Landowner - "Damning Evidence"

Western Massachusetts' Landowner are back with one last single before their new album is released this Friday. "Damning Evidence" demonstrates their "abrasively clean minimalist punk" sound. The song is basically just vocals are guitar for the first minute and a half, and we had no idea you could be this abrasive or punk with just vocals and guitar. The truly crazy this is no matter how stripped down a song like "Damning Evidence" is, it still rocks out. It's nowhere near as shouty as you'd expect, but mostly singing in a fairly bizarro way. Landowner have made a song that is gloriously anxiety inducing, in the best possible way.

You can listen to "Damning Evidence" below. Escape the Compound is due out July 21 on Born Yesterday Records, and is available for pre-order through Bandcamp. For more on Landowner, check out the band's Facebook and Instagram.

Landowner - "Beyond the Darkened Library"

Last month we brought you the "abrasively clean minimalist punk" of Landowner with their single, "Witch Museum." This month they are back with a new single with a completely different sound. "Beyond the Darkened Library" is a more electronic song. It still has a jerky post-punk feel, but the noisy indie rock sound is virtually gone. This new song is more hypnotic due to how repetitive the music is. There's some ties to an eight bit video game, but in a punk way?

You can listen to "Beyond the Darkened Library" below. Escape the Compound is due out July 21 on Born Yesterday Records, and is available for pre-order here. For more on Landowner, check out the band on Instagram and Facebook.

Landowner - "Witch Museum"

Photo by Edwin Cubillos

Landowner are one of those bands I know by name, but I've never actually listened to them. The western Massachusetts band always seems to be playing with bands I like, and I mean to check them out, but I never quite get to it. If you're like me, their new single will have you wanting to dive straight into their back catalog. "Witch Museum" is this jerky and oddly intense indie rocker that is referred to as "abrasively clean minimalist punk" in their press release. It's a song that explores Massachusetts' dark history by mentioning multiple standard school field trip favorites. It is abrasive and aggressive, but there is an unexpected beauty to this song. My only regret with hearing a song like "Witch Museum" is realizing I could have been listening to Landowner for years before this.

You can listen to "Witch Museum" below. Escape the Compound is due out July 21 on Born Yesterday Records, and is available to pre-order through Bandcamp. For more on Landowner, check them out on Facebook and Instagram.