Writing about music in lieu of human interaction
Nathan Whitman's West/Step returns with Peace Material, a nebulous collection of warped electronics and obscured vocals. "Revere" rolls in like an industrial storm cloud, all rippling static and flanged percussion, before ascending heavenward aboard Whitman's layered, impressionistic chants. His delivery gives the song an exalted feel, like an hymnal being sung from the top of … Continue reading Daily Yinz – West/Step – Revere
On their latest album, Reality Tunnels, Pittsburgh dreamers Sciencevision augment vintage rock tunes with funhouse sonic flourishes and space-age interludes. Take late album highlight "Learned from Inversion," for example. Its moody, descending melody, propulsive bass groove, and choppy guitar chords recall Rubber Soul-era Beatles (and associated Rickenbacker-toting acts), but the rock 'n' roll meat and … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Sciencevision – Learned from Inversion
Shepherd's Tone is an atmospheric synth project created by Pittsburgh artist Jared Simpson; his self-titled debut came out in late May. When I said that Shepherd's Tone is "atmospheric," I meant reeeaal atmospheric. Like, drifting-through-the-upper--stratosphere-at sunset-so-much-haze-that-you-can-only-see-objects'-outlines atmospheric. The four-song project buries Simpson's narcotic vocals beneath sprawling washes of lo-fi synthesizer. Each chord stretches out like … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Shepherd’s Tone – Daydream
Ky Vöss, a Pittsburgh artist who makes dream pop music for the damned, returns with "Masochism," the first single from the upcoming Coping Mechanisms. "Masochism" is a streamlined arrow of a song, engineered to barrel ever forward through the banks of luminous synth that surround it, an electrified bullet train made of pure pop. Vöss, … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Ky Vöss – Masochism
Pittsburgh dream-pop duo Drauve returns with the rippling slow dance lament "LMK." The shimmering, kaleidoscopic textures that characterized Drauve's 2019 output are still there, but those crystalline guitars and ambling, late-summer-stroll-around-the-neighborhood drums have been mostly replaced by warm synth programming pulled straight from Napoleon Dynamite's prom playlist. A four-on-the-floor beat, coated in pastel-colored, fog machine … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Drauve – LMK
Photograph Credit to Ryan Maine Ky Vöss has already said enough words about the car. “I feel like [it] is more known than I am,” they admitted, ruefully, when reflecting on the oft-told creation myth of artist on the run from somewhere to anywhere, wherein “anywhere” ends up becoming Pittsburgh due to a broken down … Continue reading Ky Vöss Is Defined By Duality
GFTF (real name Megan Helbig) is a Pittsburgh electro-pop artist who released her debut album, A Call To Innocence, last week. The music of A Call To Innocence exists in a dimly lit room whose walls are adorned with day-glo paint and geometric shapes made of neon tubing. Colored lights blink and strobe on the … Continue reading Daily Yinz – GFTF – Heavy
Pittsburgh dream-poppers Flower Crown follow up their successful May full-length, Sundries, with the single "High Fantasy," released this past Friday. Flower Crown has a real knack for turning its guitar riffs into hooks. In true dream-pop fashion, Richie Colosimo's vocals are often obscured by billowing clouds of reverb and ambient haze, so the six strings … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Flower Crown – High Fantasy
Barlow are a Pittsburgh shoegaze trio whose disorienting, lo-fi pop anthems seem to fight their way through giant piles of cotton in order to be heard. Pink Rounds C-60, released on Halloween, contains a number of Barlow's demos, old tracks, and sketches, dating as far back as 2011. The days of Casey Anthony, ATF gunwalking, … Continue reading Daily Yinz-Barlow-Heather
Flower Crown is a Pittsburgh dream-pop outfit whose album Sundries was released earlier this year to much acclaim. The band recently recorded a take of the song "Bender Szn" in an empty church in the South Hills. One of the qualities of dream-pop/shoegaze music that draws people to the style with such cult-like adoration is … Continue reading Daily Yinz-Flower Crown-Bender Szn (Live in Church)
Bored In Pittsburgh 