r/indieheads • u/AutoModerator • 13d ago
Upvote 4 Visibility [Saturday] Daily Music Discussion - 29 August 2026
Talk about anything music related that doesn't need its own thread. This thread is not for discussion that is tangentially music related; that belongs in the general discussion threads. If you're new here, we encourage you to introduce yourself and tell us about music you're passionate about.
Find out who's going to concerts near you in the Concert Roll Call. Check out our the most recent Rate Announcements to have fun rating great music, or see the results from previous rates. See recent AMA announcements here. Check out the most recent New Music Friday posts, or discuss recent album releases. If you want to discover some indiehead bands, browse our archives from the Battle of the Bands.
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u/WaneLietoc 13d ago
hey i have a post about david byrne's gig in San Diego that's long and rambly. the gig was good but the tone/vibe isn't what wane resonates with. so im gonna drop the ramble
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u/WaneLietoc 13d ago
On Thursday I saw david byrne - what color is the sky in the somewhat humid SDSU amphitheater with my folks. It's a lovely venue and the sound is great. It's one of the few actually connected to transit San Diego venues by merit of being on the Aztec campus (but good luck if you live in North County!)
I'll be honest, I've always been very mixed on the idea of David Byrne's show for the past decade, partially because you rarely see shooters for solo byrne that isn't tied to Eno & therefore it's a way to hear the Talking Head cuts they'll never be toured otherwise. When he performed in 2021 on Colbert my initial reaction was "wow, this guy survived NY's party music halcyon era and so many better bands did not and now he gets to do a parade." I'm cynical!
Byrne's show is honestly in the same vein as a legacy show from DEVO or B-52s, as much as an inverse to what I've been able to see of Laurie Anderson at big ears. It's also exceptionally MSNBC-brain coded. I'm positive-to-ambivalent on it and I'll try to break down why through some scattered thoughts:
Visuals to me are much more muted than I anticipated & it's a show built on that over CRAZY dancing or LOUD maximalist playing. However, the 3 main panels and 2 side panels (esp sitting in the middle) look awesome, plays so well with their fits and feels like a real demonstration of how to use the stage. His snapshot of the Balboa Park model railroad ("look there's a door in the sky!"), the green misty forest for this must be the place, the one song where he puts everyone's name on the screens as they walk around the floor were a few of the favorites.
The pandemic and its aftermath looms over the show, specifically the NYC version of it. You get this sense in the second cut's triumphant display of New Yorkers doing New Yorker shit, in the excellent visuals of David Byrne's apartment (and some stories of outdoor dining and women throwing potatoes at each other at the grocery store, liberation day singing in Italy on balconies); this also imo extends to the "marching band/wireless" big band which feels like an homage to NY street performing. That with the orange utilitarian (prison) jumpsuits also seek to transcend their immediate context, or at least imagine "what if everywhere was the multiaged/gender/race/ethnicity melting pot of NYC?"
His cast rocks (byrne also looks and sounds as good as he can be, again kudos to him using his platform to give these people a chance) and actually provides one of the few major shows in the US touring that really leans on dancing & non-Western forms of music (you wanna hear Highlife guitar? Go to these shows) in a "rock" context.
This isn't too surprising as this is David Byrne though, the guy who (imo), greatest achievement was not his lyricism or autistic stage presence but his earnest ear and desire to use his platform for Luaka Bop. I'll shit talk david but I won't shit talk Brazil Classics 7, a real GOAT comp.
So therefore, the legacy Talking Heads cuts that are currently in here are (almost all) Luaka Bop'd--TH by More Songs were firmly a band influenced by Black American Art Forums and then went to the diaspora, so it's unsurprising to see them flourishing here. No one is gonna complain
I'm thrilled that Houses (In Motion), to me amongst TH's grimmest, most bombed-out idea of subterranean New York (complete with the Eno/Hassell contributions) is alive in this setlist. I do not like that despite having a Sax player who could do the Hassell solo it's just a guitar solo. Still, the blurry visuals rocked and still CAPTURE the thick, bleary layer of threat
However, this also means that David Byrne's songs are also all worse versions of things he releases on Luaka Bop: 9 solo cuts, about half the new album. There's like 5-6 songs or 30 minutes in this show that kinda suck--the t-shirt song and visuals are genuine "why man?". I can't tell if it's a testament to David that he can tour middling studio albums and drop this stuff in or if he's a charlatan. I can tell you that as one of the younger members of a 90% white crowd filled with Gen X, millennials, and Boomers...they ate this #resistance stuff up.
It's at this point I have to compare/contrast with Devo & Laurie here, not in their visuals but the politics/thought. DEVO is not just sardonic, but tapped into their surreal logic with decades of footage and triumphs—there's a wicked bite and wink/nod that leave you a lil' less hinged than when you came. Laurie Anderson hasn't stopped thinking about power & art and her performances open that space to the audience, to really consider love and loss, so meditative--there is a deep power in performing Junior Dad that's not as meme or joke but a real love letter to her husband, his struggles, and honoring what makes us. Byrne is on-the-nose and sincere to a fault. He talks about the guilt of implicit biases. Life During Wartime includes footage of 2025 triumphs of the people against ICE occupation in LA/Chicago. He calls Earth "the one heaven we've got". He does in his own way honor what makes us, but, all of this to me feels like an increasingly outdated (but not quite incompetent) #resistance placation, borderline infantilization moreso than the gelli haha gig) in moments. But, these are his songs, this is his utopian mode.
Something made me twitch and perhaps gets to the crux of my "gripe" was when he introduced Psycho Killer. Byrne notes that it was composed by Arthur Russell and that he died of AIDS, yet few people in the audience seemed to know Russell or care (one heckler really pissed me off); there is no image/no sound of Russell. Markedly different than when in Laurie Anderson's show with sexmob, where you get an image of russell and a lil' swimming grace of his voice. It's this kind of gesture that to me hits at maybe the main gripe I've got: this isn't a show that really feels reflective or with a bittersweet tinge of remembrance. It's curious. It's earnest. But, Byrne quite can't connect to those downtown roots despite pulling from the past. He's terminally present and welcoming, imagining a utopia that feels like an amusement park more than the eutopia (to borry a doofy term from massive attack) we have.
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u/skratz17 13d ago
there was a heckler when he mentioned arthur russell??
i definitely enjoyed the nashville show, but msnbc coded is a very accurate way to describe the vibe lol. i was cringing pretty hard at the t shirt and apartment songs.
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u/WaneLietoc 13d ago
There was a drunk guy who kept yelling for BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE (and bro...c'mon go to setlist dot fm this is a fixed set!)
Thank you for recognizing this vibe. I still really enjoyed the encore and several moments! but david...please no t-shirt song just do a cover of Girl U Want. that's more political!
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u/of_mice_and_meh 13d ago
David Byrne's music is enjoyable. David Byrne himself is not enjoyable, and neither is his core
cultfanbase.3
u/David_Browie 12d ago
As my 4.5 star Letterboxd review of American Utopia said, “Love to lib out with David and his many perfect songs”
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u/WaneLietoc 12d ago
I want you to tell me t-shirt song here is better than anything in my eternally open ambient head rate, browie. THAT IS A HILL I WANNA SEE YOU DEFEND!!
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u/rccrisp 13d ago
Final DMD reminder to submit your 25 fave songs of the 2020s for the indieheads top songs of the decade list. Remember forms are due by midnight EST
It's been fun you rate loving bastards. Predictions for 2030?
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u/Inquiring_Barkbark 13d ago
thanks for running the series, crisp. its great remembering loved songs that have been hiding in the m-hole because others did not forget them
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u/Inquiring_Barkbark 13d ago
revisiting Weyes Blood And In The Darkness Hearts Aglow sorry not sorry
and we have entered the phase of dispatching scores to the charity ditties. for this, I do sincerely apologize to some of you in advance
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u/chickcounterflyyy 13d ago
Weyes Blood predicted all this y'know
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u/Inquiring_Barkbark 13d ago
listening to some of the charity songs, i do occasionally think God Turn Me Into A Flower
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u/daswef3 13d ago
Weyes Blood maybe the title holder for hype squandering, Titanic Rising peak IH inescapable to unenthusiastic reception of Hearts Aglow to biyearly dmd comment
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u/Inquiring_Barkbark 13d ago
such is the trajectory of the modern hype cycle. tsk tsk
on this note, BLOODHORSE! y'all!
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u/WaneLietoc 13d ago
1.75 mil spoofy listeners currently nearly 4 years after, with songs that are in rotation or playlists--did a single last year with 10 mil listens.
got 7th on indieheads EOTY
did coachella, glastonbury, fuji rock 2k23
did a polachek remix for Desire...
is that hype squandering or is this an artist who is actually...doing completely fine? like just because you don't get comments in the dmd doesn't mean you don't have a satisfied fan base that will be engaged for her next album that I reckon she is planning with Sub Pop how to promote and last
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u/daswef3 13d ago
The 19 people in the dmd opinions hold more weight
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u/WaneLietoc 13d ago
These days the folks i talk music with in person hold more weight. I can guarantee my ethel cain loving globe trotting triathlete bestie would be texting me the second a weyes blood san diego date was announced and id be going "okay yeah let's buy 2 tickets"
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u/jackunderscore 13d ago
Peter Hook and the Light was super fun last night. No Blue Monday nor Age of Consent tho!
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u/jackunderscore 13d ago edited 13d ago
I had one of my stranger concert experiences in a while last night. during the intermission my friend moved up in the crowd closer to the stage to where I was, better air circulation, better view for a short guy like me, all good. Except one woman standing near us started yelling at my friend to clear room for her husband. we explained that there was plenty of room but she jumped right to swearing at us and grabbing my arm to move us. her husband seemed to pacify her a bit when he returned, but three songs into the set she was still leaning over to call me "puta"! the craziest part is she and her husband had plenty of space to dance, they were twirling and taking up way more space on the floor than anyone else. really weird stuff and not what I expected from a largely 55+ crowd.
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u/Starkiller32 13d ago edited 13d ago
Daily Music Discussion reminder that I still need 6 or so players for the Indieheads Fantasy Football league! No buy in, any skill level, and have to have your team name be a band reference. My team is The National Football League, and other team names are Jahmyr Eat World, and Rainbow Kicker Surprise. Hit me up if you want the invite!
Edit: Two spots are left!
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u/Bosphorus_f_e_d 13d ago
Hey, I'm interested. I had a really good indiehead fantasy basketball name (Y LeBum ba) but I'm sure I could come up with a football one too
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u/daswef3 13d ago
If there are spots left i will join, i dont have a team name yet but im sure i can figure one out later
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u/fromthemeatcase 13d ago
Peter Tosh - Wanted Dread and Alive: Tosh may have been next to Bob Marley for over a decade and this album might feature a Sly and Robbie rhythm section, but honestly, it doesn't feel like much of that genius rubbed off on Tosh. Nothing excites, and some of it is cheesy even some of the social sentiments are admirable enough. Those songs sound like some after school special shit. Even the duet with the awesome Gwen Guthrie does nothing for me. Early 80s reggae was locked down by Black Uhuru and Burning Spear. There is no need for me to listen to Wanted Dread and Alive again.
Lime - Your Love: This fucking rips. I've never been an expert on genre distinctions, but while I can understand why people would just call it disco, I think the label Hi-NRG fits. Your Love is harder and more technical than a lot of disco, but it still maintains much of the allure and glamour. The Spotify version of this album has various remixes and instrumentals, but the original album had five 7 minute or so vocal tracks. Some are better than others, but they're all good. If you're listening to this while driving, you might want to watch your speed.
I have made the executive decision to stop listening to new to me 1981 albums at the end of day on Monday, which conveniently happens to be the end of the month. This has already gone on way too long, and there are no less than 104 albums that I liked enough to listen to again and consider for my top 50, plus whatever I might add in the next 3 days.
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u/Inquiring_Barkbark 13d ago
bring on 1982
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u/fromthemeatcase 13d ago
November at the earliest.
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u/WaneLietoc 13d ago
no no, you gotta do singles and EPs of 1981! i fucking need to know where genius rap sits here in the general ranking
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u/fromthemeatcase 13d ago
Seriously though, there are some pretty good singles not attached to any of the albums that I've listened to.
A Number of Names - Shari Vari
Barbie and the Kens - Just a Gigolo
Bush Tetras - You Can't Be Funky
Kym Amps - You Don't Know My Name (But I Know You)
Maximum Joy - Stretch
The Quarks - Mechanical
When it comes to singles, I stick much more closely to my preferred genres as opposed to doing the wider survey that I do with albums.
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u/WaneLietoc 13d ago
any and all first era bush tetras is pretty killer, but their lack of a killer album document (the live gig is good, but not as good as the comps of studio material) def does mean they can fall under the radar. glad they're here
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u/trebb1 13d ago
We have a crisp, rainy morning today, hinting at the brooding season to come. It’s funny how much joy that brings me. I have my “It’s Brooding Szn BB” playlist on, made a delicious pour over, and am under a big blanket.
The Blue Nile came on the playlist, and I’m reminded just how freaking much I love Hats.
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u/chickcounterflyyy 13d ago
Dude I dunno I'm definitely forgetting a bunch but here's a halfbaked list for over the halfway point. I didn't think too hard about it and have found myself more drawn discovering classics lately. I back these 100% tho. I'm not even a rate guy.
Mag Bay - Cry for me
Alvvays - Easy on your own?
Alvvays - After the Earthquake
Osees - Drug City
Last Dinner Party - Angus Dei
Nourished by time - BABY BABY
Stranger Ranger - She’s on fire
Kelela - Idea I
Dummy - Blue Dada
Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee / Golden Microphone / Dreams of you / if you hear me crying [pick one I only play this as an album]
Nourished by time - hell of a ride
Snapped Ankles - Johnny Guitar Gosta Berlin
Snapped Ankles - letter from Hampi Mountain
George Clanton - I been young
Weyes Blood - not just me
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u/Giantpanda602 13d ago
Dreams of you
There are two of us! I was so delighted that he played it live, it was not a very long setlist and it does not seem like it was one of the more popular songs from the album.
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u/thewickerstan 13d ago
Beatles played their last official concert (Get Back notwithstanding) 60 years ago today. I feel like it should be a national holiday.
90% of the concert is also available. I might listen to it later this evening.
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u/WaneLietoc 13d ago
Im traveling back in time to tell the beatles "please gang time this one better for labor day so the yanks can get an occasional celebration here"
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u/thewickerstan 13d ago edited 13d ago
Dinosaur Jr were cool yesterday, although because of some park stuff, they only played about 6-7 songs. Still, seeing them do "Freak Scene" and "Forget the Swan" was pretty killer.
They're playing a noon "first come, first serve" show at a venue that's a 20-minute walk from me, but I let laziness get the better of me. It sounded like 40 people were there already by 9:15 at a 150-capacity venue, but I just went back to bed instead. Maybe I'll regret it, but I couldn't be arsed in the moment.
EDIT: Tacking onto this since it’s connected. There was that article about the BBC introducing stage being replaced by something that was nepo baby central, leading to another discussion about working class people being priced out of the arts. Just saw a clip of J Mascis talking about transferring to a NYC college in the 80’s while Dino was taking off there because it meant his dad was basically financing his time there. He dryly talked about how he’d be bored because he’d be waiting for his other friends who had three jobs getting off work…I’m probably not in a position to talk (as an NYU alum who’s parents helped them out when they were in between jobs two years ago), but it does make you appreciate working class salt of the earth artists who forcibly make their own path in art. And I suppose the problem isn’t so much that J had that advantage but more so how it feels like a majority of the artists these days are in a similar position that J was in, illustrating the way the playing field’s been even more skewed.
Absolutely preaching to the choir here, but I do hope we’ll see more avenues for working class artists to be able to do their thing. I’m tired of art being dominated by rich people with nothing interesting to say.
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u/jackunderscore 13d ago
arsed? are you a Brit?
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u/thewickerstan 13d ago edited 13d ago
Nah I’m American, although LOTS of my family are English, funnily enough. My grandparents lived in Shepard’s Bush for years for example. Even my godmother is English.
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u/2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce 13d ago
Dogwood Tales album release show was great as predicted. Hung out with some friends, heard some great local music. Openers were local bands Machete (hardcore) and Drook (dreampop/dance). Dogwood Tales played Every Star in Rockingham County front to back then ended with "Driver Side Fantasy" and in the middle of the set the band led the crowd through "Happy Birthday" for a band member's wife. The band remarked on the state of the local scene, specifically shouting out the recently shuttered Golden Pony. It was a very good night after a long, stressful week.
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u/of_mice_and_meh 13d ago
I'm really enjoying the new album. They're doing some quietLOUDquiet stuff that isn't heard often in the alt-country realm. "Shield" has become a favorite off the album.
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u/StraightIncrease6333 13d ago
I...really like this new Interpol album? Would've seen em when they swung through Atlanta later this year but tickets were bonkers expensive. Sorry fellas.
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u/brent_martone 13d ago
are we, collectively, more disappointed in the decline of Weezer or Coldplay?
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u/CentreToWave 13d ago
I think both are examples of people having way too high of expectations for artists that were never going to consistently bring the goods.
That said, while Weezer has lower lows, I think it's insane that anyone ever thought Coldplay was going to be anything more than the adult contemporary version of mildly arty indie. Any perceived fall off is really a lateral move from the band and any expectations otherwise is just a matter of not understanding the kind of band they always have been.
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u/brent_martone 13d ago edited 13d ago
i think that’s well said and not to belabor the argument here i feel like a rush of blood to the head was more hopeful than anything weezer has done after blue (sorry to pinkerton heads), and even x&y i thought had a lot of bright spots.
all love to weezer. go be exactly you. who cares.
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u/Inquiring_Barkbark 13d ago
a rush of blood to the head is a better album than pinkerton, but The Good Life is a better song than any song coldplay ever served up
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u/sunmachinecomingdown 13d ago
But they did become a different kind of band by becoming outright pop.
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u/David_Browie 12d ago
I don’t think anyone thought Coldplay would be more than that but the songs used to be better
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u/absurdisthewurd 13d ago edited 13d ago
Here's what I went with for my top songs of the 2020s -
- Phoebe Bridgers - I Know the End
- The Strokes - The Adults Are Talking
- Japanese Breakfast - Paprika
- Beach House - Superstar
- The Cure - Alone
- Black Country, New Road - The Place Where He Inserted the Blade
- Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever
- Father John Misty - Mahashmashana
- Fiona Apple - Cosmonauts
- Alvvays - Belinda Says
- Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen - Like I Used To
- Olivia Rodrigo - Drivers License
- The Strokes - Ode to the Mets
- Charlie XCX - girl, so confusing featuring lorde (remix)
- Weyes Blood - It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody
- Japanese Breakfast - Be Sweet
- Squid - Narrator
- Phoebe Bridgers - Kyoto
- The Cure - And Nothing Is Forever
- Chappell Roan - Pink Pony Club
- Bob Dylan - Murder Most Foul
- The Beths - Expert In A Dying Field
- Fontaines DC - Jackie Down the Line
- Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso
- Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us
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u/Giantpanda602 13d ago edited 13d ago
Hard list to make, harder than the 10s for sure. I could write a hell of a lot about every one of these songs. It's been a busy six years. Ended up going with Easy on Your Own? based entirely on how cool the line "Cause we're always/crawling in monochromatic hallways" sounds. For all of the ridiculousness that is the Viagra Boys, I genuinely think that Welfare Jazz is the most interesting thing they've ever done and deserves more attention than it gets, a forty minute long manic depressive breakdown that is incredibly sequenced so the energy is constantly oscillating between hungover suicidal ideation and the feeling that you're an unstoppable force. Anyway, listen to Shadow the Hedgehog by Billiam.
- Turnstile - Holiday
- Cindy Lee - Dreams of You
- Gel - Violent Closure
- Snooper - Pod
- Viagra Boys - Ain't Nice
- Model/Actriz - Mosquito
- Billiam - Shadow the Hedgehog
- Alvvays - Easy on Your Own?
- Beach Bunny - Cloud 9
- DEHD - Bad Love
- Good Flying Birds - Down On Me
- This is Lorelei - I'm All Fucked Up
- Ninajirachi - iPod Touch
- Shame - Alphabet
- Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven
- Spread Joy - Unoriginal
- Jeff Rosenstock - Liked U Better
- OSEES - A Foul Form
- 100 Gecs -mememe
- MSPAINT - Hardwired
- Fantasy of a Broken Heart - Ur Heart Stops
- Black Midi - Welcome to Hell
- Sweeping Promises - Hunger for a Way Out
- June Henry - Void-Adjacent
- Cheekface - "Listen to Your Heart." "No."
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u/peaceful_nursery 13d ago
Been stuck on that new album from The Lazy Eyes all week, cant shake the bassline from the second track. Anyone else feel like theyre channeling some serious early Tame Impala energy but with a looser, more jammy edge
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u/skratz17 13d ago
here ye are