Over the past 10 years, Amyl and The Sniffers have pushed the aesthetics, ethos, and energy of contemporary punk music. Their previous album, Comfort To Me, saw huge success on all fronts in 2021. On Cartoon Darkness, we hear the band ruminating on that success, what has come with it, and what’s coming next.
Off Beat Degradations - a four-piece punk project mixing elements of post-hardcore, early 00’s pop-punk, queercore, and speed punk - has been captivating crowds in basements since their inception in the summer of 2023. Their debut EP, Fluoxeteen, captures the young band in their rawest, most sensual, and energetic form.
Great Grandpa made a splash with the phenomenal Four of Arrows in 2019. Since then, they’ve been working on a wide assortment of personal projects. Among them is Freak Accident, the latest release from Al Menne, the bands’ lead singer - a record that finds him hitting his most intimate, personal, and soft spoken songwriting moments yet.
While a lot of bands are delivering truly unique and innovative releases, few of them have managed to deliver anything with quite the same energy as Pons. On their latest album, The Liquid Self, the three piece has constructed a shipwrecked concept album that is as lyrically dense as it is full of brooding atmosphere and chaotic ups and downs.
With I Killed Your Dog, L’Rain are clearly seeking to further push the envelope, with an even broader theatrical scope, spine-chilling lyrics, and absolutely mesmerizing musicality and production. What makes it so special in the landscape of 2023 is that it implements hallmarks from the late 80’s and 90’s all the way up to our current moment.
Over the past ten years, Cherry Glazerr has transitioned through many sounds, aesthetics, textures, and feelings. On their most recent offering, I Don’t Want You Anymore, they enter the realms of sugary indie rock, fuzzy garage rock, and shimmery electro pop, all with a distinctively femme underpinning.
PALS is a great example of what a debut record should do. It provides an introduction to a band that is clearly hungry to break out and show what they can do, while still being incredibly well produced, funny, catchy, and succinctly and tightly played. The musicianship and creativity here holds a lot of promise.
GBMystical was releasing bedroom pop, garage rock, folk rock, and indie throwbacks. Genre, it seems, is as fluid as water, for Munawet. However, by no means would one expect him to set his sights on tried and true sludgy, thrashy, groovy metal for his next project. Yet, that is exactly what The Mantis is - crunchy, pummeling and speeding.
The album is deeply connected with the work of Toni Morrison, with the first track centering around a passage from the author. This literary center is the primary force that makes this album so rich and rewarding, allowing Dixon to pull his personal experience through Morrison’s canon directly into his songwriting.
Gorgeous is certainly one of the most interesting acts in the scene, a two-piece who has begun to twist the basic principles of math and indie rock, pulling the threads all the way until the seams reach their absolute limit. On a first listen of Sapsucker, what you’re most struck by is most likely the duality of angular guitar and crisp drums.
In 2021, Justin Roth decided to retire Soft Idiot. Now, in 2023, he’s returned, not only with a new album, but a new touring lineup, and seemingly, a renewed energy towards life, art making, and observation. This new release, Some Captured Light, is a record that breathes a decisive sense of relaxation and rumination from its very onset.
For a debut record, You Can Do It All demonstrates tremendous balance. For every dense and gritty riff, there is a bouncy pop vocal melody, with a focus on blending basement-jam sounds, catchy verses, and choruses. In lyrical content, the band spirals through all of the hallmarks of young adult life.
We’re Still Here, boasts a truly impressive roster of collaborators. With contributions from collaborators such as Melt-Banana, Thou, Marissa Paternoster, Shirley Manson, SOUL GLO, Sunrot, and Gouge Away - just to name “a few” - this record sets out to platform the voices of as many individuals and identities from the scene as possible.
Too Much To Ask, which packed with the trademarked “talk-singing” of the band, as well as incredibly danceable beats and fun instrumental breakdowns, turned out to have a few b-sides that didn’t make the cut of the final album. Don’t Ask (b-sides) is just the extra dose of Cheekface fun that any indie rock, power-pop punk fan will enjoy.
