Faye Webster

Faye Webster loves the feeling of a first take: writing a song, then heading to the studio with her band to track it live the very next day. When you listen to the 25-year-old Atlanta songwriter’s poised and plainspoken albums, you can hear why: she channels emotions that are so aching, they seem to be coming into existence at that very moment. Webster captures the spark before it has a chance to fade.

Faye’s last album I Know I’m Funny haha is her most realized manifestation of this emotional and musical alchemy. Continuing to bloom after her 2019 breakthrough Atlanta Millionaires Club, Webster’s sound draws as much from the lap-steel singer-songwriter pop of the 1970s and teardrop country tunes as it does from the audacious personalities of her city’s rap and R&B community, where she first found a home on Awful Records.

In the four years since Atlanta Millionaire Club, Webster’s profile has steadily risen—as she played festivals and theatres across the world, giving rise to legions of fans, she even found her way onto the end-of-year lists of Barack Obama, Wilco and Tyler The Creator.

“One of my favorite things about songwriting is taking thoughts that people don’t really think are worthy, or might overlook, and highlighting them,” Webster says. “I like saying things that everybody thinks, but nobody’s saying… I hope people will relate to my songs, and not just be like ‘this is a good record’ but ‘this makes me feel something. This is making me think differently, this is making me question things.’ I told myself a few years ago that I was going to be more honest in my songwriting, that honesty is the best route to take with music. If I have a voice and people are listening to me, I’m not going to waste it.”

Upchuck

Upchuck is a five-piece Atlanta band, formed from connections made in skateboarding, construction, and teenage delinquency. The band is lead guitarist Mikey, Rhythm guitarist Hoff, bassist Armando, drummer Chris, and vocalist KT – who combined are inventively raucous and revolutionary. Upchuck shakes the minds and bodies of those seeking a release. With lyricism to prove her intentions, songwriter KT screams of haunting tales of discrimination, ignorance, and life in a doomed generation. Only the wise and relentless will thrive in a revolutionized and radical world, and upchuck is sternly feeding the fuel for a new gen. Sense Yourself is teeming with the sounds of swaggering danger. Songs bearing titles such as “Boss Up,” “In Your Mind,” and “Our Skin” come out of the gate strong, complete with searing energy courtesy of guitarists Mikey and Hoff. Bass player Armando and drummer Chris’ rhythms are driven by a bounding sense of urgency and contempt. The group attacks creative post-punk and indie rock with a compelling blend of high-energy blasts and ’90s alt rock inflections, channeled through a haze of distortion. “Perdido,” sung in Spanish by drummer Chris, builds energy around the phrase: “Hago lo que quiero” — I do what I want. With “In Your Mind,” the group explores the realities of reaping what you sow. But the album’s undisputed jam, “Facecard,” finds KT taking on the superficiality of modern America: “The trifling yuppie fuck, comes out beyond the cut to try and low ball, low ball,” KT sings. Operating from an axis of punk, hip-hop, and alt rock, a sense of discovery, and the power of youthful energy culminating in a new music contained within these songs is intoxicating to the end.