Divorce Cop has mastered itself: the band has managed to repackage noise, over and over again, to deliver an authentic expression of a style they can call theirs. Yup, their 2022 record, at last puts various experimental tracks in some order; it cements a complex emotion coined for the group some years ago as "frightful-delightful fun."
The new Amber Arcades album, Barefoot on Diamond Road, retires prior folky elements and runs with a denser, darker, and more cinematic color palette—akin to the expansive, orchestrated pop of Frankie Rose and Melody’s Echo Chamber. The sonics and lyrics vacillate between giddy excitement and apprehension.
What makes Yo La Tengo tick so well, with their latest album, This Stupid World, being no exception in that respect? It could be the personal synergy between the members. It could be the fact that they all possess an almost encyclopedic knowledge of every form of modern music there is, being able to reproduce it in any shape or form.
Guitar-based Americana music has its newest addition in the form of Philadelphia band Labrador’s latest release, Hold the Door for Strangers. The record, the band’s second, provides a unique take on alt-country, as it sees Labrador playing with more grit and dust than contemporaries like the War on Drugs and Kurt Vile.
Minneapolis-based rockers Scrunchies pull no punches on their sophomore album Feral Coast. The band, made up of Laura Larson (Kitten Forever), Danielle Cusack (Bruise Violet), and Matt Castore (Condominium), continue to build on their post-punk meets riot grrrl meets grunge sound, while also making space to explore new territory.
You’re likely familiar with the saying that hardcore music will “rot your brain.” While many have fought tirelessly to debunk this belief, Atlanta’s Nag have released a third album that treats this warning like an enticing challenge to produce proof. Human Coward Coyote ensures that listeners recognize they never settle for less than complete ruination.
Sweet Guitar Solos is far from just a stopgap project, and “Cowgirl in a Ditch” is just the first in a handful of worthwhile tracks. The four-song EP is raw and rough alt-country bliss coupled with moments of polished clarity and, as promised, you’ll find some crunchy guitar solos throughout that are, in fact, pretty fucking sweet.
Attachment Styles is a noisy, biting evisceration of binary patriarchal culture that crackles with a deep unease disguised as sardonic wit. It’s hard not to start with an examination of the album’s lyrical content because it’s so visceral, but the music – a delicious take on post-punk that’s part Gila Band, part Spray Paint – is equally compelling.
There's No "I" In Spice World is the debut full-length from the Australian jangly indie-pop band Spice World, a record full of spirit and influences both from within its country’s borders and from their neighbors in New Zealand. There's some hazy psychedelic influences that linger and stretch out mixed with nervy pop songs that sparkle.
Retaliation, Vermin Womb’s follow-up to 2016’s Decline turned out to be one of the heaviest releases of 2022. Fans of the band who haven’t heard this release yet will be ecstatic to find this to be not only some of the band’s most unrelenting material, but among of the most chaotic and brutal of last year.
Now that Kyle Thomas is entering his fourth decade of existence, he has artistically hung up his younger beer soaked baseball cap, and replaced it with an older more used and vintage eccentric hobbit hat from the shire. This new middle aged Thomas has directed his lyrical focus on the nostalgia of his once simpler younger self.
A stellar collection of nine fuzzy, muscular anthems, Ideal Conditions mines similar ground as their debut – hazy, midtempo slacker rock. Silkworm is an easy reference point; the tracks are driven by a beefy rhythm section with blasts of distorted guitar setting up soaring solos, each song rising to a dramatic crescendo before crashing down.
Robert Pollard, the frenetically brilliant leader / creator of Dayton’s cult heroes Guided By Voices, writes a lot of songs. A lot of songs, a lot of albums, a lot of music, even a countless array of alter egos. La La Land represents a direct follow-up to Tremblers and Goggles By Rank, or as Pollard says, “somewhat of a companion piece.”
Big Blood have been called psychedelic folk, and freak folk, and other things like “avant-folk” and “gothic country.” Driven by Colleen Kinsella’s powerful, keening vocals and amorphous, hazy instrumentals, the Weird Road EP is the newest installment in a 16-year line of wonderfully wonky songcraft.
