50 Minutes: Float, Don't Fight
Required listening with Hard Chiller, Jay Som, Tyler The Creator, and more for July 29th, 2025
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Hard Chiller “The Wall”
I’ll be the first to admit that it is not easy to create something original in the post-hardcore world.. and for Hard Chiller, all being veterans of the energetic and sporadic scene, they tap into something unheard and interesting here. “The Wall” utilizes everyone’s strengths without stepping on each other to show that the project is capable of making songs, not just riffs. It’s a treat to hear a band comprised of so many individually talented musicians create something unified and unique.
3.6/5 ☺︎
Jay Som (Feat. Jim Adkins) “Float”
The mixture of Duterte and Adkins is an unlikely yet perfect match on the lead single from Jay Som’s forthcoming LP, Belong. While the project has been self-described as headphones music, we find them masterfully blurring the lines between granular guitar licks and stadium-style anthem chorus-chants, ushering in an era for the band that I’d describe as exciting. The growth is palpable. I’ll be singing “Float, don’t fight” under my breath in the car for quite a while.
4.1/5 ☺︎
Griff “Anything”
I will be very surprised if Griff doesn’t play the Super Bowl halftime show one day. I adore how this song is a knife in the heart against a build of interesting textural production. The familiar “I’d do anything for you” lyrical theme should be a crime, but on this song, it translates in a meaningful way. In combination with her truly unforgettable delivery, “Anything” leaves the listener with some level of internal turmoil, asking the question: “Why is this me?” before it zips out of focus at three minutes and eight seconds.
4.4/5 ☺︎
Black Sabbath “Black Sabbath”
Intro tracks should grab you and not let go, and Black Sabbath do just that while Iommi’s riffs & Ozzy’s haunting vocals encourage you to investigate darkness. I could have written about how “Supernaut” makes me feel like I’m free-falling and floating through the clouds, how “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” makes me want to run through a wall, how “War Pigs” is still relevant after all this time, but all of that happens in this one track. For what many of us love, Black Sabbath is the foundation where it began, and it is certainly not where it ends, my friend.
6.66/5 • Tina Cuevas
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