Toronto psych punks Possum are set to release their full length debut, Space Grade Assembly, in just a few weeks (June 21st via Garment District), a record that is both swirling with garage rock excess and cosmic basement fuzz. It shreds and shreds, brain cells be damned, bringing to mind early albums from Wand or Meatbodies.
Hailing from Boston, Little Musket started out as the songwriting vehicle for Catherine Conley but has expanded into a full-fledged four piece. You can expect a big sound with a direct, personal point-of-view. Little Musket’s upcoming debut record, Fever Blister, is being released by Dadstache Records (Calicoco, Fuzzrod).
The song’s slow and ominous introduction is paired perfectly with the video’s lighting, backing out into frame without any sense of urgency. The clip is fantastically off-centered which works together with the song, a dirge of psych tension that opens to primal drums and eventually the surfy bliss of Grace Wayne’s vocals and guitar.
In the midst of the melee of their opening number, “Ouch !,” Pinch Points announce, "Pinch Points are here." Maybe it's the Australian accent, or maybe their tone of voice, but you can't help but feel they're giving you the finger when they say it. That finger does not drop throughout all nine of the songs on their new album, Moving Parts, out on Roolette Records.
Jangly guitars, sharp hi-hats, and the sonic equivalent of that “Oh god, I shouldn’t have had that third cup of coffee” feeling come together flawlessly on Choral Reef’s debut EP. Appropriately titled gotta get to work, the tape energetically confronts the painful reality of what it means to be an artist in a world where your worth is often defined by what you do to make money.
In this video, Esterhammer-Fic’s powers of arrangement are on full display, as is his vulnerability as an untested artist that is stepping out as a songwriter, in many ways, for the first time. What better way to do that than by showcasing an orchestral reinterpretation of the Grammy Award Winning Certified R&B Banger “Boo’d Up” by Ella Mai.
While the record has a great sense of cohesiveness overall, a massive amount of collaboration took place at every stage of the record. Gary Canino is the mastermind behind Dark Tea, but twenty two people worked on the album in total. Among them, eight people had a hand in recording, mixing, producing, and mastering Dark Tea.
Tempering aggression for something sweeter (but no less biting), “Shnuki” moves bassist Amy Hill (also of Terry) over to lead vocals, with Tom Ridgewell’s vocals closely snapped into place just beneath. The song opens with a razor sharp guitar line, still distorted and tightly wound, but it’s the vocals introduction that dives headfirst into pop uncharted pop-territory.
Over the course of just sixteen minutes, singer-songwriter Hannah Read strums her way through a series of vignettes that delve thoroughly and unflinchingly into the heart of what it means to feel for another. Each track is brief yet perfectly measured, quiet yet self-assured, delicate yet unyielding.
Spiral Wave Nomads reach a little further, drawing influence from free improvisation, jazz, noise, raga, folk, and ambient music, mapping out a vast galaxy of guitar swirls, bass bellows, and drum storms. Eric Hardiman and Michael Kiefer combine their powers to quilt together a delicious menagerie of tunes.
The singer-songwriter plays his cards with a deep authenticity of authorship and puts his creative soul in dialogue with themes such as death, loneliness, and war. Radcliffe's vision, through the delicate sounds of guitar, cello, and effects created by the eccentric pedals, makes us feel in relation to the earth, to the terrestriality.
Over the course of eleven years and six albums, Keiron Melling, Dave Spurr, and Pete Greenway formed behind Mark E. Smith as the final and longest iteration of The Fall. After Smith’s passing, they recruited Sam Curran for vocal duties and formed Imperial Wax, the name being a nod to the first album they all played on together as The Fall, and have put out their first album Gastwerk Saboteurs.
After a string of lead up singles, the band will release Chores, their full length debut via Make Believe on July 22nd. The release is wildly expansive, a post-punk marathon that twists and turns through uncommon structures and a variety of sonic temperaments, all drawn under the same lo-fi recordings.
