Winter claims the lyrics within ...and she's still listening are written from a perspective of a female character that she considers an “extension of her,” an exploratory writing process that could be seen as a unique tool to translate a continued healing journey from the subconscious. Winter leaves listeners to sink into honest emotion.
Queen of Jeans’ All Again is a tribute to the kinetics of a relationship post break-up. The Philadelphia band, consisting of members, Miriam Devora, Matheson Glass, Patrick Wall, and Andrew Nitz, explores the tribulations of heartbreak through an infectious indie rock sound consistent throughout their discography.
This record served as the fourth quarter follow-up, a little "something extra," to the band's latest album, Can't Make Any Promises, which was released in March of 2023. Watching a Fire has more of the band's trademark homespun warmth and lo-fi charm, where sweet pop rock tunes coexist with more solemn introspective moments.
The music in question is, well, difficult to describe in typical genre buzzwords, though many have tried. Neither “psychedelic” nor “trip-hop” do much of any justice to the twosome’s defiant sound. Then again, “sound collage” doesn’t help much either because even that movement tends to focus more on the process than the end-product.
Kingston, NY's own Rider/Horse’s "journey" started out as a "duo delivering stripped-down post-punk screeds," but across Matted, they are ever closer to a full band configuration. Can they maintain the "minimalist industrial clatter...as [their] sonic foundation," or have they blazed an entirely new trail forward? With joy and awareness, I declare, "Yes."
Nurture is the debut from Chicago’s Girly Pants, a release mixed with a sweetness and ear for melodies, full of heart tugging lyrics about the intricacies of relationships and growing up. Sabreen Alfadel is unafraid to get loud, pairing entertaining guitar riffs along with jazzy shuffles that are full of vitality and a stately cool in the atmosphere.
Allora, the new full-length from the New York songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, is a snapshot. For someone known just as much for painting ambient sunscapes and making 24-hour albums as for piecing together roaring, spiritual, overwhelming rock songs with chorales of friends, Allora is his most unyielding and raw release to date.
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.
