Editor’s Note: Anyone who says there isn’t good music coming out these days — and quite literally, every day — simply isn’t paying attention. Vanyaland’s new compilation feature The V List highlights the best in new music over the past month, pulling together the sounds that have soundtracked the website in recent weeks from our wide-ranging series of features. It’s all the stuff we’re bumping here at Vanyaland HQ, one new bop at a time.
Charly Bliss, ‘Waiting For You’
Just after Fourth of July weekend, Charly Bliss entered the Song of the Summer sweepstakes with a buoyant new bop called “Waiting For You,” and it continues to shape an effervescent sonic aura around the Brooklyn indie band’s FOREVER album, due out this month via Lucky Number. Eva Hendricks dubs this infectious new power-pop track “a love song for my bandmates,” adding: “While I was separated from Sam, Spencer, & Dan during the pandemic, I remember watching videos of us playing shows and thinking ‘How could I have taken this for granted?’ I couldn’t see how beautiful everything really was and how lucky we were. It was agonizing to be apart for that long but helpful, because I don’t think I’ll ever let myself forget that again.” Charly Bliss’ musical brand of warmth below has been a true highlight of this weird and uneven year so far.
Urban Heat, ‘You’ve Got That Edge’
As an unrelenting heatwave continues its sweaty grip on the northeastern part of the country, it’s only fitting that Urban Heat delivered perhaps the most impactful banger of the summer. The Austin trio, clearly no strangers to sweltering temps, unleashed a darkwave and post-punk standout this month called “You’ve Got That Edge.” An anthem of self-confidence as synths swell and ache before an eruptive chorus finds enchantment from the perch of prosperity, it’ll be featured on Urban Heat’s sophomore album The Tower, set for release this month on Artoffact Records. “This track is for anyone who looks in the mirror and doesn’t feel like the reflection is a good representation of who they really are,” says Urban Heat’s Jonathan Horstmann. “Humans make changes for all kinds of deeply personal reasons, and doing so can be scary and isolating, so we wanted to remind anyone who feels isolated that they are a force of nature.” Word to that.
julie, ‘Clairbourne Practice’
The sleepy summer is an exciting time of year for one thing only: It’s when all the cool fall shows start to get announced, and the autumn concert calendar starts to sparkle and shine. The latest entry to be highlighted in bright yellow marker comes from julie, the Los Angeles alt-rock band and art collective that will likely be your new fave thing ever with one easy listen to shadow-roar new single “clairbourne practice.” After touring with Faye Webster and Alex G this summer, julie set off on a headlining North American run that plays Boston’s Paradise Rock Club in October, not long after debut album my anti-aircraft friend hits September 13 via Atlantic Records. Things should only accelerate from there. “For listeners who came of age amidst global pandemics, tumultuous political climates, and a host of looming natural and social crises,” promises the pitch copy, “the sound of a band like julie could equally be a cathartic escape, or a shelter in which to locate a better sense of self-acceptance in a precarious world.”
Death Goals, ”Knife Bouquet’
Maybe it’s the weather, maybe its the (inter-)national tension, or maybe its just something else entirely, but we’ve been vibing hard to the heavy shit lately. The latest to unleash a sonic fury for our unsuspecting earholes is Death Goals, the London queercore duo that scales mountains of sound with a blistering new ripper called “Knife Bouquet.” This seismic effort bloomed with a 3D-effect video via Prosthetic Records, and features a frantic guest vocal appearance from Matt Reynolds of Haggard Cat and Heck. It serves as Death Goals’ first dose of new music since last year’s sophomore album A Garden of Dead Flowers. “‘Knife Bouquet’ is a track of necessary catharsis; wanting to move on from years-old heartbreak but unsure of how to do so,” the duo states. “Lyrically collected from old journal entries and sonically rooted in the sound we have developed over the last two records, Knife Bouquet is a statement of intent for us as a band and one of the first tracks that came out of post-Garden writing sessions. We wrote the song with our good friend Matt in mind for the final section, and we’re so glad he agreed to jump on. We’re super proud of this track and can’t wait to start playing it live.” Crank it to the heavens below.
MRCH, ‘Glacier’
Releasing a new single and video for a song called “Glacier” at the sweltering armpit height of summer is certainly a mood, but MRCH never really played by the rules or cared for convention. The Phoenix dream-pop duo of Mickey and Jesse Pangburn, who put us in a trance with last fall’s “Wild,” a spellbinding effort that landed on our 2023 Year in ReView roundup alongside Chappell Roan and The Last Dinner Party, emerge this month with “Glacier,” a defyingly fun and buoyant electronic-pop rumbler that acts as their first dose of a sonic joyride of this yawning year. “Glacier” finds MRCH — and that’s pronounced March, kids — expanding their wonderfully warped sense of pop with a memorable and inviting effort. But as the lyrics suggest, and possibly quite like a glacier that hides its wealth of mass and weight deep down below the water far out of view, there is more than meets the eye. “Independently preparing a bunch of new music for the coming months, we wrote ‘Glacier’ after listening to a lot of St. Vincent and watching Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension,” the duo tells Vanyaland. True to form, this latest effort from MRCH gets better with each listen.