Larger than the sum of its parts, Trace Mountains’ Lost in the Country is honest and lasting. Each little hook, vocal flair, snare hit. The songs keep an enduring pace, excited to get moving, even if it’s just to the woods out the front door. The drum kit hikes the path so the lyrics can admire the world and the melody can whistle along the way.
Dragoons are a product of Melbourne’s music scene: a group of friends whose members occupy various bands, sharing in creative energy; united by a vision deeply rooted in community. They’ve built an identity that is as hardworking as it is prolific, something further extrapolated on their latest release Horrorscope.
With their new self titled album, Pure X make a roaring comeback. The last missive from the Austin, Texas based band was Angel. Released in 2016, the sound of that album was crisp and clear; with songs drifting by at a languid pace. With their newest album, Pure X keep the tempo the same but let a bit of chaos into their songs.
Born and raised in Nashville by a pair of notable session musicians, the story goes that Vaughan spent her years growing up around the city’s legendary country scene. Eventually moving to New York City for school, it was the memories of home that led Vaughan to start writing her own music, bringing a little Nashville twang to bustling city.
The EP is immaculately constructed, as sure footed a debut as they come, the product of patient songwriting and collaborative strength. While the band wear the “bedroom rock” tag, their music rises far beyond the idea of lo-fi home tinkering, each song an example of dynamics at work, both gentle and mountainous.
The Los Angeles quintet has created a lush mix of shoegaze, krautrock, noise pop, and everything else that is both hazy and dreamy. Dummy take an almost meditative drift toward motorik composition, easing their way into swells of minimalist layering, vocals that blend together, and grandoise blankets of noise.
Half a year later and the band are sharing a video from the album for “Broken Computer,” one of the album’s many highlights. Directed by James Wells, it’s a vibrant animation that picks up on much of the single’s own tension, as globs of paint mutate and shift from human to other with broad strokes of color and wormholes.
Stephen Malkmus, aided by the defacto guitar wizard of our times Matt Sweeney, explores a pastiche of otherworldly Eastern modes, ritualistic canticles, and tasteful-palette pastoralia. Though these melodies evoke faraway settings and time tables, Malkmus delivers his lyrics in his familiar vernacular, one that’s steeped in hyperspecific modernity.
London’s Modern Technology have started a new record label, Human Worth, and they’re set to launch with an eponymous compilation, Human Worth Vol. 1. The collection revels in a particular brand of explosive sludge and primal noise rock, the sound that seems to ooze from the UK underground in abundance.
Forever Honey understands the importance of personal reflection. On Pre-Mortem High, the band explores the relationships we have with each other and with ourselves, through catchy dream pop and jangly 80s new wave anthems. The band have turned the coming-of-age anxiety we feel in our 20s into music that’s brimming with life.
Attic Salt Records is a new label based out of Chicago with a focus on artists and charity. As a “benefit” label, the proceeds of their releases are all being given to charities as selected by the musicians they are working with. Compilation 1, includes Geronimo!, Stuck, Sunny Falls, Options, Thanks For Coming, Nate Amos, Gilt Drip, and more.
