Release Radar: June 2021
At the end of each month, Afterglow presents a staff-picked list of new albums and singles that left an impression on our ears.
Written by Afterglow Staffers
Photos courtesy of Erik Bender, Bianca Lecompte, and Ashley Maile
Here are our favorite albums and singles released during June 2021. For more reviews of recent releases, check out our album review page.
Shiny Singles We Loved This Month
"Pipeline Punch" by Newgrounds Death Rugby
"Pipeline Punch," the second single from Newgrounds Death Rugby's sophomore album Pictures of Your Pets, cryptically details the frustrations of being in a band. Fuzzy, lilting guitars and exasperated verses carry the track before the instrumentals descend into sonic chaos as vocalist Danny Jorgensen snarls about the shortcomings of everyone around them.
“Medium Rare” by Mdsgn
California native Mdsgn delivers a hazy bop from his latest album, Rare Pleasure. “Medium Rare” combines the singer’s honey voice with glistening jazz piano, R&B bass, harps, and saxophones to evoke a dreamlike ambience.
“BDE” by Shygirl ft. slowthai
Britain’s favorite controversial rapper teams up with London’s own dystopian club queen on banger “BDE,” a hard-hitting industrial cut that blends slowthai’s gritty flow with Shygirl’s suave, futuristic beats.
“HOWL” by Luli Lee
Indie K-pop artist Luli Lee creates some of her most polished sounds in “HOWL.” Her mellifluous vocals lead a memorable ‘80s-throwback instrumental made of syncopated bass, fuzzy shoegaze guitars, and twinkling synths.
“Magic” by Rico Nasty
After releasing banger after banger with singles like “Smack a B-tch” and “OHFR?,” Rico Nasty cools things off in latest single, “Magic.” The self-described “hardcore Powerpuff girl” delivers a sunny summer track with mellow guitars, flutes, and a catchy drum beat.
I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES by Backxwash
Image courtesy of Ugly Hag Records
Pure unbridled anger is perhaps the best way to describe the music of Ashanti Mutinta, better known as Backxwash. The Zambian-Canadian rapper’s songs feel more like cathartic rants than art made for listeners’ pleasure, as she lets out the frustrations of navigating society as a Black transgender woman with an angsty flow over metal and hardcore hip-hop beats. But the subversive rapper evades her typical political bars and horrorcore instrumentals in her third album’s spoken-word opener, “THE PURPOSE OF PAIN.” An eerie vocal sample from an unknown source muses, “The purpose of pain is to get our attention that something is wrong, protect us from further damage and to request care / It's in this sense that a little bit of pain is a good thing.” But before the looping monologue ends, a harrowing synth and hi-hat rhythm abruptly kick in, starting the next track, “WAIL OF THE BANSHEE.” From here on, the album spirals into chaos, as Mutinta spews metaphor-rich lyrics about her mental health struggles. Rapping with fervor, she creates imagery straight out of a horror movie: “I’m coughing, blotchy, almost drop my knees to the bath / Puking blood all the way from North Rhodesia and back.” The title track is even more grating: Guest artist Ada Rook of Black Dresses screeches the hook while Mutinta laments the difficulties of living in Canada and Zambia. The rapper continues balancing the personal and the political, criticizing the inaccessibility of hormone therapy in “TERROR PACKETS” and contemplating the lasting impact of colonialism with “666 IN LUXAXA.” She returns to introspection in closer “BURN TO ASHES,” delivering rapid-fire triplet bars about losing her fight against her inner demons. Although the album ends on a grim note, Mutinta’s scathing candidness and evocative production make for a thought-provoking record that gets under listeners’ skin and stays there for days. — C.S. Harper
Eternal Hails...... by Darkthrone
Image courtesy of Peaceville Records
Darkthrone is the master of Norwegian black metal. Perhaps best known for albums like Transilvanian Hunger and Panzerfaust, the band has continued putting out records since their heyday in the ‘90s. And the craziest thing is: Unlike a lot of metal bands who hit their peak in the 20th century, Darkthrone is 1) still not cancelled and 2) still very good. Eternal Hails, despite the questionable ellipsis in the title, is five hefty helpings of blackened, chugging metal. One thing that really gives this album character is its sound quality; despite being a studio album, it sounds home-recorded, but in a way that usually adds a charming flair to metal records. Darkthrone’s Fenriz, who makes records with bandmate and vocalist Nocturno Culto, has long been a champion of older production styles, which makes for a less glossy finish, but gives a black metal album the grit and grunge it needs to immerse its listeners further. It works here for the same reason it wouldn’t work on an Ariana Grande record: it’s unpolished. The musicianship is something to marvel at as well. While you won’t hear a ton of shredding, the riffs on this record invoke the infernal. They feel truly diabolical, like a bard spell that will call upon an ancient evil. Although these five tracks hover around seven to 10 minutes in length, none of them overstay their welcome. They’re dynamic enough, with changes in tempo and instrumentation, to feel fresh all the way through. Throughout this record, the black metal masterminds continue to prove they throw around just as much weight in 2021 as they did in 1994. — Felix Kalvesmaki
Planet (i) by Squirrel Flower
Image courtesy of Polyvinyl Record Company
Ella Williams is a musical chameleon: the vocals and production of her sophomore album, Planet (i), shapeshift between sounds reminiscent of Lana Del Rey, Joni Mitchell, and Hole. Her versatility is no mistake; according to Williams, who goes by the stage name Squirrel Flower, “Planet (i) is my body and mind, and it’s the physical and emotional world of our planet.” Each song in the record sounds distinct, representing a different part of the singer’s essence and world. Accompanied by a dark folk instrumental in contemplative opener “I’ll Go Running,” she asserts her rebirth: “I'll be newer than before / I'll be something that you've never seen.” But she sheds this confident façade in “Hurt a Fly,” which she wrote from the perspective of a gaslighter. “Have you never made a mistake? / Have you never said what you didn't want to say? / Have you never wound up kicking yourself in the face?” she sings in a deadpan, sardonic voice as twangy guitars rattle. Country ballad “Deluge in the South” takes on a more vulnerable tone; she juxtaposes an intimate moment with a loved one with a Texas rainstorm. Soft folk track “Iowa 146” is filled with similar tender moments. In a bare whisper, Williams reminisces about an old relationship: “As you played me guitar, I watched it fall away.” But the clamorous “Big Beast” reveals a less harmonious side to her relationships with others and herself; the singer repeats, “Storm clouds in my mind / The lightning in my mind's еye” in the outro. However, Williams regains inner strength in “To Be Forgotten” and “Desert Wildflowers,” as she revels in solitude in the former and fully lets go of her fears in the latter. “I'm not scared of the storm,” she sings, “I'll be lying on the roof when the tornado turns.” With its touching lyricism, Planet (i) is a poignant story about loss, growth, and rebirth. — C.S. Harper
The Turning Wheel by Spellling
Image courtesy of Sacred Bones Records
Spellling is this generation’s Kate Bush. Though not as prolific as the British art pop icon, Spellling (Chrystia Cabral) makes music with the same whimsical qualities and haunting vocals. The Turning Wheel opener “Little Deer” features instruments rarely used in music, such as chimes and a vibraslap, to create a cheerful, almost childlike sound that contrasts its dark narrative. Though devastating, the lyrics are written like a nursery rhyme: “Little deer, little deer / The arrow hurts you, fly to you,” Cabral sings with whispery vocals. Other tracks follow this upbeat-but-actually-dark formula; with its bright organs and trumpets, “Always” feels like a song about triumph — it’s actually about a breakup. This structure allows Cabral to flaunt her versatility as an artist, although she doesn’t always stick to it. “Awaken,” for instance, pairs its somber lyrics with dark chamber pop production. Led by brooding organs and violins, Cabral reaches the lower end of her vocal range as she contemplates humans’ exploitation of Earth: “Holy Mother, we've forsaken your trust / Do we have the mind to change? / To make it better! / Back down on Earth.” “Boys at School” has a similarly bleak tone, with an alternative rock instrumental led by grungy guitars. Following the fuzzy production and grim lyrics of the second half of the record, the singer finds peace amid the chaos in the penultimate track, “Revolution.” “What I want is a fire that never goes out / I've got all this desire / In a world of doubt / I'm in a permanent revolution,” she sings in a proud quiver. Cabral never loses her youthful spark, no matter how tumultuous the world might be. It’s this duality in her music — the magical production and melancholic lyrics — that makes The Turning Wheel the perfect dance-while-you-cry record. — C.S. Harper