Top8 - 12/22/25 - WTSQ 88.1 FM

December 22, 2025 - 02:58 AM

Welcome back to Top8, where this bitch just pulled straight A's AGAIN. I truly do not know how I am doing this.

Anyway, the ass end of the year continues to be a time when very few bands are dropping new releases. As a result, I have a track from May in here and a few from September. But they are great tracks that I would absolutely have included earlier in the year if I'd heard them.

I have been making a lot more soup and watching some movies. School starts back in a few weeks, so I need to do a lot of human things between now and then. School ruins my life.

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Agriculture - Bodhidharma

I don't always get super into extremely screamy vocals. They all sound the same and most of the time I can't make out what they are saying. I'm usually into the metal or punk bands they front, but the vocals just don't often set well on my ears. Agriculture is a different kind of band. Their screamyness is in the service of black metal with a fair dose of shoegaze – blackgaze some people call it. Their new album "The Spiritual Sound" has a lot of different sounds and influences. Agriculture pairs the aggression and intensity of black metal together with a lot of textures from other genres from doom to ambient. Hell, there's even some folk here. "Bodhidharma" is the standout track for me, but the whole album is great. This is a refreshing find that kinda wakes me back up to this kind of metal. Thanks out to Bug for putting this on my radar.

Bonus points – if you're into this, make sure you also check out Thou out of NYC.

Forty Winks - Commie bf

Yet another fucking awesome band coming out of Pittsburgh. It must be the pierogies. Forty Winks has a new EP called "Love is a Dog From Hell" (a reference to one of my favorite poets, Charles Bukowski). The whole EP is excellent, and I was torn between "Commie bf" and "Spurs". This is a moody rock band that can bounce between dreamy and clipping insane noise the next. "Commie bf" is a more punk track in the vein of classic Nirvana but with some jangle.

Bloodsports - Rosary

The band's pithy bio calls them "new york city guitar music" and they appear to be as good as their work. "Rosary" starts with a wispy atmosphere before turning into a great thundering mass of guitar noise with a stompy beat.

Total Wife - Second Spring

If I go long enough without hearing a flanging guitar, I start to shake and stutter until someone hits me with an epipen filled with a shot of Souvlaki Space Station. Next time, I could just as easily turn to Total Wife. "Second Spring" shows a really perfected dichotomy of soft-as-a-cloud vocals with supernova levels of crunch and fury. This is really gorgeous and perfectly executed.

Home is Where - artificial grass

It sounds absolutely insane to combine emo and country. Until you hear it – and I have to say, this truly fucks. "Artificial Grass" adds a bit of twanging sweetness to an angular emo guitar figure and eventually finds its way to a time signature change and some intense vocals. I am super into this. The whole album is "Hunting Season" and it's extremely worth a spin.

Good Flying Birds - Eric's Eyes

Another one from Bug. Good Flying Birds are here to chew bubblegum and jangle like motherfuckers and they are all out of bubblegum. You all know how I feel about jangle, but Good Flying Birds are bringing something else here too. Tracks like "Eric's Eyes" show a real lofi punk vibe along with the indie jangle.

Water From Your Eyes - Born 4

I have featured Water From Your Eyes before. These guys combine various synth textures from chiptune to more ambient sounds with sudden and often surprising leaps into distortion and guitars. "Born 4" is typical of this. It features a hyper chiming music box that swirls around your brain and eventually breaks out into something abrasive and noisy. I kinda see this stuff as the 2020s children of one of my all time favorites, Sleigh Bells.

University - Bee

University is a British punk act that keeps the noise and jagged edges of that genre while insisting on the elbow room to explore some other sounds. "Bee" starts out with a vaguely honky-tonk beat but quickly clobbers it with a big wet mess of noise. The guitar seems blithely unconcerned with tune or even timing here, and the track is absolutely the better for it. Think of bands like Sonic Youth.