15 great new songs by Wilmington-area artists that you need to listen to right now

[Repost from StarNews Online; by John Staton, November 22, 2023]

It's been a banner year for new music in Wilmington, a corncucopia overflowing with good songs, if you're feeling the Thanksgiving vibes.

It helps that we've got two tiny but mighty labels punching above their weight and cranking out new tunes — sonic veterans Fort Lowell Records and indie upstarts Suck Rock Records — but there's been plenty of good self-released stuff, as well as a couple of former Wilmingtonians shining from afar. From rock and pop to folk and hip-hop, it's not just one scene, either.

Take a listen, and keep in mind there's plenty more where this came from. Keeping the list to 15 was a challenge, which is a good problem to have.

Cydaddy "CHEERS (WATER MIX)"

New single from Wilmington-based Fort Lowell Records' "This Water Is Life: Vol. III," a series of albums split between local rappers and indie rockers designed to draw attention to our area's significant water quality issues. Cydaddy's "Cheers (Water Mix)" is a sweet piece of lo-fi indie pop, suffused in melancholy and regret but also tinged with hopefulness.

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Doggy Daycare "ACID WALK"

That intro, man oh man. Doggy Daycare's new single is big and bold and fuzzy and psychedelic, like a slice of the coolest grunge that somehow escaped your notice back in the '90s. According to a social media post by the band, "acid walk" is "an ode to being in love and definitely not (about) doing drugs while hiking."

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Sheme of Gold "RAP GAME TAN SANDERS (REMIX)"

New single from Wilmington-based Fort Lowell Records' "This Water Is Life: Vol. III," a series of albums split between local rappers and indie rockers designed to draw attention to our area's significant water quality issues. Sheme's laid-back delivery and raw subject matter about the things we do to get by are set to some soulful samples, with a guest spot from D$5.

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Summer Set "THE JETTY"

Longtime Wilmington indie rock band wrote this song some years ago, but it's new to us, as it just came out Nov. 3 on their new, self-titled album for Fort Lowell Records. Definitely has the beachy sheen of classic Summer Set, with some boom-bap drums and hazy vocals about not losing your grip on the jetty, or on life for that matter.

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Tracy Shedd "LET IT RIDE"

Wilmington singer Shedd's latest single, a groovy, moody meditation on patience and trust, came out in August on Fort Lowell. Shedd's vocals are pristine here, sweet and understated.

Doggy Daycare - "acid walk"

[Repost from If It's Too Loud; by Ken Sears, November 9, 2023]

After hearing Doggy Daycare's "(forgetting) sarah marshall" back in July, we said we couldn't wait to hear what they did next. The wait is officially over with the release of a second single, "acid walk." The southern shoegaze band really takes that genre to new levels with this one. The song has all the fuzz required with shoegaze, but the guitars have a distinct if odd twang to them. It's almost like if Archers of Loaf decided to switch up genres a bit. "acid walk" has a fuzzed out laid back vibe you just couldn't get anywhere else but the south. Doggy Daycare have created a new sound that is truly all theirs, and once again, we're dying to hear what comes next.

You can listen to "acid walk" below. I Love My Friends will be released via Fort Lowell Records. For more on Doggy Daycare, check out the band on Instagram and Twitter.

OUT NOW: Doggy Daycare "acid walk" [Digital Single]

Written in the haze of a blooming romance, “acid walk” is a paean to the power of love & research chemicals. Continuing the new legacy of Doggy Daycare with its dilated fuzz tones and spacious soundscapes, the song swims in the ethereal vibes of its own unique blend of raucous shoegaze and pleasantly haunted psychedelia. Best enjoyed in a new environment with no cell service.

Doggy Daycare started as a bedroom coping mechanism by Adam Bastug. In the process of creating the first batch of songs, lead guitarist Joshua Sullivan, drummer Connor Simpson, and bassist Ethan Jenkins came along to contribute different parts. That solitary project then bloomed into something new. Their signature blend of southern shoegaze, 90s angular indie rock, and unexpected humor quickly established the band as torchbearers of melodic, guitar-driven indie rock.

LISTEN TO DIGITAL SINGLE

WL//WH Weekly Shoegaze / Dreampop / Psychedelic / Indie Tips - PICKS OF THE WEEK

[Repost from While Light // White Heat; by Fabrizio Lusso, August 1, 2023]

Wilmington, NC indie rock /shoegaze group led by Adam Bastug, Doggy Daycare “(forgetting) sarah marshall” single on Fort Lowell Records

Delving into early ’90s Shoegaze and Noise Rock realms, a noisy, drunk confession stirs jagged poignant melodies carved by lush, loud and hooky guitar swells, nestled amid thick abrasive riffs and saturated fuzz-laden distortions, to overwhelm strained, sore vocals with angsty romantic longings and brooding disenchanted moods.

Doggy Daycare - "(forgetting) sarah marshall"

[Repost from If It's Too Loud; by Ken Sears, July 21, 2023]

As the shoegaze genre continues to splinter into subgenres, we now have a new one: Southern shoegaze. That sound is brought to us by Doggy Daycare out of Wilmington, NC. On their new single, "(forgetting) sarah marshall," the quartet show off the sheer force shoegaze can have behind it. The song is drenched with 90's indie rock reverb and much as the lush drone of shoegaze. It's more of a hybrid of early Smashing Pumpkins and My Bloody Valentine, with just enough of a Southern twang to keep things unique and interesting. "(forgetting) sarah marshall" is the kind of single that's going to make you thrilled to find out what a band does next. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long to hear more from Doggy Daycare.

You can listen to "(forgetting) sarah marshall" below.  For more on Doggy Daycare, check out the band on Instagram.

OUT NOW: Doggy Daycare "(forgetting) sarah marshall" [Digital Single]

What started as a stripped-down, breezy solo song on Doggy Daycare’s debut album I Love My Friends has turned into something bigger. A hint of what’s to come by the Wilmington, North Carolina group, "(forgetting) sarah marshall" is post-breakup navelgazing in content and fuzzed-out shoegazing in form. It swirls in the realms of My Bloody Valentine and Smashing Pumpkins but glows with its own forlorn Southern bent.

Doggy Daycare started as a bedroom coping mechanism by Adam Bastug. In the process of creating the first batch of songs, lead guitarist Joshua Sullivan, drummer Connor Simpson, and bassist Ethan Jenkins came along to contribute different parts. That solitary project then bloomed into something new. Their signature blend of southern shoegaze, 90s angular indie rock, and unexpected humor quickly established the band as torchbearers of melodic, guitar-driven indie rock.

LISTEN TO DIGITAL SINGLE

Song Premiere + Artist Interview: Doggy Daycare – “(forgetting) sarah marshall)”

[Repost from The Alternative; by Zac Djamoos, July 18, 2023]

Wilmington, NC, shoegazers Doggy Daycare began as an outlet for Adam Bastug, and earlier this year he dropped a solo record called I Love My Friends under that name. By now, though, the project is something different. The lofi slacker rock vibes Bastug cultivated on I Love My Friends are gone, and guitarist Joshua Sullivan, bassist Ethan Jenkins, and drummer Connor Simpson have helped him flesh out the project into a gazy alt rock outfit. To demonstrate how much they’ve grown, they’re releasing a rewritten and rerecorded version of that record’s highlight “sarah marshall.” It’s called “(forgetting) sarah marshall,” and it dresses up the original in pristine reverb and washed-out vocals. The band shouts out projects like My Bloody Valentine and Starflyer 59, and they’re apt comparisons. It’s a really pretty song, and it’s an auspicious step for them. We spoke with Bastug about the band’s new direction–and we’re stoked to premiere “(forgetting) sarah marshall” before it officially drops July 28th through Fort Lowell Records.

This version of “(forgetting) sarah marshall” is very different from the one on your debut LP from earlier this year. How did the rewriting process work?

That song was written before other cooks were in the kitchen, so when we were working up full-band versions of those songs for live shows, Josh sat down with the original recording and wrote the new guitar parts and came to practice with the vision for a bigger shoegaze version. The boys each added their own pieces from there, and over the next couple months we played it slower and slower each time until we got this new version.

Should we expect more rerecording of previous Doggy Daycare material?

There are a couple we love playing live — “this is about summer” has a dancey, heavier vibe to it. But for the most part we are trafficking in all new material that fits the sound of “(forgetting) sarah marshall.” We’ll re-record the whole album if given a lot of money though. I just want to make sure it’s said that we will absolutely 100% do that for a lot of money.

What can fans expect from Doggy Daycare for the rest of the year?

A couple more singles from our upcoming album. We’ve been woodshedding for a minute, writing and recording, and have amassed a pretty hefty new album that we’re close to putting the finishing touches on. Fans can also expect probably like a music video or two, southeastern US shows, and really stupid Instagram posts.

Do you have any dogs, and if so, what are their names?

Josh’s dog Darla is our mascot — that’s her rocking the sunglasses in our logo.

Are there any Wilmington bands you’d like to shout out?

There are so many stupid good bands here, it’s like Athens in the ’80s/’90s, just more slept on. First off we’re shouting out Jacob Adams from Blue Karma who produced the song and our upcoming record. Ridgewood is about to take over the world, same with Louis. and RizzyBeats. Pleasure Island is new beach royalty. Lawn Enforcement makes ’90s-inflected bangers. Tracy Shedd has made her way to Wilmington and is making the town all the better. Owen Casey is making modern dirtbag country-ish music that is too smart for its own good. And even though he moved to New York, we’re still claiming Color Temperature. We’ve got a Spotify playlist of hits, too.`