Simply put, Salt Lick is a die-hard group of musicians within the Seattle DIY scene. Over the past half decade, the band has been sizzling and simmering a handful of slow-burn releases. Salt Lick never fails to impress live and have certainly elevated their songwriting and studio chops with their most recent release, The Gift of Missing.
“Replicant Heart” is the second track on the EP, a beautifully dark and brooding song, eerie and contemplative at times, but also full of life. Pulse and Kinsella trade vocals, hers clear and prescient and his slightly fuzzed out and distant. The song has a narrative structure of its own, mirroring the five act dramatic structure of the rest of the EP.
Never slowing down, their fifth album, Hologram, is on its way, due out August 19th via Feel It Records (Why Bother?, CLASS, Green/Blue), picking up where last year’s Power Station left off. The band’s nervous and taught brand of synth punk is definitely heavy on the punk and post-punk side of that description, keeping a terse edge and hypnotic din.
Following 2019’s full length debut, Throwaway return with Hand That Takes, out now via FPE Records (The Miami Dolphins, Yea Big, Kamyar Arsani). It’s an album that’s bizarre but bizarrely focused, highlighted through the many jumps and skips in overall tonality, pulling at straws to keep it interesting on their way down into the depths.
Philadelphia's Nine of Swords put out one of the year's best punk records with BEYOND THE SWORDS. Today they premiering a full-length visualizer for the album, directed by Shannon Brooks, founding member of Hook&Loop, a Philadelphia-based accessible artist collective and network led by Disabled and Chronically Ill people.
"Deep End Dive" is the first single from the Cincinnati based singer-songwriter, with a charismatic summertime video as well. This single is a precursor to her upcoming debut full length Goose, produced by Sima Cunningham. She sounds resigned, but there is a dark thrill in her voice, she's quietly excited for what's coming next.
Snakeskin is set to return with a new full length, Summoning Salt, and while details are hazy, the lead single “Spinning Heart” and its accompanying video are immaculate. From the ominous start to the lush acoustics and slow grooving rhythm, Snakeskin sets up a sweeping landscape of natural tones, tangled, and accented in atmosphere.
Seven years after the release of Geronimo!’s final EP, the trio of Ben Grigg, Kelly Johnson, and Matt Schwerin have come together once again, with a new project, Big Big Bison. The trio finds Schwerin once again on drums, while Johnson has moved to bass, and Grigg to guitar and vocals. Instrumental changes aside, the chemistry remains.
The Unscratchable Itch is a cavalcade of character studies and personal exhortations, shouted and yelped over a constant stampede. The noise and fury never relent but the hooks find their way in, and there’s room to interpret the scorn and disdain in Sniffany’s world. The band sat down to offer a track-by-track insight into the album, breaking down themes and lyrical inspirations.
There are times in Taciturn’s “Wretch” where it seems like the intensity might be letting up–the screaming tremolo guitars might be leveling off, the bass throb might be bringing it back down to earth–but each time, the Phoenix and LA-based noise punk trio only let the distortion ripple out for a brief moment before charging forward again.
After a few years playing together around Canada and the Pacific Northwest, Vancouver’s Megamall have released their debut EP, Escape From Lizard City. Out now via Fanta Records, the band (which includes members of Supermoon, Dumb, etc), play a catchy strain of indie rock that’s as indebted to 90’s alternative rock as it is lo-fi pop.
EIEIEIO released four EPs in the span of a year, each with a frantic chaos, mixing technicality and a reckless nature with accessibility and brevity. Their songs are short, hooky, and utterly wild. This past weekend saw the first anniversary of their split with Gorgeous, and for all who celebrate, we have two brand new videos from the team.
New Haven-based quartet The Tines deliver an exquisitely-arranged piece of urgent indie pop on lead single "Collarbone," from their upcoming self titled debut album. Led by the boundlessly melodic songwriting of S.G. Carlson, the track glides through peaks and valleys under the power of soaring Western-inspired guitar leads
Back in May we premiered the excellent double-sided single “Feelin’ Far” b/w “Everybody” from the increasingly prolific Chicago project Old Joy. It’s been a busy year for frontman Alex Reindl, who has since released the Go Away Evil EP while gigging aplenty. Today, we’re excited to premiere the accompanying “Feelin’ Far” video.
Melbourne’s Heir Traffic make brooding post-punk reminiscent of hometown legends The Birthday Party and The Drones, combing a sinister sense of gothic folk into the well-crafted dissonance. They’ve shared a pair of singles since forming back in 2019, but this year marks their full length debut, No Hearth, out 8/26 via Marthouse Records
Mushfoot arrive like “a rose from the concrete,” a band making beautiful music out of harsh production and thickly layered noise pop. Comprised of Greg Albert (The Rainbows, Spite FUXXX), Katie Vogel, and Ian Davis, what began as demos eventually became Time Before Land, the band’s debut album, out September 30th via Moone Records.
Alayne May’s exceptional songwriting is in revelatory form and if the singles are any indications, this record is shaping up to be real special. No doubt a choice cut, “Beast” contains a chorus boasting an inescapable hook where May’s twangy vocal intonations and moving chord progression propel the song into ear worm territory.
The teenage band, part of the same burgeoning scene as Horsegirl, play with an adventurous sense of volume, tonality, and the kind of raw musical insight that drove the catalogs of legends like Fugazi and Unwound. Lifeguard chase their own tangents, digging between post-hardcore dexterity and the refined sense of post-punk precision.
