Robert Pollard and his most recent ensemble of Doug Gillard, Bobby Bare Jr., Kevin March, and Mark Shue appear to be going through another renaissance. 25 years later, they are still putting out incredible, weird, and endlessly catchy rock and roll. The spectacular new double album Zeppelin Over China is a collection of soaring choruses and big riffs.
The underground mainstay utilizes the new Whelpwisher release, Stale Honey, as a way of exorcizing the ghosts of songs past. Given Grigg’s record – years playing in Geronimo!, one ecstatic Future Biff EP, FCKR JR, and contributions to Milked – there is unsurprising naturality with every song, even demos.
Come Back to Life is the debut solo venture from Dan Francia, but by far from his first appearance in the ‘indie rock’ universe as he’s had a hand in some very good records over the past few years. Francia has enlisted a bunch of musicians from those bands he’s worked with on this record and has managed to blend all the elements into something exciting and very alive.
Tim Presley spent four years composing I Have To Feed Larry's Hawk. In the past he has created a trait d’union with musicians like Ty Segall and Cate Le Bon, creating projects like Drinks. Time passed is a pot in which to find the basis for a sound search, which in this case has turned on and come to life in the new and beautiful album.
Tørsö is a classically-styled hardcore band out of the Bay Area and Build and Break is their latest foray into fury. Each of the four tracks serves as a cohesive yet timeless statement. There is no sense of era – it sounds like the late-80s youth crew sound pioneered by bands like Youth of Today and Gorilla Biscuits as much as it does recent breakouts like Candy and Gouge Away.
Pet Town is the band’s latest, marking a newfound sense of comfort and clarity that reflects Marina Tadic’s hermetic songwriting and recording process. With the help of Jasper Verhulst and Jeroen de Heuvel, Pet Town was crafted in three separate locations and patched together through Tadic’s quietly psychedelic vision of solitude and introspection.
