February Reader Submissions
Over the two months that Indiepop Atlas has been in operation, I've received messages from multiple people who want to spread news of their own music to others. In this post, I'm gonna give some brief reviews of those submissions. If you like any of the songs I'm spotlighting here, be sure to check out the artists' other work!
Porcine - Stop the World
Porcine one of those dream pop bands that tiptoe up to the line of being shoegaze, and in fact they remind me of nothing so much as they do that first EP by Hatchie. I usually prefer my shoegaze to have a bit more noise and a bit less dream, but Porcine manages to pull it off by letting the vocals shine as a highlight of the song, rather than falling prey to the common mistake of poorly burying the vocals under a bevy of effects.
Leah Callahan - Super
Leah Callahan has a long history with indie rock, one that I was unfortunately unaware of until I received her email earlier this month. Unfortunately this song, the first single released from her upcoming album Curious Tourist, is not one that really manages to connect with me, despite the compelling forward drive that it's got going for it. See, her history is intertwined with bands such as Medicine and Swirlies, two groups which have never really managed to click with me for some reason. And then, in this song, she's taking her cues from Blur, a band I dislike only slightly less than Oasis. So it is with regret that I say that this one was never really going to work for me, but I'm not going to give up hope for the rest of the album.
Ancient History - Clementines
This one started off feeling like a new favorite, the way it combines electronic elements with noise pop. But unfortunately, the vocals are a rather polarizing element, the same way as they are for bands like Neural Milk Hotel (whom the submitter compared them to). As someone for whom that style of singing has never quite worked, this doesn't feel like something I'd listen to more than a couple times; but it is something that I'd probably be recommending to a friend who loves In the Aeroplane over the Sea.
Alice Heartshine - Emotional Rush
Hearing about hyperpop was the first time music has made me feel like I'm getting old. So, when I saw it was the first tag for this song, I have to admit I was not optimistic. But I actually ended up really loving this one! It's got this great refrain featuring a jangly little guitar riff, some electronic noise, and a chorus that she rushes through in just the right way to get stuck in your head. If this song is any indication, I think Alice Heartshine has the potential to be a mainstay of this site for some time to come.
Discovery Zone - Pair A Dice
Sorry that this "review" is mostly going to be a tangent, but something that this one happened to remind me of is how excited I was for Frankie Rose's Cage Tropical back in summer 2017. I never really listened to that one more than once or twice after it came out, but I remember hearing those singles and being ready to fall in love. And now, I feel a similar way about Discovery Zone; I always like the idea of indietronica a lot more than the reality of it, so the odds are unfortunately not in favor of me staying in love. But that's no reason not to be in love for now.