Fox Teeth  -  Tite!  (self-released)   I'm always thrilled to find new bands who combine two of my favorite genres: emo and shoegaze. Is emo-gaze a thing? I almost hope not, because that name is horrendous, even if the music itself is extremely up my alley. However, most bands playing with influences from those two venerated genres end up swinging to one side more than the other. You either get the blissed-out heaviness of a band like Gleemer or something more in-line with janglier bands like Thank You, I'm Sorry, where the only shoegaze thing about them is the use of reverb. New Jersey trio Fox Teeth split the difference in the best way on their new record Tite! Every part of  Tite! , the band's first release since 2019's Poets & Ghosts  EP, unifies their influences in a pure distillation of potent songwriting. It accomplishes everything that a band wants a first record to accomplish, a level-up in every way. Fox Teeth clearly held that mindset going i...

(Cover art by Kara Slamka) ghostar - A Haunting in Two Parts  (self-released)   It was inevitable. After the breakout success of 2018's Hereditary , it was only a matter of time before some band sampled one of its iconic scenes. In the case of the new double-single from Madison's ghostar, Toni Collette's dinnertime freakout is the first thing we hear. What ensues is just over seven minutes of potent, multi-faceted music. ghostar bill themselves as a post-rock band first and foremost, which is surprising for a band who has never released a song that exceeds the six minute mark. Instead of getting lost in the swirl of anthemic crescendo-core, the trio plays around with a variance of guitar-centric genres, ranging from yelpy 90s emo to burnt-out shoegaze. The highlights of their music aren't found in any individual sound; rather, they're most present in the way they weave them all together, like knots of thorny vines climbing the side of a house. "Part I: Mortuar...

As you will soon realize, none of the bands written about here are from Minnesota. As we've grown more connected to the nationwide network of bands that Twitter refers to as "DIY," we've found a lot of music that we love. It sucked that we couldn't cover it (as per our own self-imposed limitations). So we decided to change it. This weekly column, the National Anthem, will be one of the primary places we explore releases from all-across the United States (and sometimes even Canada). Don't fret, our hearts (metaphorically and literally) are still in the Twin Cities. We hope that you can find a new band that you love from this. Interlay - "Spine" (self-released)   Our first venture into the great unknown outside of Minnesota doesn't take us very far. Interlay is a Madison, WI quartet making gothic shoegaze that feels as wide as the night sky. "Spine" is our first taste from a forthcoming EP, a follow-up to 2018's all-too-brief Ritual ...