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I'm glad I stumbled upon this. Secrets For A Deer is seven tracks somewhere between experimental pop and plugg; this music finds paths less traveled while simultaneously exploring familiar ground. It's always refreshing to hear off-kilter pop music with a distinct personality. These are mostly short, sincere ballad-esque songs: delightfully uncanny.
Would it be way off to say that this sometimes sits somewhere between Tirzah and Smerz? Maybe what Iâm hearing is Smerzâs playful lyrical tendencies meeting some of the moody production elements and anti-pop aesthetics found in Tirzahâs trip9love. Elsewhere, though, the project drifts off into something else entirely.
âRiver Is A Streetâ might be the coolest blend of weird and catchy Iâve heard in a long time. She drops lines like: âReinvent the wheel / Just to add some spokesâ and âSome folks get born again / And others learn to breathe.â Maybe I hear a hint of LUCY (Cooper B. Handy) in this one, actually, so add him to the contextual mix I am trying to put together here. There is an ease seeping through this confident little tune, not unlike much of the release itself. Itâs specific, strange, and hopeful in its own way. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. - j.vienberg
Would it be way off to say that this sometimes sits somewhere between Tirzah and Smerz? Maybe what Iâm hearing is Smerzâs playful lyrical tendencies meeting some of the moody production elements and anti-pop aesthetics found in Tirzahâs trip9love. Elsewhere, though, the project drifts off into something else entirely.
âRiver Is A Streetâ might be the coolest blend of weird and catchy Iâve heard in a long time. She drops lines like: âReinvent the wheel / Just to add some spokesâ and âSome folks get born again / And others learn to breathe.â Maybe I hear a hint of LUCY (Cooper B. Handy) in this one, actually, so add him to the contextual mix I am trying to put together here. There is an ease seeping through this confident little tune, not unlike much of the release itself. Itâs specific, strange, and hopeful in its own way. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. - j.vienberg
3d ago
Related Recs
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Here are my fav records that I have been listening to lately, this lineup strikes me as very "pi.fyi-core". Hope you enjoy :)
(in order of appearance)
-Thinking Fellers Union Local 282: Lovelyville <discovered this reading some Robert Schneider interviews after seeing the Apples in Stereo play for the W.C. Hart memorial show in Athens>
-DJO: The Crux <That guy from Stranger Things has a set of pipes, great happy album>
Panda Bear: Sinister Gift <sounds like The Beach Boys! the parts that don't are kinda atmospheric and very very pretty>
Bon Iver: SABLE, fABLE <he strikes again. very stripped back but absolutely gorgeous. Justin literally can not make a song that isnt somehow lush and cold at the same, like being covered in a sheet of ice that keeps you warm. He has this interview where he talks about the work and thought process behind it. Very cool!>
Black Country, New Road: Forever Howlong <this album features almost entirely female vocals, a nice change since Issac Wood left the band, and the vocals, piano, and woodwind instumetaion are just absolutely gorgeous, sounds like rain smells.
Cameron Winter: Heavy Metal <since half of this app is from Brooklyn, I'm sure you know this guy! He sings for the band Geese, but this record doesn't sound much like Geese at all. It has some of the craziest lyrics.I have heard in a hot minute, and is adorned by ~usually~ sparse and skeletal instruments, as well as Camerons odd yet alluring voice.
Hope you enjoy! lmk what you think of these records :)
-Thinking Fellers Union Local 282: Lovelyville <discovered this reading some Robert Schneider interviews after seeing the Apples in Stereo play for the W.C. Hart memorial show in Athens>
-DJO: The Crux <That guy from Stranger Things has a set of pipes, great happy album>
Panda Bear: Sinister Gift <sounds like The Beach Boys! the parts that don't are kinda atmospheric and very very pretty>
Bon Iver: SABLE, fABLE <he strikes again. very stripped back but absolutely gorgeous. Justin literally can not make a song that isnt somehow lush and cold at the same, like being covered in a sheet of ice that keeps you warm. He has this interview where he talks about the work and thought process behind it. Very cool!>
Black Country, New Road: Forever Howlong <this album features almost entirely female vocals, a nice change since Issac Wood left the band, and the vocals, piano, and woodwind instumetaion are just absolutely gorgeous, sounds like rain smells.
Cameron Winter: Heavy Metal <since half of this app is from Brooklyn, I'm sure you know this guy! He sings for the band Geese, but this record doesn't sound much like Geese at all. It has some of the craziest lyrics.I have heard in a hot minute, and is adorned by ~usually~ sparse and skeletal instruments, as well as Camerons odd yet alluring voice.
Hope you enjoy! lmk what you think of these records :)
Apr 26, 2025
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New album from Jane Remover (under the name venturing) !!!!! my favorite songs are Play my guitar and Something has to change but Iâve only listened through twice. Actually, Dream Sequence is my favorite (one of her best songs ever imo) but it was released a while ago so Iâm kinda disregarding it at the moment.
Feb 14, 2025
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By 2010, indie music was looking like it was turning away from a series of regrettable choices; dead bands walking, basically. Then Halcyon Digest came along and reclaimed the joyous nostalgic highlights of the decade that had gone before in a captivating sonic capsule of subdued celebration.
This album still reaches out to me from the slumber of an era in tentative transition - a beacon from a pea soup fog. The youthfulness of old was suddenly paired with the magnetism of experimentation and the result was a scintillating salute that tore the banality surrounding it to shreds. It also contains some of frontman Bradford Coxâs best compositions: the molasses memory stick âEarthquake,â the deceptively jaunty âRevival,â the almost-Vampire Weekend old/timeyness of âHelicopter,â Coxâs tribute to the late Jay Reatard âHe Would Have Laughedâ and the bandâs best song and bid for pop greatness, âDesire Lines.â Cox described the LPâs title as âa reference to a collection of fond memories and even invented ones, like my friendship with Ricky Wilson or the fact that I live in an abandoned victorian autoharp factory. The way that we write and rewrite and edit our memories to be a digest version of what we want to remember, and how that's kind of sad." The past is still with us, just in re-remembered and sometimes wholly invented form. A masterpiece that I wish more people immediately tagged as such. 10/10, no notes.
Dec 11, 2024
Top Recs from @ninaprotocol
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HĂŒsker DĂŒ were in limbo in 1985. Their relationship with SST was starting to sour after the legendary Twin Cities bandâs release of New Day Rising, and by the end of the year they were in talks with major labels (Septemberâs Flip Your Wig stayed with Greg Ginnâs label, but Warner swept in soon after). Now, five live recordings from the top of 85, split between those aforementioned albums, were unearthed and freshened up by the archival titans at Numero Group, who also put out the groupâs 2017 box set Savage Young DĂŒ.
Donât expect a bootleg. The hometown show at Minneapolis venue First Avenue was recorded to 24-track tape for an intended release that never came to fruition. Jan. 30, First Ave Pt. 1 highlights the bandâs brash, pop-pushing punk, proving that good things come in threes. Their raw presence surely silenced a few naysayers who, at the time, thought their melodic inclinations and genre bleed pointed towards a âcommercialâ sound. Some people donât know what theyâve got until itâs gone ⊠and then recovered by the label that introduced Duster to Gen Z. - Madeline Frino
Donât expect a bootleg. The hometown show at Minneapolis venue First Avenue was recorded to 24-track tape for an intended release that never came to fruition. Jan. 30, First Ave Pt. 1 highlights the bandâs brash, pop-pushing punk, proving that good things come in threes. Their raw presence surely silenced a few naysayers who, at the time, thought their melodic inclinations and genre bleed pointed towards a âcommercialâ sound. Some people donât know what theyâve got until itâs gone ⊠and then recovered by the label that introduced Duster to Gen Z. - Madeline Frino
Jul 8, 2025
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What if the entire Splice library was launched into the ether, prompting a Pokemon-esque scavenger hunt to catch âem all? This is what ear pulls off. And yet, the duoâs voices are the best instruments in the mix. Chopped notes and cheeky whispers and sharp breaths abound in their latest singles, âFetishâ and âValley Serpent.â A cut-and-sew craft project of a song, âFetishâ shows impressive restraint for as long as possible before mutating multiple times. Itâs not just a glazed ambient track, or bass-boosted electronic, or .5 speed breakcore. The disjointed lyrics are hypnotically aphasic, as if having a stroke could be a beautiful experience. âValley Serpentâ has the same structureless setup, shrouding a poignant piano ballad in blown-out artificial noise. For all they add, they know when to get minimal. The gentle recitation âfeels like a burdenâ is scripted to haunt. The most Lynchian release of the year!
- Madeline Frino
Jul 17, 2025
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If you want to feel like a Gregg Araki character, throw on âWillow,â the new single from Minneapolis dream rockers sheâs green. They wash pop music out until itâs something entirely different. The bandâs dense arrangements are like taking a warm bath, or sunbathing in a creek, or being half awake. Watercolor guitars support a story of evolving love, and the drums hint at the âgaze groupâs unpredictable range. Following the time-honored tradition of songs in this style, thereâs a less-is-more lyrical approach, pumped with air and stretched out lengthwise. It takes around six seconds to grandiosely amble through the word "metamorphosis." With so many references to Mother Nature, it feels both weeping and grounded.
- Madeline Frino
4d ago