Olivia W-B (Rong) wrote Minis in a garage one day and recorded it with Nikita Manin (clarinet) and Andrew Jones (bass) in a living room the next. The trio’s unfettered fifteen minute effort contains seven tracks stemming from similar ideas and mindsets. Living up to its name, each miniature feels like a piece of songwriting occurring in real time.
After releasing a new studio album in 2021, (Sweep into Space), and a documentary (Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr), this live album represents sort of a Dinosaur Jr career overview so far, complementary to the film. You got it all here, form absolute classics like the always inspiring “Freak Scene” to tracks from the latest album.
With production from The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, there is a certain pop-ish digestibility that walks a razor's edge, staying wholly true to the humanity of it all. One could imagine hearing this on “the radio,” despite its fantastic rebellion from the quantization-black hole vacuuming up the world of pop today - a feat in and of itself.
Weaponizing expectations is a Cherubs watermark. The Austin noise rock band has made fucking with the format a symbol of authenticity. Listening to SLO BLO 4 FRNZ & SXY, Cherubs’ most recent release for Relapse, offers the same discombobulation of being pulled from a car wreck only to discover you’re physically unscathed.
Konigsberg is an artist with exquisite control over the two-minute pop structure and Lily We Need To Talk Now thoroughly breezes by at a brisk 25 minutes. That’s not to say these songs are too similar though: it’s actually sublime the way she dips in and out of styles, from punk rock to the glitchy autotune to the pure pop-punk.
Heaven's Just a Cloud is the first full length by Spirit Was, led by Nick Corbo (formerly of LVL UP), which finds itself in a whole new space to explore heavier avenues while maintaining a wonderful melodic ear. A bit of a departure from his previous work, this project allows a whole new universe for the listener to envelop themselves in.
Tonstartssbandht struck a sensible balance between laidback cool and insular uncool, mystical spirit and inviting energy. Their psychedelia and prog rock-inflected sound is experimental but never enervating. It’s a testament to their ability and connection that Petunia might be their best work together yet.
Throughout It's Funny How the Colors, Log Across The Washer’s Tyler Keene whips up a universe of ramshackle folk built for porch gazing as much as drifting through your own recollections of the past. The tape is never a bummer, although there's a hushed energy (in its lyrics) of accepting the present for what it is.
It’s not always easy for a band with such a plethora of ideas to integrate them so smoothly. Without the strength of their songwriting, Mandatory Enjoyment could come off as a hollow list of reference points that dissipate the moment the record ends. That is decidedly not the case here, as each touchpoint is confidently held in veneration.
Modern Fiction, their latest release and their first full length, is jangular. Its bread and butter are trebly clean or chorus-pedaled guitar riffs combined with infectiously crafted open chord melodies. However, the attack of these riffs is frantic, and the album’s lyrical themes belie the initial optimism of their tone.
Take two men named John, a drum kit and a guitar and you’ve got the makings of a powerful, noisy new record, Nocturnal Manoeuvres. The eponymous JOHN hail from the UK and have channeled a brooding and primal sound on their third full-length album. Like the title suggests, the vibe is dark throughout the album’s ten tracks.
The band claims many influences from the 1960s and 70s, such as Alice Coltrane and Art Ensemble of Chicago, and most listeners can detect echoes of Stereolab and Broadcast. However much Vanishing Twin honors the past, Ookii Gekkou swirls these genres into something else ever-changing, as we would hope music in the future would.
