Listen: LLC's bold debut & more
A new year of newsletters
Back for another year of DBA! Going to try doing more of this in 2025, shorter newsletters with just one regular feature/writeup. Under that you’ll find short blurbs on other projects I’m enjoying, as well as various other highlights. Should make it easier for me to keep up with sending newsletters (at the very least I’d like to send you more than I did last year!). Will continually keep the 2025 playlist up to date with a song from everything featured in these newsletters, for the easiest way to follow along.
DBA’s 2025 Roundup Playlist!
the band - LLC
7 tracks, 24 minutes
Released: January 9th, 2025
From: New York, NY
Genres: Electronic, Rock, Pop
Recommended For Fans Of: LCD Soundsystem, The Dare, The 1975
A somewhat mysterious band, it’s been a little over one year since LLC put their first single Say What You Mean online, and they’ve come out at the very top of the year with their first project, the band. There’s not much to find about said band online. It’s a duo of Austin Steele & Jacob Geoffrey. They’re connected with young online artists like Torr & Gabby Start, and have a similarly undefinable sound. You could call it rock, if it didn’t refuse to stay within the lines of the genre. You could call it electronic if the riffs didn’t rip as hard as they do. You could file it away under the indie sleaze revival if it wasn’t so earnest. The singles had me ready to categorize this with 2k alt-rock like LCD Soundsystem and the 1975, but then the opening track sounds like an ambitious attempt at making a Pearl Jam song in a modern lens (positive). Overall it plays out like rock and roll kids raised with the internet, go in with an open heart and no expectations.
Standout Track: Alive
Other things I’m listening to
Madrid three piece Shego is clearly having fun with it, and showing shades of Hinds, on their endlessly catchy new album No lo voleré a hacer.
Courtnie pulls some talented assists from Phoelix on production and Kari Faux on co-writing for the quick and fun 3-track EP Poison.
I was able to go to the NYC release show for Tarune’s new album let him cry at Heaven Can Wait in the end of January. Really lovely show, Tarune and the opener Torri Weidinger combined for a beautiful Adrianne Lenker cover I’m still thinking about. Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner also pulled up and watched the whole set start to finish.
The latest EP from Uwase out of Brussels, ANGELO, has a haunting sincerity about it.
I’ve written about ZORA in the past, and they came through again with the dark, personal, and banging BELLADONNA.
RAFA’s new project ROCKSTARS ARE FUCKING AWESOME is a can’t miss for fans of Veeze and Lucki.
Don’t know that I’ll ever get tired of new projects from MIKE, no exception with Showbiz!.
Continued excellence in rock while still evolving and adding layers to his special sound from Bartees Strange on the new album, Horror.
This Rose Gray album, damn! Great dance pop out of the UK.
Quiet Light followed up one of my favorite albums from last year with the more ambient leaning EP, Pure Hearts.
Pretty and tender pop music on two great debut albums from Camille Schmidt on Nude #9 and Maddie Jay with I Can Change Your Mind.
Feel like we got to see a slightly different side of Detroit rapper Zelooperz on his collab project with producer Real Bad Man, Dear Psilocybin.
Valentin Hansen is still running
You may remember him from my in-depth profile way back in 2021. I was drawn to Hansen’s unique way of packaging and releasing music, that made consumers think about the landscape of music consumption and artist profits while they’re enjoying the tracks. He’s at it again with his latest release Max. A consistently growing project that you can follow on the site, or live stream on Youtube, as it continues on and on. It’s a never ending, always expanding album. As of sending this newsletter, it’s been going on for 58 days. I’m not quite clear on how he’s doing it or how AI is (likely, but not confirmed to be) involved. But it’s an ambitious endeavor either way. I love that he’s still keeping things interesting, making great music and releasing it in a way that makes you question modern music release and consumption.
You heard it here first, Death by Algorithm is getting a radio show!
Something I’ve been interested in starting for some time, had just been trying to find the right place. Happy to say I’ll be working with Moon Glow Radio, a DIY radio station streaming out of Los Angeles with a mission to uplift the voices of artists in order to aid in the discovery and enrichment of music, arts and culture within the community. The station felt very aligned with my personal goals for this blog, and my show will be an extension of this Death By Algorithm’s goals of uplifting artists and keeping a human element in music curation.
To start I’ll just be playing a mix of new music I’m excited about, going forward from there I’m interested in having artist interviews be part of the episodes. Very excited to start this endeavor and see how it expands and grows. Death by Algorithm Radio Hour premieres on March 8th at 5pm pst, with all episodes later available to stream on Mixcloud.
Gonna be a great year, keep up with us