Monthly(ish) Recommendations #3: New Tricks and Downpicks

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It's been less than two months this time. Are you proud of me? You shouldn't be. This time, more female-fronted indie rock, and the best thing since things. Everything's melodic again, too. Can't help it, I guess.

Skating Polly

New Trick (2017)

Grunge, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock

This band's primary vocalist/bassist, Kelli Mayo, was born on the exact same day as me. She's in a band playing a painfully 90s/early 2000s brand of alternative rock and some riot grrrl influence. My main musical project is a painfully 90s/early 2000s form of metal and punk rock. The lesson here? Generation Z is doomed to repeat the mistakes of our predecessors.

Except in this case, it's not a mistake, because Skating Polly is a surprisingly good band, and I am giving this EP the strongest possible recommendation based purely on the second track, Hail Mary, which the YouTube algorithm so kindly threw at my face one day. I then proceeded to listen to this song over 75 times in two days. It's a friggin' good song.

It's preceded and succeeded by Louder in Outer Space and Black Sky respectively, which are great songs in their own right. There's no shortage of volume in the opener, though, with it nearing pop-punk sounds at points, and the closing track is and oddly charming mid-energy song with its emphasis on the bassline, drums, and vocal melody. But in my opinion both are towered over by their sibling, with its grungy, minor-key opening power chords emphasized by a wonderful metallic bass tone, and a loud, layered, and distorted chorus that contrasts beautifully with the more mellow (if ever building) verses.

All three tracks only come out to 11 minutes, so it's an easy recommendation, particularly since each song is so unique.

YouTube Music:


Favorite tracks:

Guess



Dragged Under

The World is in Your Way (2020)

Punk Rock, Hardcore Punk, Metalcore


Very few things bring me as much joy as loud rock with heavy, distorted riffs and lyrically powerful choruses. A lot of punk and hardcore bands these days get the distorted riffs and chorus parts, but forget the heavy and lyrically powerful parts. Dragged Under does not.

The World is in Your Way is a flawless example of how a genre can adopt more modern production, add some dynamics, and even pop influence without sacrificing the emotion and raw aggression that it originally came out of. From the first song to the last, there is not a second of this album that isn't straight-up, unabashed punk rock. Ridiculous amounts of energy, shouted/screamed vocals, choruses for a whole crowd of punks, and metalheads alike to throw fists and horns up to, it's just got it.

There's also a healthy helping of distorted, midrangey, and melodic basslines to help beef up the fast guitar parts and emphasize the punch of the drums. The bridge of the track Covered in Sin being a prime example, with a sleazy, grinding low end and crunchy guitars slathering groove all over a super cool sounding change that I absolutely love. This is a distinctly bassy album, even though as far as I know the guitarists of the band are the main songwriters. It's like... you know how a lot of times the bassist just feels like he's just copying the rhythm guitar and was an afterthought?

This almost feels like the opposite. If you took away all the guitar parts, and just left that enormous, gritty bass tone, you'd still have a perfectly good set of songs. I'm glad they didn't, though, because the guitars on this album, while overall a pretty standard crunchy punk guitar sound, do have quite a few really cool moments of emphasis, like the breakdown of Instability and the aforementioned bridge in Covered in Sin. Also, I'm not entirely certain, but the main verse riff of Roots sounds like it was tracked on a neck pickup, which is definitely non-standard and sounds killer in the context.

And that's without getting into the absolutely stellar vocal and lyrical delivery. It's definitely worth reading through the lyrics on songs like Instability and Hypochondria in particular, although all of the song have top tier writing.

This is one of the most straight-up fun releases I've heard in any genre. Just music that's easy and enjoyable to listen to without being in any way watered down or sounding like it's pandering. Ever. I listened to the entire thing 7 times in one day while I was at work. Have I mentioned that it's awesome? It's awesome.

Youtube Music:

Dragged Under - The World is in Your Way

Favorite Tracks: 

Roots, Hypochondria, Instability, Covered in Sin.

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