It’s been another week filled with the simultaneous loss of musical legends and our collective faith in humanity. They say music heals all, but lately we’ve just been using it to fill the silent voids within our workdays. Despite the dwindling medicinal properties of the medium, we all could use multiple distractions, so here’s six songs we kind of listened to this week while mostly just zoning out.
Turnstile ‘Sunshower’
In case you missed it while silently mouthing ‘what the fuck?’ at every single news headline you’ve read, Turnstile’s long awaited third album ‘Never Enough’ came out last week and it shreds. Or. It bops? Or. It’s kinda dreamy but in a heavy way? Who actually knows what the hell this band is doing anymore? All we really know is that it’s a pretty triumphant return for a band that’s barely been able to leave the minds of everyone that played ‘Glow On’ ad infinitum since it was released.
Frankie Cosmos ‘Pressed Flower’
In case your quietest friend hasn’t already whispered to you about it, lo-fi indie punk heroes Frankie Cosmos are set to release their album, ‘Different Talking’ in just two weeks. So far, the lead singles ‘Vanity’ and ‘Bitch Heart’ have shown that head songwriter Greta Kline is seemingly incapable of writing a bad hook filled with almost creepy levels of relatable lyricism. Their latest, ‘Pressed Flower’ is no exception, with couplets that hit so close to the bone you’ll probably want to submit a data deletion request to the band.
Ganser ‘Black Sand’
Chicago art-punk trio Ganser announced their new album ‘Animal Hospital’ produced by the Liars frontman Angus Andrew – which should be kind of obvious given the precarious sounding lead single ‘Black Sand’ – their first new music since 2022’s EP ‘Nothing You Do Matters.’ ‘Black Sands’ driving backbeat fights for control over a swirling fog of guitars and distorted vocals, causing a scene not witnessed since your friend went to their employer’s open bar work party.
Moving Mountains ‘Ghosts’
Recently your therapist texted you out of the blue to see if you needed to make an appointment. This might be because of the state of the world right now, but we think it’s probably more related to the fact that Moving Mountains released their first new song in over a decade. ‘Ghosts’ is the first single from the post-hardcore outfit’s first album in 12 years, ‘Pruning Of The Lower Limbs’ …yikes. We got about ten seconds into the track before immediately checking how many mental health days we have left this year, so good luck.
Jer ‘The Way You Tune It Out’
Skatune Network founder Jeremy Hunter, or JER, will be releasing their second album ‘Death of the Heart’ in August. Some would say that it’s bad form to release a ska-punk album as the summer season is dwindling, but thanks to global warming, many of us will still be skanking well into November. The lead single ‘The Way You Tune It Out’ is a masterclass in screaming a comprehensive list of every modern political, economical and environmental horror while also making everyone listening want to dance until their knee makes that weird noise again.
Berwanger ‘Exorcism Rock’
Recently our Editor-in-Chief called everyone into his office and asked if we had heard criminally underappreciated 2016 album ‘Exorcism Rock’ by Berwanger – the solo project of former The Anniversary frontman Josh Berwanger. Those who said no were immediately sent to a lecture hall in an undisclosed location of the building where we assume they have been listening to the album repeatedly for the past 72 hours with no end in sight. Those of us who lied have also been listening to the album on loop, initially out of fear, but now out of love. We’d call it Stockholm Syndrome, but it’s just undeniably catchy shit.
Still looking for that sweet, sweet, escapism? Don’t worry. We have a whole playlist with these songs plus everything we’ve listened to for this entire year. Every week we’ll add more songs until it becomes a hideous reflection of a person we no longer recognize. You can check it out below: