Aster Tracks

I don’t even have an interesting title here. This might be the best album of the year. I have tried and failed to get into Madi Diaz since 2021’s History of a Feeling . Every time I dig into a release by this artist I like the singles, maybe another track or two, nothing has ever connected quite like this. The first six words of Weird Faith is “what the fuck do you want?” Is an opening statement I could write an entire dissertation on. It poses hostility but follows it up with lines who pave the way for everything else we’re about to hear over the course of the next forty minutes. This record is spiked and icey tonally but just enough to melt at the warmest breath by its audience. This woman cares so much, in the hook to this track she talks about letting someone into her life to the point she’s risking ruining it and wondering if they on the other end are willing to do the same. This feeling as if you bow to everything someone wants, surely , it must work. Eventually though they’ll b...

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...

Super short review today, gang. This year I tried a new method of listening where I stock up on releases then when the month is over I dive in. The plus side is it’s a fun, non-overwhelming way to hear new music. The negative side is sometimes I find strings of albums I find not so interesting. Still is a record so entrenched in paying homage to its influences it stops before shooting for any sort of personality of its own. This is all inspiration all the time, sometimes it's just more or less obvious. Songs like “The Princess” really emotionally resonate with me being about a girl who wants everything and ends up recognizing you need to make room for the things which truly matter. But also, I’ve heard this exact same song sonically both from underground artists and even other 4AD signings. The only track I walk away with enjoying here is “ice” featuring They Hate Change but even then, the thing I remember most is the feature and short, simple hook. I don’t think this is a bad reco...

Back in November, With Sails Ahead entrusted the AsterTracks team with “Darting Eyes.” We had a bit of fun with the write up to the lead single of their debut record, but now they’ve sent us the whole thing. I don’t even know what to say as an intro to this one. This band already feels so huge in this space we all occupy, it feels like they’re always in conversation for being the best of the best in DIY and it’s weird to call this record an introduction. Still, Infinite Void is here and will be available to everyone on April 26th, but if you want the recount of the journey we went on within as an appetizer, we’re ready to share it. Even the first eight seconds of the record feel huge. “every day the sky falls” opens with just a few piano strokes and some chirping birds. It's a moment where you’re transported into this band’s world if only you allow yourself to get fully immersed in it. Vocally, the first verse opens so soft and vulnerable and tonally it picks up though at a snail...

Released in 2017, Greatest Hits , Remo Drive’s first record is seen as a modern emo classic. I’ve heard the record plenty but never anything beyond then and was warned by fans to stay far away from the later releases. To me, emo fans can be really stubborn and critical to a fault. I figured any new album by this band was probably fine, just different from the original. So, dear reader, I listened to Mercy to prove a point. Only my point was wrong, and I’m here to explain why. I think in Remo Drive’s case the problem isn’t a shift in genres, it’s the genre they shifted to is done poorly. Opening track “Please, Please be Smart” has all the makings of a band who wants so badly to be classic pop and writes as if they understand what being an everyman is supposed to be. To this point, the track isn’t really about anything . It pantomimes everything a song like this is supposed to be; the grand little chorus with distinguishable backing vocals, the extended post chorus, the grunt. It underst...

Galleons holds a special place in my heart as being a band I discovered in my first couple of months reviewing music. I sort of think of 2020 as the reformation of my tastes and Galleons was a welcome slot in the roster. Post-hardcore was something I grew up on but felt stale as I got older. Their last two records are ones I look back on fondly and if I’m being honest, I sort of felt this would be the album where I would start to grow tired here as well. But no, I was wrong, they did it again. On every album, while certainly within the same genre, the band sort of take on new elements and use them to change the old formula around. Violent Delights is no different, right from the beginning the band shows off a synth riff leading into a more traditional instrumental piece to show you just what the new ingredients are. Speaking instrumentally, I feel “You Who Swallowed a Shooting Star” is an incredible demonstration of the growth Sergio has undergone as a musician since the self-titled p...

I almost drafted this on my phone but didn’t. Is this a worthwhile cold open? I want to say upfront; while I think this is a great record it also has a lot of sounds you've already heard. Even track one, “Are You Waiting” has a combination of a chord progression and vocoder vocals which comes across as pretty unoriginal. When the track kicks in and is really given a chance, however, it’s something to behold. This cliche streak is much more apparent on side-b, there are a lot more basic song structures and I end up with very little to say on the later tracks. It also plays up the edgier sides of Stomach Book in a not so fun way. There are certain segments, especially one specifically where this artist threatens to kill the audience for a very long time, which completely takes me out of the record entirely. Even the good tracks on the second half don’t really bring it as hard. “Tragedy” is a fun emo cut and I want to go back to it but it’s also just not as creative as the earlier hal...

Last one I have to write for February, we did it girls, I am never doing this method again. (I will forget next year.) Every year I decide to try to run things a bit differently and every year I go back to the old me. Oftentimes the issue is biting off much more than I can chew and with March being such a heavy release month it’s often the time of year I have to ask myself the big questions. Just before we stop using every news site available, however, we found Stay Inside. One thing standing out to me about Stay Inside is their vocalist, Chris Johns, who has a very distinct type of delivery. Chris has this way of singing where it both sounds nonchalant and totally invested. The “I swear man” on the first track says it all before you dive too deep into anything else. There’s also a way of storytelling within the lyricism which has me completely invested because you know this author has been through it. On “Bon Zs” I have to ask myself if the question “I wonder if you tell your family H...

This was a good album to make breakfast to. Having just come down from the Madi Diaz record, I find myself in the mood for more singer-songwriter stuff. (Wouldn’t it be funny if we ran this one first?) Now, this isn’t to say Danielle Durack produced the same record, just one sort of on the same sonic line. On the emotional line this feels quite the opposite from the pained record we reviewed right before this. (Oh yea, we’re doing this first.) The album opens with “Shirt Song,” a track where Danielle explores the symbolism of holding onto objects left behind by an ex and having them take on new meaning as she makes them her own. This kind of optimism is really refreshing especially with break-up, or long past break-up, narratives. Sitting in my ex’s shirt, boiling water, making coffee, folding laundry, writing verse. It all just feels a little too absurd, we fell in love, a couple months, and now you’re nothing but another shirt. Even in being optimistic there are still cuts like “Good...

Being in the social media space of DIY is interesting as a lot of the relationships I have with certain bands is strictly tangential. From tours to in-scene influence I have heard the name ZOMBIESHARK! quite a bit but haven’t actually listened to any of their music until taking a chance on this album.  Something I respect immediately is a fair balance between several different genres of heavy music, all of which make up the greater sphere of the genre right now. You have the pitch shifted and all over the place synth sounds of cybergrind. There’s wild and hysterical screams and riffs from chaotic metalcore. All of this is in good balance, nothing is oversaturated. Where I start to lose interest in ZOMBIESHARK! is it all moves so fast I don’t feel like I have much time to enjoy or appreciate an idea as it all sort of blends together. They try so many things and cram so many sounds into such short parts and it all ends up feeling like iterations of the same sound. This isn’t to say t...