Rhymies Share Second Single, “Crashing Lead”
Hopefully we caught your attention with the announcement of Lauren Matsui’s project, Rhymies, and the forthcoming EP. Officially, the four songs will drop this Friday via Dandy Boy Records, but before we get there, here’s another little tease. This one embraces some of the darker tones from Lauren’s work in Seablite, but flips the emotional pull by applying those notes to synths. Her voice still has this crystalline sharpness to it, juxtaposed with the heavier feel of the electronic orchestration; there are some lighter keyboard notes spliced in too, building more of the pop sensibility. Please be sure you circle back and listen to the whole of the I Dream Watching EP this Friday!

Honestly, I thought about foregoing a year-end list this year. I mean, if you read our site, you know what we love. But, list making can be fun, especially if you really really love music. My criteria was simple, and not based on what I think is “best,” but rather looking at the stuff I listened to the most, and eventually bought (or was gifted). Popular locals for my Nathan Wrapped have me living on an island in between San Francisco and Australia; label of the year would be Trouble in Mind (congrats to Bill and family!); genre would be: most awesome. Again, this is one man’s personal tastes, take it for what its worth.
While it seemed like a slow week, in my brain at least, there was lots of really great stuff to cover over on the site. We were happy to host the new video from Seablite, so be sure you drop in and give it a couple of looks. Plus, our Rock n’ Recipes features returned with Spain’s Melenas, who dropped their new Ahora LP on Friday. Plus, Austin was alive and kicking with new stuff from Molly Burch, Semihelix and Sun June. Seeing our old friends in Pop Filter return to the fold was just a little cherry on top of a great week of music. There’s lots more for you to find in this playlist!
Just because we took Monday off last week, it didn’t mean we were taking it easy; I think I posted 11 things in one day, simply because there’s been so much great jams to get turned onto. Austin had tons of representation with TVs Daniel, Motorsports, Friday Boys, DAIISTAR and Feeling Small, but my own love for Spanish-language pop was made all the better with tunes from Melenas and Mint Field coming our way. Teenage Tom Petties were back for the attack, with a new album announcement. Plus, there’s some reissue news with Kath Bloom and Single Bullet Theory getting coverage. So yeah, music! Whoohoo!
Okay, so I’m back in school and coaching women’s volleyball, which of course meant we couldn’t dare draw near the 40 or so tracks we covered the week prior. But, that being said, there were some really special tunes, and some of my favorites popping up in here. Blue Ocean and Seablite announced new LPs, while the Smashing Times dropped another stellar single to whet our appetites. Local favorites Single Lash and Sun June both announced new releases too, so it was a pretty solid week. Oh, and that Optic Sink jam was so good, we might have accidentally overlapped and posted it twice! Stream below!
We’ve been big