Contributor Potluck: July 2024
Hand (/paw/hoof) picked recommendations from the indieAnthro team.
Welcome to the first monthly Contributor Potluck! Each month, indieAnthro contributors get together and share what they've been listening to lately. Enjoy!
Dayton
"dr jesus (rule of thumb)" - ilysm, sor uh, dis, KONG, creepysusie, & zombAe (prod. Tracey Brakes)
Released a week before her new project, ily solos, ilysm dropped this thrown together (in the best way possible) posse cut with some of her closest collaborators and hardest hitters in the underground. Every verse sees each artist tackling the groovy Tracey Brakes beat with their own bravado matching the aggressive and braggadocious tone ilysm set in the first verse. Everyone on this track is bouncing between the drums all using their distinct rapping styles to keep every moment of this 4 minute and 45 second song refreshing.
"stormé" - lulamoon & Mondo The Alien (prod. djpuppycat)
On "stormé", lulamoon and Mondo The Alien come together to drop the cuntiest sample loop track… ever? djpuppycat sheds her influences on this song to create a sound that has (to my knowledge with the current state of queer hip-hop) never been done before. Due to it’s namesake of Stormé DeLarverie this track delivers on the political messaging that you expect; speaking on transphobia, homophobia, capitalism, individualism, lack of representation in politics, and more. "stormé" is not just queer anthem of discontent, it is hip-hop in its true form.
Melissa
"Blood Box" - DJ Re:Code (feat. Tracey Brakes)
Ferocious at its core, "Blood Box" performs interplay with chaotic guitars and metallic breakbeats to create the groundwork for intense grooves. Tracey is fittingly emo as hell and merciless when donning the character of DJ Revert, bursting at any moment with mania befitting of a vengeful sibling turned attempted murderer.
"letter2u" - lil fasty
One of my more recent finds while researching the intersection of rap and furry culture was lil fasty. Their latest single, "letter2u", swirls and warps itself, miming the same refrains to an almost mantra-like effect. Their brand of hyper-psychedelic trap production is comforting, like a wash of acidic warmth. It almost defies description—it must be heard to be realized.
"FURRYCORE CYPHER" - deers ft. alottadogs, g1rlbed, criticaljones, fearozzles, fiber, eunki, graindog, Zenny, phim, and plec0.
Furry rap is at a fever pitch, getting hotter and hotter by the day. This cypher, with a smattering of different rappers, coalesces a poppy trap beat and the magnificent irreverence of furry love, humor and band-spreading. What's more, everybody's on their a-game. Highlights include Zenny, deers, and fearozzles.
Ceej
"the Moan" - Mount Eerie
Submerge me in darkness. Put me in my element. The fur on my neck stands up straight. I feel every sense this tune is on – kind of a personal therian tune for me.
Will
"nightmare you can't shake" - lucypawz
I can thank the folks over at Furry Underground for introducing me to this song. "nightmare you can’t shake" is the b-side off of kdreamz57. A glitchy, bit crushed to heck electronic pop ballad. Her vocals pair so well on top of those steady, relentless synths. The overall effect is incredibly moving.
"i am of the divine" - Wren Dove Lark (feat. Chloe Hotline)
The lead single off of her latest boundarypush, an album that largely samples and recontextualizes Christian worship music. "i am of the divine" is one of my favorite songs to come out of the DIY scene this year and I still revisit it frequently. Wren really flexes her songwriting and familiarity with the tropes of contemporary worship pop production to create a soaring pop song about trans acceptance, brought to even greater heights by featured verse from singer/rapper Chloe Hotline.
"Survival" - The Fatherless & The Widow
This is a track off of Catch the Foxes, the latest EP from experimental musician Dylan Van Zile (bassist for I’ve Made Too Much Pasta, Suicide Doors). Dyl has a knack for creating absolutely beautiful and haunting atmospheres, and this track is one of my favorites. I’d recommend listening to the entire EP in full.
Teague
"Meteorological Centre" - trndytrndy
The Rochester, New York-based musician channels the sounds and aesthetics of yesteryear's educational software on their latest EP, Virtua. The record is a trip through digital landscapes so tuned-in you can practically see the start menus and loading screens. "Meteorological Centre" is a highlight, tempering a clanging, reverbed-to-hell MIDI guitar with a smooth bass-driven groove and digitized birdsong. But trndytrndy doesn't play with these outdated sounds ironically—Virtua captures the artist's earnest memories of an earlier era of computing.
Vomen
"The Arkbuilder's Wife (Violent and Incoherent, the Winds Wept in the Valley.) [Single Ver.]" - Floral Tattoo
Floral Tattoo’s new single from their upcoming record The Circus Egotistica is a sprawling 10 minute epic. The beginning of the track features a watery, free-form soundscape reminiscent of Animal Collective a la Sung Tongs. With a chant of “Send the wind”, the track slowly grows and accelerates from a light breeze into a category five hurricane of sound. The climax of the song feels of biblical proportions, as if a great flood had just descended upon the listener, before finally the track itself is crushed from its own weight. This is the type of music that shows the potential Floral Tattoo has to change the entire landscape around them.
"To Hell in a Handjob" - Los Campesinos!
A band that has never gotten their due, Los Campesinos!’s new record All Hell is another feather in their cap, and "To Hell in a Handjob" is the centerpiece of that record. Featuring LC’s usual blend of quirky and humorous wordplay (such gems include “positive menial attitude” and the titular “to hell in a handjob”) and ever present sense of impending doom, the song is chiefly about the impending climate apocalypse, but also makes room for singer Gareth to mention sending “one thousand memes'' to his friends. The track marches along at a steady pace until at the halfway point, with a scream of “I said I believe!”, it explodes into this beautiful wall of noise that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Ride or Alvvays track. A new highlight in a discography full of highlights.
"Halitosis" - The Jender Eternal Light Revue
The Jender Eternal Light Revue just might be the reincarnation of Jason Molina that we’ve all needed for a long time. Add a sprinkle of 90 Day Men’s piano-led post-rock and an explosively noisy finish with screamed vocals, and you get a true showstopper of a track. Look out for their debut Banned in Arkansas coming out on August 9th, cause I sure will be.
Jay Snow
"Creature Comforts" - Indigo Cypress, Wolfacade
A self-described maker of “weirdo computer music”, Indigo Cypress has a keen ability to shift, mold and transform sounds, building soundscapes primed to explode in vibrant technicolor at a moment’s notice. This single brings together bubbly synths, mechanical percussion and a hook so achingly sweet that it might just distract you from the sheer melancholy in its lyrics, provided by Wolfacade, which paint in stark relief the feeling of craving for the barest solace from torment.
"Steppin’" - Haiilite, Werewing
It’s truly astonishing how much is fitted into this minute-and-a-half track. A bouncy but steady beat is the one thing keeping the track in place, for all the other elements soar and weave through the mix in seamless fashion. Sun-washed guitar and piano ripple into each other and create the clearest vision of a nice day out a song can make through sound alone.