Happy Monday, CLT Scene and Beyond, and welcome to Reporting From 20XX’s Playlist Reviews!

Each week, we take four to six newly released singles from artists local & around the world, and tell you why you should check them out!

Check out below who we have in store for listeners this week;

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On our lowest days, there is not a lot we can or want to say to others, maybe not even our closest friends, but if you had to put that set of feelings into words, how would you do it? “Thinkin’ ‘bout what I say/Is more work than play” is how Spitty The Sequel puts it at the beginning of his newest track, “Grave Rot”.

Set alongside spaced-out piano keys that softens the track at the start, the ambient background emphasizes the hopelessness felt in the lyrics, culminating to a collection of dark thoughts linking into what doesn’t just lead to the grave, but could and does rot many of us from the inside while we’re still alive. I really like the honesty put out throughout the song, comprised in two acts where at the start, things are at the lowest, and as the first chorus starts, an additional beat layer enters as if just explaining the raw emotions helps to get the heart pumping again as the second half has Spitty musing over the ideal love that could save him from a hole in the ground.

The splitting into two sides, audibly and tonally, balances out the track and allows the artist to get out the pain, but also provide listeners with hope by the end, making “Grave Rot” a track worth contemplating over.

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How can you feel like you have everything with someone else, yet still feel miles away from where you think you should be, even after some time? Abbie Roper gives a rock anthem testimony to that very complicated position in “Talking Casually”.

Spending all the time in the world on someone you like, and yet feeling like things never move forward; Abbie’s feelings toward her crush are given special emphasis through the details she lists about their time together (know just how you take your coffee/with your irish cream/put a dress on so you would think I’m pretty), all the while the acknowledgement she pines for is never met. The band is along for the ride as they match the shifting inflections in her voice in between each chorus breakdown with head-bang worthy instrumental sections.

I love that we, the listeners, do get a bit of an epilogue to her story by the end of the track, showing one does not have to stay in the same position if what’s desired isn’t met. Overall, the messaging, storytelling, and the music it is all put to is something I can put on repeat, especially if I’m celebrating my own independence by putting myself first, as Abbie does.

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Gloom could be where you are, or what you’re chasing. Attraction makes people do funny things, especially to themselves, and mostly under toxic circumstances. Neptune Flyer gives this phenomenon a partial narrative in “Where Did You Go?”.

Easily a point-of-view on the thoughts over being strung around for too long, the short lyrical bursts over the two minutes paints the picture of ghosting, either with an off-and-on casual partner, or with a very short-lived dating app match. The vocalist emphasizes the exhaustion caused from this whole affair by dropping an octave or two in his tone, selling the irritation well for curious listeners. By the time the song hits the halfway mark, the short story is over and the casual rock instrumentals take the track to the end, guided by a guitar solo.

A little emo, but a set of thoughts and feelings that anyone who’s ever failed at chasing “the one” can sympathize with, Neptune Flyer does a good job of giving an account to that type of situation, while also making the soundtrack of agonizing over a lost cause sound great from the shoegaze tempo paired with alt-rock stylings.

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Frantic, rebellious, and most importantly, fun. “Plastic Punks”, one of the newest offerings from power-pop quartet Autogramm, is a track that races to the finish but enjoys the ride to its fullest.

As the band keeps the energy on high throughout its short duration, clocking in at under two minutes, listeners are served with a carousel of effects, from space lasers to car horns, all sewn into the upbeat tempos kept by the guitar, synth, and drum sections. Echoes of Devo come to mind in from the track is chopped, vying for mostly monotone voice work with an occasional volume boost, allowing the music to do most of the talking for the quartet, to great effect.

By the end, I can’t get enough of the caffeinated high the track hits with and abruptly stops on, but that’s just an invitation, as I think it will be for other listeners, to keep the repeat option handy, making for a delightfully audible ride without a stopping point.

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Submit Your Singles For Review On Our Main Site, Or To ReportingFrom20XX@gmail.com

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