October Monthly Recap
By: Raquel Lacusky
October brought some of their year’s most anticipated releases, leaving us with a plethora of notable tracks. Here I’m breaking down my favorite releases from October.
Hot Penny Day - Dry Cleaning
Dry Cleaning’s most recent record, Stumpwork, is one of my favorites of the year. I have yet to hear anything like it. Hot Penny Day is the album’s standout track. If you’re looking for something out of the ordinary, this song is for you. A creepy guitar riff opens the song, then the instrumental is carried by a distorted baseline that serves as the instrumental’s anchor. The song contains classic quirky Dry Cleaning lyrics like “Is it still okay to call you my disco pickle?” spoken over the groovy track. I couldn’t tell you what the song is about, but in a way, that’s the beauty of it. You don’t have to overthink the deeper meaning. You just get to enjoy the oddity of it. It’s a nice break from the emotional content that has surfaced in mainstream music recently. Despite its obscurity, Hot Penny Day feels perfect for any mood. I’ve had this song on repeat since its release, and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon.
Always - Babygirl
Babygirl’s I Wish I Never Met You is an indie cult favorite, and the band’s most recent single Always takes a similar sonic tone. A simple bass and drum line carry you through the song as the song explores feelings of never really being able to let go of an ex-lover. Its lyrics ask questions that seem mundane but still manage to strike a chord, “is your goldfish still alive? Does your girlfriend want to meet me?” The questions asked in the first verses’ lyrics are answered by a simple guitar that forces listeners to wonder what their answers could be. It feels perfectly simplistic. It isn’t overdone, which allows it to fit seamlessly into your fall indie playlist.
The Neighborhood - Grace Enger
It is evident that singer-songwriter Grace Enger put her heart into her debut single, The Neighborhood. Enger’s vocals and poetic lyrics cut deep. The track is about losing your sense of home to an unbreakable association with someone from your past. Every line advances the emotional arc of the song. She doesn’t waste a word. In the first verse, Enger sings, “Call me unhinged, but sometimes I drive past your place / It’s not my fault some habits are hard to break / But biting my nails and drinking caffeine / Have nothing on you and the hold you have on me.” In the chorus, she sings about having to find new restaurants and stores to go to because her favorites feel like they belong to someone else. The hook hits listeners where it hurts with the line, “I’ll keep loving you more than I should / And you’ll keep the neighborhood.” Sonically, the instrumental pairs well with the feeling of grieving your comfort places. The acoustic nature of the song is interrupted by an incredible electric build-up in the bridge that encompasses Enger’s internal frustrations. Instrumental silence returns to showcase Enger’s vulnerability when she brings back the chorus. The Neighborhood is dynamic, heart-wrenching, and relatable; beyond impressive facets for a debut single.
About You - The 1975
About You is the showstopper from The 1975’s newest album Being Funny In A Foreign Language. It’s a track that swallows you whole. It’s lyrics are about not being able to escape someone’s memory and it’s instrumental seems to fill every fiber of your being the same way. It buries strings under a plethora of layered musical elements to make it feel like the song is ascending. The track hits its peak when the instrumental settles and a female vocalist comes in, creating a duet where both singers have the other stuck on their minds. About You is about being stuck in the past, a feeling that fans have expressed their connection to with roaring praise on social media. The song manages to combine the sound of the band’s past works like Somebody Else to the new folk sound they’ve explored on recent tracks like Part Of The Band. The result is an elevated sound that standout’s as one of the more notable tracks from the The 1975 catalog.
Elevator - Blu DeTiger
Blu DeTiger is one of the most exciting artist to follow right now. Her impressive bass skills have brought her to stages all over the country in collaboration with artists like Fletcher, Jack Antonoff, and Dominic Fike at various music festivals and tour stops. But, Blu really shines on the mic in her own tracks. Elevator is a catchy electro-pop song that should be on every cool girl’s pregame playlist. It’s fully equipped with subtle gang vocals, flirty lyrics, and addictive melodies. And, of course, in true Blu DeTiger fashion, it’s carried by a groovy bass line that’s going to make it hard to keep you from dancing.
Big Ideas - Arctic Monkeys
The Arctic Monkeys most recent record, The Car, sounds like the band’s very own James Bond soundtrack. The orchestral strings found throughout the album warrant a movie script being written just to accompany the score. The strings are especially showcased on Big Ideas not only instrumentally but lyrically as Alex Turner sings, “but now the orchestra’s got us all surrounded.” It continues to hint at the cinematic instrumental themes found on the record with lyrics like “can you co-direct and play the twins?” The song brings in an impressive instrumental break as the strings sections play back and forth with a vintage-sounding guitar solo creating a beautiful sense of balance between the thematic elements of The Car and the alternative aspects of the band’s previous works like A.M.
You Know - heavn, 8485
You Know is a perfect lofi alternative rock song from heavn’s most recent album, Suburbia. The artist has rebranded from his original hip-hop sounds to take on a dark, mellow, indie-rock vibe. You Know encompasses this new sound perfectly. Heavn adds a wistful vocal over a dark electric guitar part and a crunch bass line, creating an ominously laidback sound. In the second verse, listeners hear the track’s icing on the cake: a vocal line sung by alternative hyperpop artist 8485. It adds dimension and perfectly rounds out the song’s mellow emo sound.
Words I Used - The Backseat Lovers
Words I Used is one of my favorite tracks on The Backseat Lovers sophomore album Waiting To Spill. The album is extremely impressive, and Words I Used is no exception. It starts with a vintage piano that takes listeners through the song. The best part about Words I Used is that you never really know where it’s going. At just over five minutes, the song takes you through ups and down. When you’ve gotten used to the sound of the instrumental, its melody changes. When you think it will keep building, the instrumental drops back to piano. Lyrically, the song addresses the emotional honesty The Backseat Lovers put on display throughout the album as listeners hear, “No I can’t lie when I sing.” Words I Used is just one of the many moments on Waiting To Spill where The Backseat Lovers proved that they are truly instrumentalists.
no way out - Irvi
Bedroom pop artist Irvi is exploring a new alternative sound in her latest single, no way out. Compared to the rest of her lofi laced discography, no way out explores new rock elements that suit Irvi quite well. Her ethereal tone lets the song’s vocal line float over the electric guitar part that forefronts the instrumental. Lyrically, the song’s theme centers around trying to get yourself out of a rut that seems to be never-ending. This new sound suits Irvi well, and I hope it’s something she continues to explore in the future.
Hate Dancin’ - King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
Hate Dancin' is the lead single from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s most recent album, Changes. Changes is the band’s 23rd album, a concept record built around the chord and key change from D major to F# major. It’s a creative project that has a unique, cohesive sound. Hate Dancin’ starts with a groovy instrumental and a lyric that repeats “I still hate dancin’.” In the middle of the song, listeners are met with an instrumental breakdown and a spoken vocal about losing control of your body to the music. The breakdown builds to an explosive key change, where the lyrical repetition changes to “I might like dancin’.” It can be easy to get lost in a discography as large as King Gizz’s, but Hate Dancin’ is a standout track that will definitely make you want to dance.
