Writing about music in lieu of human interaction
Lukas Truckenbrod (also of slugss) strikes out on his own as L.T. Creacher with debut single "Bummer Proof." "When will I be bummer-proof?" sings L.T. Creacher, rhetorically, bargaining with depression's interminable slog. No answer is provided, but Creacher's guitar, which rings and rambles its way through atmospheric Americana riffs and flourishes, hits like a series … Continue reading Daily Yinz – L.T. Creacher – Bummer Proof
The psych quartet rang in the new year with a self-titled album release. The songs on Different Places in Space come suspended in a hallucinatory tide pool of sound. The jammy ballads float around like little jellyfish, and even the uptempo rockers stretch and warp like they've been filtered through an infinity mirror. "Sugar Nova" … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Different Places in Space – Sugar Nova
Short Fictions recently released their Lauren Records debut, Every Moment of Every Day. Where the group's last album wended its way toward climate catastrophe, this one takes a direct route to depressed pop euphoria. When I first moved to Pittsburgh, I lived in an overpriced one-bedroom in South Oakland, a few blocks off Forbes Ave. … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Short Fictions – To Leave Forever or Die Alone in South Oakland
A quartet formed in 2020 as an outlet for COVID stress, Bitter Coast released their debut EP in May. The band dropped the EP's second track, "Carry On," as a video last November, but I only got around to checking it out today; better late than never, I suppose. The track bears the hallmarks of … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Bitter Coast – Carry On
Two former Wild Blue Yonderers join forces for an EP of smeary, stripped-down pop music. Fittingly, the EP's first track is called "Two Chord Song," and it's a twee-as-can-be proclamation of devotion that sees Schmeler pledge, "Just know I don't want no one else," to a person with whom she shares moments both carefree ("The … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Betsy Schmeler and Benito Countouris – Two Chord Song
Essential Machine, a trio comprising two parents and their son, recently released the aptly titled Exponential Crisis (Lemon Tree Records). Album highlight "Almost Outta Here" taps into the retro road warrior energy of "Red Eyes"-era War on Drugs, riding metronomic drums, swirling guitar, and bargain-bin synths toward the far horizon in search of something just … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Essential Machine – Almost Outta Here
The fuzzy, slack-happy (slack-sad?) Zells take a ride in the "Hell Car," the second single from their upcoming album, Ant Farm (Crafted Sounds). While The Zells have always cranked up the distortion, slumped their shoulders, and fixed their eyes downward in response to the alienating drudgery of modern American life, they've got a TV sitting … Continue reading Daily Yinz – The Zells – Hell Car
Photo by Estée Preda. Banner photo by Ariane Moisan. Gus Englehorn is an Alaskan singer/songwriter, now based out of Montréal, whose innocent-sounding bleat and whimsical turns of phrase belie the spooky undercurrent that swirls beneath his scruffy garage rockers. Englehorn released his debut album, Death & Transfiguration, in 2020, and recently played a show at … Continue reading A Tarantula Whispering Bad Thoughts Into Your Ear – A Q+A With Surrealist Troubadour Gus Englehorn
Tyler Heaven are a quintet whose full-length March debut, Darkness on the Edge of the Parking Lot, combines lush sonics with haunted lyrics. Throughout Darkness's ten tracks, guitars chime, drums echo and hiss, violins keen, and Brady Lanzendorfer, voice pitched at a Daniel Johnston quaver, conjures images that hint at catastrophe without revealing it fully. … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Tyler Heaven – Mongoose
Pittsburgh-to-NYC transplant Corrine Jasmin remixes "Move Through," the second half of a two-part track from her standout 2021 release, Fever Dream Insomniac. Where the original "Move Through," a pillowy jazz-house cut featuring free associative, pitch-shifted vocals, is introduced by "Let Go," a spoken word segment that muses on the enervating effects of unbalanced relationships, the … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Corrine Jasmin – Move Through 2.0
Bored In Pittsburgh 