Heartbeat Set To Automatic

ISTA “Crusher”

In the Dune mythos, “fear is the mind-killer.” But what kills fear? ISTA have an answer: “love is the fear crusher.” “Crusher” is sunny and unapologetically corny in its messaging, so much so that I think it loops around to non-corny. The sound is buzzy and super saturated, applying a very mid -90s alt-rock palette to a specifically mid-00s style of cheery alt-rock energy. There’s no way to express something like this without being earnest, but being earnest doesn’t mean you’re being naive and dopey, especially not in an era as fearful and loveless as the one we’re in at the moment.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Spacemoth “Do We Exist”

“Do We Exist?” moves along on a boppy bass line that’s a center of gravity for all the psychedelic keyboard and guitar parts that swirl around it. It’s a tether for Maryam Qudus’ voice as well as she sings lyrics that loop around to answer one phrase and then contradict another. It’s a clever approach, signaling both confusing and a humble willingness to be wrong. There’s no definitive answers about the nature of reality to be found here, but I do get the sense that she’s rejecting the notion that we’re actually all alone in this world.

Buy if from Bandcamp.