Back in February, the esteemed record label Run For Cover and the venerable NYC concert promoter the Bowery Presents revived their long-dormant music festival Something In The Way — which had first taken place in 2016 at New York’s Webster Hall — moving it to Boston and situating it at the 3,500-capacity indoor venue Roadrunner. They’re running it back at Roadrunner Boston this coming winter, and the lineup is once again stacked.
“I don’t fit in anywhere!” That’s what Drew Waldon screams on the chorus “New From The Pain,” and it’s pretty much true. Waldon leads Gumm, a Chattanooga band that’s spent the past few years carrying the fire for a sincere, vaguely melodic form of hardcore that I generally associate with late-’80s Washington, DC. In the hardcore world, that style isn’t exactly in vogue these days, but Gumm attack it with vital, visceral energy, sounding more like themselves than anyone else. They’ve got a new album on the way, and that’s great news.
A Country Western are part of Philadelphia’s vital constellation of warped post-Alex G, post-TAGABOW indie bands. They released their surprisingly punchy and uptempo album Life On The Lawn last year, and today they’re back with a pair of short new tracks, packaged as an EP called Four-Team Dream Machine. Each one is essentially a solo track: Garrett Miades handles guitar, bass, drums, and lead vocals on the gauzy, Hovvdy-esque “Clouds,” while Derek Hengemihle did guitar, drums, and vocals, Drums on “GG,” which puts a ragtag Pavement feel on the same subgenre. Hear it all blow past you in about three minutes below.
Chappell Roan has been covering Heart’s 1977 classic “Barracuda” for a while now, and she does a damn good job doing it. She just kicked off her run of fall pop-up shows over the weekend, and last night at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium, she brought out Heart’s own Nancy Wilson to sing and shred on “Barracuda” with her.
JD Twitch, known as one half of the duo Optimo (Espacio), has died. The Scottish DJ and producer born Keith McIvor revealed in July that he was diagnosed with an untreatable brain tumor. He passed away on Friday (Sept. 19) in Glasgow’s Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice. He was 57.
Last year, Swedish rap favorites Bladee and Yung Lean teamed up for the alt-rock collaborative album Psykos. The following month, the Drain Gang CEO unleashed Cold Visions; earlier this year, Lean unveiled Jonatan. Now they’re back with a new collab called “Inferno.”
Every week the Stereogum staff chooses the five best new songs of the week. The eligibility period begins and ends Thursdays right before midnight. You can hear this week’s picks below and on Stereogum’s Favorite New Music Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly. (An expanded playlist of our new music picks is available to members on Spotify and Apple Music, updated throughout the week.)
Two weeks ago, Copenhagen punks JJ And The A’s announced their debut album Rhetoric Of Trash and shared its wild title track. Today the trio has a second single out, a relentless and infectious neon battering ram called “Roadkill.” This one gets a lot of mileage out of the blaring keyboard that mirrors the power chords. Enjoy it for yourself below.
Earlier today, Canadian member of parliament Vince Gasparro announced that Kneecap are “ineligible to enter our country.” In a video, Gasparro declared that “as parliamentary secretary for combatting crime, I am announcing that effective immediately the members of Kneecap have been deemed ineligible to enter Canada. Canada stands firmly against hate speech, incitements to violence, and the glorification of terrorism.”
