They released their sixth album, and their first live album, As It Happened: Horse Lords Live via RVNG Intl. during the spring of 2024. The record has songs from many different points of their discography, primarily from Interventions (2016) and Comradely Objects (2022) and one track from Hidden Cities (2014).
Pavement ultimately had an amazing run. Their new limited-edition box set, Cautionary Tales: Jukebox Classiques, is a testament to this fact, consisting of their complete catalog of 7” singles from 1989 to 1999 plus various B-sides, covers, demos, and live material. In total, there are 56 songs running to almost three hours.
Robber Robber have truly found their footing in pulsating shards of post-punk noise with an impressive grasp of melody and intoxicating loose grooves. The group manage to stay grounded with a furious punk foundation while mixing in unique song structures and the knack for combining sharp tones and playful exchanges.
It took the band six years to create and complete this album, but it was definitely worth the wait. Joined on half the songs here by guitarist Callum Shortal and guests, ORB bring in a bag-full of new musical tricks that goes beyond their signature sound dominated by one of the key psych rock inventions - the fuzz box.
As long as there’s been a punk scene, there’s been a energetic, hyper, musical urge to crack the skull and see what cooks. On this six track split, Nashville’s super Snooper and Barcelona’s pummeling Prison Affair kick off hot squirrel summer with their wild-eyed, transcontinental EP that’s calling all freaks from their panting dens.
Martha Skye Murphy’s long-awaited debut is an assured one. Its eleven tracks come together like a series of paintings spread across a single room, all interlinked in proximity and style yet different enough to each be worth a repeated view. Yet together, these tracks form a remarkably curated album of decisive art pop.
Existing decidedly on the fringes, Rong’s explosive sound splices and dices together bits and pieces of noise rock, art punk, post-hardcore, and experimental metal to form something delightfully alien. The abrasion is tantamount, an oozing eruption of caterwauling guitars, jaw dropping rhythms, and vocals yelped with fury and resolve.
DEC0N$TRUCT!0N carries the torch of C0N$TRUCT!0N and C0N$TRUCT!0N 002, Maassai’s space-reclaiming tapes celebrating the physical and creative work of black people, black culture, and black art. The EPs work as a conceptual triptych in opposition to the oppressive and exploitative systems in her city.
Despite marking the debut of one of the most influential rock bands of their generation, Queens of the Stone Age’s self-titled first album didn’t blaze a bold, new trail. Instead, the 1998 release built an off-ramp connecting a remote stretch of desert highway to a skeevy dance club, where Josh Homme could take residence.
Perennial are back with a new offering of danceable tunes, a stronger connection to the studio as instrument, and a newfound finesse. The operating principle is something like “simplicity is a virtue,” and they’ve honed in on a raison d’etre over the course of their LPs: art for the sake of it, for your enrichment and your connection to the world around you.
Shannon and the Clams pull from the past to create music that's different, the vintage twinge reminiscent of many 60s girl groups, and an almost rockabilly sound while still allowing it to feel fresh and new. It feels like stepping into the past, yet it still incredibly innovative, a time capsule and love letter to their classic rock influences.
The Spatulas are the project of Miranda Soileau-Pratt, an artist equal parts poet and bandleader. Their debut LP. Beehive Mind, is an exercise in space and subtlety, at once unassuming and arresting. Upon first encounter, the music feels twee and almost cutesy, but it does everything it can to resist these monikers.
The Funeral Pudding reads like a diary, a byproduct to San Francisco’s sprawling art scene in the late 80s and mid 90s. A composite tapestry of clunking drum beats, shuddering mandolins, and tinkering banjos, the band exudes buzzing, droned-out showers of spontaneity, demonstrating their affinity for improvisation and experimentation.
Unknowing has never sounded as free as it does on Accept When, the new record from Caroline Davis and Wendy Eisenberg. The duo confidently dis- and reassemble the paths of their music without worrying about the destination. They rely on each other and all they bring to the table, rather than individual experience.
Gabriel Birnbaum's second "true" solo album, Patron Saint of Tireless Losers, finds him looking inside himself. He mines melodies of early California psych and singer-songwriter observations, combining spiky rock with gentle examinations on purpose and connection. His songwriting is a unique strength, trawling the depth of human nature.
