Deserted stakes up easily against its predecessor in the band’s discography, 2016’s Sonoran Depravation in both mastery of form and devastating impact of execution. The most distinguishing factor between the two is the slightly clearer production on Deserted, which is not surprising given who was involved in the post-production.
On her fourth album and fourth great evolution, Angel Olsen accompanies an instantly classic outpouring of artistic expression with gothic-synthesizers, some horns, and a colossal assembly of strings. An immense, dramatic, and shattering retrospective on feeling, All Mirrors is massive in both its presentation and statement.
The duo of Greg Jaime (O’Death) and Joey Weiss have been making stunning folk-inspired music for near a decade, creating natural landscapes and lush acoustics with gentle resolve. “Half Crazy” is a gorgeous finger picked and meditative song, brightened with magnificent harmonies and sweeping strings over otherwise dimly lit gothic folk progressions.
Cloud Rat, after 10 years, still finds ways to make music that is instant and familiar. If you were to listen to their S/T record in 2010 and then to Polinator, it wouldn’t feel too dissimilar. There is still that chugging low end guitar sludge, barreling up against frantic drums that anyone would call grindcore.
There’s little in this world that can prepare you for Thank, one of the UK’s great saviors of noise rock in its most deranged and brilliant form. While there are those that would turn the genre into radio-friendly butt rock, the Leeds based quintet keep it dangerous and fractured, experimenting with genre by adding in earth shaking electronics.
Thurston Moore, in line with his experimental impulse and illuminated by improvisation, builds in Spirit Counsel a test that is pure light, full of freshness. He digs into atmospheres ranging from Sonic Youth to pure black metal. The movements of the record are complex, abstract but extremely coherent with the live experience.
With companion albums released in 2018, Washington DC’s Luna Honey continue to ride a creative spark on an upcoming split together with Minneapolis’ own Wax Lead. Due out this Friday, October 11th via BLIGHT. Records, the quartet offer “Psalm,” a dark and minimal song that crawls under your skin burrowing in for the long haul.
Phoenix by-way-of Tempe, Arizona’s Twin Ponies have returned with their sophomore full length, Body On Credit. Due out Friday, October 11th, the band continue to flex their knack for knotted post-hardcore and sleepy slacker-pop charm, creating something that feels warm and familiar, but unpredictable and slightly on-edge.
Beijing-based duo Gong Gong Gong are exporting their stoic strain of hypnotizing punk through none other than Brooklyn’s Wharf Cat Records. The band relays their hammering psychedelic blues from the back of a tireless nag, rhythmically blurring borders between styles and scenes across their excellent full length debut Phantom Rhythm.
The album’s success hinges on its open embrace of experimentation, vulnerability, and the creation of art for art’s sake; those are the places where the work shines the brightest, in a perfect blend of form and function. From start to finish, Chastity Belt is both a reclamation of the artistic process and a damn good record.
Curse Word, a new band comprised of Matt Powell (Bulletin, Trespasser, a stint in Grass Is Green), Darl Ferm (Speedy Ortiz), and Jake Waldman, are a scrappy trio that have warped and bent the sound of bands like Polvo, Jawbox, and Faraquet adapting it into their own, opting for accessibility in the face of complex progressions.
On Where Does the Time Come From, the third full length from Sweet Williams, Thomas House primarily forgoes his elongated blues-y dirges of previous releases, for a tighter almost claustrophobic feel. House still uses his space wisely with well placed guitar lines knifing through pounding drums and insistent throbbing bass.
Kal Marks know how to stir up a racket, to put it mildly. Never has that been more apparent than on their latest EP, aptly titled Let the Shit House Burn Down. Impossibly rivaling the intensity of their heralded tinnitus-inducing live shows, the recording finds the trio fully exploring the enormous range of their established sound.
Melbourne’s Program are set to release Show Me on October 18th via Anti Fade Records, an album that has been several years coming for a pair of musicians that have been grinding away since their earliest days. Recorded and mixed by Anti Fade’s own Billy Gardner, they find a sweet spot between 90’s “college rock” and motorik post-punk.
