by Dan Goldin
Welcome to “Essentials,” a column for new music recommendations from one lifelong chucklehead with questionable taste. It’s similar to “Fuzzy Meadows” except the title makes more sense and we’ve removed the words “best” and “weekly”. This column will be sporadic, but hopefully worth the wait. Presented as always in glorious alphabetical order.
Author’s Note: After a decade as the founder and editor of Post-Trash, I’ve been attempting to take a step back from the site, but have so far found myself constantly drawn back in. The compulsion to write about new music (with a primitive vocabulary and an utter lack of literary refinement) is deeply embedded in my ever aging soul. There’s an elegant saying “opinions are like assholes… everyone has one” and it rings true to this column. “Essentials” is but one person’s personal opinion. You might agree, you might not, and well, that’s the internet for you, but I sincerely hope you might find some new music you connect with. Support the bands you love. Spread the word and buy some new music when you can.
This edition of “Essentials” includes a smattering of bands I once had the pleasure of working with, namely Editrix, Pile, and Water From Your Eyes. I don’t include them out of necessity or bias, I include them because I’m very fond of them. I’m also very fond of the latest from the queen Cate Le Bon, the continued evolution of Austin’s Porcelain, and McKinley Dixon’s ever brilliant, acrobatic, and near perfect hip-hop records.
CATE LE BON
“Heaven Is No Feeling”
Three years after the release of Pompeii, Cate Le Bon returns with her seventh album, Michelangelo Dying. Due out in September via Mexican Summer (Jessica Pratt, L’Rain, Drugdealer), the record explores grief and heartbreak, sticking to the alien synth pop framework that Le Bon has culvitated with her last two albums. Said to be an album about processing love lost with no real answers, the record’s lead single “Heaven Is No Feeling” captures that dejected sensibility, but Le Bon’s compositional bliss still feels breezy, surrealist, and light on its feet. As the synths careen with sustain and the rhythm softly glides, she welcomes us to heartache with a sense of beauty. Cate Le Bon is a generational treasure, an artist with a clear vision on a boundless path (also it should be said that Crab Day is an absolutely perfect album in every way).
EDITRIX
“The Big E”
The mighty Editrix have returned! Following two incredible albums in the span of two years, the band took their time with their upcoming third album, The Big E, their first for Joyful Noise Recordings (Deerhoof, Finom, Fang Island), a record that expands while refining their bombastic sound. While Wendy Eisenberg (guitar/vocals) continues to earn a well deserved place in the limelight, the magic of Editrix resides in the group’s knotted unity, the trio of Eisenberg, Steve Cameron (bass), and Josh Daniel (drums), tangled together in proggy art punk bliss. “The Big E,” the album’s title track, arrives impeccably coiled, the riffs and drum beat played tight enough to snap. As the song winds and convulses, the structure bends, a tremendous feat that remains fluid even as Eisenberg’s shredding frees itself from the density. It’s Editrix, it’s astounding.
MCKINLEY DIXON
“Magic, Alive!” LP
Virginia’s McKinley Dixon is carving himself a place among the greats, and he’s doing it entirely on his own terms with his own wave length. His latest album Magic, Alive! is immaculately conceptual, musical, and deeply personal. It's rare to hear hip-hop with such rich detail in terms of lyrical focus and compositional grace, the live performances of the beats are lush and sweeping, the drums locked in and dazzling (shout out to drummer extraordinaire DeSean Gault), and most importantly, Dixon's rhymes feel chiseled out of stone as he reminisces on life past and present and friends tragically lost, navigating it all as both rapper and human being working to come to grips with the finality of it all while carrying their memory forward. He raps circles around the competition, his elastic flow as dynamic as his razor sharp lyrics, gracing the beats with a poetic resolve that isn’t afraid to swerve into a technical spray of linguistic brilliance.
PILE
“Uneasy”
On “Uneasy,” the second single from Pile’s upcoming album, Sunshine and Balance Beams, the band seem to play with the dichotomy of a “pop” song in the best of ways. There’s an instant familiarity and warmth inherent in Rick Maguire’s vocal melody. There’s an spirited sort of glow to the bouncing motorik chirp that sounds like a frog that swallowed a metronome. “Uneasy” is relatively straightforward, built without sharp turns, riding a restrained yet gleaming rhythm, but the song is also arranged with a sort of “anti-hook,” at least in the traditional sense. That’s what makes it so special, a lingering sense of titular unease brought about with a false sense of structural ease. The switcheroo highlights the powerful nature of the (not actually simple) simplicity in the songwriting, it’s impact felt in small shifts and melodic refrains, a wondrous moment that feels part of a bigger picture.
PORCELAIN
“Harmony”
Last year Porcelain released their self-titled debut album, a caustic post-hardcore record filled with ear piercing nuance, patience, and an evolved sense of raw immediacy. The Austin based quartet came into the project as already established DIY mainstays, but Porcelain is reshaping their collective output, harnessing something special and letting it manifest in new forms. With the band’s summer tour supporting Pelican kicking off next month, Porcelain return with “Harmony,” the a-side to a new 7” single out via Todo Records. Built on a framework of sharp harmonics and jagged rhythms, it’s another evolution in their sound, strengthening their melodic core from deep within the dissonance. “Harmony” rides an undercurrent of Unwound influence (whom the band will be supporting in September) as the intricate structure pulls and wobbles off axis without losing the all consuming hypnotic grip.
WATER FROM YOUR EYES
“Life Signs”
Water From Your Eyes can’t be stopped, nor should they be. After nearly a decade of creating music without easily classifiable genre borders, the duo of Nate Amos and Rachel Brown are still raising the bar. Set to release their new album, It’s A Beautiful Place, in August via Matador Records (Lifeguard, The Hard Quartet, Pavement), it would seem that nothing is off limit and everything hits harder, from the hooks to the enormous riffs (and there are some enormous riffs) to the experimental pop sprawl, Water From Your Eyes are tapping into a fuzzy eruption of solid gold hits. “Life Signs” is a genuine ripper, a big blistering math rock indebted post-punk song that spirals into Amos’ dizzying guitar riffs and Brown’s nonchalant delivery, blossoming into a woozy refrain that’s warped enough to keep your head spinning in all directions. It’s a barn burner, a kinetic dirge of layered distortion and the band’s signature ability to fit melodies where most would not. Check out the incredible TV themed music video directed by the band’s own Rachel Brown (a truly gifted and amazing director to boot).
Easthampton, MA collective All Feels continue to keep us on our toes, their sound forever expanding in different directions. Led by Candace Clement (Bunny’s A Swine, Footings), “Mess,” the band’s latest single (released via Flower Sounds) takes the project into alt-country and Americana territory, with a stumbling front-porch drum beat setting the ramshackle tone for Clement’s warm and comforting vocals as she reflects on past messes with a sense of clarity, “we’re both to blame, for what wasn’t said”.
Maybe it’s just me but Chronophage are rarely immediate. I mean this in the best of ways. They take time to settle in, but once they do, there’s nothing quite like it. The NYC via Austin based band are back with Musical Attack: Communist + Anarchist Friendship, a new EP due out next month via Post Present Medium. Lead single “Swords ‘n’ Sandals” is a blast of breezy and disconnected lo-fi power-pop, triumphantly splintered drums, and burnt out punk with a delightfully pointed sense of abstraction.
Zack James plays a big part in the Burlington underground scene, from songwriting and drums in Robber Robber to session playing with Greg Freeman and Lily Seabird. Recently he’s returned to his solo project, Dari Bay, which is back with new single “The Joke,” a radiant surge of fuzz pop bliss with one foot in the shadows. It’s endlessly repeatable alternative rock that burns with a sense of combustion.
Frankie Cosmos never misses. Greta Kline an co. have making indie pop cool for well over a decade now, inspiring a whole generation of bedroom pop rockers in the process. The band’s latest album, Different Talking, is due out at the end of the month and their latest single, “Pressed Flower,” is fantastic, a breezy dose of Frankie Cosmos charm and warmth (and its matched with an equally wonderful music video directed by Adam Kolodny that stars none other than Tracey Ulman).
Lisa/Liza is taking time to reflect, exploring her earliest songs with Ocean Path, a new EP that includes some of the Maine based songwriter’s first recordings. Due out later this month via Ordindal Records (Moontype, Tara Jane O’Neil, Ruth Garbus), lead single “Summer’s Dust” seems to reflect the sheer beauty in Liza Victoria’s sparse minimalist folk from the very start. Unfolding like a well worn lullaby, her music relies as much on the empty spaces as it does the gentle comfort in her voice.
You don’t have to know all that much about Winnipeg’s Negative Charge to know their upcoming self-titled album is well worth your time. The band, seemingly made up of veterans from their city’s punk scene, are set to release their debut next month via Neon Taste Records (Chain Whip, Jug, Bootlicker) and you can stream four of the songs now via their Bandcamp page. Their caustic brand of hardcore is full of rampant brain damaging rhythms and oozing riffs with just a touch of psychedelic decay - all ripping, all burning.
Tha God Fahim’s absurdly prolific streak continues with two more EPs released in the past week, Dump Gawd: Hyperbolic Time Chamber Rap 13 with production from Nicholas Craven and Lethal Weapon 3 with production from Drega33. For those sensible folks who have lost count, that’s sixteen new records over the span of seven months. It’s undeniably overkill, but Tha God Fahim continues to do his thing, rapping without care of form or function, simply spitting like his life depends on it, he’s “surviving the times, gaining piece of mind".
Brian Wilson passed away yesterday at the age of 82, perhaps the greatest pioneer of modern pop music in our lifetime. Go listen to The Beach Boys’ albums, deep dive into their catalog (especially the songs penned by Brian). I remember falling in love with the band’s early surf pop hits as a very young child (maybe one of my earliest musical memories) long before I ever heard the timeless masterpiece that is Pet Sounds and the enigmatic Smile Sessions. I’m very grateful for his music and glad I was able to catch him and his band live back in 2017.
When you become a parent, no one warns you how hard it is to find the time to write about new music. It wasn’t in any of the parenting books I read. Also I had never heard the phrase “sleep regression” until recently. Turns out, I don’t care for “sleep regression” one bit.
I can’t stop listening to Grace Rogers’ new album, Mad Dogs. I think it’s flawless and there are at least four songs that feel like they have and will exist in my head forever. Give it a listen (in full, as album’s are intended to be listened to).