The garage punk outfit brought their blistering live sound to the studio on their debut Syrup, released through Marthouse Records last year, their first release after a pair of singles in 2019. The nine-track EP is superbly delivered through fuzz-dripped power pop and cleverly tight post-punk that seep with the band's personality.
Even from a cursory listen, it’s quite obvious that Ants From Up There is a different record than its predecessor. Much of the album was written in the studio, with each of the band’s seven members contributing ideas and democratically building the finished product. That difference in process is evident.
Rae’s songwriting covers practically the full spectrum of sophisticated pop genres. There’s the jazzed-up introduction of “Candy & Curry” and the soulful R&B oriented “True Love Face” to the seventies singer/songwriter west coast stylings of “Gonna Be Strange” and “Drift Away” to full on baroque pop of “Cosmic High”.
We ultimately desire that unshakable foundation of truth we once knew amidst this mosaic of chaos that surrounds us - real recognizes real, as they say. Imaginary Everything, the collaborative effort from Namir Blade and producer L'Orange, offers this truth, one way or the other - it offers us a sanctuary from the greater storm of insincere pathos.
Fingers Crossed is the first album by the new project of Christina Riley, formerly of Burnt Palms. The record is packed with jaunty and bouncing pop melodies full of heartache and reminiscences done with a deft hand. Riley truly has a way with harmonies that resonates, triggering memories of past artists while adding enough twists.
On Dissolution Wave, Cloakroom shows that they know the assignment and end up delivering the best album of their career. The band seems ready to reel in some of the riff-driven songwriting of their previous records and hone in more on atmosphere and soundscapes accompanying more bare boned songwriting from Doyle Martin.
ROCK formed after MALK’s tweet and Chris Adams’ (Hood/Bracket) reply. The former was in search of a vocalist and the latter obliged. The proposed task: MALK was looking for autotune vocals on a “10 track Elliot Smith/Alex G album.” Adams said ‘done’ and does a proper good job and more on the duo’s excellent self-titled debut.
Reptaliens’ latest release Multiverse is a kaleidoscope, refracting the daily minutiae of lockdown life into a technicolor vision. You may recognize the band’s work from their sci-fi tinged catalog, which explores everything ranging from post-humanism to conspiracy theories to Philip K. Dick’s tales of techno-dystopia
Self-labeled as “a poor man’s jazz” and “working-class krautrock,” Oruã released their third record, Íngreme, on October 29, 2021. The krautrock influence is apparent, but you’ll hear more psychedelic rock than jazz. Regardless of labels, self-applied or otherwise, Íngreme is an eclectic mix of songs.
When our last great hope is good music then we should look to bands like Yard Act for it. The Overload proves itself as something important by acknowledging its unimportance. Yard Act doesn’t take themselves too seriously, and it’s refreshing to hear an album that doesn’t think it’s the most important thing in the world.
Comprised of members of Cloud Nothings, Profligate, The Mind, and more Cleveland rock legends, Fashion Pimps & The Glamazons lunge forward with mutant post-punk, blending no-wave, noise, and more into an alarming yet danceable seven tracks that clock in under twenty total minutes. Each track is infectious, curious, and off-kilter.
Favoring that lo-fi Guide By Voices type approach of recording anywhere you can, from basements to practice spaces, Settle does remix the material professionally (this time around Justin Pizzoferrato, to give it a more polished sound while still retaining that buzz and rush his combination of power pop and punky garage creates.
The songs on Devil Kids— a live album constructed from the audio captured by the four camera mics of a December basement-livestream— are energetic, matured, dare-I-say improved (in the way songs are after sitting with a band for years) versions of studio recordings with the palpable energy of a group that loves playing together.
There’s beauty in the darkness. On Bloodmoon: I — a collaboration from Converge and Chelsea Wolfe, along with Stephen Brodsky of Cave In and Mutoid Man — there is more than enough of both. What started as a live collaboration has resurfaced with eleven tracks plunging you into the cauldron of Converge at their spaciest.
