In August 2020, Sputnikmusic emerged from its longstanding morass of thesaurus metal and folk diarism, spurting to sufficient heights of credibility that it became possible to review unofficial Soundcloud demos without pulling the tier-Z faux pas of punching above our weight. Some would suggest becoming a not insufferable writer and “saving the w**k for the bathr**m fl**r” before exploiting this field of journalism, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. This is Sputnik’s biggest opportunity since sliced bread. In we go:
Better known as the vocalist for glitch pop/indietronica/post-anime/neo-alternative folktronica/dream pop group Macaroom, Emaru is an enigmatic lady who dances like a fucking weirdo, nailed whisper pop as an artform before Eilish apologists took out a loan on critical legitimacy, and runs a solo project on Soundcloud for obscure tracks and semi-developed drafts. Her new song “よるのみち” makes innovative and unconventional use of the platform by being a worthwhile piece of music released there in 2020.
It comes from an artistic mind so cutting edge that the majority of Americans will be flat-out incapable of understanding her, something I could tell immediately by the fact that she is wearing a mask in her profile picture. Her speaking a language that demands constant contextual awareness for basic comprehension absolutely in no way compounds this. Maybe this song will mark a renaissance for Soundcloud (it won’t). Does Soundcloud need a renaissance? I used to think it was going the way of MySpace, but then a girl…
Four years. That’s how long it’s been since Gore dropped, and I can still remember the feeling of utter disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, Gore was good – great, even – but how dare Deftones not fucking obliterate and hypnotize me at the same time with an indisputable album of the year? The nerve.
Needless to say, what’s bad for Deftones is still a career achievement for most other bands – but yeah, Gore didn’t leave much of an impression on me and I get the feeling that a lot of other fans felt the same way. It all just seemed so Deftones-by-numbers that it lacked any oomph or charisma. The songs began and ended and every time I was like, “Yup, that’s Deftones for ya” but then after each was done playing, I no longer cared (except for “Acid Hologram”, which still rules).
That’s why the on my very first spin of “Ohms”, I was already doing figurative cartwheels. The production is leaps and bounds ahead of Gore, and the shoegazey coating that has always suited them so well makes a return. Even the lyrics are better, achieving their trademark blend of romantic and ominous imagery: “So we slip into our hopeless sea of regret as I stare / Through the haunted maze in your eyes / Right through where I’ll remain for all time.” “Ohms” sounds immaculate and possesses an intense, fuzzed-out groove that any…
This feature is part of a hopefully ongoing series aimed at exploring the discographies of interesting and/or important bands whose wider body of work is often overlooked on this site. There will be lots of words and a few pictures, but the main deal is that if a band features here, they are good and you should listen to them! And if you already jam them, hit up the comments and explain where and why this is wrong! Get going!
Few projects inspire childlike wonder quite like San Francisco’s Sweet Trip. Comprised of multi-instrumentalist/programmer Robero Burgos, vocalist Valerie Cooper and a slim roster of session contributors, this project’s respective forays into indietronica, shoegaze, IDM, glitch and dream pop are so richly atmospheric and emotively crafted that they breeze effortlessly over listener preconceptions and strike to the heart of that early-teen feeling of awe at the sheer expressive and imaginative power of music. For those whose childhoods followed the correct timeline, this should align neatly with your first-time-hearing-Dark Side of the Moon memories.
Fortunately, Sweet Trip come with none of the teenage baggage – there’s something deeply cleansing about their approach to simple melodies and sophisticated arrangements that, even at their most intense or erratic, never fails to make me feel as though some previously unnoticed weight has suddenly disappeared from my shoulders. Roberto Burgos has a talent for imbuing mechanical sounds with a human…
“The Lakes” was highly anticipated, although by some more than others. A bonus track on Swift’s surprise album folklore, it was essentially a marketing ploy to get fans to pre-order a physical copy of the LP because it was being touted as “limited”. Even though the song would end up being released digitally before most fans received their CD/vinyl, the tactic worked. Swift now finds herself as the first artist to spend 40 weeks atop the Billboard Artist Chart thanks in large part to folklore‘s 3 week stretch – a streak that can be at least partially credited to continued intrigue over the delayed release of “The Lakes”.
So, marketing strategies aside, “The Lakes” is actually a very good song and arguably one of the best that Swift has ever penned (or half-penned, crediting Jack Antonoff’s omnipresence in nearly every pop production these days). Swift throws a lot of imagery at us in this string-swept ballad, which essentially boils down to a farewell: “Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die…I’m setting off, but not without my muse.” She seems disenchanted with society as a whole, from the controversy/cancel culture that tarnished her reputation circa her highly publicized conflict with Kanye West (“I’m not cut out for all these cynical clones / These hunters with cell phones”) to Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun, who dealed away Swift’s intellectual property giving her a chance to buy her…
Track Review: Carly Rae Jepsen – “Me And The Boys In The Band”
Carly Rae Jepsen has been very busy during quarantine. In May, she released a b-sides album from her acclaimed 2019 Dedicated LP, a piece that felt like a return to the upbeat, summery jams of Emotion. Now, she’s now gone on to release another absolute bop with “Me And The Boys In The Band.” It’s as if Jepsen knows exactly how to lift our spirits during these times, and she has a seemingly endless pool of optimism to tap into.
“Me And The Boys In The Band” is a funky, rhythmic ode to her bandmates and was created with the help of pop producer extraordinaire Jack Antonoff. The accompanying video features clips of each musician in their respective quarantines. Jepsen essentially sings about the good old days of live shows – driving to venues, exploring new cities, and partying afterwards. The longing nostalgia of the lyrics belie its upbeat, cheerful aura, especially when Carly sings, “So just take me to the stage / It’s been lit from the start / I need the summer fun.”
At least in the absence of actual summer fun, Jepsen has sent us all of the warm vibes that she possibly can. The ease with which she churns out these infectious, breezy, and carefree bangers is beginning to almost turn scary. Chalk another one up for the queen of pop music.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 21, 2020. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: August 21, 2020
Ars Magna Umbrae: Apotheosis
Genre: Black Metal
Label: 1154692 Records DK
Atramentus: Stygian
Genre: Death/Doom Metal
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Blackbear: everything means nothing
Genre: Indie-Pop/Rock
Label: Beartrap/Alamo/Interscope Records
Blues Pills: Holy Moly!
Genre: Rock/Psychedelic/Blues
Label: Nuclear Blast
Bob Moses: Desire
Genre: Electronic/House
Label: Domino Recording Co
Bright Eyes: Down in the Weeds Where the World Once Was
Genre: Folk/Indie-Rock
Label: Dead Oceans
Brimstone Coven: Woes Of A Mortal Earth
Genre: Stoner Rock/Hard Rock
Label: Ripple Music
Bully: SUGAREGG
Genre: Alt-Rock/Grunge/Indie-Rock
Label: Sub Pop Records
Cold War Kids: New Age Norms 2
Genre: Indie-Rock//Pop/Folk
Label: CWKTWO Corp.
Cut Copy: Freeze, Melt
Genre: Electronic/Pop/Post-Punk
Label: Cutters Record
Cytotoxin: Nuklearth
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Unique Leaders Records
Dan Croll: Grand Plan
Genre: Indie-Pop/Electronic
Label: Caroline International (P&D)
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 14, 2020. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: August 14, 2020
Biffy Clyro: A Celebration Of Endings
Genre: Alternative Rock/Post-Hardcore
Label: Warner Records
Black Marble: I Must Be Living Twice
Genre: Post-Punk/Electronic
Label: Sacred Bones Records
Decoherence: Unitarity
Genre: Black Metal/Industrial
Label: Sentient Ruin Laboratories
Ingested: Where Only Gods May Tread
Genre: Death Metal/Metalcore
Label: Unique Leader Records
Jordin Sparks: Sounds Like Me
Genre: Pop
Label: Disrupt Group
Kathleen Edwards: Total Freedom
Genre: Folk/Country/Alt-Rock
Label: Dualtone Music
This feature is part of a hopefully ongoing series aimed at exploring the discographies of interesting and/or important bands whose wider body of work is often overlooked on this site. There will be lots of words and a few pictures, but the main deal is that if a band features here, they are good and you should listen to them! And if you already jam them, hit up the comments and explain where and why this is wrong! Get going!
“I saw Stereolab in Bellingham and they played one chord for fifteen minutes / Something in me shifted / I brought back home belief I could create eternity.”
This is unfortunately not my anecdote, but rather a disconcertingly well-timed snippet from Phil Elevrum’s reminiscences on the new Microphones album. It stands out as the only moment on that record that I paused and rewound on first listen last night to confirm that I had heard it correctly, and it solved the problem I had been grappling with as I came to the end of marathoning the Stereolab discography: how on earth do you go about writing a fresh introduction to such an iconic, influential and well-chronicled band?
Fortunately, Phil was so kind as to answer this question by (probably) confirming my loose theory: pick out any forward thinking artist active in the indieverse over the last two and a half decades or so, and…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 7, 2020. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: August 7, 2020
Avatar: Hunter Gatherer
Genre: Melodic Death Metal/Heavy Metal
Label: Century Media Int’L
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 31, 2020. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: July 31, 2020 –
Alanis Morissette: Such Pretty Forks In The Road
Genre: Pop-Rock
Label: Epiphany Music
Alcatrazz: Born Innocent
Genre: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock
Label: Silver Lining Music
Brandy: B7
Genre: Hip-Hop/Pop/R&B
Label: Entertainment One
Creeper: Sex, Death & The Infinite Void
Genre: Gothic/Pop-Punk/Emo
Label: Roadrunner
Disavowed: Revocation of the Fallen
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Brutal Mind
Fontaines D.C.: A Hero’s Death
Genre: Punk/Post-Punk
Label: PTKF
High Spirits: Hard to Stop
Genre: Rock/Heavy Metal
Label: High Roller
Hockey Dad: Brain Candy
Genre: Alternative/Indie Rock
Label: BMG
Imperial Triumphant: Alphaville
Genre: Black/Death Metal
Label: Century Media
Katalepsy: Terra Mortuus Est
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Unique Leader
Land of Talk: Indistinct Conversations
Genre: Alt/Indie Rock
Label: Saddle Creek
Here’s a small list of some new releases for the week of July 24th, 2020. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors, and by all means, feel free to leave a comment as to what’s missing. How Sowing does this every week is beyond me.
– List of Releases: July 24th, 2020 –
The Acacia Strain – Slow Decay
Genre: Deathcore
Label: Rise Records
Bombay Bicycle Club – Two Lives (EP)
Genre: Indie Pop
Label: Mmm… Records
Courtney Marie Andrews – Old Flowers
Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Americana
Label: Fat Possum
Defeated Sanity – The Sanguinary Impetus
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Willowtip
Gaerea – Limbo
Genre: Black Metal
Label: Season of Mist
Haken – Virus
Genre: Progressive Metal
Label: InsideOutMusic
The Irrepressibles – Superheroes
Genre: Art Pop
Label: OND Recordings
Jessy Lanza – All the Time
Genre: UK Bass, Synthpop
Label: Hyperdub
Kamaal Williams – Wu Hen
Genre: Jazz/Funk
Label: Black Focus
Katie Dey – mydata
Genre: Art Pop
Label: Run for Cover
Logic – No Pressure
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label: Def Jam/Visionary Music
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 17, 2020. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: July 17, 2020 –
The Aces: Under My Influence
Genre: Indie-Pop/Rock
Label: Red Bull
Bing & Ruth: Species
Genre: Ambient/Classical
Label: 4AD
Blu & Exile: Miles
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label: Fat Beat
Dark Sarah: Grim
Genre: Metal/Gothic
Label: Napalm
The Chicks: Gaslighter
Genre: Country/Pop/Bluegrass
Label: Columbia
Ellie Goulding: Brightest Blue
Genre: Indie-Pop/Electronic
Label: Polydor
Eremit: Desert of Ghouls
Genre: Doom Metal/Drone
Label: Transcending Obscurity
Kansas: The Absence Of Presence
Genre: Progressive Rock
Label: InsideOutMusic
Khthoniik Cerviiks: Æequiizoiikum
Genre: Death/Black Metal
Label: Iron Bonehead
Kllo: Maybe We Could
Genre: Soul/Electronic/IDM
Label: Ghostly International
The Lawrence Arms: Skeleton Coast
Genre: Pop Punk
Label: Epitaph
Lianne La Havas: Lianne La Havas
Genre: Pop/Soul
Label: Warner
Lonely Robot: Feelings Are Good
Genre: Rock/Pop/Progressive
Label: InsideOutMusic
Mystras: Castles Conquered And Reclaimed
Genre: Black Metal/Folk
Label: Divine Element
Oliver Tree: UGLY IS BEAUTIFUL
Genre: Hip-Hop/Pop
Label: Atlantic
Pretenders: Hate for Sale
Genre: Punk/Rock
Label: BMG
First and foremost, it’s very unlikely that you’ll have heard of Eric Solomon. The Canadian artist briefly surfaced sometime between the late 2000s and early 2010s, most notably with the release of electro-pop single “A.L.L.” in 2010; I remember hearing that on constant rotation, here in Vancouver. At one point it even reached top 20 in the Billboard chart, in no small part thanks to an MTV appearance by Eric on defunct docu-drama The Youth Electric. Perhaps it would be a disservice to Eric Solomon’s musical abilities to focus on the trajectory of his (no longer) public image, but when you have a copy of his EP that no longer seems to exist on the Internet, you can’t help but wonder how someone who achieved a decent amount of radio play and publicity has, quite simply, disappeared from the Internet.
(In fact, “A.L.L.” wasn’t even the only song of Eric to have received radio play; I recall that “I Found Love” and “Lottery”, which both fall into the same stylistic vein, were both on air at some point. Strangely enough, the latter can now only be found in remixed versions.)
Search results reveal no social media presence, as well as few download or streaming links to his material — YouTube comes up with autofill results for song titles that lead to no actual video, and anything that does pop up on video sites…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of July 10, 2020. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors.
– List of Releases: July 10, 2020 –
Battle Dagorath: Abyss Horizons
Genre: Ambient/Black Metal
Label: Avantgarde Music
The Beths: Jump Rope Gazers
Genre: Indie/Alternative Rock
Label: Carpark Records
Dawn Of Ashes: The Antinomian
Genre: Industrial/Black Metal
Label: Artoffact Records
DMA’s: The Glow
Genre: Alt/Indie Rock
Label: Infectious Music
Ensiferum: Thalassic
Genre: Folk/Melodic Death Metal
Label: Metal Blade Records
Inter Arma: Garbers Days Revisited
Genre: Sludge/Black Metal
Label: Relapse Records
The Jayhawks: XOXO
Genre: Country/Americana/Alternative Rock
Label: SHAM
Julianna Barwick: Healing Is a Miracle
Genre: Ambient/Indie-Pop/Dream Pop
Label: Ninja Tune
July Talk: Pray For It
Genre: Rock/Blues
Label: BMG Rights Management
Kacy Hill: Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again
Genre: Dream Pop
Label: Kacy Hill
Margo Price: That’s How Rumors Get Started
Genre: Country/Americana
Label: Loma Vista
The Midnight: Monsters
Genre: Indie-Pop/Electronic
Label: Counter Records
Welcome to the second installment of our 2020 quarterly playlist/mixtape! Below you will find hand picked songs from April to June. Feel free to jam the playlist below while reading what our writers had to say about each selection. Tell us what your favorites are in the comments, as well as any new artists you may have discovered here – or, alternatively, tell us what we missed! Thanks for reading/listening.
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Tracklist:
Ad Infinitum – Marching on Versailles
Do a quick Google search for Melissa Bonny; she’s hot. Not just physically, but vocally. She seems to specialize in power metal, symphonic metal, and is also one of the more convincing female growlers out there. “Marching on Versailles” displays that ability with one of her many bands, Ad Infinitum. “Marching on Versailles” shares a lot in common with the proggy symphonic power metal of a modern Kamelot album execept heavier without nearly as much theatrics and cheese. — Willie
Andrew Judah – Hair of the Dog
If you’re into the theatrical, progressive rock of The Dear Hunter, then allow me to introduce you to
![everything means nothing [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81HoljYBi9L._SS500_.jpg)
![The Woes Of A Mortal Earth [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/814nT4HtbmL._SS500_.jpg)
![Zeros [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81NtDpOrxYL._SS500_.jpg)
![A Celebration Of Endings [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/910MrctHG9L._SS500_.jpg)
![Where Only Gods May Tread [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81H8YUyv+4L._SS500_.jpg)
![Immersion [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91c35LyF68L._SS500_.jpg)
![Open Up Your Head [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81luKMAIpwL._SS500_.jpg)
![Dreamland [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81vMxIyDZ9L._SS500_.jpg)
![New Truth [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61yFXd4RoyL._SS500_.jpg)
![Yōkai [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91ctQzJfv-L._SS500_.jpg)
![Sucker's Lunch [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81NO4vRDJfL._SS500_.jpg)
![Under My Influence [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71X0OP4BvuL._SS500_.jpg)
![Miles [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/A1foMHfVTbL._SS500_.jpg)
![Gaslighter [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71-pO9-Rp6L._SS500_.jpg)
![Brightest Blue [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71nGbZyxRQL._SS500_.jpg)
![Skeleton Coast [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/712D1o2Ui3L._SS500_.jpg)
![Ugly is Beautiful [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81ZGkTNdZiL._SS500_.jpg)
![Pray For It [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81paYw4sBML._SS500_.jpg)
…
