How about some mutant Japanese surf from Toronto? Well, if you didn't have a chance to previously encounter this seven-piece band through their singles, Shirushi, the debut album by Teke::Teke, is a perfect start. Actually, it is a perfect start for all of us, as it is an excellent surprise, out of almost nowhere.
Smile Machine may be a new name, but Jordyn Blakely is most definitely a familiar face on the music grid, having drummed for a cadre of who's who in the "indie" music universe. On Bye for Now, Blakely places herself front and center of a muscular and versatile EP that shows off her range as a musician and so much more.
Like so much music created during the pandemic, it’s hard not to look at things through that lens of isolation. Whether or not it was Russell Edling who had spent that year in Shadowland – or even what Shadowland is – is up for interpretation. Was it the literal confines of his home or was it something more metaphorical?
“No genre is my new favorite genre,” reads his bio, along with some stuff about pendulum’s swinging and heat domes. You could call this “outsider music,” even though it’s definitely “insider” enough that the melodies know how to stay in your head. Stinkin Donuts expertly toes this line between here and there.
Easy Bammer is the debut record from May Rio, the dreamy NYC indie pop project of May Rio Sembera. Although a bit of a necessary departure into hazy lo-fi bedroom pop due to the unfortunate nature of humanity and a pandemic, the record carries much of the same charm Rio’s band Poppies have in abundance.
PACKS’ debut Take The Cake has all the unassuming beauty of nature in suburbia; subtle and spare, the album follows Madeline Link as she drifts through post-adolescent malaise. The romantic gloss Link imparts on everyday life doesn’t hide the disconnect between Link and the world around her as she struggles to find her place within it.
We might all have a part to play in addressing the climate crisis, but I for one am more than happy to let Snapped Ankles provide the soundtrack to dance as weirdly as you want. Limbs flailing in anxious frustration, losing consciousness of the singularity of selfhood and melding with the sweaty weirdos around you, truly may help.
The catchy songwriting of Gash was on full display with their 2018 album haha and while it comes into play in moments on Leftern, it feels like less a focus on individual songs and more on the album as a whole. The record rewards repeat listening, with different aspects of the band’s writing revealing itself with each subsequent listen.
Jason Albertini’s latest Helvetia album, Essential Aliens, is a masterclass on how lo-fi recording at home can be a vehicle to showcasing a vision of unavoidable, but captivating quirks and laconic storytelling. That story is one of a recurring dream Albertini had wherein his life is upended by ghosts.
Sydney’s Shrapnel has come a long way since 2013. In the intervening eight years, he’s consistently nourished the project with an expanded lineup and on Alasitas, their latest album, there’s now six members throwing everything at it, including a flute, a synth, and clarinet to embellish the trusty guitars, and it gives the record a renewed lush feel.
In 2009, four Japanese women met in Brooklyn and decided that they really wanted to start a band. Master Cat is their third album and a remarkably strong one considering none of them were musicians beforehand. It does mean that the songs in Master Cat are raw and real but they carry them all with an underlying intelligence of craft and ambition.
Slowcore has always been the perfect music for feeling sad. A genre that allows you to ruminate in your emotions and all that is going on. On their self-titled debut, St. Louis band Sinwat shows that this has not changed. What they have created are nine songs that all capture the feeling that the best slowcore has always been able to convey.
Planet (i) swiftly follows Squirrel Flower’s debut, and offers an even further improvement in voice, production, and style. The reoccurring lyrical themes, the diverse yet consistently focused sonic palette, and some of the most well written songs in the Squirrel Flower catalogue proves this to be their strongest statement to date.
