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: Our writers will put their heads together and come up with three tracks that grabbed our attention over the past 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.
Dasher – “Dear Humans”
From the forthcoming live album, Dear Humans
Dasher aren’t a band anymore, and they haven’t been based in Atlanta for a few years, but their upcoming release on Chunklet closes the punk group’s final chapter with a live album from last year’s Irrelevant Fest at 529, and that’s about as Atlanta as you can get. Like all six tracks from the record, “Dear Humans” never got the studio treatment, which makes this a critical release, as well as an insightful look into the psyche of songwriter and drummer Kylee Kimbrough. Since it was taped on a field recorder and cellphone in a small club, the feedback-drenched song sounds exactly like one would expect: muddy, sweaty, flawed, and intimate. That tone and quality are the perfect fit for Dasher’s history, a thundering juggernaut of homegrown punk that clawed against a tide of personal struggles and industry hurdles, and managed to crank out some ferocious music along the way. – Russell Rockwell
Dear Humans is out Apr. 15 via Chunklet Industries. Pre-orders are available here.
More Info
Bandcamp: dasher.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @dasheratl
Twitter: @DasherATL
Thayer Sarrano – “The Eternal”
From the LP, Wings Alleluia
There’s always been a stately grandeur to Thayer Sarrano’s music. Even her most stripped-back ballads or haunting dirges seem to carry with them a sense of quiet majesty. “The Eternal” is the lead single from her latest LP, Wings Alleluia, and it finds the Athens songstress gliding serenely through the song’s alluring atmospherics while also cutting in and out of the murky shadows it leaves behind. Throughout the journey, Sarrano’s voice maintains its soft power, a pointed restraint that only adds to the track’s ethereal solemnity. – Guillermo Castro
Wings Alleluia is out now.
Thayer Sarrano will celebrate the release of Wings Alleluia tonight at the EARL alongside Tedo Stone and Little Francis. Doors open at 9 p.m. Admission is $10. 21+ to enter.
More Info
Web: thayersarrano.com
Bandcamp: thayersarrano.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @thayersarrano
Instagram: @thayersarrano
SoundCloud: @thayersarrano
Twitter: @thayersarrano
Keenon Rush – “Back to Basics”
From the standalone single
The grimy, hook-heavy “Back to Basics” is our first taste of new music from Keenon Rush since he dropped his excellent album Keen is Abel in October. The burgeoning Atlanta rapper is in full throttle here, hurtling over the track’s menacing production and throwing lyrical javelins at the percussive rhythms. Rush is nothing if not an excellent judge of what works well within his own gleeful contortions of the English language, and “Back to Basics” finds him digging deep into his bag of tricks. At the end of the day, the song is a fun, mind-numbing anthem about individual progression and working sensibly while working hard. – Mus Abubaker
More Info
Web: keenonrush.com
Facebook: @KeenonRushOfficial
Instagram: @keenonrush
SoundCloud: @keenonrush
Twitter: @KeenonRush