By Sophia Sciulli, Piper Turri, and Jonathan Sackett

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:: As well as turkey, WDCE’s Music Directors were devouring new releases this week. Enjoy weekly recap #10 and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

:: November 24, 2025

:: The Salt Collective – A Brief History of Blindness

Genre: Power Pop

Release: Album

Recommended Tracks: “Cloud to Cloud,” “Ex Post Facto Kids,” “How We Breathe”

The Salt Collective, perhaps the most hidden supergroup, brings a peculiar blend of the melodic and the soft.  Sophomore album A Brief History of Blindness continues the formula tested in debut Life: waste nothing, make every instrumental, lyric, and vocal shine. The competence of the core three members shines through, which provides a cornerstone for the multitude of features. Each track feels like an homage to past pop-rock styles, flowing from the sounds of 70s to those of the 90s and back again. It’s melodic and pure.

— Jonathan Sackett

Medium Build – takeaways

Genre: Alternative/Indie

Release: EP

Recommended Tracks: “Balance,” “J&L,” “White Male Privilege” 

takeaways is Medium Build at his rawest, stripping every song down to just voice, guitar, and whatever nerve he’s willing to expose. “Balance” leans into ragged vocals and loose, unvarnished strumming that mirror its swing between control and collapse. “J&L” really highlights Nick Carpenter’s songwriting, with its soft picking giving the lyrics about his mother nowhere to hide. And “White Male Privilege” lands hardest, the bare acoustic arrangement letting every line hit with uncomfortable clarity. Technically, it’s sparse to the bone—no gloss, no safety net—but that’s exactly why it works: the EP’s brutality comes from how naked it sounds.

— Piper Turri

Glitterer – erer

Genre: Post-Hardcore

Release: Album

Recommended Tracks: “Until,” “Not Forever,” “Victory Lap”

If there were a bog-standard checklist for “post-hardcore,” erer would fulfill it… and little more. This is a competent and well put together piece of alternative, harder rock but it doesn’t grab my ear and hold it the way other releases do. That being said, if you like milder post-hardcore, you’ll find something to love. For spice avoidant rockers, I recommend Glitterer. 

— Jonathan Sackett

Pulses. – pulses. pack, vol 1

Genre: Post-Hardcore

Release: Album

Recommended Tracks: “Of Air and Of Sky,” “Lapdance,” “Laminar Flow”

NOVA post-hardcore band Pulses. pushes the “post” — this four-piece does everything. This is what I’ve wanted from the amorphous and somewhat vague “post-hardcore” genre. pulses. pack, vol 1. is a collection of pseudo-b-sides that show Pulses.’s experimental pulse on the pulse of post-hardcore. The best of Pulses.’s careful and truly lovely balance of R&B, hip-hop, emo, funk, and, of course, hardcore influences are held on this enigmatic compilation. If you like trying new things or heart rate monitors, take a hit off this pack. 

— Jonathan Sackett

Mariae Cassandra – Everything In My Backpocket

Genre: Indie Pop

Release: EP

Recommended Tracks: “The Pasta Song,” “Theodore,” “Better”

Everything in My Backpocket marks a clear shift for Mariae Cassandra, moving from her earlier softness to a tighter, more guitar-driven alt-pop sound. “The Pasta Song” is understated and warm, built on clean, jangly guitar lines that leave plenty of space for her light, almost conversational vocals. “Theodore” brings more grit—heavier distortion, a more restless drum groove, and lyrics that land with a quiet emotional weight. “Better” pushes the furthest, with crisp, forward-moving production and a vocal performance that feels more grounded and assured than anything she’s released before. Every track feels lived-in and intentional, like she’s holding a conversation with herself and letting us eavesdrop.

— Piper Turri

Converge – Love Is Not Enough

Genre: Post-Hardcore / Metalcore

Release: Single

Recommended Tracks: “Love Is Not Enough”

“Love Is Not Enough,” titular track for Converge’s upcoming eleventh album, is a mixture of metal-core, post-hardcore and math, with a tinge of melody. It’s softer than I expected, which is by no means soft, leaving me patiently (and excitedly) waiting for the full release. 

— Jonathan Sackett

Wicked: For Good – The Soundtrack

Genre: Musical Theater 

Release: Album 

Recommended Tracks: “Every Day More Wicked,” “Wonderful,” “For Good”

Listening to each song, within the soundtrack, while trying to visualize an accompanying scene proved to be a difficult task. Since I have yet to watch Wicked: For Good, I cannot create an image of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande dueling among the townspeople in OZ. Nor can I place the soundtrack chronologically as each song sounds slightly similar to the sound track in the preceding movie, Wicked. Nevertheless, I enjoyed listening to Cynthia Erivo sing as her voice has a wide range with a commanding tone of voice. In my opinion,  Erivo’s voice has more substance than Ariana Grande’s. Whether this is purely due to their respective characters’ personas, Elphaba and Glinda, or their ability to sing, I do not know. There were a few songs on the soundtrack that I enjoyed, however, my overall impression: meh. Who knows maybe my opinion will alter after I watch the second movie (as I plan to do over Thanksgiving break), or maybe not. Will I defy gravity? Only time will tell.          

— Sophia Sciulli

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