Perfect Angels is Zach Phillips on any instrument you can think of together with a lead singer Olia Eichenbaum, as well as a cast of revolving collaborators. Musically, the project creates exquisite off-kilter soft pop, with bossa nova as some sort of a base, with Phillips, Eichenbaum and their cohorts going off in every direction.
Valdez, the most recent release by Philadelphia's psychedelic rock masters/champions Birds Of Maya, represents the shared momentary humanistic expressions of creative freedom aesthetic to absolute perfection; an exiled memory in the apocalyptic nightmare - one which has the ability to awaken a drifting consciousness from its haze.
A classically-amalgamated DIY project from Melbourne, the five-piece comes from several other bands, including Future Suck, Kosmetika, Blonde Revolver, and The Vacant Smiles. Yes We Do, was released via the always reliable Spoilsport Records, using post-punk as a mere base to build new wave synths, pop flourishes, and garage guitars.
Melbourne’s The Murlocs return with their fifth album to provide some much-needed bluesy brightness to listener’s lives. Bittersweet Demons, again released by the excellent Flightless Records, courses on a long and winding path, each turn infectious and melodious. It’s a soulful and rowdy record, rollicking and ballsy.
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.
