Aster Tracks

Atlanta, GA's Sister Sleep are set to release new song, "The Arsonist" this Friday. This is Sister Sleep's second single of the year, following "In Tenebris" from March. On this one the band mixes elements of emo, industrial and goth rock to create something fresh within their scene "The Arsonist" opens with a fairly simple riff that makes way to a heavier setting piece that the entire track is sandwiched between. I think you see a lot of bands try to make this sound magical in recent years, but so few manage to make it hit like this. There is a distorted, cut short scream that bridges the gap between this and the first verse. It's quite the moment to open a track with. An industrial and goth set up isn't usually my scene. However the low down guitar performance and these vocals absolutely hook me. The juxtaposition of the vocal cuts are impressive, the intensity picking up on a line about deafening silence and the way the percussion lines ...

Philadelphia’s Puppy Angst have released “TKO” as part of Fire Talk’s Open Tab single series. In this series Fire Talk releases singles alongside interviews with various bands and artists and Puppy Angst’s single in that series comes out today. I was able to hear this song just a bit early and have been really enjoying jamming to it in my own time. Puppy Angst doesn’t waste any time easing you into this one and the song kicks off immediately within a verse. At its core, “TKO” is a simple indie tune, nice to close your eyes and sway to. The lyrical content on this one is very upset, very pointed, seemingly from someone at the end of their rope from being used. This is made abundantly clear in the chorus where the narrator is almost bargaining with themselves. Trying to tell themself that they’re a masochist, or a pacifist, or anything to convince themselves that it's their own fault that someone else is hurting them. In the second verse there’s that same sense of swaying for the lis...

LA based psychedelic and pop singer Kinneret Klein has released her third record; All That I Know. Being the child of two rabbis, Kinneret's music plays deeply into her faith which is an important context for this project here but not one I had going into the record. I myself have not been familiar with Kinneret’s music before this year at all and stumbled upon All That I Know from the single “Volcanic Rock.” Which I enjoyed for its low-key vibe and pointed vocal performances. Off the bat I’d actually like to say that the lo-fi, vibey pop is actually my favorite part of All That I Know and the easiest part of the record to get into unconsciously. I think that Kinneret does a great job with these types of tracks and has a way of keeping them all interesting and diverse. Kinneret is also a good performer and proves their vocal and songwriting strength again and again on songs like “Learn My Name” where we’re treated to some heavy bass and all-around pleasant vocals. The features on t...

The Road to Sedition is the fourth album by King’s Lynn, UK’s ska punk rockers Faintest Idea. I haven’t been very familiar with Faintest Idea up until now and as of this review haven’t had a chance to revisit any old material so anything I state is without any prior context, which I feel may be important for my concluding feelings. Sedition opens with “The Machine Stops,” which serves more so as a demonstration of what Faintest Idea is sonically, with the only “lyrics” being hype ups and call outs to a crowd. I actually enjoy this as an introduction as, with any band in the genre, Faintest Idea have quite a lot to say about the state of the world around them and having an ease into what you should expect going forward makes for a nice touch overall. At the tailend of the track we’re hit with an old sample that, while I can’t find the source for, presents one of my favorite aspects of Sedition as a record; those samples and the way they’re utilized. Faintest Idea doesn’t just give you a...

Skyler Acord feels like one of the most successful artists to come out of his scene. From his time with Issues, the now part time latter-Warped era band to the present, being the live bass player for mainstream rock outfit Twenty One Pilots. Acord has already proven over the years that he can write a song, he wrote a lot of Issues music including their latest, Beautiful Oblivion, which many already consider to be a classic. Now he’s taken on solo music as well. Singles off True Viridian started dropping last year and his ability as a musician has grown and shifted even between the songs on this tracklist. For me, who's been listening to Acord written tracks since high school, the biggest take away from this record is how good a singer he is. Right from the beginning with “knew it all along,” the way he opens with a smooth delivery and turns it into a soar on the hook makes him one of my picks for best vocal performances this year. It’s important to keep in mind however that he does...

I would normally write some sort of artist introduction here, however the record feels like the most anticipated release in indie rock in the most recent decade. The combined forces of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker is not one to be undermined and while my personal relationships to each of these artists isn’t a strong one, even I really looked forward to this album. To show my hand right at the top I think it was worth the hype in all honesty. Obviously with a band with three very strong vocalists you look to just that; their vocal performances. All three members really shine here and from the intro track they play off each other in effective ways immediately. Also when you confront it all three of these singers always sort of play in very similar spaces. They all do this style of straight laced storytelling with very little metaphor. All of this behind simple yet effective instrumentals and sonics. Even though they do play in the same spaces however, they all bring somet...

Lana Del Rey is another one of those artists that I think doesn’t need an introduction, she feels like one of the biggest in the world. Instead, since AsterTracks is built on personal experience, I want to instead tell you a story. If you’ve followed this blog for a while you probably remember my first break up era. I was in a relationship for fourteen years before I picked up on it being emotionally abusive. One of the areas of control was actually Lana’s music. My music consumption went generally uncontrolled, in fact, it was my ex who liked Lana and I only really liked NFR. When she read an interview where Lana said the country was controlled by sociopaths however she suddenly wanted neither of us to have anything to do with the New York singer so it was hard to hear anything new. Ocean Blvd is my return Lana album and I wanted to review it. This album's long, almost ten hours went into this review, so I hope you’ll give it a chance. For the first four song run of this record th...

With the cancellation of Bamboozle a lot of bands are left with a lot of investment and no return. That is something very apparent to Atlanta, GA's glimmers right now, who are stuck with a whole lot of purchased merch they can only sell online and a canceled tour that was to carry them to the festival. All of this comes right around the release of their sophomore EP. If you don't know who glimmers is, they are, as I said, an Atlanta based band that spun from the solo efforts of their front woman, Maggie Schneider. I myself first heard of glimmers through one of the livestreamed Good Noise Festivals where the band put on a fully produced set at a real venue complete with dancing, cover songs and a well thought out wardrobe.  All of these things may be a bit much for the pop punk scene to take in but glimmers completely embraces this by calling themselves a "pop punk band for theater kids." That is apparent through their music, which has the fun, yet sad, presentation a...

If you were ever a fan of Columbus, OH classic metalcore act Attack Attack! you probably recall the return of the “pioneers of crabcore” from around 2020. However, if you were a fan of the crabcore scene in its heyday and looking forward to more of it, Long Time, No Sea likely disappointed you. This EP was not crabcore at all, it was formulaic radio metal fit for the modern age backed by barely anyone from the original band. Somehow on Dark Waves the members of this edition of Attack Attack! feel even less in touch with their past and like they’re scrambling, still, to make this band something marketable. Dark Waves opens with a title track that’s a blend of octane-core as well as the final album from the original run; This Means War, current vocalist Chris Parketny even does his very best Caleb Shomo impression. It's strange to emulate these two styles when it feels like neither is something that a fan of this band would want considering that War is looked at as a record that didn...

Ada Rook is always busy. It seems she's part of an uncountable amount of projects and always has something coming out. I myself am usually pretty positive on her output; Black Dresses always puts out some of my favorite records and this year Angel Electronics, a MySpace throwback featuring Rook and Ash Nerve, honestly might end up a top five album at year's end. I am historically critical of Rook on her own however. I was not at all a fan of Ugly Death, her last solo record, but I am always willing to give a listen. Rookie's Bustle is a collection of b-sides composed by Rook for that growing list of bands as well as her solo project. It makes sense that she has so many leftovers and to be honest there's a lot of highlights on this collection overall. The mini album opens with "920London," Rook's take on a sadder indie rock track that she manages to make her own with that trademark artfully sloppy delivery and a heavier post chorus. The song itself sort of ...