Mach-Hommy - "#RICHAXXHAITIAN" | Album Review
A recent press release describes #RICHAXXHAITIAN as the last of a “tetralogy” of Haiti-focused albums, starting with 2016’s HBO (Haitian Body Odor), Pray for Haiti, and Balens Cho (Hot Candles). Haiti’s struggle for self-determination has always been central to Mach’s mythos, but these four records explicitly use it as a framing device — and compared to its predecessors, #RICHAXXHAITIAN feels especially clear and distilled.
Broadcast - "Spell Blanket - Collected Demos 2006-2009" | Album Review
On the Spell Blanket demos, which were recorded after the release of Tender Buttons, it’s clear that the synthesis or contrast of different traditions of music was an overarching interest of this musical project. Unfortunately, with the untimely death of Trish Keenan, this aspect of Broadcast could not be fully appreciated until now.
A Country Western - "Life On The Lawn" | Album Review
On A Country Western’s new album Life on the Lawn they once again tweak their sound into something new and dial up the energy ever so much more. They keep the general vibe reflective of their namesake, but instead of using the stylings of slowcore, they opt for a more straight forward alternative country rock approach.
Objections - "Optimistic Sizing" | Album Review
Objections has generated buzz around their debut, Optimistic Sizing. Part of that, if we're to believe the press release, is how the band engage genre. Specifically, that they free themselves from the "constraints" of their "Minutemen music-as-socialism blueprint" by each member overseeing "their own chunk of sonic landscape".
Tara Jane O'Neil - "The Cool Cloud of Okayness" | Album Review
The Cool Cloud of Okayness was written and recorded during a period when Tara Jane O’Neil suffered the devastation of her home being destroyed by a wildfire in California and the long process of subsequently building a new one. She also describes the LP as being defined by her recording ensemble’s shared queer identity.
Che Noir - "The Color Chocolate Vol. 1" | Album Review
The Buffalo rapper layers her past lessons, each brick building a vision of a sustainable future. Like her counterparts, Noir sands rough friction from her upbringing into a smoothed-over confidence. However, instead of attempting to fortify a defensive armor, Noir’s learned past allows for a more honest, vulnerable swagger.
poolblood - "theres_plenty_of_music_to_go_around.zip" | Album Review
Divine Sweater - "Down Deep (A Nautical Apocalypse)" | Album Review
Divine Sweater are a terminally amiable Boston act taking the concept album to a more chilled out place. This is the end of the world on soft rock. We’re not necessarily dealing in the twisting emotional drama of Fleetwood Mac or the sleazy pop-soul cheese of Hall and Oates. More Modelo-on-the-boardwalk than spritzes-on-the-yacht.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Magic Fig - "Magic Fig"
Magic Fig’s self-titled album is an ever shifting kaleidoscope, the shapes all recognizable yet refracted in mirrored splendor. It’s a decidedly pop odyssey that wanders deep into the woods of late 60’s prog, Moog altered psych, and dream pop at its most visionary, a lysergic trip into an unknown cosmic past.
Babehoven - "Water's Here In You" | Album Review
Maya Bon has shown herself to be adept at heart-wrenching emotions and expressing the hidden beauty in daily life in a manner thats wholesomely gripping. With Water's Here in You, Babehoven have managed to push beyond guitar based folk songs, incorporating a denser atmosphere that moves through pain into contemplative peace.
Malamiko - "All Pleasant Dreams" | Album Review
SPACED - "This Is All We Ever Get" | Album Review
A Giant Dog - "Bite" | Album Review
Bite is a sweeping sci-fi concept album about a virtual reality that promises blissful perfection that it can’t deliver on. The record uses those trappings to grapple with big topics – the perils of choosing your own reality, the inherent value of messy humanity in an artificially intelligent world, gender dysphoria – using equally big sounds.
Gangrene — “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” | Album Review
Veteran rapper-producers Oh No and The Alchemist frequently use their work to peer at highbrow city life from its lowbrow, morally-gray margins — especially when they team up as Gangrene. Heads I Win, Tails You Lose comfortably expands on their keen eye for world-building. It’s tailor-made for peering into a back alley.
Wombo - "Slab EP" | Album Review
As an EP, Slab brings a lot to the table stylistically, weaving ethereal vocals with thunderous bass to create a sound that truly sets them apart from others within the genre. Wombo have an inate ability to create and maintain a creepy, ghost-like ambiance and energy that makes the EP stand out compared to some of their previous work.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: youbet - "Way To Be"
Way To Be carries more confidence while maintaining an atmosphere of creative pop melodies and rhythmic exploration. Nick Llobet's guitar work is fluid and breathtaking yet capable of veering into angry eruptions of distortion and fury, adding tension and a sense of chaos that plays well with the bursting intensity of the songwriting.
Climax Landers - "Zenith No Effects" | Album Review
Brooklyn band Climax Landers is back after six years with Zenith No Effects. The beloved group surveys each of their sensibilities to create an irreverent but invigorating record, a hot air balloon of an album, for its memorable cast of characters, big picture lyrics, windy gusts of riffs to get swept up in, and overall zaniness.
Hannah Frances - "Keeper of the Shepherd" | Album Review
Going into her third studio album, Hannah Frances sought to create something that could be healing both to herself and to the listener. The result is Keeper of the Shepherd, a record overflowing with generosity and ambition, with Frances delving into the darkest parts of her psyche and past to try and learn to reclaim herself.
Joyer - "Night Songs" | Album Review
Joyer’s third studio album, Night Songs, out with Hit the North Records / Julia's War Records, has found a new skyline–the street lamps whipping by from car windows. Written primarily while on tour, the album is a sound palette of cold air clarity, infused with the big feelings of brief connections and star gazing aliveness.