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but first, the news

yes that’s right, news time! a short selection of links to all things going on in the music biz:

• ftc is suing ticketmaster for being a monopoly

• dua lipa fired her manager for trying to get rid of kneecap

• people are mad at gwar for decapitating elon musk

more i’ve been listening to

yusuke shima, silentjazzcafe / silent dancer

what you get when you have several instruments taking the lead but all work together really well sounds a fair bit like this

parcels / tobeloved

parcels are one of those bands i swear i listen to a lot but then i hear a new song and i’m like oh who’s this and it’s parcels again and theyt caught me off guard with an absolute banger of a track and i hope that continues forever

thundercat / i wish i didn’t waste your time

the thing about thundercat is, he’s just so, so, so talented and so good my word

join our music league!

been playing this with some friends and it’s a lot of fun, so let’s start our own! here’s how it works, every week for the next few weeks, we submit songs based on the weeks theme. then, once you’ve submitted, you take a gander at what everyone else has submitted and vote for your favourites! and at the end of it? we all get a groovy playlist made by the whole gang. it’s free for all, but there’s only 100 spots, so join up now while you still can! i’ve tee’d up 5 rounds for us, and i’ll share round the playlist every week. if we’re having fun with it, we can always add more rounds. check it out!

genre: shoegaze
release date: 31/08/25
runtime: 2:34
video: no :(

contents

• but first, the news

• more i’ve been listening to

  • parcels / tobeloved

  • thundercat / i wish i didn’t waste your time

  • join our music league!

    • what i like

    • what i don't like

    • my drunk opinion

    • for fans of

    • should you listen to more

• next edition out next tuesday!

i’m sort of skirting that line here at the minute, you know the one, the tiny little line between dream pop and shoegaze. it’s a cool place to hang out everyones dressed as clowns for some reason. that’s kinda weird i won’t lie, but the rest is good there’s like, a ramp for bikes to tdo jumps and a lemonade stand. it’s all pretty cool, and in this place that we call home, we’ve got a decent wee track this week. meet she’s in parties, not me, i’m at home, i mean the band. they’re a dream pop band and i’ve been a fan of theirs for a whileeee so when this track landed in the submissions folder i was all over it, and you should be too. it’s a bit melancholic, a bit groovy, a bit tense, a bit of everything interesting these days.

p.s. i think it’s time for another tastebreaker poll so if there’s an underserved genre you want to hear something new from, vote below!

this song is an excellent exercise in tension. tension is one of those things that once you get it, and you learn to spot it and feel it and use it, it just takes things to a whole new level. in short, tension is a set up and a pay off. it’s suggesting, and outlining something that the listener or viewer or whatever fills in the missing stages of with pure anticipation. this song does that like it’s nothing, and it does it using a few key methods. the first is the bass line, which does a lot of heavy lifting. in the early half of the song, the bass line is almost pensive in it’s delivery. using slides and a bit of syncopation against a steady pedal piano in the intro gives a strong contrast that makes you think that something else is going to happen. these are the moves of a songwriter who has something in reserve, which they absolutely do. drop out in the chorus takes this to another level. between the really pulled back and reserved rhythmn section and the chorused vocals with lots of extra vocalists, it really lays up something that’s taking a deep breath. this is all rewarded when the guitar solo roars in for the post chorus. this whole ensemble is repeated without getting stale by switchingf things around quite a bit and developing out the ideas. that deep breath section where the whole song pulls back for example is backed up by just a gentle kick giving you the lead that something is going to land in. when that final guitar riff lands it’s all soooo worth it.

i feel like tonally this song doesn’t do a lot to really push the boat out and that is a bit of a loss. there’s a lot of great song writing going on here, and a ton for people to sink their teeth into, but without the production being there to back it up i worry that some people will bounce off this track. i think it’s a really good song, but i don’t think it quite has the juice. take that bass line i was so fond of earlier. musically speaking, i think it’s great and within the context of the song i think it works so so well but tonally i think it sounds a bit dull and weak where it should have a real groovy thick tone to back up the ideas it brings to the table. or the effects and vocal ideas at play such as the backing vocals. there’s so much need for really rich tone and energy, but instead there’s something that feels thin on the ground.

i used to make up guitar riffs like that when i was like 11 listening to meat loaf in my mums car. good stuff.

oh interesting. so, i was having a hunt and trying to find something that got at what i was criticising in my what i don’t like section, and shuffled my way into this track that i recommended last week. i think this is doing a lot of the same stuff as this weeks track, altho in a much more rock environment than that dream pop shoegaze space. but i want you to pay attention to the tones at play here, because there’s so much juice and energy in this than this weeks track despite musically there not being much between them, and even a lot of similar ideas. it’s disco dream from coach party and black honey.

this wasn’t actually the song i wanted to review this week, i had another of theirs but it came out a while ago and i wanted to keep it more current. i still really like this song, but more importantly i think there’s a lot to learn from this song if you’re a musician and a songwriter. i think there’s a lot it gets right, some things it gets wrong, and that’s as good a reason as any metihnks.

or better yet, reply to this email! what did you think of this song? have you been listening to anything good lately? any gems i’ve missed?

next edition out next tuesday!