Weekly Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7gIX8GF3CT3mBdduZkbTJI?si=–YOmqzXSoaivWyPBhqqFg 

Jacob’s picks 

1. REZN – “Iceberg” 
2. Abruptum – “Honores Vultus Ex Aeris Campi” 
3. Playboi Carti – “Punk Monk” 
4. Lolo Zouaï – “Summers in Vegas” 
5. Errant – “Saturday Saviour” 
6. Hans Zimmer & Junkie XL – “Do You Bleed?” 

REZN is a psychedelic doom and stoner metal band out of Chicago. Their track “Iceberg” perfectly encapsulates those genres in a focused fashion. The track first builds by adding each component of its production until the doom metal riffs kick in. The vocals are faded, giving the song a laid back feel while the doom metal riffs give off an infectious tone. 

“Honores Vultus Ex Aeris Campi” blends the sinister and hopeless atmosphere of black metal with putrid death metal vocals. Purely evil and vile.

No one in rap is pulling off the cutthroat vibe of punk like Playboi Carti. “Punk Monk” sees Carti absolutely disregarding others in favor of betting on himself. Carti and producers F1lthy, Lucian and Lukrative will have listeners betting on themselves in a matter of the nearly four minute runtime. 

“Summers in Vegas” by the incredibly talented and underrated Lolo Zouaï is a very sad track. Zouaï reflects on all of her memories during her summers in Vegas. Zouaï captures that reflective emotion so well and it’ll definitely hit home for almost any listener. 

Errant is a one-musician band by Rae Amitay. Amitay’s incredible creative outlet that is Errant can still be seen on the Failure cover of “Saturday Saviour.” Failure already created an amazing track, but Amitay’s attention to soft and heavy moments make this cover track something everyone can love and revisit. 

“Do You Bleed?” marks the first interaction between Batman and Superman in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” Hans Zimmer & Junkie XL create a piece of music that is epic and high stakes. It also perfectly represents the absolute massiveness Batman and Superman encompass in the film. A perfect example of why Zimmer is the best in the business.  

Brandon’s picks 

1. Better Oblivion Community Center – “Didn’t Know What I Was in For”
2. Citizen- “Blue Sunday”
3. Fiddlehead- “Million Times” 
4. Pale Waves – “There’s A Honey”
5. Ocean Alley – “Knees”
6. Ramirez- “Hunnids”

Phoebe Bridgers took the world by storm with her album “Punisher” earlier this year. This compelled me to relisten to her earlier work ,bringing me to one of my favorite groups, Better Oblivion Community Center, which is Bridgers’ 2019 collab project with Bright Eye’s frontman Conner Oberst. The indie rock duo released their self titled project in the same year, which is home to the track, “Didn’t Know What I Was in For.” The track is a beautiful and somber listen full of folk feeling acoustic guitar, but the real selling point is Bridgers’ and Oberst’s vocals, which are a match made in heaven. 

Toledo emo rock band Citizen has been stirring up excitement for their upcoming album “Life in Your Glass World,” releasing three tracks from the project. One of these tracks is the trance inducing “Blue Sunday.” The band has continued to grow and explore genres, and they hit another home run with this track.  

“Million Times” is a heartbreaking post-hardcore track from Boston supergroup Fiddlehead. The lovelorn lyricism is something everyone can relate to with the chorus “Come back for our millionth try/ Come back one more million times.” Instrumentally, however, the track is an upbeat and head bobbing listen. 

U.K. indie rock band Pale Waves has been making waves since their 2018 album, “My Mind Makes Noises.” Produced by George Daniel and Matt Healy from The 1975, “There’s a Honey” is one of the catchiest songs I’ve heard. Everything about this track, from the vocal melodies and lead guitar riff to the punching snare and basslines, will have the listener moving in their seat and shamelessly singing.

The word nostalgia doesn’t even begin to describe the track “Knees” by Australian psychedelic rock band Ocean Alley. The guitar playing on this track, and throughout the entire album, is mind-blowing. The track takes the listener back to that seventies era sound while modernizing it the perfect amount. 

Ramirez is one of my favorite rappers out right now. The San Francisco rapper released his collaboration with singer songwriter Rocci, “The Playa$ Manual,” a project that was clearly inspired by classic nineties west coast sound. The beat and sample on this track is immaculate coupled with Ramirez’s lyrics and flow.