The Summer Shortlist
Except it's long
It’s been too long friends. To compensate for 5 months worth of no content, this is a much longer collection of projects to sink your teeth into. A shortlist of 25 underrated projects from Summer ‘23 (and in some cases from earlier in the year that I didn’t listen to until summer). Take your time going through this one, it’s a long read, but it will fill your hearts and earbuds for a while if you’re patient with it. Got a major assist from Chanell "Tico" Noise, who worked on write-ups and some curation for this piece. Give her a follow and hire her for all your music journalism needs (chanellthewriter@gmail.com). Write-ups by Chanell are attributed as such.
Remember, the 2023 roundup playlist collects all the songs in these posts in one place! It’s been updated with all the Summer Shortlist songs at the top.
Leech! - Belly of the Heart
10 tracks, 33 minutes
Released: April 7th, 2023
From: Richmond, VA
Genres: Neo-Pop, Alternative-Rock
Recommended For Fans Of: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yaeji, Sudan Archives
Although Belly of The Heart claims Richmond as a homebase, I had the privilege of experiencing LEECH! at a show at Baby’s All Right in NYC. Belly of The Heart served sex appeal and pop prowess like no other. There are sly hooks, velvet vocals, witty bridges and expansive production. Belly of The Heart acts as a student of the game with LEECH!. The album builds on the foundation set by 90s pop. LEECH! also incorporates the electronic and dance techniques of today. And true to their Richmond roots, there are punk elements that bare their crunchy texture intermittently throughout the album. Kevin, Liv and Samuel tell the story of modern romance in a cool way. E T A and Beep Beep propel us through the anticipation of our love interest coming over. While Papercut, Chew Your Head Off and Jig Is Up bring our little fling to a halting stop. Deep and relatable themes parade around as whimsical lyrics. The bars “I gave you what you want// now you want more, nevermind…” and “wish I kept you a stranger from the moment I met you,” are too poignant to skip over.
-CHANELL
Standout Track: Jig Is Up
Fourth of July - Quiet Light
7 tracks, 22 minutes
Released: July 1st, 2023
From: Austin, TX
Genres: Alternative, Indie, Electronic
Recommended For Fans Of: Katy Kirby, Fauness, Sadurn
Quiet Light, project of Austin singer-songwriter Riya Mahesh, has quietly been having a big summer. With no major output before this year, Quiet Light released their first, second, and third projects ever within a four month span. My highlight of the bunch is the middle release, Fourth of July, coming after I Love You Because You’re In Love With the World and before Blue Angel Sparkling Silver. While there’s intimate beauty in the other two releases that dabble in more ambient, slice of life electronics, Fourth of July reels in the focus and gives those emotions more multitudes through her lyrical depth. One of Mahesh’s strengths as a songwriter is being able to sing specifically personal lyrics in ways that anyone can still relate to. I’ve never had an experience exactly as described in my standout track where she sings, “I’ve been reading books like a little kid trying to understand what it is you did, and every time I see someone drive your car I die a little inside.” But it speaks to resoundingly universal experiences of changing relationships, and desperately seeking understanding. The way she’s able to blend those vulnerable human emotions and warm acoustic sounds with the harsher electronics in the hard autotuned backing vocals creates a beautiful chaotic contrast.
Standout Track: Fourth of July
The Coming of Gaze - KABEAUSHÉ
13 tracks, 37 minutes
Released: May 12th, 2023
From: Kampala, Uganda
Genres: Hip-Hop/Rap, Alternative, Abstract, Experimental
Recommended For Fans Of: Teezo Touchdown, Montell Fish, EXUM
KABEAUSHÉ’s bio begins, “For as long as their family recalls, Kabochi was always attracted to extreme softness.” Which comes as a surprise when you hear how abrasive this album is. Constantly avoiding the ordinary, these tracks often combine hip-hop and layered pop vocals with drum machine heavy off-kilter alternative beats that sway in style and substance on a song to song basis. The closest musical comparison is to what Teezo Touchdown is currently doing, and KABEAUSHÉ cites M.I.A’s Arular, Kanye’s Graduation and Tyler’s Cherry Bomb as important influences, along with any 80s pop band, “like Bananaram.” But really this album lives in a world of its own, a world KABEAUSHÉ created. The cover implies an abstract collage, because it essentially is. While everything about the music and the project feels intentional, this is technically a compilation album, bringing together a selection of twelve tracks from four years ago when KABEAUSHÉ released a new single every week for about six months. The Coming of Gaze still works cohesively as a glimpse into a creative exploring their sound and coming into their own as an artist. It’s one of the most exciting collections of songs you’ll hear this year. KABEAUSHÉ’s first proper album, HOLD ON TO DEER LIFE, THERE’S A BLCAK BOY BEHIND YOU! (sic) is coming November 10th.
Standout Track: A Song About Joy and Sadness
She Only Said - Glixen
6 tracks, 22 minutes
Released: August 11th, 2023
From: Phoenix, AZ
Genres: Shoegaze, Alternative, Dream Pop
Recommended For Fans Of: Slowdive, Smashing Pumpkins, Mazzy Star
Forming in 2020 with their first official single release in 2021, Phoenix shoegazers Glixen exploded onto the scene this year with their first proper project, She Only Said. It’s heavy and spacey, made to wash you out and drown you at the same time. Lead singer Aislinn Ritchie’s vocal’s perfectly compliment the wall of sound production, floating angelically across the mix. The EP naturally evokes 90s rock, and a baggy clothing and VHS aesthetics will likely come to mind while you’re listening. That said, Glixen doesn’t look like your stereotypical shoe gaze band, and they don’t act like it either, repurposing the sound for a new generation. “I wanted to introduce this music to a lot of people and do something different for this genre. Because this genre is just like, it’s not like how I treat it,” Ritchie told Alexia Hill for The Chic. “How we perform, how we look, how we present ourselves is very different from other fields.” Part of that difference is making sure that there’s room for newcomers that wasn’t necessarily there before, as guitarist Stevie Santana adds, “it’s about branching the music out. We’re less like the gate kept shoegaze bands…to me, it feels kind of like we’re trying to branch out. We like to be welcoming.”
Standout Track: Splendor
Room Temperature - Deiondre
9 tracks, 32 minutes
Released: June 16th, 2023
From: Kansas City, MO
Genres: Dance, Electronic, Alternative, R&B
Recommended For Fans Of: Frank Ocean, De La Soul
Listen, I love when dudes sing. And I love when producers lay vocals on their own work. Deiondre, 1/3 of BLACKSTARKIDS, is the poster-child (pun intended) of multi-instrumentalists. His ability to use his voice as another instrument in his mixes is beautiful. Room Temperature is another album offering up a buffet of musical flavors. Frequency V2 serves club vibes while We Should Hangout serves ‘playlist for my crush.’ Deiondre manages project cohesion and still gives listeners genre diversity. There is always a solid percussive attitude and some bars. There are always some fun production choices (synths, soulful ad-libs and unique song titles.) I don’t think it’s too much to say Room Temperature is setting the tone for the future of music. Many artists are tearing down the walls of what a genre was. Room Temperature lets us know that Deiondre understood the assignment.
-CHANELL
Standout Track: Tight Rope
Art School Dropout - Jamee Cornelia
18 tracks, 45 minutes
Released: January 6th, 2023
From: Atlanta, GA
Genres: Hip-Hop/Rap, Alternative, Indie Rap
Recommended For Fans Of: Noname, Fat Tony, Odd Mojo
If ATL/LA rapper and creative Jamee Cornelia truly dropped out of art school, they must have felt they already knew more than the professors. Though you can still think of Cornelia as the cool senior on campus, kicking knowledge and good vibes down to the freshmen. With their latest project Art School Dropout, their creative vision is fully on display as they consistently prove they can give you both bars and melody simultaneously. Throughout the 18 track album they do this in different ways too, with beats suited for Princess Nokia, Rico Nasty, Saba, Kid Cudi, and many others all living cohesively within the tracklist. Like Picasso during his cubism period, Cornelia is able to piece together seemingly unrelated ideas and sounds to craft a larger picture that’s a work of art.
Standout Track: City Full Of Stars
delusions - Kibi James
11 tracks, 37 minutes
Released: August 25th, 2023
From: Atlanta, GA
Genres: Indie Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Recommended For Fans Of: Crumb, Mazzy Starr, Angel Olsen
Fuerza is in my top ten tracks of the year so it’s only fitting that it’s home, delusions, get recognized here. The three-piece from Atlanta genre-bend in a way that cannot be emulated. Mari, Pomi and MJ come together to map out avenues of trippy softness. Every lane Kibi James hops in, they own it. Some songs switch percussive attitudes before a hook without warning. Other songs feature lyrics in both Spanish and English.“We cry out in this quiet desperation, wake up and go to work again today.” Kibi James goes for the emotional jugular on several songs. Don’t be fooled by the smooth delivery. Listen to the heart of these three and you’ll find yourself in an ocean of unconfronted feelings. Delusions is an aptly named project, for sure.
-CHANELL
Standout Track: Fuerza
We Don’t Like The People We’ve Become - Gallus
12 tracks, 39 minutes
Released: June 9th, 2023
From: Glasgow, UK
Genres: Punk, Indie, Alternative
Recommended For Fans Of: Sports Team, Indoor Pets, Parquet Courts
Meet the Scottish group making Pub-Punk rock for the everyman. Gallus are the first to label themselves as unpretentious, “big dumb idiots,” that you can see yourself in. The four piece band took their name from a spot they were regulars at, Glasgow’s Bar Gallus, though they’ve since been “semi barred” from drinking there. Don’t underestimate these “idiots” though, Gallus makes rock that explodes with energy as they shout back at a world on fire with their debut album. Lead singer Barry Dolan’s lyrics seem to come from a combined place of frustration and self-deprecation, which makes for a shockingly honestly but often entertaining time. It’s no surprise that the band has garnered a reputation for their rowdy live sets as they’ve performed up and down the UK. If it’s anything like this album, a Gallus show sounds like a place where ordinary people who are pissed off at the world can find a place to channel that rage into screaming out pessimistic tongue in cheek lyrics from a mosh pit. Something I’m sure we could all use.
Standout Track: Sickness and Health
Slicc - SliccMic
9 tracks, 18 minutes
Released: March 23rd, 2023
From: Los Angles, CA
Genres: Pop, Electronic, PC Music
Recommended For Fans Of: Cowgirl Clue, 454, Hannah Diamond, pinkcaravan!
SliccMic makes bubbly internet pop for a digital age on her debut project Slicc. She keeps things short and sweet here, with the longest songs falling just short of two and a half minutes. It’s an ideal length for music that sounds ready made to accompany TikToks and Reels a plenty. That’s not dismissive of the content here in any way, that takes skill even if she makes it seem easy. SliccMic has a real knack for drenching her voice in autotune and running through these songs like playgrounds, bouncing over sugary 808s and swinging across delightful synth melodies like monkey bars. These nine tracks feel like you’re floating through the clouds, but pulling out your phone to take a selfie and scroll a little bit while you’re up there. Ultimately, this is a fun project, made to soundtrack life’s fun little moments. The project could be alternatively titled “Music To Slay To.” Who couldn’t use more music like that?
Standout Track: Off the Script
This and Other Gestures - gal pal
14 tracks, 55 minutes
Released: June 2nd, 2023
From: Los Angeles, CA
Genres: Rock, Indie
Recommended For Fans Of: Soccer Mommy, EYEDRESS, Indigo De Souza
This and Other Gestures provides the perfect sonic-space to don over-ear headphones and close your eyes. The production, mix and master on this album are incredible. The album plays like a live set. Gal Pal: Unplugged vibes. The string (bass/guitar) intricacies, percussive swing, vocal range and sampled sound bites melt together, beautifully. The three-piece band from LA goes the extra mile with respect to their production and it pays off (Emelia Austin, Nico Romero and Shayna Han). Their engineering decisions yield an album that allows a listener to cruise the spread of emotions offered up. For example both Think About Your Crush and Angel in the Flesh, stamp Gal Pal’s production prowess. On Think About Your Crush the vocals double up and don’t overpower. The double-up lends soulfulness and warmth. Angel in the Flesh, opens with 45 seconds of instrumentation- no words. At 8 seconds, when another electric comes in, the vibe is too nostalgic, too emotional, too good. The tone is set before Nico, Emelia, or Shayna utter a syllable. Gal Pal is clearing their cousins in rock by leaps and bounds with respect to composition. On This and Other Gestures, Gal Pal rides the wave of music and brings listeners along for the ride.
-CHANELL
Standout Track: Angel in the Flesh
Strawberry Runners - Strawberry Runners
12 tracks, 31 minutes
Released: August 25th, 2023
From: Brooklyn, NY
Genres: Indie, Folk, Alt-Country, Pop
Recommended For Fans Of: Katy Kirby, Becca Mancari, Field Guides
Strawberry Runners is the solo project of Brooklyn artist Emi Night, who’s released songs and EPs under the moniker since as far back as 2013, returning now with their self-titled debut album. The music is folk or alt-country in nature, but feels made from a pop perspective with the songwriting and the little intricacies added to the production of each track. It’s soft and tender, but always includes fun melodies or childlike bells/synths on many of the songs. Even on the (thematically) heavier tracks, there’s often at least one element like that for the listener to grasp and hold onto if needed. And this is often necessary, as Night navigates difficult topics of grief, trauma, and growth throughout the project. Ultimately it sounds like the growth wins out, making these tracks feel triumphant. Turning these moments to music helps both to put power behind the experiences, and to pass that power along to others, as they told Miranda Wollen for Paste Magazine, “a song is something beautiful I can make out of this twisted world, and it can connect to someone who needs it.”
Standout Track: Breakup 2
REDSTARR01 - HEARTAVI
9 tracks, 23 minutes
Released: February 17th, 2023
From: Pittsburgh, PA
Genres: Pop, Dance
Recommended For Fans Of: PinkPantheress, Brandy, Lil Uzi Vert
HEARTAVI can SING-sing. Redstarr01 is what happens when a one-in-a-million vocalist lays down with out-of-this-world production. HEARTAVI reaches for Mariah level notes with finesse. I can’t call the vibes 8-bit here, she's serving 8K voice the whole project. Like other projects highlighted in this post, I keep asking myself: “Are genres dead?” There are clear pop influences with HEARTAVI’s choice of subject matter and song structure. At the same time, Redstarr01 has a production pattern that would jump in any club. No matter what category you assign, HEARTAVI seizes the chance to carve her own lane, period. Between Kingdom Hearts-esque and Dance-like instrumentals, Redstarr01 blurs the lines between R&B, pop and electronic music with taste. Truly a pop giant in the making, she goes the extra-mile to give listeners a remix of her closing track on the album.
-CHANELL
Standout Track: Rip It!
GREEN LP - moshimoshi
12 tracks, 32 minutes
Released: April 28th, 2023
From: Helsinki, Finland
Genres: Punk, Indie Rock
Recommended For Fans Of: A Day To Remember, Asking Alexandria, Bad Brains
One of my favorite sonic decisions that moshimoshi makes on Green LP is adding saxophones! Green LP is full of surprises. Blaring vocals are right around the corner from lackadaisical melodies. Aforementioned jazz notes follow closely on the heels of intense percussive spikes. moshimoshi achieves a rock charcuterie on their project. There are songs for everyone on this album. Sammalet for the low-end lovers (lovely bass-lines), Mess Like Me for the upbeat head-bangers (guitars going crazy!), and Sleeping Under a Leaf for our melody/instrumental friends. Another highlight worth noting is Green LP’s cover art. moshimoshi’s drive to stand apart goes as deep as flexing a one-of-one illustration and custom copy for Green LP’s cover. What moshimoshi bring to the table can’t be copied- there are too many delicious variables.
-CHANELL
Standout Track: Mess Like Me
Miramar - Júlia Colom
10 tracks, 30 minutes
Released: April 28th, 2023
From: IB, Spain
Genres: Folk, Spanish Guitar, Electronic
Recommended For Fans Of: José González, ROSALÍA
Júlia Colom’s powerful vocals are the highlight of this project through and through. As if that wouldn’t already be clear, the project is introduced by a haunting acapella opener that displays the depths of her vocal abilities, as well as the vocal studies and education in composition, musical production, and jazz improvisation that Colom moved to Barcelona for at the age of 18. Also taking musical influence from the rural communities of Mallorca, Colom’s debut album Miramar works as a bridge between the old and the new. Much of the project shows Colom as an artist that excels in the traditional, but what makes her music most compelling is when she proves she’s not afraid to bring in the contemporary as well, like with the rumbling 808s and laser synths that surround Estròfica. It’s not often you get a song sounding classical enough that you’d expect to find it on a dusty record in a vintage store, being fused with sounds you’d hear on a Travis Scott album. It’s in this way Colom is able to use her dynamic voice and powerful songwriting to introduce the folklore of Mallorca’s “tonades” to a new generation.
Standout Track: Estròfica
Lip Filler - Lip Filler
4 tracks, 12 minutes
Released: May 4th, 2023
From: London, UK
Genres: Rock, Alternative, Indie
Recommended For Fans Of: Arctic Monkeys, Blur
Lip Filler’s self-titled debut EP is one I’ve been on the lookout for since the release of their first single, Cool, about this time last year. The track simultaneously evokes early Arctic Monkeys while fusing in spacey effects with layers of self-awareness, and sounds damn cool while doing it. Naturally it had me wanting more, and the band delivered with this four track project. Though they’ve just recently moved out, the five friends that make up Lip Filler lived together in a flat above a chicken shop during the making of these songs. With this first project, Lip Filler invites everyone into the flat to experience life with them (you can get a detailed breakdown of their cover fridge here for a more immersive experience). They even literally invited people in for a secret show this summer, as NME detailed the adventure fans went on to get to the gig by first meeting at a pub before the band lead everyone down the street into a alley, through the chicken shop, and up the backstairs to arrive at the night’s ‘venue.’ Where Lip Filler succeeds is making music with this electrifying ‘DIY secret house show’ energy, along with the production value and songwriting to rival any of their influences.
Standout Track: Cool
I Digress… - Kelly Moonstone
10 tracks, 35 minutes
Released: May 30th, 2023
From: Queens, NY
Genres: Neo-Jazz, R&B, Soul
Recommended For Fans Of: Jill Scott, Summer Walker, H.E.R
“So get the name right, don’t ever call me moonshine.”
Formerly known as The Aphr0dite, Kelly Moonstone re-introduces her prodigal voice via I Digress… The self-released album (Moonstone Records) platforms Kelly’s lyricism and creative direction. Kelly has the voice of an angel. She breathes life into each song, whispering airy ad-libs on earthy hooks. This album sounds like what vanilla and shea butter smell like. Yet Kelly sings songs that speak to both our light and shadow. Burn Your House Down brings all of our inner Left-Eye Lopez (RIP) feelings front and center. Sinner is an anthem for sneaky-links worldwide. Kelly Moonstone’s ability to make lemonade out of lemons is alchemical. We need to appreciate Kelly’s range; her musical arsenal should be the new standard, for sure. She taps into positive affirmations, call-and-response, improvisation and rap (so many chewy bars.) I Digress… is a decadent slice of life and I want another plate.
-CHANELL
Standout Track: Baby Hairs
wallflower - Hadji Gaviota
10 tracks, 24 minutes
Released: August 17th, 2023
From: Queens, NY
Genres: Alternative, Anti Pop, Hip-Hop/Rap, R&B
Recommended For Fans Of: BLACKSTARKIDS, Junior Varsity, Groupthink
Queens artist Hadji Gaviota approaches his music with a deep and open vulnerability for his listeners to fall into and find comfort in. It’s the type of transparency that could only come from an artist who side hustles teaching high schoolers (Pitchfork in its glory days still has nothing on a teenager giving their honest opinion). But behind that openness, he puts a lot of power. Because you’re not just going to be relating to what he’s talking about, you’re going to be rocking with how he’s saying it. Always catchy, tailor made for repetition, and prime for anti-pop playlists, it’s fun and accessible songs with edge to them as well. Navigating the industry can feel overwhelming especially starting out without a big team behind you. Artists in this position often find themselves having to play many roles themselves outside of the music like manager, booking agent, publicist, business manager, accountant, content creator, and more. In not being shy about detailing both his wins and his losses along the path as a DIY artist, Gaviota creates a refreshing sense of camaraderie through his lyrics. He essentially tells listeners, even if you mostly just see his successes online, he’s still going trough many of the same struggles as you. All the while sonically, the album careens through drum & bass, pop punk, rap, indie rock, electronic, R&B, and more. A smorgasbord of influences mixed together and thrown at the wall, leaving behind Wallflower.
Standout Track: Ur So Cool
Apparition - Dominic Sen
12 tracks, 37 minutes
Released: June 9th, 2023
From: Brooklyn, NY
Genres: Electronic, Pop, Indie
Recommended For Fans Of: Caroline Polachek, Empress Of, Sylvan Esso
Dominic Sen helps carry the torch (or candelabra, as she wields in some of the album’s press photos) of pop music’s new futuristic wave on her latest album Apparition. Many electro-pop artists have a pop first attitude in their sound, but Sen (who self-produced the entire album) strikes you as an artist that could have a successful career as an instrumental electronic producer if she liked. What’s most fascinating about the soundscapes she builds is how they’re able to feel futuristic while slightly medieval at the same time. Even though everything is clearly computer generated, coating the songs in their out-of-this-world shine, there’s still a very traditional feeling to many of the tones and melodies (more so with the album cuts than the grittier singles like Folding In). Maybe there’s a future with an acoustic version of this album that sounds fit to play in a woodland forest. To build on this theme even further, Sen made a sheet music zine for sale on Bandcamp that also includes, “lore and poetry that expands upon the record's mythology.” It’s in this way that Sen is able to craft her own world of ethereal time bending pop songs.
Standout Track: Pomegranate
Slouch - Kicksie
11 tracks, 35 minutes
Released: April 14th, 2023
From: Toronto, Ontario
Genres: Indie Pop, Rock, Emo
Recommended For Fans Of: Pool Kids, Beach Bunny
Killer melodies, riffs, gang vocals, and abundant emotions power Kicksie’s latest album, Slouch. Kicksie (22 year old Giuliana Mormile) has had prolific output, with this being her 5th album since the 2018 debut Doghouse. Mormile has a knack for approaching hard feelings from a more whimsical view, like aligning her mood with being hit by a blue shell in Mario Kart on the track You’re On, or the opening lines of Sinking In, “I’m not doing so hot these days, damn guess isolation got hands.” This helps make the themes of Slouch an easier pill to swallow. A spiritual successor to her prior album All My Friends, this album deals with the fallout of when the people closest to you suddenly don’t want to be in your life anymore. “It’s extremely hard even now; I don’t know what caused it but I still feel like it’s my fault, and I blame myself for whatever happened,” Mormile told Tim Anderl for New Noise Magazine. “Slouch is the direct aftermath of that. It’s about wondering what the hell is going on, where I went wrong, and creating my own closure so I can move on.” Like Banshees of Inisherin through a raucous emo pop lens, Slouch is as fun a time you can have listening to sad songs this year.
Standout Track: Sinking In
001011 - Salvia
14 tracks, 57 minutes
Released: June 22nd, 2023
From: Denbighshire, Wales
Genres: Experimental-Pop, Hyperpop, Electronic
Recommended For Fans Of: Sevdaliza, Flume, Grimes
001011 breathes life back into the term “experimental.” Salvia exercises music fundamentals via song-structure, clean production and creativity. What goes really crazy is her universe building. From the title track 001011 to the closer The Man Who Watches Me Sleep, a whole simulated world is built through sound. If listeners close their eyes and deeply listen, 8-bit and chrome textures overpower all senses. Salvia is our very own sexy Siri manifested in reality- she’s our very own pop iRobot. The album is mostly electronic in nature, but there are homages to pop with Salvia’s vocals and catchy hooks. Her vocal range is nothing to scoff at. Salvia serenades in higher octave registers effortlessly, clearing many of her genre peers. If you weren’t hip to the fashion, fetish, posthuman leader known as Salvia, this album is a GREAT introduction. 001011 is one of those “no-skips” type albums, salute to Salvia.
-CHANELL
Standout Track: Money
Shrug - Exercise
11 tracks, 29 minutes
Released: August 8th, 2023
From: Wilmington, NC
Genres: Alternative, Math Rock
Recommended For Fans Of: Palm, Pom Pokko, Spirit Of The Beehive
As the world is constantly changing in strange ways all around us, Exercise looks back and does all you can really do, Shrug. This eclectic debut album encapsulates the mundane anxiety that can come along with everyday occurrences. Listening feels like having a panic attack in a mosh pit, but finding reassurance by looking around and seeing everyone else having the same experience. If we’re going to do this day in and day out, might as well find your own crazy way to enjoy it, yeah? Songs like ollieovercar & TMJ exemplify just how well the three piece band has mastered the tension and release of songwriting, pulling the listener in and pushing them back out with abrupt instrumental switches, again akin to being in the pit at a rowdy concert. It feels frantic in an addicting way. You’ll hear instrumental influences from modern alt-rock peers, but don’t miss the deeper influences from countless others like System of a Down, Aphex Twin, & Parliament. They blend all these influences into their own unique style of scatted indie math rock, that's here to make a statement.
Standout Track: On A Stick
Be My Vengeance - Destiny Bond
10 tracks, 18 minutes
Released: June 23rd, 2023
From: Denver, CO
Genres: Alternative Rock, Hardcore
Recommended For Fans Of: Slapshot, Black Flag, Dag Nasty
Be My Vengeance dropped at the top of the summer to an eager and hungry hardcore fanbase. The album was released via independent label, Convulse Records. This indie label, founded by Destiny Bond’s drummer Adam Croft, sports a healthy roster of projects on their Bandcamp page. Take note, Destiny Bond is true to this, not new to this. The five-member band prides themselves on both cultivating and supporting the hardcore scene (Amos Helvey, Emily Armitage, Rio Wolf, Cloe Madonna, Adam Croft). Front woman, Cloe Madonna, told Westword that OGs in hardcore are “...literally finding a way to hand these kids something that we might have had to take for ourselves.” Be My Vengeance is definitely a gift handed to hardcore. At just under 20 minutes, the project takes listeners on a journey through positive affirmations, blunt dissatisfaction and strong-ass guitar work. There is no sonic stone left unturned. The last song, Harmony, flexes warlike verses over radical instrumentation. The guitar solo in the end is legendary as well. Bring back instrumental solos, bring back honest lyrics and bring back community. Destiny Bond is the vanguard for hardcore right now; the genre is in good hands.
-CHANELL
Standout Track: Blood Chokes
Grand Eugène - Grand Eugène
7 tracks, 20 minutes
Released: June 9th, 2023
From: Montreal, Québec
Genres: Dream Pop, Indie Rock, French Pop
Recommended For Fans Of: Men I Trust, The Marías, Mild High Club
Let yourself drift away to Grand Eugène’s dreamy indie pop on their self-titled debut EP. It’s an incredibly clean sounding record for one that was apparently recorded between a shed in Saint-Hugues and a room above a bar on Le Plateau. Further proof that making the best with what you have available can still lead to fantastic results. The album was written in French and crafted across Vancouver, Montreal, and Quebec. But you don’t need any French fluency to understand the gentle love and attention that went into the tracks. It all comes across through the deliberately delicate touch behind each song.
Standout Track: Mon amour
Don’t Walk - Tom Verberne
9 tracks, 32 minutes
Released: May 24th, 2023
From: Auckland, New Zealand
Genres: Alternative, Electronic
Recommended For Fans Of: Harry Teardrop, Postcard Boy, The 1975
Tom Verberne is continuing to make international waves out of New Zealand with the release of his fifth project, Don’t Walk. Real DBA fans will remember Verberne from the Harry Teardrop shoutout in our 2021 interview! Here he continues with his trademark nostalgia tinged alt-rock that he’s been pioneering since 2018. Could it be the blend of the 90s guitars with modern programmed drums and synths that evokes this feeling? Maybe, but maybe it’s the passionate lyrics and the sincere way he’ll so often sing them. Probably a mix of both. The earnest vocals will remind you of the heart at the root of this project, that is somehow able to coexist with the ‘too cool to care’ demeanor most of the songs hold. Verberne sounds as good as his contemporaries (James Ivy, stupid rich kid, Maxwell Young, etc.), but where he’s best able to separate himself to me is with his ability to strip back for his more acoustic focused tracks like Vicodin and Please Don’t Be Who I Think You Are. The various layers on display in his production and songwriting shows Verberne as focused & confident as ever with his latest.
Standout Track: Sit In the Back
Al Hadr - Sabrina Bellaouel
13 tracks, 41 minutes
Released: March 3rd, 2023
From: Paris, France
Genres: R&B, Electronic, Dance
Recommended For Fans Of: Kelela, Tinashe, Niia
Sabrina Bellaouel is a French-Algerian artist from southern Paris that sings in English, French, and Arabic (Al Hadr means ‘the present time’ in Arabic). Similar to the language switching, Bellaouel shifts in and out of different genre styles, patching different influences together to create her sound. The type of fusion electronic music that Bellaouel makes feels like taking ideas and elements behind classic R&B, and putting them into a club or dancefloor context. Making the songs danceable was important, because among the myriad of influences (spirituality, astrology, club culture, romance, the body, self-love), an important theme here is that dancing is healing. The ability dance gives you to lose yourself in the moment and not be weighed down by the past or future became very reflective of the album’s themes and the principle behind the title. “Al Hadr is a magic world, it’s like ‘hakuna matata’,” she told Rhian Daly for Crack Magazine. “It’s a healing mantra that really helped me to reconnect with my body and the world.”
Standout Track: Body
Other Things Worth Hearing
Cydnee with a C’s 2nd EP, Confessions of a Fangirl brings together the influences of all the artists she’s fangirled over.
What on earth is FLYEST GANGSTAS - G4 EDITION (2007)? You won’t find many answers online, but it looks like a lost street rap tape from ‘07 Virginia that was just now uploaded exclusively to Bancamp by Illa Styles. It’s an incredibly hard time capsule.
Sam Austins delivers fiercely abrasive anti-pop in the vein of Jean Dawson on his latest release BOY TOY.
Long Beach singer Junatime teams up with Izzy & The Fins for the slow jam R&B evoking Champagne & Blue Skies EP.
Baltimore rapper 4kmicheal has a great ear for harmonies and builds them with vocal stacks excellently, displayed by his second album Free The Birds.
Indie rock supergroup alert: the power of members from Pleasure Leftists, Profligate, and Cloud Nothings collide on the debut EP by Disintegration, Time Moves For Me.
The Filipino JPEGMAFIA? Manila’s Promote Violence makes a fascinating case on his fierce and rowdy second album JOYFUL.
Oakland trio Hello Yello has a killer sound with their catchy and spunky indie rock project Good Intentions.
In the first release from either since the ending of indie rock duo Girlpool, Harmony turns towards hyper pop with her debut solo EP, Dystopia Girl.
Groupthink is bringing back 2010s indie rock in a refreshing way with their EP before the afters.
Miles. delivers the grooviest of indie R&B jams with his newest EP Everywhere and Nowhere At All.
Syd B is feeling a bit looser and funkier with her new EP What’s Going On !.
Malik Elijah spits bars over warm production on his newest project Sonit.
Bombastic in your face indie pop for fans of Remi Wolf on Miso Extra’s new project MSG.
If indie-sleaze is your guilty pleasure, check out The Sound by Babymorocco for an unabashed sexy time.
Brooklyn’s Bree Mendez has pumped out amazing single after single. Dumb Done broke on Bandcamp first then on major distro channels in August. Bree’s strong vocal range paired with the island-influenced production from Ninetythree are too fun. Nevermind the lyrics are too relatable! The future is bright for Bree Mendez, for sure. -CHANELL
Goodreads
Everything Is Interpolated: Inside Music’s Nostalgia-Industrial Complex by Jayson Greene for Pitchfork.
Grim insight on how chart topping songs that (often lazily) interpolate old hits are directly related to the recent rise in catalog acquisitions.
iTunes Music Store turns 20: The lasting legacy of the Free Single of the Week
Chase DiBenedetto for Mashable on the history of a program that understatedly helped put many artists on during the transitional era between CDs and streaming. Undoubtedly helped shaped my taste in music.
“First Week Is Editorial, Second Week Is Algorithmic”: Platform Gatekeepers and the Platformization of Music Curation a scholarly article by Tiziano Bonini and Alessandro Gandini
Combines research and interviews with ‘informants’ at streaming services to support their claim that streaming platforms are the new gatekeepers. Probably something you already knew, but now there’s scholarly research to back that up. It’s a hefty read, but the title is taken from a quote (via a Spotify informant) that feels like the most important insight into curation on streaming platforms:
“They (curators, nda) are very important in week one. After week one the algorithms kick in to tell us what we need to do. Spotify is very dependent upon editorial for week one and then the algorithms take the lead in week two.”
Alumni Watch
Hussy (featured 8/4/21) continues to crush with the grunge leaning alt-rock on her new Blew EP.
Lea Sen (featured 5/25/22) drops the second half of the EP I wrote on last year with You Of Now Pt. 2.
Tawobi (featured 4/13/22) comes back even harder with his rambunctious and rowdy project Black Saturday.
Indigo De Souza (featured by Zoë on 11/17/21) dropped her latest album, All Of This Will End, in the spring and of course I haven’t stopped listening to it since then.
James Ivy (featured 11/03/21) follows that project up with an even more impressive second EP, Everything Perfect.
Joony got a shoutout from StarGirlZar in my interview with her on 6/16/21, and he’s been going up since then, building up to the release of his new album SHITUMSS.
Sad Park (featured 10/06/21) are keeping west coast emo alive and well with their newest release, NO MORE SOUND.
Nathan Bajar (featured 3/30/22) teamed up with fellow New York singer Amal Zenab for the release of their joint EP, Safe ‘n Sound.
yunè pinku (featured 4/13/22) has only been going up since the release of the project I wrote about last year, and shows no signs of stopping with Babylon IX.
Paris Williams (featured 2/7/23) followed up that EP from the top of the year with a fresh spirited single in Pack Light.
Kinrose (featured 3/30/22) keeps the heat coming on his second EP, bouquet. (easier)
Thank u