By Meghan Koenig Multi-Media Reporter
REVIEW
As summer (sort of) winds down and the leaves start to brown, it’s time to reflect on the travels, experiences, and even media we consumed over the last three months to help define what helped us survive the brutal heat. Let’s just say the heat wasn’t the only thing that was brutal. This year’s summer brought me a welcome chaos of genre experiments and inner turmoil that I really embraced through the music. In July, I had an energetic metalcore album help me power through a summer internship, but also, in June, I sat in my air-conditioned home and cried to a debut album about loss and frustrations over indecision. Whether you catch some of these songs on FM90 or you ask me on the best day, here are my three favorite albums released over the summer that I will carry with me for the rest of the year.
After a couple of singles and a super fun 2023 EP, FIGHTMASTER (they/them) shares with us growth and self-discovery in their debut, self-released, full-length album. “Tolerance” explores those themes in ethereal acoustics, slow-rumbling bass, and 80s-synth energy, and FIGHTMASTER pours their soul through lyrics that explore subjects like indecision and unbalanced emotions in music that can’t be defined in a box.
Tracks like “Rumble,” “All Or Nothing,” and “Glide” establish confidence and not waiting around for something to change, but then there are songs like “Minotaur” to cope when those changes
are heartbreaking.
Breaking through the British post-punk scene since their 2022 debut, Yard Act returned with a more collaborative spirit and deep existential thinking in their third album. Vocalist James Smith has admitted that “You’re Gonna Need A Little Music” was their first album where all four band members recorded together in the same room, and you can tell through the witty lyrics, genre-bending styles, and ambitious album moments that one room can put together an amazing puzzle. Standout songs like “New Beginnings” and “Fiction” play with storytelling elements and whimsical instrumentation, while songs like “Redeemer” explore dark and angry themes in a visceral and exciting soundscape (they used actual pots and pans for “Redeemer!”).
A long way from their humble MySpace scene days, Motionless in White continues to be a mainstay in modern-day metalcore, proven in their seventh full-length release. Frontman Chris Motionless wanted to take time making this album as best as possible, and through ferocious, violent synths alongside adrenaline-fueled breakdowns, there are no signs of slowing down. Anthems like “Afraid of the Dark” and “Playing God (featuring the LEGENDARY Corey Taylor)” explore themes of raw survival and rising above the noise, yet tracks like “Love At First Bite” and their cover of Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses At Night” also showcase more playful and entertaining moments.
While you’re jamming “New Beginnings” on FM90 or hearing a metal cover of “Sunglasses At Night” through someone’s car window on campus (most likely mine), these albums and more have earned permanent spots on my playlist for the upcoming year. Music has a way of settling its way into our memories and defining specific seasons for us, and I can even tell you to this day my defining summer album of 2019! (“Doom Days”
by Bastille!)
These three albums were my personal soundtrack to carry me on into the fall, and as you print out your syllabi and check out textbooks, there may be an album or playlist you use to help with your own journey! What did you listen to over the summer? Let The Ranger or FM90 know! Because whatever you’ll do in school…”you’re gonna need a little music!”
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