Simple routine at Astral Spirits. Release showpiece after showpiece of contemporary free jazz and its intersections - e.g. experimental, electroacoustic, non-idiomatic, noise, no rock, avant jazz, and improv. Sheathe the sharp-eared music in striking wrap. Announce the heavy hitters in throwback Cooper Black font. Lure collectors.
Melbourne’s Vintage Crop are among the best of Australia’s brilliant punk bands, darting between their early garage punk days and a jagged post-punk artiness. Their lyrics often come with a sarcastic bite toward complacent life. Their third full length, the acerbic and raw Serve To Serve Again, is due out August 7th.
NNAMDÏ’s latest effort, released less than three months after BRAT, is a 20 minute mind-fuck that displays the core of his imaginative genius. Inspired by Looney Tunes composer Carl Stalling, it takes what made Stalling’s music fun, inventive, and exciting, and makes it darker, weirder, more experimental, psychedelic, and overall braver.
It’s only July but Philadelphia’s Nyxy Nyx is getting ready to release their third album of the year. You know what they say about idle hands. All A Dream is due out September 4th via BLIGHT. Records (Tadzio, Luna Honey, Br’er), a record that has been described as the project’s most collaborative to date.
The strong chemistry between Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart is at the heart of their sound, manifesting in tight vocal harmonies and imaginative guitar work. Fantasize Your Ghost is essentially an album of rock songs, but Ohmme push the boundaries of what that means, finding ways to seamlessly lapse into experimental territory.
Collaboration was a key element in making Ultimate Success Today, and with it Protomartyr continues to distinguish itself as a unique force. To learn more about the writing process and themes on the new album, we sat down with Joe Casey to talk about a few tracks, what the album title means, and how the collaborations came to fruition.
After 22 years, the legendary space-rock group Hum have finally arrived with a surprise new album. Inlet was released unceremoniously, but it took little time for the news to go viral. Based out of Champaign, IL, the band have become a staple of 90’s alt-rock. Inlet is a sonic journey, guided by huge riffs and heavy atmosphere.
The quartet, comprised of Max Jaffe (percussion), Rob Lundberg (bass), Jessica Pavone (viola) and Dave Scanlon (guitar, synths, vocals), are set to release Endless Birthdays on August 7th via Ramp Local Records (Godcaster, ESSi, Spirits Having Fun), pushing the envelop on the sonic template they’ve been steadily expanding since 2015
Never ones to sit stagnant for too long however, the band are back today with a new single, Cavehead b/w Mind’s Eye, out via Greenway and Austin’s Reverberation Appreciation Society. While the single comes from an upcoming record, the frantic psych boogie is more than enough to whet appetites until then.
Primordial and ritualistic is the sound of Deerhoof, who are faithful to their aesthetics and history. The idea of Future Teenage Cave Artists is a fascinating foothold, a handhold to a search for creativity in which every atom of chaos is meaningful and expresses the meaning of sonic exploration that is never banal.
Es’ new video “Severed,” is a quarantine video done right, full of kitchen, garden, and shower performances that are defiantly goofy but as deadpan as can be. That steely form of deadpan fits the band’s music, as their debut LP, Less of Everything absorbs synth punk at its most taut, everything snapped perfectly into place.
They’ve been in the Chilean underground scene establishing themselves as an iconoclast, revolutionary band through cathartic live shows and a fierce musical output. With the release of their new album Mapas Auténticos del Mundo Imaginario, Mapas Imaginarios del Mundo Real, punk gets unleashed into free-form jazzy performances.
Coriky is The Evens with the addition of Joe Lally on bass and MacKaye switching back to guitar. The vibe is still very similar but there’s the interplay of the trio that makes it its own unique band. It’s a little louder, a little looser feeling. It has a lived in feel that comes from three musicians that are very used to playing together.
Harrison Colby has played in Sex Scenes, Rexxx, No/No, and The Delphine, but today he’s stepping out on his own with The Beat Index, a new project that resides somewhere between synth punk and synth pop. The band’s debut album, Volume One: Juvenilia, is due out July 31st via No Coast Records on limited edition cassette and digital.
Mike Hlady’s songwriting boasts an impressive range, switching between mellow acoustic laments to explosive guitar driven instrumentals that spiral in and out of consciousness. Holiday Music’s newest album Certified Ailments expands upon both. It is steeped in sonic manipulation, meticulous in detail, and relentless in execution.
