Sonny Falls is back with the first single from their just announced full length Stoned, Beethoven Blasting. “Wringing Out My Brain” is the first preview from the Chicago-based project led by Ryan “Hoagie Wesley” Ensley. Written after nine months of no-gigs-a-go-go, “Wringing” is an impulsive celebration of collaborative creativity.
Hex Sign, the debut album from Ann Arbor via Nashville’s Brianna Bartelt aka Bri Barte has been a long time coming, but the album has a sense of nuance and grace far beyond your typical debut. WIth influences that include legends PJ Harvey, Fiona Apple, Björk, and Cat Power, the collective strengths are channelled throughout.
Set to release Paint By Numbers, Vol. 1 on February 25th, Goon have shifted away from the fuzzed out grunge-pop they are best known for in favor of something a bit more abstract and softly psychedelic. Together with a new line-up, it’s a welcome change that finds them shedding away generic edges and coming into their own.
Psychic Graveyard are one of the best bands making noise rock in the US and they’re teaming up with USA Nails, one of the best in the UK, for a new split 12”. The bands are in fine form with eleven new songs between them, bringing different but complementary styles together for something viscerally aggressive and disarmingly disorienting.
Science Man returns once again with Nines Mecca, due out March 18th via Swimming Faith and Feral Kid Records. The album is faster, nastier, and a bit more direct, offering a pummeling that sits somewhere between hardcore and blistering punk, and with it comes ten new videos, one per song that piece together the Nines Mecca story.
DIM COMP Vol. 3’s first single comes courtesy of CS Cleaners, a new band featuring Adam Sierz (Should've), Ben Petrisor, Sergio Falvo, and Jacob Saxton. “Income Pain” is their debut single and it’s one hell of an introduction. Influenced by noise rock, post-punk, and hardcore, the band dive right in with refreshingly sordid basement punk.
Eva Lawitts’ band colors way outside the lines and it’s all the better for it, swerving between art rock, grungier tones, and a kitchen sink of noise ridden indie weirdness. It was on full display with Goofballs, released back in 2019 and Lawitts’ and co’s sound continues to embrace unpredictability with their latest single, “Geek”.
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.
