WIBLT: Music for the Long Weekend
WIBLT: Music for the Long Weekend
What I've Been Listening To, 5/26/21
Another batch of fresh music for ya
Subscribe to the playlist below that is always updated with the eight standout tracks from all of the “What I’ve Been Listening To” posts in 2021.
Came Down Different - Pardoner
12 tracks, 31 minutes
Released: May 14th, 2021
From: San Francisco, CA
Genres: Alternative, Rock, Punk
Recommended For Fans Of: Parquet Courts, Sports Team
Came Down Different is Pardoner’s third album, and the first one created with the four piece no longer all living in the same city. As a result, this project was recorded in two days after just a month of rehearsing together based off demos guitarist and vocalist Max Freeland made in Vancouver, many of which were, “written in a made-up tuning that Freeland happened upon while teaching himself to play Polvo songs” (per Bandcamp). The songs on here are reminiscent of lots of groups from the 90s indie scene, but Pardoner is able to take that sound and channel it into something that sounds fresh, new, and never boring. The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Jack Shirley, also known for his work with Deafheaven and Jeff Rosenstock.
“Overall, Came Down Different is about hopelessness, money, and feeling good in a sick and seriously twisted world.” -Pardoner for Talkhouse.
Standout Track: Bunny’s Taxi
P O T I O N S - nasimiYu
10 tracks, 42 minutes
Released: May 7th, 2021
From: Brooklyn, NY
Genres: Indie pop, World
Recommended For Fans Of: Thanya Iyer, Anjimile
nasimiYu returns from a seven year hiatus with their new album P O T I O N S. Though the writer’s block fueled break was long, it snapped rather suddenly, as nasimiYu created much of the project alone at home in just one week. She credits this to the lockdown from spring 2020, “It was something that I don’t know if I could have done outside of this context of being in quarantine and just the state of honesty I was forced to achieve by having to sit with all of my feelings about everything instead of doing what I would normally do—travel here, go to a party there, hang out with friends, always distracting myself,” she told inweekly. The album was birthed as she participated in a “song a day” challenge among respected bands and artists. “For seven days in a row, you have to submit a brand-new song. You’re kicked out if you submit late,” she described it, “I didn’t think I was gonna make even one song … but every single song made it onto the album. Imagine my surprise when I thought I’d never make music again [and now] I’ve got an album on my hands in a week.” The results blend synth pop with layers upon layers of lush harmonies to build a beautiful atmosphere around nasimiYu’s vocals.
Standout Track: Watercolor
Pressure - Big Jade
10 tracks, 25 minutes
Released: May 12th, 2021
From: Beaumont, TX
Genres: Hip-Hop/Rap
Recommended For Fans Of: Gangsta Boo, KenTheMan, Stunna Girl
Big Jade’s music is Houston to the core, so it only makes sense that Beatking would take her under his wing. His signature is felt on the beats here (producing 7 of the 10 tracks), and Big Jade raps her ass off over them. If you’re a fan of Beatking and Gangsta Boo’s Underground Cassette Tape Music series, this will be right up your alley. Jade built up a following releasing freestyle videos on YouTube, and this project follows their debut Bsbbj that dropped in 2019. The talent runs in the family too as her mom was a battle rapper when Jade was younger. While Pressure is an official album, it keeps the carefree attitude of a mixtape by interpolating classic beats on some of the tracks such as David Banner’s “Like A Pimp,” the Game’s “Dreams,” and T.I.’s “Stand Up.”
Standout Track: Jade Wins
trauma ray - trauma ray
5 tracks, 12 minutes
Released: February 14th, 2021
From: Fort Worth, TX
Genres: Grunge, Shoegaze, Space Rock
Recommended For Fans Of: Nothing, Glare
Trauma Ray formed in 2018, and this is their second EP since then, both self-titled. Their sound pulls from 90s grunge and shoegaze to create walls of fuzzy, swirling, beautiful sound that engulf each song. The thunderously heavy landscape is perfect for frontman Uriel Avila’s washed vocals to soar through. Despite the beauty of those vocals, the band says their music is more about the feeling.
“The magic of shoegaze is that you don’t even need to have discernable vocals. You don’t need to know what [singers] are saying to get the feeling of the music. You don’t need language, you don’t need lyrics – they can be there, but the overall experience of the music is the feeling you’re supposed to get.” - guitarist Jonathan Perez for Fort Worth Weekly.
Standout Track: Nühevan
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All In Your Head - Kendra Sells
7 tracks, 21 minutes
Released: May 14th, 2021
From: Austin, TX
Genres: Alternative, Indie Rock, Pop, Avant Garde
Recommended For Fans Of: Shamir, Christelle Bofale
Like most artists these days, it’s fruitless to spend too much time trying to put a genre label on Kendra Sells’ sound. Sells was a member of the neo-jazz group BluMoon during their time at Texas Tech, but All In Your Head marks their first solo release. Feeling the pressure of those genre labels is why Sells decided to leave the group and pursue their own sound. "I felt more limited with BluMoon. I kept getting told, 'This is the kind of band you are; you're an R&B singer.' I like R&B, but it's not the music I sought out to create. The moment you have a Black woman on anything, it's like, 'Oh, this soulful, R&B take on blah blah blah.' I know that genre lost us a couple of opportunities," she told The Austin Chronicle. The result is a project free of limitations that can’t be labeled anything other than a triumph of DIY artistry. The track linked below is a face melting critique of how the American health care system fails black women.
Standout Track: Wondering//Bad Doctorzz
Take Care - Sam Valdez
8 tracks, 25 minutes
Released: May 7th, 2021
From: Los Angeles, CA
Genres: Indie Rock, Americana
Recommended For Fans Of: Lana Del Rey, Molly Burch, The Marias
For her debut album, Nevada-born/LA-based singer Sam Valdez brings together some of the first songs she ever wrote with some of her most recent. She credits the vastness and solitude of desert life as influence to the music, but this album also isn’t short of breezy, surf-tinged rock songs like Toothache that are ready for summer. The sparse feeling of each song allows Valdez’s vocals to take center stage, giving a classic feeling to the tracks. Valdez told Wonderland Magazine that the song linked below is about “letting yourself act on impulse and just owning the consequences. It’s about wanting to evolve and find excitement without chaos, but knowing it’s okay to mess up and explore your curiosities too.”
Standout Track: Palms Casino
Wicked Man’s Reprise - Sideshow
12 tracks, 24 minutes
Released: May 6th, 2021
From: Los Angeles, CA
Genres: Hip-Hop/Rap
Recommended For Fans Of: The Alchemist, Earl Sweatshirt, Mavi
Sideshow first caught my attention with the release of his 2020 album FARLEY. That was his debut, and he also dropped Asked Amlak to Wash My Hands last year to make this his third album. It’s his longest release at 12 songs, but still doesn’t take up too much time as most tracks are only 1-2 minutes long. Sideshow has a soulful intellect to his sound that fits in neatly with his contemporaries like MIKE, Mavi, Maxo, Na-Kel Smith, Slauson Malone, and Navy Blue, many of which he has collaborated with. Alongside Boldy James, Sideshow got a verse on The Alchemist’s most recent EP This Thing Of Ours. I wouldn’t be surprised to see The Alchemist and Sideshow do a project together in the near future. The production on this album includes contribution from Alexander Spit, Bori, Coffeeblack, Black Noi$e, Ricky Spanish, and more.
Standout Track: plug gave me a LIBERATION FRONT
Blood - Juliana Hatfield
10 tracks, 34 minutes
Released: May 14th, 2021
From: Boston, MA
Genres: Alternative, Rock
Recommended For Fans Of: Liz Phair, Nilüfer Yanya, X
Reading about Juliana Hatfield’s career feels like getting a guided tour through musical history. From her solo work, to band work (Blake Babies, The Lemonheads, & Some Girls), and collaborative projects (one with Matthew Caws of Nada Surf & another with Paul Westerberg of The Replacements), to various other endeavors (like her guest role in an episode of My So-Called Life), Hatfield has had a more storied and productive career than most could even dream of. So why is she still making music that sounds as fresh as the modern newcomers she inspired? Because it turns out, even 30+ years into a career, there’s always new tricks to be learned. Typically working in a studio, Hatfield taught herself how to record in her house during lockdown as studio recording became unsafe. It’s her 19th solo album, but the first that she’s ever recorded almost entirely on her own. “It was not a seamless experience. Sometimes I would only work for like an hour and then I would get frustrated by the technology. It took me a lot longer to finish,” she told The Guardian. That frustration is channeled into this album, often combining heavy guitars with gritty saturated vocals.
Standout Track: Had A Dream
A Song
Body Move - Dizzy Fae
Fae has been experimenting a lot with their sound since their 2019 mixtape No GMO, and it’s been a joy to watch as a fan. This is their most danceable track yet, and serves as a single for their new EP dropping today!
A Video
Dance in Room Song - Sipper
Sipper slipped under my radar when this song dropped last year, but this new video brought it to my attention. The chorus guitar lick is infectious indie rock at its finest.
Thank