The time has come for Spirits Having Fun to bring Two on the road, and their tour, together with the amazing Floatie, begins this Friday, June 17th (complete dates in post). A dream pairing of two bands we’re beyond eager to see live, Spirits Having Fun are celebrating the momentous tour with a new video for Two album opener, “Silhouette”.
Dendrons are a Chicago five-piece who make spindly, propulsive post-punk that doesn't shy away from a bit of brawny catharsis. "Wait in Line," the second single from the band's upcoming sophomore album 5-3-8 - their first for Los Angeles label Innovative Leisure - mines the rich vein of krautrock to catchy and dynamic effect.
The Salt Lake City by UK songwriter holds her own, and “These Days” is a sunny, 70s pop doozy. All the melodies hit easy - they take the turns they lean into. Fonteyn’s songwriting sensibility is on full display and her patience and nuance is palpable; the key change in the last twenty seconds is tasteful and the opposite of gimmicky.
Following last year’s Death Takes A Holiday split with Nyxy Nyx, Bad History Month returns with Recycling Myself, a collection of two EPs, due out June 25th via Julia’s War Recordings. Side A, aka Recycling Myself, is six brand new songs with lyrics pulled from the BHM/FHM back catalog, reimagined in different moods and context.
The Umbrellas latest single continues the band’s instantly catchy songwriting while adding in a bit of fuzz, beefing up their sun soaked jangle ever so slightly with added grit. Make no mistake, this is still indie pop at its most welcoming, there’s just a triumphant layer of feedback added for some shoegazy textures.
Each track exemplifies Alex Reindl’s knack of working songs into both solo and full band arrangements. “Feelin’ Far” plays like an all-timer party, “Everybody” like the sobering comedown. The first track is an expanding, upbeat piano tune with a full band breakdown. The acoustic B-side is raw and grounding, an honest and melancholic counterpoint.
Fuck Money (Future Death, BLXPLTN) embrace noise in all its shapes and forms, weaving together punk, industrial, no wave, and elements of hardcore. Having just wrapped up a string of dates with Deaf Club, the band are sharing their latest single, “Heart Throb,” a song that obliterates your senses with a wall of manipulated sound.
It’s been less than five months since Green/Blue released their excellent sophomore album, Offering, but the Minneapolis based band are back with a new record, their second of the year. Paper Thin, the latest from the quartet led by Jim Blaha (The Blind Shake) and Annie Sparrows, is due out June 10th via Feel It Records.
Abronia make psych rock with influences from around the world, a comprehensive mix of mind expanding music that pulls inspiration from the Saharan desert, Canterbury folk, and spaghetti Westerns. A sound without regionality, they add elements of drone, jazz, and pastoral doom to create something thats lost in time and space
To listen to any one Kamikaze Nurse song would leave a vastly incomplete picture of their sound, one that is as fluid as it is accessible. Having shared the dreamy gaze of “Boom Josie” and the pop bombast of “Come From Wood,” Kamikaze Nurse’s third single gives a touch of the band’s weirder side, and it’s one of the record’s stand-outs.
Cave People’s Dave Tomaine remains helplessly captivated by the wind. On the band’s forthcoming album entitled Wind Burn, out May 20th via Disposable America, Tomaine and his band (mems Golden Apples, Marge, etc) reflect on the potential for wind to teach, guide, but also to simply not to care since it’s blowing wherever it’s going to, anyway.
Rip Room make post-hardcore music with an air of art pop exuberance. Their upcoming album, Alight and Resound, is tightly wound and serrated at the edges. While there’s nothing remotely “top 40” about their “pop” inclinations, there is an understated lightness, the kind you might associate with bands like Dismemberment Plan.
Cal Fish’s upcoming album Less Than Three is an ambitious project, and yet it’s so much more. To call it an “album” feels like a bit of a misnomer, as the multi-media release does indeed include an album, but also encompasses a clothing line, a visual record, and a remix album, all released simultaneously by the Brooklyn based artist.
Tijuana Panthers have been at it long enough to earn veteran status, and Halfway To Eighty, the band’s sixth full length record makes good on all that mileage. Due out June 24th via the band’s long-term home at Innovative Leisure, the band describe as the album as a dedication to a lifetime of making music.
“Almost Everybody” is the record’s second single, one of the album’s most laid back moments, embracing fuzzy pop and hooky alternative rock. The band move from one hook to the next, with the kind of energy to land every big rock ‘n’ roll moment. The video, directed by Shannon Wiedemeyer, is where it really comes together.
Set to release the third Golden Apples album today, via Lame-O Records, Russell Edling continues to turn tension and resolve into artful indie pop on the self-titled record. In celebration of the release, we’re sharing both the band’s Live at the Bunk session and a track-by-track guide to the album, courtesy of Edling.
The duo, comprised of Violetta Del Conte-Race (Primo!) and Jake Robertson (Alien Nosejob, Ausmuteants), are set to release their self-titled full length debut on May 13th via Anti Fade Records, a triumph of slow dripped disco and mutated synth pop. It’s a gorgeous record, avoiding pastiche to slink along with their own unique vision.
Chicago’s Babe Report return with their debut EP, The Future of Teeth, out April 22nd. The band, led by former FCKR JR members Ben Grigg (Geronimo!) and Emily Bernstein, recently expanded their line-up to include Peter Reale (Yeesh) and Mech, building on the thick fuzz and syrupy melodies with burly distortion and pop simplicity.
The accompanying music video follows Krystal Maynard through a bungalow with the band members individually appearing in random locations of the home. The camera glides through the house in a single shot, and as Maynard goes about her daily activities, she sings to the camera with an expressive performance.
