Welcome back everyone to — *checks my watch* Really? This one’s actually on fucking time? Holy shit. Anyway, this is the roundup for March’s new releases, posted in the second week of April, a.k.a. an actually appropriate time.
- Child of the Earth – Lena Raine
We’re starting off with a Canadian artist (yay!) and a slightly sad backstory (aw.) Earthblade was a videogame announced by Extremely OK Games back in 2021, as a spiritual successor to Celeste. However, tragically, the game was cancelled in December 2024 for a myriad of reasons. Lena Raine, who was composing the music for the game, released what she deems more of a concept album than an OST early in March — and it’s a gorgeous collection of instrumentals that give the landscape of a game that will now never exist.
I don’t use ‘landscape’ lightly, either. The soundscape of this album is tremendous. I’ve listed specifically ‘Child of the Earth’ which has building minor-key synth and a crackling, rattling noise that starts chiming in about halfway through– deeply ominous without being too on the nose, and yet a little reminiscent of cicadas. But other tracks are just as excellent, and all with very different vibes from each other. ‘DEFY’ is a series of building chimes that are almost bubbly; and ‘Poison in the Roots’ is unsettling but pretty with distant background vocals and a steady, almost post-rock momentum to it as it grows. (Also out of all the tracks, ‘Poison in the Roots’ might be the one that makes me the most desperate to know what this game was about. Pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaase.)
Check out Earthblade: Across The Bounds of Fate here — and 50% of proceeds go to Trans Lifeline!
2. Kaleidoscope – Vectorgeist
I am such a sucker for anything with a synth in it. It’s a problem. Except not really because listen to this shit!!! It slaps!!!! (Sorry, I left my professionalism in my other coat.) Vectorgeist is an experimental/synthpop musician living in Oregon, and this track is a preview for an album releasing later this year. More than that I cannot tell you. The mystery. It compels me so.
Anyway, like I said, this slaps. As usual, I dearly wish the lyrics were provided, but I also don’t feel their absence as keenly as I sometimes do — the vocals feel so smoothly integrated as part of the music. This is the kind of music I should be listening to while committing a cyberpunk heist in 2252 Tokyo.
3. Ganymede by Lazy Pines
I’m not usually a love song person, but this sweet song by Lazy Pines is adorable on so, so many fronts. The lyrics are horny (and gay) but incredibly sincere in their longing — and the melody behind them is adapted from a piece of classical music, ‘Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity’ by Gustav Holst. It’s fascinating listening to the latter piece, which is performed with a lot of pomp and circumstance, and wondering how Lazy Pines got a sweet love song out of it — but it’s a very, very elegant piece of work. My one note is that the vocals and music don’t always blend as well as they could, but indie music comes with occasional imperfections in mixing — and that’s part of what makes it great.
Check out Ganymede by Lazy Pines here!
4. FURRY by Schtewee
Not to do a complete tonal whiplash here, but this song is on here just as much for the absolutely hysterical spite on display as for the actual music. It is, to be clear, a fun as hell song. It reminds me of the meme songs on Youtube of the Olden Days, which were always excellently crafted on top of being, well, funny.
I don’t know the backstory behind the song. All I know, from what’s on the Bandcamp page, is that someone or other pissed off Schtewee and — it would seem — claimed Schtewee didn’t count as a real furry. The result is two minutes and fifteen seconds that belong in Bojack Horseman, with fevered chanting of “FURRY FURRY FURRY FURRY” and “yip yip!” It’s fantastic. I’m not being ironic or sarcastic — I, unabashedly, hands down, love this. Except for the part where it’s stuck in my head and won’t leave. FURRY FURRY FURRY FURRY FURRY–
Check out FURRY by Schtewee here!
5. S.O.S. – Bella Bliss
This is one of two trans rage songs on here, and while they couldn’t be more different in terms of musical tone/form (they’re both technically metal, but that’s about as far as it goes), they’re both absolute primal screams of songs. For S.O.S., this is literal. Bella Bliss’s distorted, nightcore-styled vocals are barely discernable from the noisy, trap-static background, and it’s a good thing the lyrics are supplied because even with them, it’s impossible to make them out. And it’s perfect. It’s like trying to make out cries for help through a broken radio, but turned up to 15 — distressing, impossible to turn off, and amazingly proficient.
It’s almost a shame, even with the artistic coherency of it, that the lyrics are so hard to hear though — because they’re fantastic even on their own. “they can’t kill us in a way that matters/(you know this is an S.O.S.)/you can only live to see them die/(you know this is an S.O.S.)” is a banger of a chorus, and the rest is just as strong. Even more impressive — and I feel like I say this a lot, but it tells you something about the state of indie music versus the music industry — this is only Bella Bliss’s second official release. It’s all upwards from here.
Check out S.O.S. by Bella Bliss here!
6. C O W A R D S – Cameron Evesque Davis
There’s something deeply, endlessly compelling about the “spell it out” song, but it’s usually a pop construction. Between the bridge of The Best Damn Thing and Hot To Go coming with a cute dance, it’s not something I expect from industrial music – but Cameron Evesque Davis doesn’t give a shit. C O W A R D S is a targeted air strike right at the fuckers currently running at the U.S. and their cronies, right at where they’re the most sensitive — their egos. And it’s catchy, too. In a just world, this would be getting radio play, but wouldn’t want to offend the ears of the centrists, I guess.
Davis is based in Chicago and describes herself as creating an ‘eclectic mix of genres’, which is certainly one way to put it (one of her other fantastic songs is an industrial cover of ‘One Jump Ahead’ from Aladdin, which is now living rent free in my brain forever, goddammit) and that alone earns her a spot on here. She’s got a TON of music, too, so if you like C O W A R D S you’ve got lots to catch up on.
Check out Cameron Evesque Davis’s work here!
7. JSS – Order of the Wolf
While I’m sure I’ve run into these before, I don’t have any memory of them; this track is from a split album between two bands! Rather than a compilation of several bands or a guest feature, there’s three tracks from each, evenly split down the middle — the first three are songs by Wolven Daughter, while the second three are Order of the Wolf. While I like the work of both, my favourite is the very last track, which is an Order of the Wolf song; I like deeply immersive songs with a lot of layers, and the rhythm of this one really sucks me in. It’s also got really impressive guitar and vocal work, where black metal often falls short on one or the other.
Once again, though, I’m begging metal bands to PROVIDE THEIR LYRICS. I’m happy to see that these folks are a queer antifascist black metal band, which spares me some of the usual headache when dealing with black metal, but it would still be really nice to know what you’re singing about. You put a lot of work into those lyrics. Let me see em!!!!
8. Remember Us To Death – Transgressive
An amazing, heartbreaking thrash-metal dirge of a song. ‘Remember Us To Death’ is dedicated to Channell Perez Ortiz, Ashia Davis, Banko Brown, Ashley Burton, Tasiyah Woodland, Eden Knight and Brianna Ghey – only a handful of the losses our queer community has suffered in the last few years, but ones where most of us will recognize at least one name. This is, first of all, a beautiful tribute — fantastic lyrics, and a dirge in content but not in form, with driving guitars and growled/screamed lyrics more befitting queer wrath than anything else.
Secondly, it’s also a fucking amazing thrash song. Clocking in at almost nine minutes, one almost expects it to drag on, but despite the intensity starting at moment one and never really letting up, it still has the ebb and flow to keep you listening and paying attention all the way through. Some of that is because of the interplay of vocals between Beef (Bethany Pitts) and guest vocalist Lux Edwards — some of it is just the phenomenal instrumentation. Either way, don’t miss out on this one. You’ll regret it.
Check out Remember Us To Death by Transgressive here!
9. Megaloner – Circuit des Yeux
….God, these vocals. The percussion. The VIIIIIBES. This is like Depeche Mode and Bjork for the 21st century (yes, I know Bjork’s still around, no disrespect to the mother herself intended). Or the 22nd century, honestly, because the futuristic feeling of this is wild.
Circuit Des Yeux is an Indiana-based singer-songwriter who’s been active since 2007 in experimental music scenes, and has a 4-octave singing range — so every note you hear on this track is her. (Holy shit. Jealous.)
Check out ‘Megaloner’ by Circuit des Yeux here!
10. Bloodspiller – Apathy
True story: when I first checked this song out, about three days after it had released, it had about 300-500 views. At the time of me writing this column, it has 57k. Don’t you love a good success story? (And only some of it can be attributed to that adorable murderkitty OC. Look at them!)
This is an experimental-electro/trance track, so it’s a little more laid back than the other stuff on here (in fact, it’s closest in tone to Lena Raine’s work but if Children of the Earth got into the ketamine) but it’s definitely got that good thuddy to it if you like your music to have some knives in it. (I’m totally a professional expert music understander, guys. Why else would you come to the deaf guy for your recs?) It’s also apparently inspired by a musician called Femtanyl who — aside from having a fucking kickass name, what the shit — is new to me! So not only did I get a new song, I have a new artist to check out as well as Apathy!
Check out Bloodspiller by Apathy here!
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Additionally — most, if not all the artists I’ve posted about this time around are queer and/or trans. There’s a reason I post Bandcamps when I can, and that’s so that you, my readers, can do your part to support vulnerable queer lives. Listening to a song on Spotify is something, but it’s fractions of a cent. Buying a track on Bandcamp, though, or even a whole album, costs less than a coffee — and it not only helps put money in a starving artist’s pocket, but it shows them, it shows us, that you’re out there. And then it’s yours to listen to, forever! Think about it. Taylor Swift will never know that you bought her music — but indie artists will, and do, and it means the world.
Elliott Dunstan 