Aster Tracks

We’ve been talking about 2021 a lot lately (at least, at the time of writing this, who knows when I’ll get this out) and no record defined the music scene more in that year than Glow On. While Turnstile didn’t place in our year end lists their fourth record was a force to be reckoned with and a hard one to deny the quality of and now, they’ve released a short remix project alongside instrumental jazz fusion trio BBNG. For this review I’ve looked at New Heart Designs as one long track, but it is composed of three remixes of songs from the record, and I did refresh my memory by relistening to the originals. The project opens with this very beautiful intro complete with pan flutes and a much different vibe than the original cut of “Mystery.” Obviously I expected this to be different but these feel like different stems altogether, even in the vocals. What follows is acoustic, strummy bass, more whimsical flutes and a smooth vocal melody that reminds of something like Tiny Desk or even Colo...

Sometimes there is an artist in DIY that feels like they’ve been around a lot longer than they actually have. I have so many memories of hearing about Penny Board, seeing an acoustic set, seeing them around social media, even remember a hiatus being announced if I recall correctly? Still, What If? As If! is this project's debut EP. I haven’t truly dug into any of the singles by this artist but was still looking forward to the debut if not just to have a voice to the name so to speak. The five track EP had three singles, which to me seems like quite a bit but I heard none of them beforehand so no harm on my overall experience. The first of those singles, “Karma” offers an edgy cut with some clear anger in the delivery and lyricism. The second, “Cry Baby” is sort of what I remembered from the acoustic set I was able to catch, emo verses with a bouncy hook. I really like the lyricism on this one especially that clever prescription line. The line about crying, however, feels forced in ...

Between 2020 and 2021 pulses. released three projects in the Speak series, yes, we’re counting the remixes, before closing it out with a livestream sendoff playing nearly twenty tracks spanning their career. Since then, the band has garnered a huge following, first online and now with the return of live music and their Woodland Creatures mini tours, they’ve established themselves as a live presence as well. Now, the Friday you’re reading this, the band will release a new full length and soundtrack to their third season as a band, It Wasn’t Supposed to be Like This. You can hear the first three tracks of the album right now and while I usually discourage knowing the first song of a project before release, let alone the first three, I don’t think I personally would choose anything else as the singles package. “Different Strokes” is a masterclass of heavy music and at the time of release worked as a wonderful pairing to the much poppier “Sold Out,” which is not featured on the tracklist. ...

On AsterTracks, I’ve been lucky enough to cover quite a few singles before their street date. But today we make AT history as Atlanta, GA’s Sister Sleep has let me hear their new EP, In Bad Faith, before it’s available to the public. This is the second EP from the post-hardcore band following last year’s Wraith and Rosary and has spawned two singles; “In Tenebris” and “The Arsonist.” Back in May we covered “The Arsonist,” a single that hit me with some genres I don’t always engage with and made me feel a certain sense of nostalgia for my earliest days as a music fan all at the same time. On Bad Faith that momentum only keeps going. On that “Arsonist” review I called the song post-hardcore and goth rock infusion, but I don’t really think that fits anymore. (I try so hard not to categorize genres, ahaha.) To me, what’s going on genre wise with Sister Sleep, is that sensation when people say a band sounds spooky but usually they just mean they’re singing about horror movies. This actually...

Last year, Faye Fadem released Tribute Summon , a record that made this blog’s top ten albums of the year and remains in rotation for me personally even now. I enjoyed that album for its chaotic nature and raw themes that Faye was always able to spin into a fun song. She wasted no time getting to work on the follow up, however, a single from this record had already dropped in the same year. Now, so soon, her next record is here. At least it was. At the time of writing this Faye Doubt has been removed from streaming services and only available on BandCamp with its finale track missing and two statements by Faye herself and Needlejuice records implying the two of them have decided not to collaborate further with Faye releasing the album herself and gearing toward a KickStarter to do so. I fortunately was able to listen to the record enough to write down my thoughts before the record was pulled just three days after release, but I will be looking forward to it however Faye is able to put ...

In the past couple of years cybergrind has started to gain a following and no name is more synonymous with the genre than Blind Equation. 2021’s Life is Pain was a short and sweet demonstration of real emotional cybergrind and a testament to James McHenry’s musicianship. Since then he’s grinded out the shows, spread his reputation and now is here to deliver a sophomore record that is even better than the debut and with a label behind it this time around. Cybergrind does have a tendency to sound like metal-inspired video game OSTs and that is very true on Death Awaits, but even at that the tones and compositions go deep. The depth of the production on the title track is incredible. “Speedrunning Life” has a synth riff that is simultaneously catchy enough that it's fun yet stressful enough that it sounds like the final stage of a boss battle. It also takes dips into chord changes while always arriving at the base working of the whole thing. “You Betrayed the Ones You Loved” paints an...

In 2021 maybe i will see you at the end of the world just missed this blog’s top ten albums of the year by a single place. In the following year however, that very record earned a bigger place in my heart than just about any of the ten that were above it. I bonded with my dear friend, three thousand miles away, by listening to it with them on a call. I listened to it on my own time, tirelessly, as I wallowed and tried to figure out how to tell my mother she had a daughter and not a son. It felt like the world was ending and it made for a fitting soundtrack to my own personal apocalypse. I told her, the world was still there, and time went on. This time, me and that friend, now living together, listened to it as I laid on their chest, recovering from a pretty scary night. I knew, regardless of how we felt, the album itself would be special to me. It helps then, that I happen to like it quite a bit. While Sydney digs deep into modern pop rock on somebody in hell, so much so that she borr...

Olivia Rodrigo seems to be a pretty controversial topic right now for either being the best new thing in music or for clinging to similar artists who came before her. Not that I think there’s any shame in it but I was a huge fan of SOUR and as such was very much looking forward to this new record. I also think expressing how lame she is all over the internet is a little lame on your own part but not the topic of the day. On criticism, however, Rodrigo seems much more attuned to what hate she does receive on this new album. “I know my age and I act like it” as the first chorus to an opening song is a move that feels so pointed but one I cannot help but respect. While her punk credibility is being challenged Rodrigo wastes no time putting out music with more drive than most actual emo bands coming out right now and “all-american bitch” is just the beginning of that. The internet does, however, make that hate very easy to fall into. I personally was ready to be offended by the lyrics to “...

Last week and bleeding into the week after I wrote a stream of reviews on some “Octaine-core,” that is metalcore bands that lean toward the lamer side of alternative rock. This week I checked out Dark Divine on a mutual’s recommendation and didn’t know what to expect but found this to lean toward those genres as well. I will say, however, that in Deadly Fun there is an element of real passion and heart that I think is missing from a lot of the larger sized artists in the genre right now. While this is very radio rock it also manages to avoid a lot of the sins of the genre and Dark Divine even has some real, quality moments to them on their debut. The anticipation of the breakdown to “Drown” is a really nice genre moment and the hook on “Dancing Dead” is quite strong. They also, unlike a lot of their predecessor’s modern music, actually sell me on the things they’re going through. On “Cold” we’re told of a dying relationship and it doesn’t feel at all manufactured, there’s real pain her...