Aster Tracks

Last year, right around this time, Sydney Sprague released her sophomore album somebody in hell loves you. That album was packed with jams, brutally honest lyrically and left quite an impression, it's still in my regular rotation. Now, as said, two years shy of the one-year anniversary, a new version of the album is here. This deluxe adds only ten extra minutes, three new songs and one re-imagined track, but has a lot to offer in terms of quality. The first of the new songs, "The Cards," comes latest in the track list but was released back in April. As a single I thought this was a fine blues-like about life being a lottery but nothing which blew me away as a song. In context to the record, I think it's elevated quite a bit. This pairs best to the somebody in hell style compared to the other new songs and has a natural lead into "big star go." The second single, "tell me" hits similar, I was sort of surprised how easily it fit in considering how mu...

In 2022 OK’s, CLIFFDIVER released Exercise Your Demons, a near perfect debut for any band to have. That record was packed with emo jams which felt like instant classics all with a presentation only this seven piece could deliver on. I myself was very into Demons, it was a top ten album for me in 2022 and helped me mend a lot of the growing pains I was going through at the time. You can imagine then how I was very much looking forward to a new album from the band and their second did not disappoint.  When I was starting this blog out, I went on a huge discovery kick and listened to a lot of classic scene records I had never heard. I sort of laughed off bands like The Mezingers or Spanish Love Songs for branding themselves on being punk for thirty-somethings. This was only four to five years ago, and yet as I sit here and birdwatching opens with "thirty, flirty, and thriving!!!" I realize it's now me who is now the target demographic. Thirty years and I still don't know...

Evelyn Gray has announced new album I HAVE BEEN FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE and, alongside has released lead single “AIR.” The new record will be released November 1st and, while short, this first track, while short, gives us a glimpse into the world she'll be guiding us through come the fall. The opening keys of “AIR” are uncomfortable and let you know you, as the listener, will be challenged here. The following anticipation doesn’t give you space to relax, off time keys and percussion generate this feeling of being watched, letting you know something is not right here. It’s an effect which makes this track build over time without necessarily becoming heavier, just changing the atmosphere every second of the way. When the track kicks in, even when you close your eyes and immerse yourself in it, there are whispers in the background, the vocals punch and pierce like they’re being performed right in front of you. This subject matter and performance on self destruction and having a hand in y...

After a five-year album break Charly Bliss have released third full length, "Forever." While I, myself, am not at all familiar with Charly Bliss outside the context of this album and was sort of surprised having had missed out seeing as they seem to have a pretty large following. For a listener who made it out of an abusive relationship, "Calling You Out" feels like its calling me out. It is very hard to love and be loved afterwards no matter what the circumstance. I was in a fourteen-year relationship I had mentally checked out of three years prior, and yet when I got into a new one it still started in a destructive place because of the strain. On "Nineteen" this is dissected even more, how can you love someone so genuinely, be so entranced by them, and yet still be at each other's throats? The actual relationship, or relationships, on Forever do evolve beyond this point, however. On "How Do You Do It" the lesson seems to be the only way to...

I wasn't sure what to expect of the jazz influence and direction Coup de Grace was going for, but it seems the band went all in here. This is far from SeeYouSpaceCowboy... with some sax interludes, it shoots for both in tandem. The transition to opening track "Allow Us to Set the Scene" hard cuts from one genre to the other seamlessly. There hasnt really been a SeeYouSpaceCowboy... album this varied in general. "Subtle Whispers to Take Your Breath Away" is very reminiscent of where screamo was in the late 2000s, heavy but with a dramatic flair. This lines up with the sass bands Connie [last name] lists as influences on this band's sound and maintains the heart of it while becoming more accessible than past releases. On Connie, she has become an undeniably excellent front woman at this point. The original selling point of her delivery, the sass-inspired spoken word, is still present. Only now she's gotten more varied yet with more of a razor focus. These ...

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 ...

After new years in 2020 I discovered Fake It Flowers, a record by then just nineteen-year-old Beatric Kristi Ilejay Laus or beabadoobee. Afterwards the singer put out some EPs and a sophomore album, none of which particularly caught my attention. Now, at twenty-four, she’s dropped album three and has elevated to a pretty significant level of fame opening for Taylor Swift and playing her own large-scale shows. One of my favorite parts of any bea track is her undeniable sense of humor and it's clear she hasn’t lost it, but it has evolved as time has gone on. While there’s no burn or obvious bite to a song like “Take a Bite,” there is a confidence and an honesty in owning up to situations sort of not present before. A song like “One Time” has the more classic version of this aspect of bea’s performance and lyricism; she talks about being reminded of someone who doesn’t cross her mind normally and turns into sort of a joke at their expense. Of course, of all of these, the real gem is “...