There’s a moment in “Blew” – from Ferdinand’s  Sunk EP – that subtlety works in the tiniest bit of an iPhone alarm. It’s immediately familiar and alerting, albeit fleeting. It’s a fine example of the delicate balance struck throughout the release that feels like a legitimate bedroom recording but also containing plenty of fleshed out arrangements that don’t make it feel so small.

It’s October! Aside from weather changing and massive amounts of candy intake, it means we’ve got 31 days to maximize on novelty songs. Fortunately, Boo Dudes are back with another full album of strangely well-executed songs about absurd topics like a “Haunted Houseboat” or “Lucifer’s Luau.” The record doesn’t hold back when it comes to genre hopping – maybe you’ll hear a traditional country song, maybe you’ll hear some steel drum, maybe you’ll hear some keyboard jams. Everything is fair game with the Boo Dudes proverbial sacrificial lamb to the Halloween gods.

Jeremy Fetzer just released a short EP of songs that contain the exact kind of flair you’d hope for from one half of Steelism. There’s celebratory horns, dramatic strings, rolling bongos, warbly choral effects and, yet, at the core of it all, there’s a delightful pop song. 

The debut Harpooner album straddles a line between melancholy pop record and full-force rock record. Songs like “Hush Up” induce an overwhelming captivation of bursting energy while “Love Shadow” is as pleasant of a laid back summer song as you could ask for. There’s a fine attention to detail through the album with new flourishes revealing themselves on each re-listen. 

Maybe I’m alone in this but there is something immensely comforting about Drone Music. It’s an, understandably, contentious genre but if you really turn it up and let the sound envelope your environment, it has a calming nature. At least, some of it does. I’m sure there’s intentionally abrasive and brutal droning music but the first offering from Infinite Limb is not that, it’s a 10-minute space out of calm.