Nightswimming #12: 08/29/24-09/05/24
2 90's underground titans return! Philly emo! And MORE!
Highly Recommend! (best of the week)
In Dreams - Duster (Numero Group)
San Jose’s Duster, in many ways the progenitors of the late-90’s slowcore boom, surprised fans with a tour announcement and their 3rd album in 6 years on August 30th. The band, now consisting of the duo Clay Parton and Canaan Dove Amber, reunited in 2019 and released their first album in almost 20 years. Since then, Duster has gathered a second wind thanks in no small part to Zoomers on TikTok. Among others, their 1998 track “Inside Out” has been used as a sound on over 44,000 videos on the app.
Perhaps it speaks to the pervasiveness of the “Long 90’s Movement” we are living in—that every tone and vibe from the 90’s never truly went away but seems to be exploding in the last year. Maybe it’s that Duster’s ambient style of slowcore, shoegaze, fuzzed-out guitars and spacey production is the perfect backdrop to a certain kind of video.
Either way, Duster’s music is both exciting their longtime fans while engaging a new generation—a balance that any band dreams of.
In Dreams lays down that signature Duster dreamy and ethereal soundscape, coupled with muddy bass, huge fuzzy guitars, and vocals that sound like they were recorded down the hall. It’s gloomy and saccharine, with moments of melancholic hope. At 13 tracks and 43 minutes, it can feel overstuffed, but it really speaks to the moment of a band totally revitalized by newfound success and the greeting of a new generation. They seem thrilled to be back!
Highlights: Cosmotransporter, Quiet Eyes, Poltergeist
The Bed I Made - The Softies (Father/Daughter Records)
If you and your spouse had a child when The Softies released their last album, Holiday in Rhode Island, that child would be graduating from college and starting an internship at Deloitte as The Softies most recent album hits the shelves. In that 24 year gap, indie songbirds Rose Melberg and Jen Sbragia not only lived and experienced entire lifetimes, but got to witness an entire genre develop in homage of what they had created. One could reasonably trace any artist currently dealing in the Sad Girl genre back to the music of The Softies; Phoebe Bridgers and Boygenius, Mitski, Clairo, Snail Mail, Waxahatchee, and Billie Eilish owe a great fealty to Melberg and Sbragia. While these artists have developed their own cohort, The Softies were sonic trailblazers opening for the likes of Fugazi and Elliot Smith. They took what Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez were doing and modernized it.
The Bed I Made is a beautiful addition to the catalog, and an effective introduction to their music that inspires one to go back and listen to the rest.
It’s not complicated in the slightest. Melberg and Sbragia in beautiful vocal harmony, strumming two electric guitars in perfect time. It’s a stripped-down, cozy sound that feels like being wrapped in a quilt, sitting by a cold fogged-up window.
It’s comforting, even when the duo takes on challenging themes lyrically. Melberg and Sbragia both lost their mothers less than two months apart from each other, and that grief brought them back together to make music. It’s grief-stricken, yearning, and wistful, but still speaks of a certain bravery and determination to hold oneself together.
It is a sweeping and gorgeously perfect Autumnal back porch album.
Highlights: Foot Path, Tiny Flame
Worth a Listen! (good to very good)
Filbert - Haunt Dog (We’re Trying Records)
Across 9 tracks and only 23 minutes, Philadelphia’s “favorite hidden scraggly emo quartet” delivers a sucker-punch of a record where the riffs are not merely a means to an end—the riffs are the point. Complete with commercial jingle interludes and seamless transitions between tracks, Haunt Dog brings the energy and doesn’t waste a second of time. Tracks like “Mug”, “Scraggle School”, and “Filbert” carry signature emo hammer-on riffs that feel special and bring a strong melodic element to the record. The band delivers tight performances with a live feel, and when they go heavy it’s not just for the sake of being heavy.
In a statement on Twitter dot com (we don’t say X around here), Haunt Dog’s Dusty Horvath had this to say about Filbert: “The sum of it all is that this is an album made by perpetuated misfit toys FOR perpetuated misfit toys…You’re not alone. Filbert loves you. I love you…And most importantly, if you’re afraid to do something, do it afraid.” That statement speaks to the amount of heart in this record—immense.
Filbert is for fans of hardcore, punk, emo, and having a kickass time.
Highlights: Scraggle School, Canker Sore, Filbert
Hot Singles in Your Area!
Here are some great singles that dropped in the last week:
Laredo - Leon Bridges (2nd single from an upcoming album that all but confirms my prediction that this is Bridges’s What’s Going On moment)
Kirby: Fully Bloated - Pulitzer Priceless (lead single from their upcoming album, a raucous Midwest Emo/punk joint with stellar guitar work—mixed by Friend of the Blog, Avery Black. I saw these dudes at Lucas Schoolhouse in St. Louis and the guitar player was playing a cool Jazzmaster with a Howard Brown Line sticker on it.)
Sleep in the Sunroom - Downhaul (final single from their upcoming album. They Might Be Giants meets upbeat indie rock. Big fun!)
Joy Miasma - WHITE ROSE (Kings of Noise in St. Louis! Heavy, heavy, heavy, sludge sounds. Music to drive fast and punch people to.)
Clementine - Yannis & The Yaw (Yannis Phillipakis of Foals and Fela Kuti’s drummer Tony Allen join forces on this funky soul gem with an afrobeat base.)
Music Moment of the Week
Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield on Caleb Hearon’s podcast, So True, talking about the song “Drinkin’ Bone” by Tracy Byrd. This is a great moment shared between 2 artists who have been very vocally inspired by country music of the 90’s and 2000’s, and have made it cornerstones of their careers.
Beyond that moment, this episode is a great conversation about creating art.
Waxahatchee made one of my favorite albums of the year (which you can read about in Nightswimming #2) and Caleb Hearon is a dear friend of mine, so I was very eager to listen :)
Nightswimming 2024 Sp*tify Playlist
Here you go, you vondrukes