Sprite are a new band comprised of some familiar faces, the quartet formed by Sam Brown (Flesh Panthers) together with Josh Rodin (Cel Ray), Kinsey Ring (Lollygagger), and Donny Walsh (Wallplant, ex-Stuck). Inspired by the fuzz and syrupy melodies of bands like Ovlov and Hotline TNT, Brown decided to pick up a guitar and give songwriting a shot.
With her new EP, Celestial Mirror, Chicago’s own soothing heartbreaker, Mia Joy, makes her way back into our fragile hearts and our busted carousels of self-actualization. Recorded directly to tape and mostly in one take, Celestial Mirror is a homey flavor of dream pop and vocal sensations that portrays a welcoming pair of open arms.
The Giant’s Lawn is something spectacular, a record with a natural feeling of awe, like the sun shinning from deep within in the forest woods. Their third album is ambitious, but it never feels like they set out with ambitious intentions, the songs are following a path, treading space and time with a steady atmosphere of wondrous permanence.
Viji’s So Vanilla is anything but. The London-based singer’s LP summons neuroticism and turmoil over hypnotic dance tracks. After releasing her first album on Dirty Hit, she graduated to cult favorite Speedy Wunderground. Her partnership with producer Dan Carey illuminates her deeply introspective and often tongue-in-cheek lyrics.
The TFUL282 discography ranged from full-lengths released by Matador to rare singles on obscure labels shared around by hand. There was a litany of covers and b-sides that were only accessible to listeners through tape trading or Youtube. These Things Remain Unassigned digs deep into the archives to assemble these miscellaneous tracks.
Following last year’s II EP, the band are back with… you guessed it, III, out today via Swimming Faith and Steak and Cake. In true Ismatic Guru fashion, the music is equal parts deranged and groovy, sounding something like a mix between Devo, US Maple, and This Heat played on fast forward. There’s not a moment to think.
bar italia operates in the wonderful space between art-rock pretension and slacker affability. Their music is too layered, rich, and dynamic to be considered carefree and, at the same time, features too many riffs, hooks, and melodies to be over-analyzed. The Twits feels like their definitive sonic statement.
Tomorrow’s Fire, the new album from Chicago artist Squirrel Flower is a potent record with self-effacing folk songwriting backed by a loud shoegaze-tinged band. This is their third album for Polyvinyl, and their most varied yet, equally full of loud, head-banging moments, and intricate, transcendent vocal arrangements.
If there’s an art form to deconstructing art-punk syllable by syllable, Leeds trio Beige Palace stand at the vanguard. There music seems to look at the bigger picture in scope, just before it’s shattered into drawn out shards, dangerously crafted with sharp edges and puzzle pieces that delight in never quite fitting the way they should.
So Long Before Now by The Woods is a charming artifact of 1980s underground culture and music. Only fully seeing the light of day just this year, the record feels remarkably contemporary. There’s something to be said about culture and styles repeating themselves, but there’s a special air to this record.
On Attachment Figure, the Florida based Sarah Morrison works all the angles of the ever changing moods in her music to near perfection. She drenches her songs in layers and layers of sound that bounces from jazzy classicism to ominous and somber synth driven laments, reaching into the furthest depths of desire and memory.
Brooklyn-based trio, Sister. have released their full-length debut, Abundance. Three years in the making, Abundance was largely self-recorded in a cabin up in Woodstock and overdubbed in Hannah Pruzinsky’s apartment closet, proving that Sister. capitalizes on the intimacy of home recording when in good company.
“Cannonball” became NME’s Single of the Year and, even thirty years later, has one of the most recognizable bass lines in indie rock history. What’s more iconic is the album it’s from. Last Splash celebrates its 30th anniversary with a new reissue that includes remastered versions of its original fifteen tracks and two previously unreleased songs.
“Chill Pill” is the coldest and sharpest track on Glaswegian quartet Dancer’s latest EP, As Well. The video is no more warm than the song itself. In 1.5x speed and interspersed with blasts of a lo-fi painting filter, Gemma Fleet tromps around like a disaffected teenager kicking pebbles at flocks of sheep.
