Built upon punk scorn and raw yet catchy indie rock, a sound the have perfected over the years, the rest of the record expands outward, squirming in all directions. We mentioned they relied on sonic diversity, claiming "the band take four divergent paths, each as intriguing as the last" and now you can stream the album in full, ahead of tomorrow's release.
Brooklyn's Sodium Beast return with their sophomore EP and a new found aggression that rips from noise rock start to fuzzy pop finish. Night Club Tonite picks up the ragged post-punk sound of Hit Parade, blending the band's "college rock" influences with harsher elements, a reflective change of the year between releases.
Lindsey Jordan has a way of remaining mellow through the entire album of ups and downs, steady through her self-reflections. Her dreamy voice lingering through each line, the over-arcing feel of the record is best described as sleepy and yearning, her voice delicately crushing your heart at every corner.
Human Giving is a paranoid, tense, and at times breathtakingly lush record that feels like the culmination of an evolution that started with the band’s beginnings in 2012. Their latest is more careful and deliberate, setting focus on the journey and filling its landscapes with warm tones over a more calculated build.
While Yanked may tap out around the 20-minute mark, the six songs offer no shortage of sonic variety. One of Yankee Bluff’s preeminent strengths is the contrast between Helmis and Dionne’s songwriting styles. Where Helmis leans toward sunny, anthemic arrangements of distorted open chords, Dionne doubles down on melancholic, off-kilter picking riffs
The quintet, led by the songwriting duo of Taylor Batton and Jack Stansbury (ex-Princess Reason), create warm Americana and "slacker" pop with an effortless feel. Everything is natural. Everything is easy-going. Their songs feel like lost memories, experiences you've lived over and over, and yet, it all seems new.
Fans of Elf Power are going to find plenty to enjoy as a band should sound fairly confident in themselves after releasing twelve records previously. For a band whose sound was never defined by the Elephant 6’s unabashed love of all things ‘60s, they sound here like they’ve never aged, frozen in time but not defined by it.
Over the past four years, thanks to a sparkling debut EP and subsequent full-length, the duo has become a genuine cult sensation entirely without the help of a record label; only recently, with the release of new single “Talk a Lot,” did Morgan and Shih add a publicist to their minimal, close-knit team, which otherwise only includes a booking agent and a publisher.
