Spring is in the air, which means festival season is upon us. It’s a glorious time to gather with friends, get violently dehydrated, and leave scathing comments on social media about how upset you are that your fest of choice doesn’t have every band from your ‘recently listened to’ section on the lineup. While we’re excited to see the Beach Boys at – checks notes – Riot Fest this year, here are some songs we listened to instead this week.
Lung ‘The Mattress’
Dayton, Ohio’s genre defying cello/drum duo, Lung, announced their new record ‘The Swandiver.’ Lead single ‘The Mattress’ is the musical equivalent of the panic attack you just had while reading a random infographic. If they ever make a movie about a sinking Titanic-style cruise liner that symbolically represents America in 2025, we recommend that they tap Lung to fill the role of the string-quartet that keeps playing as the ship cracks in half before meeting its demise.
Tropical Fuck Storm ‘Dunning Kruger’s Loser Cruiser’
Not so long ago, ‘Dunning Kruger’s Loser Cruiser’ was the oddly specific and insulting name your friends would call your ‘94 Corolla behind your back. Now it’s the latest single from Tropical Fuck Storm. What a turnaround. Not only is the track as loud as that car was, it will also invoke that borderline bad acid trip feeling you used to get from the exhaust fumes during long drives. At this rate, we expect the band’s forthcoming album to come with a warning that you shouldn’t operate any heavy machinery while listening.
Planning For Burial ‘You Think’
About halfway through Planning For Burial’s new single ‘You Think,’ ‘you’ might ‘think’ that your speakers have blown. It’s a fair assumption given the fact that nearly every device you own is in a broken and nearly unusable state, but this time it’s just the unforgiving guitar tone and production style of the one man band’s progenitor, Thom Wasluck. You might be saying to yourself, ‘Wait, that’s just one dude? How on earth is he making that much noise?’ We don’t want to spoil the magic by explaining drum machines and overdubbing, so just listen without investigating any further.
Cut Cult ‘Lame Horse’
Wake up, babe. Another Holy Fuck side project just dropped. Cut Cult – featuring current and former Holy Fuck members Brian Borcherdt, Loel Campbell, and Matt McQuaid – just dropped their debut single ‘Lame Horse.’ Notably, this comes on the heels of new music from Noble Rot, which features Holy Fuck’s Graham Walsh. Suffice to say, fans of the band have a lot to dig into this summer. As a bonus, if this pattern of side project formation holds, we are only three new bands away from the members of Holy Fuck accidentally recording a new Holy Fuck record under an entirely different name.
Dave Heatwave ‘Star City’
If you’re anything like us, you’ve always wondered what it would sound like if Orville Peck traded in his famed fringed mask for a Luchador mask and went to space. Turns out, it sounds like Dave Heatwave. His latest single, ‘Star City,’ is reminiscent of a celestial lounge act in which all of the stars in the sky have been replaced by ‘80s synths. As you float through the lush – yet somehow sparse – arrangement, you’ll start to wonder how much time has passed on Earth. Unfortunately, the track does end and shatters the illusion, thrusting you back into your normal time continuum where rent is still due next week.
Want the chaos and confusion of your favorite festival from the comfort of your own home? Check our official playlist. It’s got every song we’ve listened to this year, and all of your favorites are set to play simultaneously on separate stages that are too far to walk to. Like, follow and listen below: