The Alternative Weekly Roundup is a column where our staff plugs a variety of new releases in a concise, streamlined format. Albums, singles, videos, and live sets. Check back each Monday to see what we were jamming the week prior. Cursejar – The Organizational Complex Cursejar’s The Organizational Complex is bigger than last summer’s Framed in Sequence EP; the songs are longer, heavier, and catchier, and the band sounds far more comfortable in their skin here. They’re the latest in a wave of bands whose vision of emo is one informed by the bands of the early ’90s who rose ..read more

Opening her set under a red sheet Mitski’s headling for tour for her record The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We is like watching a one woman play with a backing band featuring versions of songs that are sometimes reimagined. She is currently closing out her tour in Nashville with four back-to-back nights at The Ryman. Check out Lindsy’s photos from night one with support from Sarah Kinsley. Sarah Kinsley  Mitski  _ Lindsy Carrasquillo | @lindsy_carr The Alternative is ad-free and 100% supported by our readers. If you’d like to help us produce more content and p ..read more

Modest Mouse released Good News For People Who Love Bad News 20 years ago on April 6th. The band dropped a 20th anniversary expanded edition with remixes from Poolside, MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden, and more, in addition to soft-announcing a reunion tour and new music. — After a night of befriending a poet and drinking too much at a crowded club, I told my new friend that my favorite band was Modest Mouse. She laughed and playfully said, “What are you, a 40-year-old man?” which was a completely fair response. I’m 28, and Modest Mouse has been my favorite band since 10-year-old me discovered “Fl ..read more

All our staff’s favorite new music from the week of April 12th, 2024! Now available on Spotify and Apple Music. Give the playlists a follow and stay in touch with the best new music every week of the year.   The Alt New Music Friday Playlist is assembled by picks from our staff and readers, and curated by: Jazmin, Henderson, Lindsy, & Hope The Alternative is 100% supported by our readers. If you’d like to help us write about more great music and keep our site going, you can become a Patron on Patreon, which also allows you to receive extra content, sweet perks, and The Alternative ..read more

Rosie Tucker is an artist that feels almost painfully personable. Their discography feels as if they’ve set up camp in your head, causing you to forget a time when their lyricism and vulnerable vocal tendencies wasn’t sketched across the walls of your brain. With Utopia Now!, this cushy charm is only further solidified with the choice to self-produce the record at home with their creative partner, Wolfy. What results is a thoughtful mix of dream pop and emo-punk that might be Rosie Tucker’s sharpest songwriting outing to date as they saunter between emotional candor and the gravity of our pol ..read more

Photo by Jessica Perez Kharma, to me, is emblematic of Chicago’s heavier side of hardcore. When I talked to vocalist Jordan Moten, he told a story of getting into the genre through Terror around Keepers of The Faith. Maybe if he had gone to a different show, he would have kept writing deathcore, even if he had not given me the band’s name. It is a story that you will have relayed a lot if you read enough interviews with hardcore kids. I imagine many other mid-20s hardcore enjoyers came into hardcore from a similar vantage point. From that introduction, Moten dove a bit deeper. A few years lat ..read more

“There’s no way we booked a show on Easter Sunday…” quipped Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows to a fully packed crowd at Newark’s Prudential Center. Blasphemous? Maybe.  Self assurance has defined Avenged Sevenfold’s winding history. Never afraid to push boundaries, the band has spent their 25-year career towing the line of what classifies as metal. 2023 album Life Is But A Dream is a nearly uncategorizable ride through an ambitious, Camus-inspired soundscape that makes for a mindblowing – bordering on confusing – first listen. Upon repeat spins, their masterful demolition of genre l ..read more

The Alternative Weekly Roundup is a column where our staff plugs a variety of new releases in a concise, streamlined format. Albums, singles, videos, and live sets. Check back each Monday to see what we were jamming the week prior. This Page Intentionally Left Blank – Rebuilding Year The new project of vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Troy Sennett (Pelafina, ex-City Mouth) and drummer Matt Kistler (Blood Pact Scout), This Page Intentionally Left Blank’s debut is ten minutes of exquisite emo. Rebuilding Year throws back to the early revival era, redolent of Joie De Vivre and Penpal, twinkli ..read more

Alkaline trio is back and stronger than ever. It’s been an odd decade for Alkaline Trio, with frontman Matt Skiba doing double duty for blink-182. With Matt’s departure from blink, Alkaline Trio was ready to awaken the beast again. Kicking off their show in L.A. were Albany, New York natives, Drug Church. Known for making you want to “push your sister’s boyfriend down the stairs”, Drug Church made everyone start moving. With heavy hitters right from the start such “Avoidarama” and “World Impact”, frontman Patrick Kindlon was encouraging the crowd to keep crowd surfing and put the security gua ..read more

The Alternative Weekly Roundup is a column where our staff plugs a variety of new releases in a concise, streamlined format. Albums, singles, videos, and live sets. Check back each Monday to see what we were jamming the week prior. A Country Western – Life on the Lawn A Country Western’s Life on the Lawn exists at the center of where indie rock is in 2024. On their third LP, they fold tasteful alt-country (“The Spine,” “Wasting the Weekends”) and sunny guitar pop (“The Dreamer,” “Magnetic”) into their blown-out shoegaze. It’s an unexpected pivot from one of the more interesting bands in ..read more