Luggage’s Michael John Grant has self-released his new solo album, Just Like Smoke, on his personal Bandcamp. Today we’re looking at the track “Be Amused,” which is a straightforward guitar-pop blast. Grant’s loaded it with call-and-release vocal harmonies that beget you singing along with your laptop.
On February 14th, just in time for Valentine’s Day, comes Made For This Life, a new full length split between Sun Organ, Nyxy Nyx, and Sandcastle, with three songs from each of the bands. Due out via BLIGHT. Records (Ruah, Tadzio, Luna Honey), the collection is a great reminder of all three of the project’s adaptability.
Tolting is a sixteen track retrospective of the band’s music from 2009 to 2019, due out March 10th via Slow Thrive Records. Each of the Darto records have captured a fairly different sound, and this collection is no different, with sonic exploration ranging from sludgy lo-fi to bedroom psych and twangy post-punk.
Gold Arc is the experimental pop-meets-art rock debut from Baltimore’s Tomato Flower, a great new band that you ought to know. Set for release on February 11th via Ramp Local, the band sound fully formed from the get-go, an impressive accomplishment when fusing together the accessible with an avant-garde pop mentality.
SAVAK’s streak of new singles continues this week with the release of Cold Ocean b/w Adolescence Obsolete, the latest in their monthly output. Are all these singles building up to their first new album in two years? Your guess is as good as ours, but in the meantime, there’s a constant source of new SAVAK to enjoy!
Brooklyn’s King of Nowhere are set to release their self-titled album in January, their first new set of music in about two years. Comprised of Jesse French, Dylan LaPointe (both of Tetchy), and Vicente Hansen Atria, they play a unique blend of knotted post-hardcore, art rock with a sense of intimacy, and a touch of midwestern emo.
Qlowski return with A Woman And Beyond, a remix EP comprised of “A Woman” reinterpreted by a diverse set of bands and artists including Girl Ray, Turnip King, Hotel Lux, and Italia 90. Out December 2nd via Feel It / Maple Death Records, each remix offers a distinctly different take on the song from minimalist to beyond maximalist.
The Brooklyn via New Haven based trio are set to return with the release of their next record, Heaven’s Gate, next Spring, but the time has come to get “Globbed.” The band’s latest single is here and it’s once again proof that Michael Falcone and co. have a better understanding of big, punchy, grunge-tinged alternative rock than most.
Following a digital split single with Bad History Month earlier this summer, Ruah returns with Dead Friends/Feeding Demons, a new lathe cut 8” vinyl single (yeah, one more inch than a measly 7”), due out November 12th via BLIGHT. Records. The single’s a-side is a baroque rock song with Schurr’s main melody played on Marxophone.
After six records, Keith Harman is taking a rare pause from The Cowboys to introduce his solo project, Good Looking Son. Set to release Fantasy Weekend, the project’s debut EP on November 18th via Feel It Records (Qlowski, Alien Nosejob, The Cowboy), Harman has never sounded quite so radiant as he does amid these silky AM psych-pop tunes.
Set to release Playing The Bug on November 19th, the latest effort finds David Settle joined by his former EXBX bandmate, Adam Berkowitz, on drums, and the pair have shifted Big Heet’s sound once again. Scaling back a degree of the aggression, this one is still full of intensity, textured distortion, and Settle’s knack for memorable songwriting.
Back in 2019, Brooklyn’s The Rizzos brought us all on Spring Break, and now the trio take us back to How It Was, a time when little mattered more than listening to music you love. Due out November 12th via King Pizza Records (Teen Mortgage, Daddies, Milk For The Angry), the record isn’t bogged down with modern anxieties or despair.
The densely layered album features a host of key collaborations from artists that Nikolas Soelter has worked with over the years, featuring production from Melina Duterte (Jay Som) and various instrumental and vocal contributions from like-minded artists like Taylor Vick, Chris Adams, and Pascal Stevenson.
Silt feels every bit as introspective as Ben Curratto’s former collective, Cold Clod, and yet dials up the heaviness while retaining a sort of woodsy good nature. Recorded together with Jesse Moy (formerly of Giants) on drums, the duo have been working out their first batch of songs, with “This Feeling” marking their official debut.
Taking Radar b/w Loose Cricket, due out October 29th via Chunklet (Man or Astro-Man?, Honey Radar, Spodee Boy), comes with the resilience and technicality of Unwound in their youth, built on dynamics and tension. It doesn’t even need to be said that the band are in their teens, but it does make it all the more impressive.
