Release Radar [Winter 2023]

Welcome to Music Team's periodic release radar (and the first edition released on the new website)! Every month, the team gets together to discuss our favorite new project releases and review them. This time, since we haven't done one since November and winter's generally pretty slow anyways, we discussed to cover three months in the same release radar. Enjoy!

If you would like to join music team and help us review and discover music, make sure to join the slack and add channel #music-team. We meet on Mondays 7pm in the station lobby.

Nebulous You by Della Zyr fuses the best of electronica, dream pop, and post-rock out of the Korean indie scene from the past two years. Della Zyr, an artist who began at making covers of tracks by Mid-Air Thief and Parannoul on Youtube, is the start of a new generation of artists directly inspired by the current K-indie greats. The outcome is Nebulous You, an utterly beautiful, lush, and psychedelic 40 minutes soundscape formed together in four tracks. Della Zyr layers blissful electronic elements over guitar washes, progressing and floating in and out through the lengthy tracks.

Genre: Dream Pop

Recommend if you like: Parannoul, Mid-Air Thief, Asian Glow

Favorite Tracks: Concerto

Rating: 9

Makes me feel like a deer in a forest without natural predators, just prancing around and enjoying nature without any outside stressors or obligations - team member.

Seeking the Sources of Streams by Taiwanese group Cicada is playful and peaceful. It’s not everyday you see new chamber recordings being championed by indie kids, but Cicada’s masterful compositions deserve recognition. Seeking the Sources of Streams is easy to appreciate, it manages to induce emotions in people without a need for them to prepare themselves. When you’re reading, working, chatting with friends, Seeking the Sources of Streams is always a soundtrack you can put on without worries.

Genre: Chamber Music

Recommend if you like: Studio Ghibli soundtracks

Favorite Tracks: On the Way to the Glacial Cirque, Birds and Moist Pine Needles

Rating: 9

Brooklyn noise rock band Model/Actriz's Dogsbody infuses the current wave of post-punk music with an infectious groove that will sure get your body moving. While the album is consistently high in quality, it is at its best when it’s the most upbeat in tracks such as Crossing Guard, which is an exciting and satisfying rapid fire of sounds that leaves you breathless.

In songs such as Amaranth, vocalist Cole Haden shines in his unnerving and ominous deliveries. The fun of Dogsbody is never without its evil, which is what makes its atmosphere so compelling. Model/Actriz discovered their unique chaotic sound and thoroughly explored it with this project.

Genre: Noise Rock, Dance Punk

Recommend if you like: LCD System, Lightning Bolt

Favorite Tracks: Amaranth, Crossing Guard

Rating: 8

Heavy Heavy by Young Fathers is an eclectic mix of songs that are strung together in a thread of great passion and energy. It’s hard to pick standout tracks, the truth is that nearly every song in this project is enjoyable and interesting in its own regard. Geronimo stands out to the team as very uplifting, with the vocals and chords progressing upward along a catchy melody. We see a lot of spiritual and tribal elements in this album’s production, but ultimately it doesn’t seem to fully commit to it in paving its own sound. Despite the great quality of songs, Heavy Heavy is less memorable or defined than other projects of similar caliber.

Genre: Art Pop

Recommend if you like: Genesis Owusu

Favorite Tracks: Amaranth, Crossing Guard

Rating: 8

In a departure from her previous grand artistic undertakings, Little Simz's NO THANK is far more lowkey and laid back. Especially in contrast to her last ambitious and grandiose album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, NO THANK YOU is “more-so just her saying what’s on her mind”, as described by a team member. Simz takes a step back and lets the music speak for itself, creating an understated and intimate listening experience. This could be disappointing for those who were expecting more interesting endeavors like Simz’s past works, but it's still enjoyable in its own regard. Production on tracks like X makes a return to production sounds of SIMBI, but they are very much the exception. What stays consistent is Simz’s ability to pull your attention with impressive flow and introspective lyrics. The guest features also do a good job in supporting Simz and adding depth to the project.

Overall, NO THANK YOU is a great addition to Little Simz's discography. It shows a different side of her artistry and highlights her versatility as a musician.

Genre: Hip hop

Recommend if you like: Mac Miller

Favorite Tracks: Silhouette

Rating: 8

Channel Tres does a fantastic job in creating a straight-forward & fun project, nothing more, nothing less. It’s hard to launch criticisms towards this project; sometimes art is not meant to do everything and that’s okay. Real Cultural Shit fully understands its own identity in this regard, and it’s emblematic of the artist’s style. As described by a team member, Real Cultural Shit is “Kind of disco-y, with him talking over it, but in the best way”.

Genre: Hip House

Recommend if you like: Beyoncé, Shygirl

Notable Tracks: All My Friends, 6am, Just Can’t Get Enough

Rating: 8

The Rainbow Wheel of Death by Dougie Poole is classic warm and bittersweet alt-country. High School Gym is one of the best tracks on here that also stands out quite strongly as the only track that leans into a 70s bubblegum pop energy. Overall, an enjoyable project that would’ve for sure been rated higher if it tried to be more novel.

Genre: cosmic country

Recommend if you like: Cut Worms, MJ Lenderman

Notable Tracks: High School Gym, Must Be in Here Somewhere

Rating: 7.75

Initially a band formed by two fans of Smashing Pumpkins in 1999, Wang Wen eventually became the pioneer of Chinese post-rock and thus creating one of the best indie scenes from the country. Painful Clown & Ninja Tiger sees the band incorporating more lyrics and singing than ever, using Yugang Xie’s magnetic and moving vocals to further develop their atmospheric sounds.

The project also sees an impressive subtle usage of experimental and synthesizer sounds in crafting of their soundscape. The borderline industrial sounds in tracks such as Ninja Tiger adds a touch of harshness and abrasion that adds further depth to the album.

Genre: Post-Rock

Recommend if you like: Mogwai

Notable Tracks: Light Behind the Wall, Wild Fire

Rating: 7.75

While not a concept album, the consistency in quality and aesthetics across Paramore’s This is Why makes a front-to-back listen highly rewarding. Hayley Williams’ vocals went a long way in making each of these songs fun. The lyrics, however, can be simplistic and reaching for low-hanging topics, which could appear as quirky and cringey for some but timely and down-to-earth for others. Either way, the instrumentals in the album stand out and never disappoint.

The final tracks Liar, Crave, and Thick Skull gradually become slower, which can be hit-or-miss for listeners. If what you want out of Paramore is the classic energetic pop punk, you might see these indie rock songs as not playing to the band’s strengths. However, their sequencing in the album seems very apt, and serves a good trio to close up the album.

Genre: Pop Punk

Recommend if you like: Panic!At The Disco, Jeff Rosenstock

Notable tracks: This is Why, The News, Crave, Figure 8

Rating: 7.5

Sounds like their sound, but a new spin, [they’re] Impressive in the fact they can keep finding interesting guitar tones when they’ve made music for so long and still find a way to evolve in a scene that often finds a sound and runs it into the grave. - team member

Don’t skip this one if you were ever a fan of Yo La Tengo. The first four tracks and the closer of the albums are all very interesting, but it's a shame that the overall second half does not stack up to the rest of the album and can be fairly boring at times.

Genre: Indie Rock, Post-Rock

Recommend if you like: Yo La Tengo, Pavement, Deerhunter

Notable tracks: Sinatra Drive Breakdown, Aselestine, miles Away

Rating: 7.25

She’s always trying, it just doesn’t always work.

Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, like Pang, is once again a breath of fresh air in pop. Caroline Polachek always tries to find new sounds and ideas in pop without fully delving into a PC Music-esque style, which leads to many cool and novel moments that perhaps can be better arranged. Production aside, this project still got fun vocals and good lyrics.

Genre: Art Pop

Recommend if you like: Imogen Heap

Notable Songs: Blood and Butter, Billions, Welcome To My Island

Rating: 7

Kalela's Raven takes a more ethereal and spacey turn from her previous two albums. On its own, Kalela’s vocals seem to lack emotional depth, and the production is also not always cutting edge. In an age of revival in breaks-oriented music on soundcloud, I can’t help but ask if the basic, clean-sounding breaks on tracks like Happy Ending and Contact still cut it.

When it comes to Raven, however, the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. Kelela’s vocal presence on the electronic production adds layers to each track. The blend of dance and R&B on this record is impressive and makes for a danceable listening experience despite the spacy sound.

The album does suffer from being a bit too dragged out, which could be due to Kalela's long hiatus and wanting to give fans more content.

Genre: Electronic

Recommend if you like: Shygirl

Favorite track: Missed Call

Rating: 7

Lil Yachty's album "Let's Start Here" offers a unique interpretation of psyche rock that is only made possible by his trap background. No one was expecting to hear the Pink Floyd-esque anthem of “the BLACK seminole” after hearing Poland dropped months prior. While Lil Yachty's vocals could use more improvement by common standards of rock music, his imperfections add to his unique appeal. The album features insane collaborations that add to its appeal. He is at his best when he's having fun and experimenting with new sounds, which is evident throughout this album.

"Let's Start Here" is completely out of left field for Yachty and hip hop at large, showing his incredible growth as an artist and leaving us all excited for what Lil Yachty will make down the line.

Genre: Psychedelic Rock

Recommend if you like: Tame Impala

Favorite Tracks: the BLACK seminole.

Rating: 7

Food for Worms is much faster than shame’s previous album Drunk Tank Pink. Depending on your taste, you would enjoy the more punk and hardcore tracks such as Alibis from the first half of the album, or the more art rock inspired tracks such as Different Person from the second half.

There are a few pretty original songs, but overall Food for Worms still feel a bit overshadowed by the stronger projects out of the post-brexit post-punk industrial complex.

Genre: Post-Punk

Recommend if you like: Viagra Boys, Black Country, New Road

Favorite Tracks: Alibis, Adderall, Different Person

Rating: 6.75

Skrillex's album "Quest for Fire" presents a shift from his older head-banging jams, offering tracks with more replay value by returning to some more classic dubstep techniques used prior to his breaking into the scene. The album explores more intricate and experimental sounds, showcasing Skrillex's willingness to break out of his previous niche. While there are some weaker songs on the album, there are enough interesting tracks to make it a decent release.

Ambient moaning was kinda weird

If you were never a fan of Skrillex, however, these changes to his sound might not prove enough to earn your love. Skrillex's sound is still just as erratic and synthetic, and it’s okay if it’s not your thing.

Genre: EDM

Recommend if you like: Burial, Flux Pavilion

Notable Tracks: Tears, Supersonic (my existence)

Rating: 6.5

Gorillaz's "Cracker Island” is “technically good” but lacks any appeal pulling you back to revisit it. The album is well-formulated but doesn't offer a super unique sound that Gorillaz is known for. Most of these songs would be considered good when presented through a vacuum, but Cracker Island feels like a step back from Gorillaz's experimental past and lacks the weirdness that makes their music stand out.

The album's features are in line with current popular artists and the overall sound leans towards the poppier side, and they created some of the best moments on the album. Tame Impala’s verse on New Gold made a great psychedelic atmosphere while Bootie Brown flowed naturally over the groovy beats.

Genre: Pop

Favorite Tracks:  Cracker Island, New Gold

Rating: 5.5

The Future is Your Past tries a little too hard to be a 80s psych album, but that might be just what some people want. While The Brian Jonestown Massacre started as a shoegaze band, this project is much more stripped back and has very little hint of their roots.

Genre: indie pop, neo-psychedelia

Favorite Tracks: The Light Is about To Change, Fudge

Rating: 5.5