Writing about things that do and don't exist
The "library rock" quartet's debut EP is St. Clair. Opener "Mona Ray" showcases mégane's knack for deft rhythms, immersive guitar tones, and plaintive hooks. Vocalist Justin Crookston pines for the titular figure ("I lost every part of her [...] I lost the dream of you and I"), and the band's instruments follow suit, performing their … Continue reading Daily Yinz – mégane – Mona Ray
A few words about a few more local tracks that hit the spot over the past few weeks ### Johnny Arlett - Thirteen Synth tones so grand and annunciatory that you expect an ape to show up and discover tools. More from Johnny Arlett Follow on Instagram ### Lounna - Sassafras (feat. Gabrielle Gutierrez) A … Continue reading Multi-Weekly Wrap-Up 03.28.25
The debut single from Julia Mahncke's solo project. I adopted my cat a few months after moving to Pittsburgh because I didn't have any friends. The night I brought her home from the Humane Society, she bounced around my apartment-- scratching couch arms, knocking things over, brushing against my legs, generally being delightful--and I felt … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Almost Exactly Like Julia – A New Kind of Love
A new single produced by Bilal Ré. Bilal uses drifting keys and gate-slamming percussion to create an air of quiet menace that befits Lum's Phantom, an elusive masked figure forged by "violence, drugs, and trauma"; he's guarded, cautious, "hard to touch," but if you cross him, he'll make you "swallow a katana." He locks into … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Pharaoh Lum – Phantom of the Blockra
Angel of Death is the latest release from Criminal Manhunter, a solo venture undertaken by Devon Brown (Living World, NASTY NANCY, Invader Lars). Closer "Kyd Darkness" could be the theme song for a superhero (antihero?) whose missions involve lots of subterranean lurking. The thing sounds like its echoing from a sewer grate, but the chord … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Criminal Manhunter – Kyd Darkness
Tones melds drone, jazz, and vaporwave stylings. The album sees Satyr/Elfheim (the guitar drone moniker of Richard Magnelli, who also records more vaporously as ☆彡ＤｒａｇｏｎＣｅｎｔｕｒｙ９９) working with six-string lava flows and free jazz percussion experiments alike. Opener "Saffron Crush," a prime example of the former, uncoils like a train-sized metal serpent winding its way through … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Satyr/Elfheim – Saffron Crush
The emcee's latest single sets course for the sun. "Insufficient Funds (We'll be fine)" begins with a quote pulled from Sun Ra's 1974 Afrofuturist film, Space is the Place. "This music," says the jazz maverick, fresh off a spaceship, "is all a part of another tomorrow." Bossy, backed by Andrew B Selway's sumptuous, meandering instrumental, … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Bossy – Insufficient Funds (We’ll be fine)
A whiplashing-inducing new single. feeble little horse sure know how to disorient. Their songs--whose lyrics, fittingly, feature disorientation as a prominent topic--wrench themselves shudderingly off-track, then, instead of re-railing, demolish their tracks entirely, and careen into swamps and cul-de-sacs and imaginary realms that don't exist yet. "This Is Real" contains the band's gnarliest heave to … Continue reading Daily Yinz – feeble little horse – This Is Real
The band descends to corporate hell with its new single. Office Space is one of my favorite movies because it distills so perfectly the essential, unnerving pointlessness of white collar work. The movie's protagonist spends his days manually updating bank software code so that years read as four digits instead of two. He has eight … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Sunny Daze & the Weathermen – Action Required
The ill fitting party is a collaboration between experimentalists 7D and Dylan John Sidoriak. "There is a Cinnamon Moon" is a recording pulled from a set that took place last October at Skyzone 2; it's the first release under the Not For Commodity umbrella, described as a "container of sounds" for works by 7D, Sidoriak, … Continue reading Daily Yinz – ill fitting party – There is a Cinnamon Moon
Bored In Pittsburgh 