3 For a Mid-Week Return

Wow! May snuck right up on me. 5 months in to my song-a-day project and I’m realizing just how much of a commitment trying to write a post about a song each day is. So, I took a little unplanned break but I’m ready to dive back in and share some tracks. In my days of just listening and not writing, I’ve come across a bunch of new tracks I’m really excited about .. we’ll chip away at the back log over the next little while. I’m sure you’ll find something new for your personal playlist, or you can just listen in to the 2021-a-Day playlist, which now has a more than 6 hours of indie hits.

Your new song-of-the summer from New Zealand’s Guardian Singles

Auckland, New Zealand’s Guardian Singles are ready to grab your attention with this jangly indie rocker Tea Lights Exploding. Formed in 2015, the band recorded the tracks that make up their soon-to-be released self-titled album in 2018. Well, sort of soon-to-be released, the album had a limited micro-run release on local label Moral Support back last spring. I’m thinking there’s a pretty good chance you haven’t already encountered this one, which is about to be released internationally on limited edition red vinyl from Trouble In Mind records.

The debut album packs a wallop; driving guitar lines dance across the rhythm sections propulsive throb hearkening back to greats like Mission of Burma, The Wipers & The Sound. Opener “Tea Lights Exploding” does just that, with an instantly memorable hook & sticky guitar line…

Bandcamp bio

Alt Psych Rock from Montreal’s Venus Furs

Venus Furs is Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist Paul Kasner’s solo project, described on bandcamp as an alternative Rock band with Psych, Shoegaze and Post-Punk influences. Venus Furs’ self-titled debut was released last year.

This track, Page Before, runs 7+ minutes on the album and in the bandcamp link above: the more playlist friendly radio edit has been added to the playlist.

Unapologetic Pop-Punk from Illinois’ Attic Salt

Formed in 2015 by and with longstanding connections to the Springfield, Illinois punk scene, four-piece Attic Salt released a debut record in 2017 and their second Get Wise (which this track comes from), in the decidedly indie-unfriendly fall of 2020.

Get Wise is a collection of unabashedly honest pop-punk songs . . . every track is a deadly earworm and a reminder that much can be said with four chords and a melody.

Spotify Bio

Lo Talker | Don’t Hide That Light pt. II

Athens Georgia’s Lowtalker are a 5-piece indie/psych rock outfit who “[perform] lush, intricate folk rock augmented by the psychedelic whirr of fractured tape loops.” (Spotify bio) This track is taken from their debut record A Comedy of Errors, released last month.

A classic psych-tinged opus that reflects the absurdity of modern life in America, Lo Talker’s debut album A Comedy Of Errors places the band firmly in the great lineage of Athens, GA luminaries like REM, Of Montreal, Widespread Panic, and the seminal Elephant 6 collective….Lo Talker’s music is a reminder that just because the world around us has plunged to new levels of insanity it does not mean that we have to follow suit.

Bandcamp

Lo Talker are added to the 2021-a-Day playlist today. Parallels to previous 2021-a-Day bands? Try Colouring Outside for something more stripped down and lofi but not entirely dissimilar or Strawberry Generation for something that runs this track’s firmly indie rock vibe through a pop filter.

Zoon | Was & Always Will Be

Zoon is the band moniker of Daniel Monkman – who released his first full-length Bleached Wavves in June of last year.

In the Ojibway language, the word Zoongide’ewin means “bravery, courage, the Bear Spirit.” It’s no wonder Daniel Monkman adopted Zoon as his musical moniker. The Hamilton-based musician has spent the better part of his 28 years finding and channelling his strength to overcome such adversities as racism, poverty and addiction.

Bleached Wavves is the first true document of what has been dubbed “moccasin-gaze,” a tongue-in-cheek nickname for the amalgamation of Monkman’s shoegaze influences with traditional First Nations music.

Spotify bio

Although previous tracks on the playlist have been identified as shoegaze, Zoon’s approach is a little more experimental and noise-focus and a little less pop/rock than some of those. Fan of previous 2021-a-Day tracks from bands who were labelled as psychedelic including ĠENN and Sister Wives should find something additional to love here.

ZINN | Wiederholung

Zinn are from Vienna, Austria — labelmates on Numavi records of previous 2021-a-Day band Oxyjane, although stylistically the two are quiet different. The “weird-folk apocalyptic noise” band (Spotify bio) have a number of previous singles and a new album due in April. Their tracks feature drones and repetition: slow psychedelic grooves that build to a satisfying crescendo.

Recommended for fans of previous 2021-a-Day bands Sister Wives and GENN.

ĠENN | Feel

I’m gonna be honest, committing to writing a blog post a day for a full-year is starting to feel like a slightly overambitious goal. Sharing a song a day however shouldn’t be, so adding this track by Brighton’s ĠENN was an easy choice. That said, I’m going to let the song and the band speak for themselves.

ĠENN (pronounced Jenn) are the result of a trans-national, online friendship…ĠENN are Leona Farrugia (vocals), Janelle Borg (guitar), Leanne Zammit (bass) and Sofia Rosa Cooper (drums). They look to elements of 70s psych and 90s grunge to fuel their guitar forward music and lyrically no one is safe from their unapologetic approach to dismantling social norms. After the release of their debut album, Titty Monster, ĠENN toured extensively across the UK and Europe including support for Acid Mothers Temple, Honeyblood and The Orielles. Titty Monster was featured on KEXP, Europavox and Louder Than War. Their next release, Liminal, an EP out on March 30 will be released with independent label, Everything Sucks.

Spotify bio