Every summer feels like the last one, with its days blurring together until I can’t picture anything other than this oppressive heat. It’s my personal version of the seven days between Christmas and New Years, when everything feels a bit aimless and people in your personal life are driving you crazy for quite literally no reason. I thought about blaming my lack of creativity on my recent move and trips to both Richmond and home to New Orleans, but as I reflect, they don’t have anything at all to do with why I haven’t been able to write so much as a journal entry for the past three months. It’s like I’ve been stuck in humidity-induced limbo.

Despite this stall, I’ve still been coming across some damn good music (hey, it’s all I have left). I wanted to pop in here and give you guys a list of the top 10 songs I’ve been bumping this summer in no particular order. We’re not going to be getting too technical today, I just want to express how much I love these tunes. Consider this a consolation prize for me being extremely, deeply lazy this summer.

1. “As the Mask Begins to Slip” by Nuvolascura. I wanted to start this list off with a bang. I am obsessed with the drums on this song. I genuinely can’t emphasize it enough, it’s more than half the reason I love it so much. I also tend to prefer female vocalists in my screamo, so it’s no surprise I find myself returning to them so often. I also really care about songwriting, particularly in this genre. Lyrics tend to be stripped and not overly wordy, and because you often can’t make out what the hell they’re talking about, it’s easy for bands to throw in the towel here. That being said, I really enjoy the imagery in this song. Specifically, the phrase “smoke-soaked body weight” is one that stuck with me. It’s two perfect minutes to me, and I’ve spun it a ton.
2. “Running” by Snooper. I feel like I’m late to the Snooper wave, at least out of my friends, but I genuinely can’t recommend them enough. I’m an egg punk lady at heart, but these guys take it to the next level on stage, incorporating paper mache props and encouraging everyone to stop taking punk so seriously. “Running” is their big song, amassing over a million listens, and it’s obvious why. It scratches a little “Deceptacon” kind of itch in my head, and upon giving their 2023 record a listen, I think I’m going to become pretty loyal to them. If y’all catch me at a show when they come through North Carolina soon, don’t be surprised.
3. “Homesick” by Glimmer. Ah, the obligatory shoegaze tune. To me, summer is built for the genre, the drone worming its way into my head as outside gets hazy from rising temperatures. I haven’t heard much buzz around these guys, but they totally rip. I’m going to be so real, I have no recollection of how I found this song. I think I must have been doing a search for new shoegaze to listen to around the time it came out, and it was recommended to me. Either way, I consider myself lucky, because I’m a fan! That opening riff has a hold on me, and I have it on repeat on my morning walks to work.
4. “Wrap Your Arms Around Me” by ourbluewounds. This song is on here for the stupidest reason. This summer, I once had to completely deep clean the nastiest freezer at my work. I felt like the girl on TikTok who cleans hoarder houses for free. During this three hour process, I listened to lots of screamo, and ourbluewounds was a band that I was unfamiliar with. I had a bunch of their music on repeat, but I found “Wrap Your Arms Around Me” to be the most memorable. The only downside to this is that every time I hear it (which is obscenely often), I smell bleach. Oh well.
5. “Krillin” by They Are Gutting a Body of Water ft. Greg Mendez and SUN ORGAN. I’ve sort of always been exposed to shoegaze growing up, but TAGABOW is part of the reason I got back into it in early high school (way to age me – yes, I was 15 in 2019). They’re a huge inspiration to me in my own music. Over the past year, I’ve also gotten really into Greg Mendez. I think his music really fills the songwriter hole for me that was previously only occupied by MJ Lenderman. He’s a storyteller without falling into the overly confessional hole many Phoebe Bridgers wannabes find themselves in. All of this to say, this collaboration did a ton for me when I found it. I bumped this a ton during the moving process.
6. “Inglorious Facade” by no right. This band is straight edge out of the bay, and I love me some straight edge. Sorry, I know that’s controversial, but I can’t make it not go. They’re also another instance on this list of me preferring a female vocalist. I gravitate towards this song due to the lyrical content (shock to no one), which is a response to reactionary conservative politicians. Some personal favorite sections are “This disposition inciting violence/Ring leader breathing fire/Delusions of righteousness” and “There’s an angel and a devil on my shoulder/One of them resembles you/I’ll let you guess who”. I am making it a point to get super into these guys in the coming months.
7. “G.L.O.S.S. (We’re From the Future)” by G.L.O.S.S. How did I not know these guys before is completely beyond me. I’m just picking this track because it’s the first thing I heard from them. They broke up a while ago, which makes me super sad. I love seeing trans and non-binary people in hardcore, not only because it’s an experience I can speak to, but because I think there’s an argument that we have slightly more to be angry about, if you know what I’m saying. Because of this, the line, “We’re fucking future girls living outside society’s shit,” had me gagged. I grew up on riot grrrl, and while I still have so much love for the genre, it’s no secret that it’s got some pretty transphobic history. This song almost feels like a response to that movement, a way to make it our own. I am all fucking over it.
8. “U Should Not Be Doing That” by Amyl and the Sniffers. This is definitely the least DIY band on here, but quite frankly, I don’t care. Amyl and the Sniffers are one of my favorite bands ever. I listen to their album, “Comfort to Me”, weekly, and as such I’ve been over the moon about them having a new album coming out. This is my favorite single so far, a sarcastic song telling older music guys who critique everything women in the scene do to screw off. The driving beat makes me want to stalk around the room like Amy herself when performing. None of the singles are as heavy as the music that made me get into them in the first place, but it’s extremely catchy in its own right, and I’m excited to see what they have in store for me.
9. “Savory” by Far. I recently got my hands on a copy of Negatives: A Photographic Archive of Emo (1996-2006) by Amy Fleisher Madden, which has been a total treat to flip through. While I am deeply obsessed with the second and third waves of emo, I wasn’t familiar with a few bands featured in this archive, with Far being one of them. I was honestly embarrassed to not know them after doing a deep dive, and that’s not just because a song of theirs is featured in “Buffy”. They tow the line between post-hardcore and emo in a way that sparks many arguments, just how I like it. While I’m fond of their earlier music before their 2008 return, their cover of Jawbox’s song “Savory” has been stuck in my head since I first heard it. It’s a collaboration with Chino Moreno of Deftones, and like lots of weird girls, I had a major Deftones phase at a point. The combination of these two bands really does it for me, and it’s been on repeat big time.
10. “Flush” by MSPAINT. I have a lot of personal ties to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, so finding out that these guys are from there did a lot for me. It’s not often I come across a guitar-less punk band, but after getting into MSPAINT, I can only conclude that they’re better for it. The synth on these tracks does everything a guitar can offer but better, offering a level of danceability that makes them differ from other bands in their sphere. I want to call it hardcore, but that label doesn’t feel quite right, despite them touring alongside Gel and SPY. The energy is similar, the crowd is the same, but I have a theory that their Mississippi heritage has something to do with why they move so differently. No shade since I was literally born in Jackson and am familiar with the area, but Mississippi is poor as shit and the education shows. Being there feels almost backwards to me, so it makes sense that these guys would gravitate to doing things their own way. I hope their sound influences the landscape, because I can’t get enough, and I hope y’all give it a listen.

There we have it, my top ten from summer 2024. I’m going to be getting back in here majorly in the coming months, so stay tuned. Think of this more like a toe in the water while I work up something more substantial for you guys. Take care and go listen to something new for me, okay?