Hiatus Rewind (Part 1)

As you may have noticed, Bored In Pittsburgh went on a bit of a hiatus for the past few months due to factors. Those factors were:

1. Burnout. It’s fun!

2. A desire to try my hand at fiction writing. It’s actually fun!

Both factors remain in play, but I missed writing about Pittsburgh’s music community, so we’re back!

Here is an attempt to recap some work that was submitted over the past few months:

###

Lounna – Live from Home

A brief collection of wistful folk tunes (some of which are pulled from July’s When I’m Home LP) recorded live in the artist’s own living room. Opening track “Pennies in the Fountain” quivers with a bittersweet sense of vulnerability.

###

Vacancy – Atlantic EP

Four synth-tinged instrumentals–recorded in a beach house over the course of one week–that convey the quality of light glancing off the ocean at different times of day. “Forward” rides a buoyant groove like a boogie boarder would a particularly tasty wave.

###

Animal Scream – Fires After Dark

Two-parter single released in advance of an LP due out in 2023. The title track bends opulent synths into noisy, jagged shapes and deploys them in service of a nocturnal rumpus. Fun fact: Animal Scream features several members of 1, 2, 3.

###

Alysm – Glimmer

A song and video that continue the narrative thread from 2021’s “What’s the Purpose?.” The track’s glitchy, glimmering mope-pop is augmented by a wildly inventive music video that brings to mind the goofy, surreal horrors of “Don’t Hug me I’m Scared.”

###

The Faintest Glow – Liquid Gold

Debut EP from a new two-piece outfit; heavy on driving rhythms and atmospheric splatters of melody. Closing track “32 (Liquid Gold)” is the wonkiest of the bunch, featuring a synth riff that flickers like a string of busted Christmas lights.

###

Goalie Fight – Shineshoe

These Jersey-based pop-punkers returned to PGH in the spring to play a show, and ended up recording the two-parter Shineshoe at CMU’s campus.The title track is a self-effacing anthem featuring a truly excellent final line; “You’d think that emo lyricists would find more rhymes for mental health/They’re all dropouts from the American School for the Football anyway.”

###

Zack Keim – Canyon

The Nox Boys may be on hiatus, but frontman Zack Keim has struck out solo, starting off with a gentle rambler complete with sun-soaked guitar licks and freewheeling sprays of harmonica.

###

Six O’Matic – Lá

Experimental bagpiper uses the concept of the 24-hour cycle as a guide through a six-minute odyssey that embodies the phases of a day: dawn, bright afternoon sunshine, the throb of nightlife, and, finally, the gentle close and reopening.

###

Merci Da Icon – Deer Corpse

A late-night drive over to a lady friend’s house becomes the site of high emo-rap drama; intrusive thoughts and worried rehashings of the previous workday lead to a potentially deadly run-in with a shadowy deer running across the road.

###

Canary – Rest

The latest iteration of this avian duo’s elegant, new-agey pop features album artwork from the Durruti Column‘s Vini Reilly. “Clock” drapes percolating eddies of guitar and textured plinks under layers of floating, choirlike vocals.

###

heart together – ezra

The lead single from October’s blood pact, this acoustic shanty’s dissonant strums, mucky synths, and disorientingly layered vocals act as nightmare fuel, even when the lyrics venture into romance.

###

VYLTS – Arthur

Bracing hardcore that uses gruff shouts, buzzsaw riffs, and poignant, empathic lyrics to rouse grieving souls from the clutches of despair.

###

KELS – Just In Love

The September single from this brassy-voiced Pittsburgh-to-Atlanta transplant underpins dextrous vocal runs with jazzy guitar and muted percussion that bops all the same.

###

lys scott – squashed dreams and broken wings

This 2021 collection of oddball-empowerment hip-hop was remastered and rereleased on the Crafted Sounds label in October, giving the songs a little extra thump. “Big Shot,” a certified banger, is one of the standouts.

Hemlock for Socrates – Cavern

The music featured on this gothic electropop duo’s latest release could soundtrack an immersive haunted house video game. “Hit the Bottom” alternates dramatically between loud and soft, the dynamic shifts tied together with emotive singing and menacing synth pulses.

###

Connie Roses – Bells and Bugs

Over a burbling, atmospheric beat, this philosophical wordsmith switches up flows and tones, his voice rising, falling, squeaking to match the emotion of his lyrics; eventually, he lands and meditates on a weary melody.

###

OrangeG – The Void Bereft

OrangeG, a troubadour who specializes in raggedy, outsider folk-adjacent music, released his debut album in October. “Burn Both Ends” is the sound of a person realizing how exhausted they really are

###

Wisbands – Blue Pine Vol. 2

Michi Tapes mastermind’s collection of bedroom-recorded 12-string guitar improvisations. Radiant, wandering lead single “Big Room” features Shayontani Banerjee (Empty Beings, Sewerheads, Rails to Trails) on violin.

###

Skeletonized – Slime City

Pittsburgh’s resident free-jazz bulls-in-a-china-shop released their latest album in early October. The honking, rumbling “Bel Biv Divorced” possesses one of the funniest song titles I’ve heard in a while.

###

Boy Wonders – Happy Days Are Here Again

The ditties on this trio’s debut album blur and twinkle like a nighttime skyline viewed through squinted eyes. “Why Should I” rides pastel guitars and a propulsive rhythm section to hushed pop glory.

###

HG Profit – I was right

A wavy, atmospheric JayColumbia instrumental provides an evocative background for Profit to paint cold-eyed portraits of hip-hop lonerism.

###

Miracle Finds – Would U B Mine

Multilayered bedroom dance track that squelches, wubs, and jitters its way through a lovelorn dark night of the soul.

###

Lindsay Liebro – Coincidence

Last year’s viral mistaken-for-Taylor-Swift singer/songwriter returns with another anthemic pop juggernaut, this one barreling through the aftermath of heartbreak.

###

Glo Phase – Phosphor

Released on Tampa’s Image Research label, the latest from this prolific Pittsburgh-to-LA producer contains plenty of moody, introspective electronics. The halting, wispy “The Emerald Horizon” feels like an urban stroll viewed through kaleidoscope glasses.

###

A kid called Gauwd – Roommates

Genre-melding duo nods to The Cure with a downcast ballad that runs through a week in the life of a tempestuous relationship, from Monday’s hate to Friday’s “flying away.”

###

Cliff Fields – Eisenhower

This gruff-voiced hip-hop poet’s latest album (entirely self-produced) was inspired by formative days spent wandering through malls with eyes and ears open wide. “Bouquet,” despite barely reaching a minute’s runtime, taps into an elusive strain of wisdom.

###

Reliable Child – Perfume on the Page

A delicate ballad tinged with a bittersweet sense of loss, this one could soundtrack a candlelit slow dance with the ghost of a memory.

###

Sadurday – Mary

Released in advance of the upcoming Nothing 2 Celebrate, this menacing single alternates between glowering verses and towering choruses.

One thought on “Hiatus Rewind (Part 1)”

Pingback: Hiatus Rewind (Part 2) – Bored In Pittsburgh