As the clock strikes midnight, CLOUDLAND, based out of Athens, Georgia, celebrates the release their debut album, Where We Meet. The four-piece rock group is made up of members: vocalist Zach King, Karmen Smith on drums, guitarist Aidan Hill and Hogan Heim on bass. The ten-track album was written over the last year and a…
Review: Lucy Dacus: ‘Home Video’
Home Video is a stunning collection of delicate coming-of-age moments packed with emotional vulnerability and scenic poetry. Lucy Dacus, 26, brings to life nostalgic tales of her Christian youth camp days, friends dating subpar boys, awkward firsts and confused teens replacing pop culture references for a personality. Presumably, the effectiveness comes from the way she read through her teenage…
Review: Skee Mask – ‘Pool’
Dance music has found itself in a stalemate throughout the age of pandemic. A genre whose beating heart lies on a club floor surrounded by individuals experiencing spiritual urges to move their bodies was demoralized at the snap of a finger. With physical spaces stolen away, the innate physicality of dance music became isolated inside…
REVIEW: Mary Margaret Cozart: ‘Emerald City’
There have been times over the past year that I’ve felt like a parked car in the middle of the interstate. The world keeps moving forward, just as fast as before, but I’m stagnant. It’s a feeling I think is common among young adults during the pandemic. Their metamorphosis from child to adult was interrupted…
Punk’s (fortunately) Not Dead: Monsoon as a Riveting Reminder at Chase Fest
Is there a name for the feeling of suddenly becoming consumed by an energy you’re seeing or experiencing for the first time? When in the presence of some force that’s bigger than you, bigger than any one person could be? Something transformative, some naturally explosive potential, that you feel everyone else needs to be in…
REVIEW: DoFlame’s “Bat House”
18-year-old DoFlame made his debut just a few weeks ago with single “Bat House.” If I could describe this track in a just one sentence, I’d say, “90s nu trash is back, baby.” But, we have the privilege of free speech, so let’s continue. I can’t say I expected a 2003 baby to make his…
REVIEW: Kareem Ali – ‘Getting Through’
Getting Through by Kareem Ali Upon doing research for this review, I noticed that Phoenix-based producer Kareem Ali’s Instagram bio reads “I create music for everything in the universe”. Marry this ethos with Ali’s one-of-a-kind Boiler Room mix, set in the sunset-soaked desert outskirts of Phoenix, and this mission statement tells listeners everything we need…
REVIEW: Cities Aviv – ‘The Crashing Sound of How It Goes’
THE CRASHING SOUND OF HOW IT GOES by Cities Aviv I was stuck in a place/I couldn’t get up/what happens next? How does one begin to grieve growth from one chapter of life to another? Loved ones lost, a regressive sociopolitical landscape, and the impending fears of aging all come crashing down on one to…
Courting: ‘Grand National’
If there’s anyone who hasn’t lost complete touch over the ever-fleeting artistry of social commentary rock, it would undoubtedly have to be the Brits. Championing the genre as what might be a post-post-punk reaction to the spawn of angsty British lyricism, Courting have recently released a 4-track debut EP that delivers a wonderfully refined twist…
Track-By-Track: Humble Plum Talks Debut ‘Seventeen Hours’
Athens, GA-based Humble Plum’s debut album, Seventeen Hours, out now. Humble Plum is composed of Daniel Hardin John Ilardi and Josh Johnston. Ilardi and Johnston are students in UGA’s music business program, affectionately monikered as MBUS, and Hardin graduated the program in 2020. Childhood friends Hardin and Ilardi reconnected at UGA and brought Johnston into…