A recent standout rap release is Point of View by Orlando’s Cydney Poitier, the newest addition to local label Gas Face Records. In today’s uneven, trap-thick landscape, this album stands out with its classic, true-school hip-hop vein. It’s a record that runs deep with tone and grit, weaving mood and narrative that are beyond basic street braggadocio. It’s available on Cydney Poitier’s Bandcamp or through Gas Face Records.
Ever since New Year’s Eve, emerging local shoegaze rockers Sad Halen have been firing a steady barrage of fireworks over on Bandcamp. Across five releases, they’ve dropped a total of 11 tracks. A few singles are older recordings just now seeing the light of day, but the superior work is their new material on the two-track All the Things You Will See and six-song EP Frens. Both records rip like a woollier Dinosaur Jr. and stand as some of the most outstanding Orlando releases in a while. As of this writing, all of Sad Halen’s releases are still available as donation-based downloads on Bandcamp.
On Jan. 10, Orlando band the BellTowers unveiled Magnetic: Reel One. The five-song collection is the first of a pair of companion releases recorded in analog on a Sony MCI JH-24 24-track 2-inch vintage tape machine. The result is a session that’s got great sound and feel, and is some of their best material yet. That approach is just about as hand-in-textured-glove as it gets for an act so faithfully vintage as these 1960s rock revivalists. The follow-up, Magnetic: Reel Two, drops this week on Feb. 5.
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This article appears in Feb 3-9, 2021.
