Welcome to another installment of our monthly local music feature, New Music NC!
Each month highlights some of our particular favorites, followed by several categories to sift through. Think of it as your virtual record store, except all the music is new and local!
[Pst! Get included in a future issue!]
Top Selections
Elder Bright — For Those Found in Liminal Spaces… [Wilmington post-hardcore]
Do you like 2000s post-hardcore? Odds are you’ll love this debut EP from Wilmington’s Elder Bright. Mastered by renowned producer Kris Crummett (Dance Gavin Dance, Sleeping with Sirens), it fits perfectly alongside other up-and-coming acts like pulses. and blankstate.
Kicking off with the delicate title track introduction, the band proceeds at a breakneck pace. Every layer, from drums and bass to intermingled guitars, comes together to create complex rhythms and catchy melodies. The standout track, “Heaven’s Motel Has a Flickering Light,” best showcases Elder Bright’s range, delivering a relentlessly energetic lead single that demands attention.
Indigo De Souza — Precipice [Asheville indie rock/electropop]
The fourth record from Asheville indie rocker Indigo De Souza doesn’t waste time. In just over 30 minutes, it ushers listeners from tranquility to infectious danceability and back again. It’s also a bold shift into lush electropop compared to De Souza’s previous work — something that grows catchier with each listen.
De Souza’s voice is more radio-ready than ever, while her songs flourish with instrumentals that keep feet tapping. The crisp production makes tracks like “Crying Over Nothing”, “Crush”, and “Heartthrob” soar, while giving more atmospheric pieces like “Be My Life” and the saxophone-laden “Clean It Up” room to breathe.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more relentlessly catchy batch of songs from a North Carolina artist this year.
Survival Tactics — THE FLESH OF OUR FRUIT [Raleigh hardcore punk]
Similarly, good luck finding a hardcore punk release seething with more anger than this debut LP from Survival Tactics. Released mere months after their debut EP, THE FLESH OF OUR FRUIT is ripe with abrasive catharsis. From the opening seconds of “WAKE THE F**K UP” through “MULE”, the band refuses to let up until you start a mosh pit in your living room. (Or the office, in my case.)
Simply put, they are Raleigh’s answer to Soul Glo: talented Black musicians bringing chaos to every stage they claim. Don’t miss their unique brand of hard-hitting punk.
Monthly Round-up
Rock, alternative, and punk
Awkward Ghosts — Awkward Ghosts [Asheville indie rock/art pop]
Damage Decade — Everything I Know Will Dissolve [Raleigh electronic rock]
Find Out — Tools of War I [Durham hardcore punk]
Leaving for Arizona — PB Special [Charlotte alt rock/emo]
Manic Third Planet — Halfway EP [Chapel Hill punk rock]
qwilt — qwilt [Raleigh dream rock]
PLACES — Real Life Waiting [Asheville shoegaze/slowcore]
porcelain parrot — bygones [Asheville alt rock/emo]
Stephen’s Pharmacy — Big Dipper [Raleigh rock & roll]
The Really Really Ghost — Too Woke to Joke [Asheville post-punk]
Zodiac Lovers — The King of Living Places [Charlotte experimental rock/bedroom psychedelia/kudzu core]
Hip-hop/rap, soul, jazz, and funk
.zone & Buddy Minnelli — A PRODUCT OF FAITH [Durham R&B/jazz fusion]
Blvckhndz — 50 SHADES OF RAGE [Norfolk, VA experimental hip-hop]
BrassiousMonk — blackeyedP [Raleigh experimental hip-hop]
Dom$ x Benji Socrate$ — SPLENDID GEOMETRY [Raleigh hip-hop/rap]
Floy Doy — After Time [Raleigh jazz]
Garrett Sparrow — RAMBO [Charlotte/Durham R&B/soul]
JUSTOMOBBIN — AT TIMES I FEEL LIKE MYSELF EP [Wake Forest hip-hop/rap]
Myles Clayton — a night n clt [Charlotte hip-hop/rap]
Pyroglyphics — You Will Not Survive [Fayetteville experimental hip-hop]
Silver Orion — Lost Tape [Winston Salem hip-hop/rap]
Folk, Americana, and country
Alex Krug Combo — Softer Light [Asheville psychedelic roots/Americana]
Blue Ridge Betty — Firefly [Asheville folk pop/bluegrass/Americana]
Duncan Wickel & David Brown — The Long Branch Sessions [Asheville folk/old time]
Elonzo Wesley — Ohio Nights [Charlotte bluegrass folk]
Jacob Donham — Postcards From Home [Asheville alt-folk]
John Tomasevich — MANIC DESTRUCTIVE [Burlington folk punk]
Matt Southern & Lost Gold — Strange Passage [Raleigh singer-songwriter/folk/country]
Electronic, ambient, experimental, and more
Doug Sours — summer dance [Raleigh world]
Miyx — Digital Escapism [Charlotte drum and bass/jungle]
pilothead — nothing 2 say [Wilmington indietronica/dream pop]
Metal and hardcore
Nemesis — Klyoxin-X [Charlotte thrash metal]
Widowed Light — Whitted Knoll [Asheville black metal]
Ready to get featured in our monthly roundup for new music from NC artists? Fill out this short form and we’ll include your latest release in a future issue!
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