LEO Weekly has Spotify playlists for each Listen Local column featuring selected tracks from each reviewed release. Check them out here!
Want to see your music reviewed in LEO Weekly? Louisville and Southern Indiana-based bands/artists, send a link to your music along with a band/artist bio, a high-resolution pic of the release’s cover art, and any additional information that may be helpful for the review, (the more, the better), to music@leoweekly.com.
Charm School
Debt Forever – album
Vocalist/guitarist Andrew Sellers is a man of many faces. Perhaps you recognize him as Andrew Rinehart or Saredren Wells, names he has previously used on other projects. And under those names, Sellers has released several well-received records playing a mix of folk rock and Americana. However, there have been a few songs on those records in which he let his influences from the 90’s Louisville punk/hardcore/math rock scenes that he grew up in shine through. But with his latest project, Charm School, Sellers along with collaborators Matt Filip, Drew English, Brian Vega, and Jason Bemis Lawrence full-on embrace it. Their debut full-length Debt Forever, (which follows the 2023 EP Finite Jest), is an all-out audio assault of post-punk, no wave, indie, noise rock jams that bring to mind the likes of The Jesus Lizard, Sunspring, Crain, and Shellac, except louder and far more hyperactive. Honestly, I hear a lot of Young Widows in this, which makes sense seeing as how both bands are bred from the same influences. Strip away Young Widows dark, heavy tone and dissonance and add in more solid song structures and an early Stooges feel and you’ve got Charm School. A bit oddly specific, but trust me on this. Lyrics revolve around “Expressions of anger and frustration,” said Sellers, “but you’ll also find a more subtle, world-weary cynicism wrapped in addictively salty, satirical humor.” This is one of those records that just hits that perfect spot right from the beginning and stays there until the last note!
Turn3
“Fall From Grace” (featuring Dusty Bo) – single
I’d like to think I’ve kept my ear to the ground as far as music coming out of Louisville for the past 30+ years, especially the past couple of years that I’ve been doing these reviews for LEO. But it still surprises me almost daily the level of musical talent we have in Louisville. It’s honestly unfathomable. If there were still a music industry left, Louisville would no doubt be a music epicenter on the same level as New York and LA with bands being signed, recorded and launched by major labels weekly. What I’m getting at is Turn3 deserves a better shot at stardom. Everything is there: the sound, the songwriting skills, the talent, the drive, it’s the total package! Not surprising for a band made up of former members of Outspoken and What Ever Will, among others. Vocalist Chris Donohue said it best: “Our band members have been playing music for decades. We are husbands and fathers with lifetimes of playing and lived experience. We are a dad band 2.0.” And their latest track “Fall From Grace,” the debut single from their upcoming full length album I’m Gettin’ There, is a straight-up banger! It’s a modern hard rock/alt-rocker that lies somewhere between 3 Doors Down and Lick It Up era Kiss with its heavy stomp beat, crunchy guitars, a driving rhythm, and soaring vocals. But that’s just this song, wait until you hear the full album! Expect a lot of twists and turns from this multi-genre-bending band!
turn3.rocks
Michael Vettraino
“Chasing the Sub Lime” – single
You have to see this video! No seriously, stop reading and watch this video! All done? Good, let’s discuss. Louisville musician Michael Vettraino, whom you may remember from bands such as Genevva, Curio Key Club, and Big Atomic, among others, uses satire and an infectious 80’s-style bubblegum synth pop song, (the instruments of which were all played by Vettraino himself), to tackle some serious social commentary in one of the most memorable music videos you’ll ever see. The track is off his upcoming EP, From Down Here, to be released this Spring, and the video is best described by Vettraino himself: “It is a dystopian present. There are a pair of glasses that integrate the internet seamlessly into the wearer’s perceived reality. The main character uses them to censor and ignore uncomfortable topics such as money in politics, Roe, the opioid epidemic, injustice, and who and what we value as a nation. However, as he traverses the internet-reality he acquires cookies which start to sprout from his body as grotesquely bedazzled soft sculpture growths, those pesky terms and conditions. Eventually our hero is completely overgrown and things fall apart.” The beauty of this song is that while the subject matter is very serious, the song never loses its sense of fun. An eye-opening visual commentary on the life we’ve built around social media, but taken through the lens of campy humor. I smiled, I laughed, I questioned why I need social media, and now I long to just sit outside in a nice, quiet spot at Bernheim Forest, close my eyes and just listen to nature. We all should.
youtube.com/@Michael.Vettraino
Young Widows
Power Sucker – album
Almost 11 years after the release of their previous studio album Easy Pain, Young Widows have returned, and they are here to remind you just who the fuck they are! If you were a fan of any of their previous releases, you’re going to want to go ahead and order this now. With Power Sucker, Young Widows have taken every great aspect of their previous releases and combined them into one monster of a record! This is literally the best the band has ever sounded! The songs are tighter and more cohesive, yet still as gritty, noisy and disjointed as ever. Vocalist/Guitarist Evan Patterson sounds far more confidant as a vocalist, reciting lyrics that follow the same path as he has. Calling this noise rock, while a fitting label for their sound as a whole, underscores the complexity of these songs. Their early hardcore influence is still as present as ever, but so is shoegaze, indie rock, math rock, post rock, metal and industrial. These songs are very deliberate in that they know when to crush you with shear power and volume, but they also know when to back off and leave you not just guessing, but with an overall uneasiness. You can never tell with Young Widows where they are going to go with a song, and these songs are going to take you wherever they damn well please. You are just along for the ride, but you’re blindfolded and it’s a hell of a bumpy road!
youngwidows.bandcamp.com
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This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 6, 2025.