Some bands are full representations of their label. Soccer Team is a Dischord band. Ryan Nelson and Melissa Quinley who started the band both at one time worked for Dischord. Five-seconds into listening to their new album Real Lessons in Cynicism you know that there is no other label that the record could've come out on.
Dusk is an alt-country band from Appleton, Wisconsin that write dynamic pop music with a heavy dose of New Orleans' soul and front-porch Americana exuberance. Led by Tenement's Amos Pitsch, the songs on their debut single "(Do The) Bored Recluse b/w Too Sweet" are far from punk, opting for piano and pedal steel "shredding" in place of anything loud and distorted.
There's nothing graceful or elegant about the name Snakehole or the music they make, and it's safe to say the deranged noise punk duo wouldn't have it any other way. The Miami based band formed in 2011 as "an outlet for female rage" and five years later their fury remains as determined as ever, evident on the band's latest self-titled EP via the always dependable Wharf Cat Records.
The band is self-described as “commuter-rage” and it’s easy to see why. Despite You is the illustration of frustrations caused by working day in day out, pushing through crowded trains and packed buses to go between a job and a cramped apartment. In each track, rage and tension build while frustrations break apart in a noisome blast of energy.
Cindy Lou Gooden is the mastermind behind the indie-pop project Very Fresh. After a two-year self-imposed hiatus down in Florida, she recently moved back to Brooklyn and resurrected Very Fresh with new perspective. On new single ‘Clean Touch/Pale Lips,’ Very Fresh has a sweet innocence that belies the muscle and teeth of Gooden’s songwriting and lyrical capabilities.
On Flood Dosed, their first effort for James Murphy’s DFA Records, this intersection is one between singing and flat speaking, her vocals taking on a remarkably clear sound that belies the past 5 years of releases. So too does the rest of the band emphasize the less remote corners of their musicianship.
Lau expertly gives the instruments their own personalities within the songs, even as the layers and textures pile on. This, combined with the seamless transitions between tracks, makes Floriography feel like a rolling ocean with buoys throughout it to anchor the listener and help navigate the seascape she has created.
