Weekly Roundup: May 27th
Featuring Dune Rats, Bilmuri, State Faults, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Dune Rats – “Cheapskate”
It’s hard to believe Aussie bonglords Dune Rats are already on album #5, but here we are. The trio’s latest serving is cheekily titled If It Sucks, Turn It Up, and will drop on August 9th via Ratbag Records/BMG. The record’s most recent single, “Cheapskate,” follows previous tasters’ “Solar Eyes” and “Be Like You,” and it’s easily my favourite of the bunch: breezy, catchy and effortlessly “Dunies.” On the single, singer/guitarist Danny Beus states:
“Cheapskate came out of us spending a lot of time touring in the US. There’s this weird world where the rich kids from Hollywood are hanging out with the skate punks and all the kind of people we know because they have such a better time there As you are growing up, you might think having money and sick cars would be the cool thing, but really, the coolest thing is hanging out with your mates at the skate park. You can’t buy that.”
Watch the video for “Cheapskate” below:
Morbideity – Victory In Our Time
We’ve got a new stupid heavy release from Maryland mosh metallers Morbideity. They’re back with a 3-track EP titled Victory In Our Time, which is out now through the good folks over at The Coming Strife Records. This one’s for fans of peak late 90s/00s metalcore, melodeath riffs, and hard-ass beatdowns (aka the ‘good shit’). Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Spotify).
Eliza & The Delusionals – “Falling For You”
Aussie indie rockers Eliza & The Delusionals have announced a new record cycle with their highly anticipated second studio album, Make It Feel Like The Garden, which will be released on July 19th via Cooking Vinyl Australia. The LP was conceptualised on the road during their North American tour in 2022, written at the trio’s DIY studio in Napa, California, and recorded with visionary Aussie producer Oscar Dawson (Holy Holy, Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, CLEWS, Amy Shark) at his studio in Rye, Victoria.
The lead single, “Falling For You,” explores the “disorienting nature of emotional entanglements and the struggle of maintaining one's identity amidst the turmoil of love and longing.” Listen to “Falling For You” here.
State Faults – Children of the Moon
We last heard from post-hardcore/screamo outfit State Faults back in 2019 with the release of their third full-length, Clairvoyant. After weathering the pandemic and following an intensive writing period, the quartet are finally ready to release their studio follow-up, Children of the Moon, dropping on July 26th via Deathwish Inc.
With production from Chris Teti (The World Is A Beautiful Place…), the album's first single, “Palo Santo,” is surprisingly hook-driven, as guitarist/vocalist Jonny Andrew’s ear for infectious melodies slides up against his signature screams. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Muted Color – “Sudden Change”
As a general rule, if there’s a new record coming out through L.A.-based label Fever Ltd—run by F.O.T.S. Kamtin Mohager of Heavenward—it’s likely going to be sick. This means that take i lovely you, the debut album from Chicago shoegaze sensation Muted Color (out July 5th), is also going to rule. The band have been around since 2018, blending post-punk soundscapes with wistful dream-pop and sweeping fuzzed-out choruses, and lead single “Sudden Change” is a jangly exemplar of the multifaceted modern shoegaze sound and its current TikTok-inspired resurgence. Listen to “Sudden Change” here.
Ceres – Want/Need
Naarm/Melbourne indie rockers Ceres are cranking things back up after a five-year hiatus and returning to the stage for a run of headline shows this coming July. To celebrate their well-earned comeback, the quintet have dropped their recent single “Want/Need,” with frontman Tom Lanyon explaining:
“It’s a love song. I don’t need a single thing if you don’t need a single thing. Feeling content. Singing songs. Filling lungs. Blocking out the haters. Us versus them. You and me. Wanting everything. Needing nothing.”
Stream the single in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Bilmuri – “Talkin’ 2 Ur Ghost”
In good news for farmhands and country girls everywhere, Bilmuri (the “Dethcore/ambient/post-jazz/hard rock project” of former Attack Attack! member Johnny Franck) will unleash a new full-length album of certified “twanger bangers” on an unsuspecting public later this year. American Motor Sports is due on June 28th, and as Franck himself puts it:
“I’ve never worked on anything more in my life, and I believe it shows on this record. American Motor Sports is the best album I’ve ever been a part of by an absolute long shot. I’m just a midwestern boi, and y’all have changed my life for the good. I can’t express my gratitude to you enough. I love you and can’t wait for you to hear this midwestern crankerpiece.”
Watch the clip for “Talkin’ 2 Ur Ghost” below:
Pure Pleasure – S/T
Do you like rock riffs? Do you enjoy the Superheaven back catalogue? Are you still finding it hard to move past The Color and The Shape? Well, I have just the record for you. Check out the debut S/T three-song EP from Pure Pleasure, a new quintet from Charleston, South Carolina. It’s out now through the good folks over at Limited Hangout Records, and this shit rocks. It’s catchy alt-rock with an ear for 90s sensibilities, along with shades of old and new. Stream the EP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Listen to all these tracks and more on the TPD 2024-7 HITS playlist, updated weekly.
HEAVY METTLE:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
Bring Me The Horizon – POST HUMAN: NeX GEn
Alright, here’s a hot take for you: Bring Me The Horizon are arguably one of the most influential outfits of the last fifteen years. Try and find another group that has retained a consistent core of members for two decades, including a high-profile front person, while also having an earnest crack at almost every sub and/or micro-genre in alternative music. (I’ll wait…)
From proto-deathcore and mosh metalcore to dark post-hardcore, nu-metalcore, and alt-pop stylings to the chronically online hyper-pop fixation they’ve been mining now for half a decade—it’s all retained in their eclectic, incredibly extensive, supremely intimidating back catalogue. And so, in this respect, it’s hardly surprising that 2024 finds the Sheffield trailblazers taking their everything-at-the-wall approach to earworm heaviness and condensing it down into a fully synthesized, glitched-out album experience.
Look, even if you’re not down with their musical pedigree—and to be clear, there’s plenty here on POST HUMAN: NeX GEn to assuage you of those misgivings—you have to respect their relentless appetite for reinvention. No one else is this committed to big swing musical ideas and folks: bravery is for the fearless.
Stream here: Spotify | YouTube
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
Mind Burns Alive, the stunning fifth LP from Little Rock doomlords Pallbearer, is easily one of my favourite records of 2024. Where 2020’s Forgotten Days externalised pandemic-era “dyschronia,” the quartet’s latest opus instead turns inward, wrestling with the human psyche and our “sicknesses of the spirit” through quaking riffs, delicate quietude, and gut-wrenching climaxes. If you want to hear guitarist and vocalist Brett Campbell chat with me about the fine art of dynamics and how the softest songs can also (paradoxically) be the heaviest ones, then tune in below: