These LITM Rock Picks all pack a punch; featuring Rusty Reid, bland, My State, and more!
1. Rusty Reid – Attitude Change
Opening with a timeless guitar interplay, Attitude Change explores the loss of spark in a relationship with a mature ease. Rusty Reid carries the track effortlessly, with the kind of self-assurance that comes only with knowing your craft intimately. With straightforward, effective lyrics (“seems like you’d rather make love to the TV… you’re just about due for an attitude change”), Reid brings complex emotions to the forefront without overcomplicating them – all with his chill, relaxed vocal delivery. With a distinctly ‘90s texture to it, the song is tailor-made to be sung along to at concerts. It balances folk and rock with care, and this care bleeds through the whole track!
2. bland – panacea
panacea opens bland’s album, consumables, and it’s a track definitely worthy of being an opener. It wastes no time getting into its groove with full energy – it’s frenetic in its pace, bombarding you with post-punk power. With punchy vocals and high-energy guitar accompaniments, the whole track is tight and squeezes itself around you with no hesitation. It can be best described as fierce and full; with all the elements it has going on, it’s easy for things to get lost in the whirlwind, but it’s mixed with clarity and space, allowing every layer to shine. It’s safe to say, bland is anything but bland!
3. My State – Nostalgia
Nostalgia immediately hits you with rolling drums and electric guitars longing to burst out into your ears. Exploring the complexity of wallowing in self-pity but enjoying it, My State dives headfirst into the feeling of longing for the idea of someone (“Its not even that I miss you that much / It′s a play of the brain though, it’s nostalgia / Back to my mess / Loneliness / I must confess, I like it here”). Featuring clear vocals that carry emotion with ease, there’s a beautiful contrast between the lonely mood of the lyrics and the rock energy of the arrangement – each forcing you to pay attention to the other. Find it here!
4. Deflecting Ghosts – Unknowing
There’s a certain sobriety and thoughtfulness to Unknowing that’ll keep you hooked from the very beginning. Deflecting Ghosts has produced a track that’s clean, dark, and powerful – blending charged instrumentals with equally charged vocals, it creates an atmosphere that’s as introspective as it is urgent. It’s mixed and arranged to perfection – the contrast between the sparkly cymbals and punchy bass, the clear vocals, the deeply layered guitars that pull you into their tangled chaos. Delving deep into destruction, running away, and tragedy with deep vulnerability, Delfecting Ghosts’ Unknowing is compelling in a way that won’t leave you in a hurry.
5. Marianne Nowottny – Wuthering Heights
Marianne Nowottny reimagines Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights on the opener of her cover album, Marzanna. Where Bush’s track sparkled with a soprano delivery, Nowottny sings low, adding a brooding texture to the song. It effectively shifts the musical dimension towards ominous, almost villainous, with a gothic air: it’s easy to picture the foggy moors of Wuthering Heights’ sinister Yorkshire landscape when you hear her sing. Wuthering Heights, as well as the rest of the tracks on Marzanna, isn’t a simple cover – it’s the result of Nowottny twisting it to make it her own, causing the familiar to become unsettling in the most alluring way.
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