Album Reviews – Communiqué

Boyscott’s Spellbound: Nearly a decade in the making, but well worth the wait

By Lukas Da Silva

I remember when I first listened to Boyscott when Goosebumps lead single “Nova Scotia 500” popped up on my Discover Weekly playlist. As a 14 year old boy still getting into indie music, this track helped me begin my journey into the scene. Nearly a decade later, the band has returned to drop their Sophomore LP, a worthy successor to Goosebumps. Filled with tracks from deep in the vault,, Spellbound offers an experience similar to getting a group of old friends together to go on a pleasant road trip down the coast.

Opener “Rocky Road”, sees the band quickly hit their stride. With their ability to quickly recapture the whimsical nature of their sound, Boyscott transports the listener to a nice scenic drive down the mountainside. “Rocky Road” manages to deliver in the same vein as “Nova Scotia 500” with its upbeat percussion and stunning vocal harmonies.

Hovvdy Sets the Bar for Modern Indie Folk at an Insane Height

By Lukas Da Silva

Folk rock has become a mainstay within the indie scene and it’s become bittersweet in a way. The fact that there are so many people enjoying the genre and looking for artists within this field of music makes me so happy. However the overabundance of artists working in the genre has led to a lower standard of quality within the genre of music. Many acts feel paper thin and can feel lifeless within their music. But Hovvdy proves that the standard we should be striving for is higher than I could have anticipated.

While I was originally introduced to Hovvdy on their album Heavy Weight, it took me till their record True Love to begin to fall in love with the folk group. The lush vocals, soothing guitars, and steady drumming made the music from this band reverberate inside of me. It’s this feeling of resonance that is something unique I believe in the folk genre and this album proves that my experience with the band wasn’t a fluke.

Body Farm by The Angies

by Emily Fedon

The Angies, a local Philly alternative band, released yet another amazing EP this year, titled “Body Farm.” This is their second EP, following 2021’s “Civil Dusk.” At only fourteen minutes, it’s a quick yet potent listen that leaves you with a strong desire to seek out more of their work. It’s unknown when they’ll release their first album, but their current catalog of music makes it a highly anticipated announcement. However, we’re not there yet, so let’s get into “Body Farm.”

The EP starts off with their single “Killing is a Bore” that gives a punchy intro to “Body Farm.” The singing style reminded me of some of the heavier Mannequin Pussy songs, and the constant and fast drums give you a rush as you listen. There’s also a sick guitar solo in the middle with fast shreds that match the quick pace of the song. The next song, “Squeal,” follows with a similar sound and features cathartic yelling reminiscent of 90’s riot grrrl and classic punk acts, which act as clear influences on the band.

Only God Was Above Us by Vampire Weekend

by Noah Kossowsky

Photo by Michael Schmelling, Instagram @Michael_Schmelling

It’s been five years since NYC indie golden boys Vampire Weekend released their fourth album, Father of The Bride. FOTB deviated a bit in the sound and atmosphere fans and critics were used to and wound up being received with the most mixed reception of their careers so far. While it was mostly positive, part of me thinks Ezra Koenig and Co. missed the near-unanimous praise their original trilogy was lauded with when making their fifth record, Only God Was Above Us.

It’s remarkable how Vampire Weekend has managed to recapture the sound of their best work. They even find the time to make call backs to the classics (catch the “Mansard Roof” groove on “Connect”). They’ve always had one of the more unconventional and creative combinations of pop genres and elements from across music so I’m glad to see them return to and continue to expand upon it here. Cycling, busy drum grooves, winding guitar riffs and intricate layers of pianos and strings underscore pristine pop melodies in a display that shows the band’s understanding and mastery over their unique sound.

Kiss My Super Bowl Ring by The Garden

by Dominick Baglivo

Image from https://www.spin.com/2020/02/garden-kiss-my-super-bowl-ring-album/

On their fourth studio album, The Garden absolutely excel at what they have always done best—getting weird as fuck.

Kiss My Super Bowl Ring, the fourth studio album by Orange County duo The Garden, sees them build upon their weirdo-art punk sound to create their most adventurous and impressive output yet. Following up 2018’s Mirror Might Steal Your Charm, which saw the duo of Wyatt and Fletcher Shears adopt jester aesthetics, the two have now enlisted the help of what can only be described as green goblins. Whether you credit the green goblins or natural artistic progression for this is up to your discretion, but there is no doubt The Garden have never embodied their own artistic vision of “vada vada” as well as they do on Kiss My Super Bowl Ring.

From The Garden’s website, “Vada Vada is a term that represents total freedom of expression without boundaries or guidelines of any sort.” If we are discussing the boundaries of Kiss My Super Bowl Ring, let’s be very clear—there are none. The album starts out rather tame for the duo with lead single, “Clench to Stay Awake”, which—save for a mildly chaotic midsection—describes feelings of helplessness and subsequent struggles to cope over light instrumentation. From there, Kiss My Super Bowl Ring quickly transforms into the most impressive musical clusterfuck you might ever hear, in which The Garden seemingly know nothing and everything at once.

Synth-heavy, bass-heavy, loaded with screams, Kiss My Super Bowl Ring thrives off chaos and unpredictability, shifting from one extreme to another at a moment’s notice. Perhaps the biggest surprise, and a shining example of the duo’s unpredictability, is the extent to which they have incorporated more aspects of electronic music to their already eclectic sound. Littered throughout the track list, most notably “Sneaky Devil” and “Please, Fuck Off”, you can find instances where the song evolves into or simply is based around breakbeats and drum ‘n’ bass. The duo’s willingness to experiment has always been their calling card, and they appear to have mastered it on Kiss My Super Bowl Ring by injecting electronic music into their musical backbone of fiery and chaotic punk.

Adé Hakim On His Role in the Modern Renaissance And Being On To Better Things

Adé Hakim, (AKA Sixpress) is a Bronx creative, who has been creating his own sound alongside sLUms the NYC hip-hop collective for some time now. He was credited with the production on Earl Sweatshirt’s recently released single “Nowhere2go” and is at the forefront of a new generation of artists in NYC. He stopped by the WKDU station on April 20th for a short on-air playlist of beats themed “Black History Month Lives On”, and a conversation to discuss what he’s been up to, the modern renaissance, and his latest project: On to Better Things, along with much more. After our interview, Adé went on to play a prodigious set with fellow New York producer Sporting Life at Big Mama’s warehouse to an audience of fans he was quick to unify.

Continue reading “Adé Hakim On His Role in the Modern Renaissance And Being On To Better Things”

Off the Shelf–WIDE AWAKE! by Parquet Courts

A quick preface from the editor:

At WKDU we receive new music every week from a huge variety of labels. We keep all of our new releases in our main control room (the room out of which our DJs do their thing) on our “New Music Shelf”. Our DJs pull from this shelf quite often, because our goal is to serve you the freshest underground cuts–FDA certified 100% organic, grass-fed, farm to table, FRESH. With “Off the Shelf”, our goal is to dive deeper than ever into our “New Music Shelf” favorites, and to share our thoughts with our community. Here’s hoping we inspire you to check out something NEW.

By Matt Squires

Parquet Courts’ new album, Wide Awake!, is a diverse collection of raw rock and rolls sounds, familiar to the American ear, yet unique and refreshing. The production is minimalistic, to focus the listener on the melodic and rhythmic aspects of the songs, which are undeniably catchy. The vocals are raw with minor imperfections as if performed in a live setting.

“Total Football” kicks off the album with a classic rock style sharp slow chord progression. Soon the beat speeds up and the bass riff kicks, forcing the listener to bounce back and forth, a feeling used many times on this album including, “Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience” and “Extinction”. Growly vocals are introduced, seemingly untrained and raw, their voices fit the aesthetic perfectly. This riveting intro song ends like the streets of Philadelphia after the 2018 super bowl, “F___ Tom Brady!!”.

“Violence” shows the more serious side of this album. Smooth groovy rhythms and catchy riffs over a yelling monologue until coming in with the chorus “violence is daily life.” Parquet Courts makes their way around the genre spectrum while maintaining the same production aesthetic with the slowed jam, “before the water gets too high”. The repeating riff is memorizing and the organ-sounding synth chords hold the song together.

Next stop on this journey is a flashback to 90s alternative rock. Sounding like Pavements “Range Life”, “Mardi Gras Beads” takes the album to very familiar place. The smooth lush reverb-filled verse contrasts with the rigid power chords that come in the chorus creating a rich texture. “Almost had to start a fight” channels the bands Proto-Punk aesthetic with riffs sounding like MC5, the vocals match the rhythm to create a concrete, energetic jam. Merging into “In and out of Patience” with the phrase “If it stops i’m having a bad dream”, the pattern changes, putting another involuntary step in the foot of the listener.

The aptly named, “Freebird 2”, lives up to its name talking about drugs and getting older with pentatonic blues scales. The title song, “Wide Awake” combines a groovy bass riff with a dance party vibe. The use of Auxiliary percussion on this track makes it stand out from the others. A straight rhythm blues jam ends the album out with a piano melody doubling the vocals, making for an upbeat vibe. The chord progression is a mixture of simple chords and unusually dissonant chords that give an excellent texture to this familiar groove.

Parquet Courts have maintained their progressive classic rock style. Innovative yet so familiar and easy to latch on to, this album is an instant classic filled with songs that capture the last 50 years of rock music.