Essential Tracks This Week: Scowl, Ekko Astral, and more


We’re getting to the part of the year where the new singles we start to hear are those from albums that are being released early next year. Which is exciting! But that’s actually not the case this week, which is a unique circumstance. All the songs we’re featuring this week are standalone singles, at least for now. There’s a good chance that one or two will inevitably end up on a new to-be-announced album. But for now, they’re just songs for their own sake, and they include some surprise singles from punks, post-punks, art-punks, rappers and producers.
Scowl – “Special”
Bay Area hardcore group Scowl this week announced their signing to Dead Oceans, an indie powerhouse label whose roster includes artists such as Mitski and Phoebe Bridgers. Scowl are almost certainly the most aggressive band to join the label, but their new single “Special” also showcases how strong their sense of melody is, its big chorus loaded with hooks reminiscent of ’90s-era alt-rock. Naturally, it rips, but the group’s likewise cornering the market on hardcore with pop hooks, and “Special” is a sign of exciting things to come. – Jeff Terich
Out now via Dead Oceans
Ekko Astral – “pomegranate tree”
Ekko Astral’s 2024 has been one for the books. The DC outfit released their excellent debut pink balloons in April, two of their members left in September, and they shared the “Holocaust Remembrance Day” in June. All of Ekko Astral’s music is personal and confrontational, and they only continue to expand their sound with each new release. This week, the DC punk trio share “pomegranate tree,” an uneasy and sprawling noise rock piece. For “pomegranate tree,” Ekko Astral drummer Miri Tyler offered the following: “The violence being carried out by the IDF is indeed genocidal. And the fact that these atrocities are being carried out in the name of our faith, culture, and community — well, it’s enough to keep us up at night.” – Patrick Pilch
Out now
Flying Lotus – “Ingo Swann”
A lot of our favorite beatsmiths of late have been pushing deeper into house-inspired sounds and productions, including Caribou and Floating Points. And now Flying Lotus is putting his own unique spin on dancefloor-ready bangers with “Ingo Swann.” Where once FlyLo built his albums around cosmic, fusion-inspired soundscapes, this is much more grounded in beats and grooves, and there’s a whole lot of funk to go around. Considering it’s been a good five years since his last album, it’s good to hear FlyLo back at it, and this is a satisfying new direction for him and I look forward to hearing more. – Jeff Terich
Out now via Warp
Bruiser Wolf and Zack Fox – “Mountain Lion”
Bruiser Wolf has become one of the standout rappers to come out of Detroit’s Bruiser Brigade, having released a pair of excellent records including this year’s My Story Got Stories at the beginning of the year. And his new single with Zack Fox is nothing less than two ace wordsmiths dropping one-liner after one-liner, usually with a couple exclamation points after each one (e.g. “I’m all that and a bag of chips/At Benihana with somebody’s bitch“). A straightforward, fun-as-hell showcase for two great rappers doing what they do best. – Jeff Terich
Out now
The Serfs – “Regen”
The Serfs keep on building on their unique take on minimal wave and post-punk, their 2023 album Half Eaten By Dogs showcasing an impressive versatility within the darker corners of art-punk and synth-pop. “Regen” is another spectacular leap for the group, released as a b-side on new 7-inch single “Paid In Full,” but with a gloriously bright sound worthy of the a-side. Taking cues from baggy and shoegaze sounds of the late ’80s and early ’90s, with a swirl of acid house, the group doubles down on danceability while retaining a bit of Echo and the Bunnymen-style psychedelia—and then they take it home with a saxophone flourish to cap the whole thing off. Marvelous. – Jeff Terich
Out now via Trouble in Mind