Look, we know we throw a lot of new music at you. We also know that not everyone who comes to this site has the time to be as involved with or informed about the local scene as maybe they’d like to be. So for those casual readers who either can’t or have no interest in keeping up with the parade of artists we try to cover, who may not know the difference between Bitter and Biters, we have created our TRIPLE THREAT feature. The premise is simple: every Friday our writers will put their heads together and come up with three tracks that grabbed our attention over that week. Then we tell you why the songs are great and worth listening to. That’s it. Maybe some weeks we’ll have a guest commentator come in and share their favorites, but the format will always remain the same: three songs, some words, and we out. Enjoy.
Juan de Fuca – “All the Time”
From the upcoming LP, Solve/Resolve
What constitutes catharsis? A tragedy occurs, the victim mourns their fate, and in that mourning expels the sinister thoughts and feelings that held them down. Or, in the case of a dramatic tragedy, the audience watches the calamity unfold, and feels the weight of their own burdens lifted by a gentle hand. Now, in the case of the latter, you might think that the composition in question would require a plot, or at least some progression of events that would result in a clearly defined downfall. But as any music lover knows, a progression of howled emotions works just as well. Athens’ Juan de Fuca excel at this more oblique form of tragedy, as “All The Time” proves with pyrotechnic theatrics; snippets of conversation paint the portrait of a man stretched to his psychic limits, as tides of rhythm rush and halt under Jack Cherry’s surging vocals. We’re never sure what’s happened to crack this protagonist, but we needn’t know—this, along with the rest of Juan de Fuca’s dynamic debut Solve/Resolve, drags the listener so resolutely into trauma, that catharsis blooms forth like a time-lapsed flower in the chest. – Lee Adcock
Solve/Resolve is out Jan. 12, 2018.
Juan de Fuca will perform on Tue., Nov. 7 at the Caledonia Lounge alongside Nihilist Cheerleader and Fruits & Flowers. Doors open at 9 p.m. Admission is $5-7. 18+ to enter.
More Info
Bandcamp: juandefucamusic.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @juandefucamusicband
The Letter M – “On God”
From the standalone single
Everyone, at some point in their lives, has been backed into a corner. A point where all feels lost, where everything seems obscured by an all-encompassing blanket of darkness and there’s no little hope for escape. It’s in these moments that we seek out some measure of strength, a means of motivation to continue the struggle and overcome. According to The Letter M’s new single, that search for deliverance means putting everything “On God.” Inspired by his late grandfather to pursue a career in music before he passed, the Stone Mountain rapper and vocalist shares with Immersive how he drew from a dark period of his life and turned it into a creative body of work: “My mental health wasn’t at its peak [and] I felt as if my life was spiraling out of control,” he confesses. “So I locked myself in a room and decided to channel all of the negativity into creating a hit that would make all the problems go away.” The resulting cut balances woozy trap-pop production with airy R&B hooks to create a track that’s timely and uplifting. – Avery Shepherd
More Info
Bandcamp: thelettermm.bandcamp.com
Instagram: @iamtheletterm
SoundCloud: @iamtheletterm
Twitter: @iamtheletterm
Big Jesus – “Gold Forever”
From the standalone single
If you’re at all familiar with Big Jesus, new single “Gold Forever” won’t offer you anything you don’t already know: Surging riffs, dreamy vocals, and scaling leads all converge to generate the swirling, atmospheric thrust the band has become known for. But rather than seeming rote and formulaic, the track feels vital and fresh in part because there is a dynamism to each individual performance that launches the song straight into the stratosphere. The band has always been at their best when merging seething, piledriving guitars with ambient textures to create songs that are both dark and seductive, and “Gold Forever,” for all its familiarity, certainly fits that magnetic mold. – Guillermo Castro
Big Jesus will perform on tonight at the Masquerade (Hell) alongside Microwave and Blis. Doors open at 7 p.m. Admission is $13. All Ages.
More Info
Web: bigjesus.net
Bandcamp: bigjesus.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @bigassjesus
Instagram: @bigassjesus
Twitter: @bigassjesus