Stereo Specter has been releasing a handful of singles over the past few months that should not be overlooked. The latest, “Obsolete Man“, is a great place to dive in. It’s an upbeat number decrying a relationship in which the narrator was deemed obsolete and is now triumphantly trying to prove his worth; a feeling that we’re all likely able to empathize with.

I’m told that there’s a full EP, or possibly album, on the horizon of these new songs. They’re all culled from a new outlook on the general Stereo Specter sound embracing a bit more pop sensibilities. The pounding drums and swirling keyboards are a nice indication of where things are headed for the band and I’m looking forward to more.

Catch the band at The 5 Spot on July 10th (2019) as they try their hand at winning a spot at this years Pilgrimage Fest and check them out on the streaming services if you’d like to keep up with new releases.

Chrome Pony released Past Lives back in 2016 and spent the past three years playing out, writing a bunch of new songs and working through recording false starts. Fortunately, they found themselves at Battle Tapes and were able to put down an entire record, set for release sometime in 2019. The first fruit of that labor can be heard in “Taking My Time“, the searing new single.

The accompanying video places the band in a competitive The Voice style competition that, hilariously, transitions into some sort of sunken place when one of the judges realizes the potency of the song. It’s a clever commentary on the state of rock music with just the right dash of absurdist fun. Basically, it’s exactly the kind of rambunctious fun you want from a rock song.

The band informs me that there are two more singles set for release in the coming months spawned from the Battle Tapes recording sessions and if “Taking My Time” is any indiciation, they’re going to provide a quality soundtrack to the summer.

There’s something undeniably chaotic about the new Soft Robot video for “Happiness” (taken from Nothingness in Vogue). Three paper masked characters perform choreography along with the song lyrics while glitched out effects, datamoshing and general visual cacophony plays out over the course of nearly 4 minutes. Oddly enough, it’s a captivating experience, not an unsettling one.

Reading along with the lyrics gives the madness of the video some additional, heart heavy, context. One stanza reads:

Coming over when I cook
Broke my heart then
The wine took
All of my hope
Down the death slope
I’m desperate enough

With the lyrical context in mind, the madness of the visuals feels entirely appropriate as a reflection of the madness one feels in an emotional spiral.

There’s plenty to more to say about Nothingness in Vogue that we’ll save for a full review but “Happiness” serves as an excellent introduction to the many layers ready to be peeled back.

God bless Bandcamp Discovery. Finding gems like this new track from Murfreesboro artist Baby Breath is a treat that’s difficult to articulate.

“CELLS” is a fascinating mixture of driven, thick, dirty, electronic music paired with detached, disturbingly calm, vocals. The juxtaposition between the two elements is captivating and immediately evokes imagery of some dark future. It’s fitting that a song that feels so mechanical would be titled to pay homage to the basic building blocks of life, a nod to the ghost in the machine.

It’s been three years since a proper release from Baby Breath and we can only hope that this track is a peek at a larger release coming down the line.

In their short time, Z has established themselves as a rather limber and diverse stylistic undertaking. Their last album, BarbedWire.org, is a collection of relatively upbeat pop songs with a somewhat ominous and frantic tone that reveals itself throughout the course of the record.
MAGNUFEEK was an onslaught of four-on-the-floor beats and downright scary presentation; something Aphex Twin would be proud of. Prior tothat was a handful of singles either pulled from those releases or exploring other territory, like the somewhat post-punk, somewhat krautrock, somewhat dance-y “Pure Pleasure.” The throughline here is not to put any expectations on the band, as you’ve no idea what you’re going to get.

So, with that in mind, “Breeding Time, the latest single from their forthcoming Cold Lunch Recordings album Trauma Center is something entirely new. The video is as visually jarring as the track itself; complete with barked vocals, huge riff guitars and a general berating. It’s energetic, forceful and coming from a place of absolute catharsis. Compared against “Ain’t Nothing But a Thang” it’s hard to imagine the sounds coming from the same band.

That eclectic nature is exactly what makes tracking Z so rewarding. The previous album could have been a collection of J-Pop but that has zero bearing on what you’ll get next. Trauma Center comes out in July and is likely to follow suit, sonically, with the sneering style of “Breeding Time” and the previous release “Paper Rad” but there really is no way to make a confident prediction there and I, for one, am excited for it.