Listening Diary 24

High volume hits

Good morning! I hope you had a pleasant weekend. Here are ten tunes that I recently enjoyed listening to. The first five, one a day for the working week, are free for all to hear and consider. The next five however are exclusively for my paying subscribers. For the full suite of tunes and other fun bonuses, subscribe now at $5 a month!

“Crawling Toward The Light” by Spotlights (Alchemy for the Dead, 2023)

Spotlights hit a couple of different sweet spots for me. They’re one of the best active bands working in the “post-metal” medium. They know how to stretch out, how to build tension, and when to unleash the full force of their volume. But crucially they also know how to write a great, straightforward rock song ever now and then. This track is a perfect blend of their stupefyingly dense heaviness and their subtle hook-craft. Combining giant guitars, dreamy synth lines, and intimate vocals like this is always going to make me a happy camper. And that breakdown at the end? Whew!

“Anything Can Be Left Behind” by Michale Cormier-O’Leary (Anything Can be Left Behind, 2023)

I’ve hung out with Michael a few times, even slept on his couch once when Bellows toured up to Maine last year, and found him to be a chill, smart, and funny guy. All of those qualities also show up in his music. This tune is a down to earth, touching and genuinely funny look at growing up. The way Michael stretches the word “mayo” out in the second verse makes me crack up every time, and he’s choice of detail is impeccable without feeling over-thought or fussy.

“Soundcheck” by billy woods (Maps, 2023)

As a musician I can’t condone skipping soundcheck, but it sure does sound cool when billy woods raps about it. Sometimes it feels like rap exists in a completely different version of music industry than the one that I work in, but the world woods describes here, where the local Szechuan restaurant sounds more appealing than a lit green room, rings true with my touring experience. Also, is Quelle Chris the most underrated rapper working these days?

“Whoohoo” by Fleshwater (We’re Not Here To Be Loved, 2022)

Late 90s alt-rock pastiche from some of the members of Vein.fm. This is some well studied stuff. I mean, look at that album cover. You can practically feel the impenetrable CD plastic wrap around it. What I dig about this project is that Fleshwater can’t hide their experience playing much, much heavier music. The sheer physicality with which they attack these tunes sets them apart from most of the zoomers chasing turn-of-the-century gold.

“The Last” by Radioactivity (Radioactivity, 2013)

Once I become the unilateral czar of music one of my goals for the first 100 days is to strike the term power pop from the records. It is rock and roll. There’s nothing wrong with just saying that you write rock music. I knew I was going to love this song the minute he popped into falsetto in the first verse, and the hooks didn’t stop coming from there.