Zany and true to form, Palberta5000 connotes a souped up version of what makes Palberta, Palberta and that’s what they deliver, no loss for stripes. Plucking elements from girl groups, 80s twee, no wave, basement DIY, and beyond, the band take their keyed up, frenetic style and elasticize it into buoyant, taut, fully fledged pop songs.
First Encounters is a journey from the very first second. The first track, “Evidence of New Gravitation,” starts off already walking, as if you had been following the sound through large corridors until finally reaching the right one and opening the right door to catch the exact right second of the Spiral Wave Nomads jamming.
Shame’s new album is a tale of two contradictions: it’s named for an allegedly soothing shade of paint color but the music on the album is anything but nullifying; it’s another sophomore album focused on the exhaustion and disillusionment of extensive post-debut touring that manages to avoid the cliched pitfalls of that album type.
With the wild live performers now castrated, their album does enough to capture the energetic essence of a Viagra Boys gig. The Stockholm band’s music must always be taken with a pinch of salt and, luckily, the chaotic, ecstatic, and lurid Welfare Jazz manages to be sleazy and provocative without descending into full caricature.
Lande Hekt has a lot of questions. On her debut solo album, Going to Hell, the Muncie Girls’ leader fills the space by speaking uncertainties. The album’s lead single, “Whiskey,” is made entirely of questions and finds Hekt asking them over distorted strumming. While none of them get answered, that’s more the point.
The germination of An Unexpected Reality dates back to 2019, when the band was fresh off the release of their second record Deserted. At the time, writing a followup record felt like a daunting task, due to internal and external pressures. Instead, they decided to try a new creative exercise—make their version of Black Flag’s My War.
Groupie has zoomed in on its vulnerabilities to examine what they’re made of while zooming out to apply those examinations to a larger social critique. Ephemeral says so much without condescending, a testament to lyricists Ashley Kossakowski and Johanna Healy for handling complicated subject matter with introspection and empathy.
It would be intriguing to know what goes on in the mind of Dave Scanlon, an experimental composer/musician perhaps best known for his work with JOBS. His newest effort, Pink in each, bright blue, bright green, steps away from the instrumentally cluttered music of his band, venturing to a more minimalistic, spacey side of production.
“The Stax, not the Motown” was the way Mike Sniper described the 28 cuts showcased on Strum n’ Thrum: The American Jangle Underground 1983-1987 in an interview. His label, Captured Tracks, has quietly cultivated several reissues, big and small, dedicated to overlooked gems. The promise of this new series, Excavations, is intriguing.
Learn to be Alone is a document of a band that is starting to grow and blossom into a powerful force of nature lyrically and musically, and one that is developing its own voice with each outing. Squitch have a connection that is clearly evident, allowing them to anticipate and move with each other seamlessly through tricky transitions.
All That Has Come Apart/Once Did Not Exist is by no means a quarantine record, but rather a brilliant reflection of the present; as it was, is, and will continue to be. Sonny Falls’ latest puts our time-specific realities into perspective; what happened then happens now and will happen forever, everything all of the time.
Mamalarky is the self-titled debut of the Georgia via California quartet, filled with slinking grooves mixed with bright and flowing melodies that announce themselves loudly. Livvy Bennett’s vocals are a driving force in the pop concoction that pours forth, proving itself to be a surprising powerhouse collection of songs.
When Spectral Voice’s debut was released in 2017, they had five demos and two splits out in the world. By the album’s release they had perfected their concoction of death-doom metal. This strategy has not changed in the following years, part of what makes the Necrotic Demos compilation more compelling than it ought to be.
On Soft Blue Shimmer’s debut album, Heaven Inches Away, the band crank up the fuzz, becoming less coltish and more stoic. Where their early work felt like a forgotten cut from the soundtrack to 10 Things I Hate About You, their latest plays more like a diegetic sound drifting in the background of a Greg Araki-directed scene.
Catalonia band Mourn have been making a name for themselves within the indie rock scene from quite a young age. The band members were in their teens when they released their self-titled debut album in 2015 on Captured Tracks. Mourn has continued to expand their post-punk sound and their evolution truly shows on Self Worth.
Waiting moments comprise an overwhelming majority of Allegra Kreiger’s The Joys of Forgetting. Awaiting good times sounds pretty terrific - so long as you ignore the desolation around you and the wreckage of the near and far past. For some, that is impossible. Call us empaths and/or annoying but these days, it’s tough to call us wrong.
