
Bastille is back at No. 1 this week on the Alt18 Countdown with the haunting “Distorted Light Beam.” Can you make sense of these opening lyrics?
It isn’t enough to start a riot
Distort the light beam until I like me
It isn’t enough, if this is real life
I’ll stick to dreaming, come see what I see
Catchy chorus, though.
UPDATE: Here’s a good analysis of the lyrics. Thanks, SlaX from Discord.
Måneskin continues their rise up the countdown with “I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE” reaching No. 5. Twenty One Pilots, Modest Mouse and Glass Animals continue shuffling among the Top 5, while Sir Sly continues to bounce up and down the Alt18 with “Welcome the Pressure.”
Manchester Orchestra appears ready for another long stay on the countdown with the excellent “Telepath” joining at No. 15.
Vance Joy is back with “Missing Piece,” Billie Eilish with “NDA,” Walk the Moon with “Can You Handle My Love??” and Saint Motel with “It’s All Happening.” Justus Bennetts, The Band CAMINO, Foo Fighters, Bleachers and Atlas Genius all drop off this week.
Here’s the AltCharts countdown on Spotify.
Alt18 Countdown, 8/21/21
18. Vance Joy, Missing Piece
17. Arrested Youth, Find My Own Way
16. Lorde, Solar Power
15. Manchester Orchestra, Telepath
14. CHVRCHES, He Said, She Said
13. Billie Eilish, NDA
12. Walk the Moon, Can You Handle My Love??
11. Saint Motel, It’s All Happening
10. Holly Humberstone, The Walls Are Way Too Thin
9. Cannons, Bad Dream
8. Cold War Kids, What You Say
7. Milky Chance, Colorado
6. Sir Sly, Welcomes the Pressure
5. Måneskin, I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE
4. Glass Animals, Space Ghost Coast to Coast
3. Modest Mouse, We Are Between
2. Twenty One Pilots, Saturday
1. Bastille, Distorted Light Beam
You can find many of these songs, and other alt-pop hits and classics, on my new Spotify playlist, AltCharts.
See last week’s countdown here.
Weekly Links
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Along with this blog, here’s a few channels I update:
- Finding Alt’s weekly playlist on Spotify
- SoundCloud
- Follow the updated Pandora playlist.
- Here’s the Alt18 YouTube playlist
- Sign up for the Finding Alt18 newsletter
- Join the Finding Alt18 Discord. We’re just getting started, but I hope it’s a place to talk and share music — and make this site a little better. Open to all. Come share your thoughts on the countdown or anything alt-music related.
- Twitter: @findingalt18
Cheers!
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