AM Radio: June 2024
The best new hardcore and community-made music, updated monthly for Anti-Matter.
The first of this year’s summer adds to AM Radio are in, and the new music is abundant—from heavy-hitters like Speed, Stick To Your Guns, State Power, and Trail of Lies (featuring Terror’s Scott Vogel and Danny Diablo from Crown of Thornz) to powerful post-hardcore from Modern Color, Cursive, Balance and Composure, and The Story So Far, and so much in-between. (Does a new Stand Still song with a Pain of Truth feature make for the perfect in-between? Could be!) There are seventeen new tracks in all.
The usual disclaimer, of course, still applies: AM Radio is not a running list of every new release, but a playlist of personally handpicked songs that reflects only those songs that personally excite me—with no outside influence or interference ever. A few of this month’s standout tracks follow below.
FOLLOW & LISTEN TO AM RADIO: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music
SONAGI “Rain Shadow” (Secret Voice)
After recording a recent episode for his First Ever Podcast, Jeremy Bolm told me about a new song that was coming out through his Secret Voice imprint and sent me a link. I almost immediately texted him back: “Will this be out by June 27? Because this is soooo right for AM Radio!” Good news: “Rain Shadow” is out now, and by the time Ryann Slauson screams, “Fuck the air in your lungs,” you’ll know what I mean. A new EP, Everything is Longing, is on the way.
CHASTITY “Summer All Over Again” (Deathwish Inc.)
Under the name Chastity, Ontario, Canada’s Brandon Williams has solidified his reputation as a one-man post-hardcore treasure, releasing a string of consistently excellent records for Captured Tracks, Dine Alone, and Deathwish. His latest single is a wistful summer anthem that harnesses youthful memories without the rose-colored glasses—and it arrives just in time for an upcoming summer tour with Fucked Up.
BUY IT: Bandcamp
HIGH VIS “Mob DLA” (Dais)
Although details are still scarce, High Vis have announced that their third full-length is imminent and “Mob DLA” is a promising sign of things to come: It’s one-part hardcore stomp, one-part UK psychedelica, and one-part Crass callback to “Do They Owe Us A Living?”—a combination that, at this point in punk and world history, feels kind of perfect and complete.
BUY IT: Bandcamp
PRAISE “Coming Up For Air” (Revelation)
Praise have always tended the balance between classic and contemporary hardcore with care, and their latest three-song EP for Revelation stays true to form with an eye towards expansion. “Coming Up For Air” pairs the driving pulse of late ‘80s Dischord post-punk with a more soothing and ethereal vocal assist from Pale Green Stars’ Haley Butters. It’s a distinctly pleasurable new ground to break.
COMMON SAGE “Edin (feat. Geoff Rickly and Steve Pedulla)” (Equal Vision)
Ever since releasing It Lives and It Breathes in 2021—a sleeper hit if ever there was one—things have been coming to a slow boil for Brooklyn’s Common Sage. But right now, the heat is on: In the last month alone, they’ve signed with Equal Vision, announced a forthcoming EP called Nostos | Algos, and earlier this week, released “Edin”—the new single featuring Geoff Rickly and Steve Pedulla of Thursday. Those are my bandmates, of course, but make no mistake: the feature is not the focus here. This is a well-blended, propulsive track that works on every level.
BUY IT: Bandcamp
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Once again, my drive home was made just a little more tolerable,… and I just noticed there’s 8.5 hours worth of music in there already!