Because the super-big releases are now in the wild, mid-summer gives us a chance to dig a little deeper into the release schedule. These five songs you must hear should get the week off to a good start.
1. Metric, Nothing is Perfect
Formentara II (Metric Music International/Thirty Tigers)
Recommended If You Like: Left turns
Metric isn’t known for offering up too many acoustic songs and they know it. Calling this song an “acoustic outlier,” the goal was to put Emily Haines’ voice and lyrics right up front. Says Emily: out on Formentera II as the lone track that is carried by only acoustic guitar and vocals. We explored many renditions of this song during the recording process, but in the end found that everything we tried adding seemed to detract from the essence of it.” The new album will be here on October 13.
2. Saint Samuel, Like You Like That
Single (Dog Brothers/Unleashed Music)
RIYL: ChatGPT? (You’ll see it in the video)
Sam McCoig is a singer-songwriter from Richmond, Virginia, who uses music to explore his alter-ego. In this case, he had a situation where a fizzled romance with a man where Sam had to explain that “I just don’t like you like that.” That evolved into a concept for a video where ChatGPT went from being artificial to something a little more tangible.
3. Normadie, Blood in the Water
Single (Easy Life Records/Land Shark)
RIYL: Was to deal with constant negativity
In the absence of any new Twenty One Pilots, you might want to consider this new one from Normandie, a Stockholm-based band, and a song about “how hurt people, hurt people” and how negativity is contagious. Some festival dates in the UK this year have upped the buzz on this band.
4. 3 Doors Down, Pop Song
Away from the Sun 20th Anniversary Edition (Universal)
RIYL: Lost songs
In 2000, a band from Escatapaw, Mississippi, appeared out of nowhere with a song called Kryptonite from their debut album, The Better Life, which launched them on an international career that is still going. Two decades after the release of their second album, a 20th anniversary edition is now available featuring a number of unreleased songs from that period. Pop Song is one of those tracks.
5. Slow Pulp, Cramps
Single (Anti)
RIYL: 90s distortion
Dinosaur Jr. The Breeders. Veruca Salt. Sonic Youth. If any of those bands are close to your heart, you must check out this Chicago band that’s been around since about 2015. Cramps is a tease of what’s to come thanks to a new record deal. Meanwhile, you might want to go back to a 2020 debut album called Moveys along with their four self-released EPs.
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