Monday, September 29, 2025
purse your lips, let live die/i wanna eat you alive
purse your lips, let live die/i wanna eat you alive
Album of the week
Sprints - All That is Over
Sprints were all gas and no brakes on their debut (that just came out last year), Letter to Self. Some of the songs came out of the gates with a slow smoulder, but it felt like every one of the eleven tracks eventually exploded.
On All That is Over, there's a little more room to breathe. Opener, "Abandon," builds and swirls, but never escapes into orbit, but that doesn't make it any less compelling. In fact, the formerly uncharacteristic restraint just makes the songs where they really let loose sound that much bigger.
Lead single, "Descartes," is 3-minutes of heavy riffs and front woman Karla Chubb wailing. "Need," "Pieces," and "Coming Alive" bring similar energy, but they really pop, because they come after songs like "Better" and "Beg."
They're still heavy as hell, but it's not just because of the volume anymore.
Song of the week
Ratboys - Last Night Mountains All That
It took me until about my 20th listen of this song to realize it's six fucking minutes long. It makes sense in retrospect, because the band crams all of their best traits in: the big, poppy emo hooks, the deceptively big riffs, Julia Steiner straining against the din. But the tune just flies by like it's Guided by Voices length.
They're at the Biltmore on April 6th. Get tickets and call in sick for work on Tuesday.
Classic of the week
Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea
Happy 30th birthday to Washing Machine and my favourite 20-minute SY banger that devolves (evolves?) into an ambient noise jam.
The 5-year, four album run from Goo to Washing Machine was so damn good and it's wild to think that they'd already done Bad Moon Rising to Daydream and did Murray Street to The Eternal after that (albeit on a slightly longer timeline for the last one).
More heat
Fiery Furnaces - Far Away
The Friedberger's re-released all-timer, Blueberry Boat, for a 500 copy vinyl run (that's already sold out--sorry) and it comes with this "lost" track. It's really just an older version of personal Furnaces fave, "Waiting to Know You," but if you're a fan of the band--and I'm a huge one--it's a fascinating window into what the Bitter Tea stand out would've sounded like if it made their magnum opus.
Parts Work - Trenton
I desperately want a new Hop Along record, but this EP from Frances Quinlan and Kyle Pulley (who engineered Hop Along's last album, Bark Your Head Off, Dog and plays in Thin Lips) will tide me over til then.
Sharp Pins - I Don't Have the Heart
Like Exploding Hearts meets those songs the Fountains of Wayne guy wrote for that movie (complimentary).
Alexa Rose - Anywhere, OH
The last thing we got from Alexa Rose was a Lucinda Williams cover, which made a ton of sense, because this one could've been plucked right off of Car Wheels.
now playing: Neko Case - Wreck
