Image
Sometimes you’re just here for the features. After a bit of a dry spell for me album wise, it was the debut album by dubstep artist Nathan Merrill, better known as Eliminate, which finally got me out of my seat. I’ll be honest, I came here solely because I saw Frost Children and I Set My Friends on Fire on the track list but was pleasantly surprised by the entire record. I had no perception of genre or who this artist was going into it. While I’m not usually a rave girl this is presented in a way where you don’t really have to be to appreciate what’s going on. There are a lot of nice, thought-out moments of downplay which don’t feel overblown or like they’re using cheap shots to make them memorable. It’s all just very real and expressive and most of the time it conveys this without words. The progression and sequencing is all very natural as well, pretty much all of these songs could be used as singles, but they also go hand in hand cohesively. I know I likely sound a little cynical to...
Read more

Review: analysis/paralysis by Four Year Strong released via Pure Noise

Image
Four Year Strong is a band who has always meant a lot to me growing up in New England. While I Specifically spent my adolescence in RI, Worcester was only a forty-minute ride and most of the shows I attended were out there. I'm less online now, but I have a feeling I know the consensus on this record isn't very hot. Being an over twenty-year-old easycore band in a time where scene bands are nostalgic acts can't be easy. But to be honest I quite enjoyed this one. Analysis paralysis as a record has a lot harder an edge than 2020's Brain Pain . The hardcore elements were never really missing from the Four Year Strong formula, but on this record songs like "aftermath/afterthought" are actual moshable moments, complete with a full breakdown, a lot of intensity and a guitar pedal like a buzzsaw. A part of me wonders if a band like this needs to be put on an indie music blog. I know lately we've shied away from this, but there's talks behind the scenes to ...
Read more