Hallucitania continue to make some of the strangest music in the Twin Cities. It's not quite folk (I mean, there is a violin), it's not quite punk. Even still, it doesn't toe the line quite perfectly enough to be neatly labeled as "folk-punk." Some songs on their new EP emphasize one side over the other but they never leave the other behind. The punk side comes off a little stronger. Pre-School Post-Post-Its is only one minute longer than 2018's EP but has nearly double the tracks; only one song outlasts the three minute mark ("I'm Singing") and ironically it's the most aggressive. Griffin Thiel shreds his lungs with even more of the tongue-in-cheek lyrics one expects from Hallucitania before sinking into a violin outro. The mournful strings are an anchor, dragging the band to the bottom of the nearest of 11, 842 lakes. The other shorter songs alternate between guitar-driven diatribes and the dance of a violin solo. Neither ever overstays its welcome, but neither remains close enough to the other for a true embrace of musical fusion. There's also a cover of "O Canada," the Canadian national anthem. It's really something. Pre-School Post-Post-Its finds Hallucitania leaning more into their strange energy than anything else. They took what they knew and ramped it up by a few notches.
Dreams We've Had - "News from the War" (self-released)
Somebody's been listening to Bloom again! Bennett Blumberg retreats from the anthemic urgency found on Dreams We've Had's latest singles and resumes a dream pop pastiche. For a song that consists mostly of loops and arpeggios, it stays quite static, hovering in a midair glass cube. Every few moments, the light will reflect off it differently and catch someone's eye. "News from the War" is destined to soundtrack dorm room acid trips for the foreseeable future. It sounds positively bottomless. Even as Blumberg's sonic stylings shift back-and-forth, his songs sound increasingly like the one-man project they appear to be. Energy comes from composition and melody instead of any human source. "News from the War" brings focus and depth alongside consistency.
Miloe - "Motorola" (self-released)
Miloe is done hiding. Bobby Kabeya takes center stage for what feels like the first time on his band's latest single, "Motorola." Previously, there was a shimmering haze covering everything, like clouds sunk too low on an early July morning. Kabeya and his band emerged out of that mist, but not without internalizing some of it first. Especially towards the end of the track, a little bit of the mist sneaks back out. Everything else stays in the forefront, whether it's Kabeya's unmasked vocals or the sauntering guitar. It actually feels like a band played and recorded this song. Each part has a spark of personality. Kabeya, Dom Winterbauer, Theo Galetka (who also produced/mixed the song), and Thomas Schroeder consolidate and come out with a great summer come-down.
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