Winter was recently officially and very belatedly declared over, so it probably is appropriate to shelve away all morose and depressing music to welcome the warm sun rays and exposed skin in dire need of some good ol' Vitamin D. To kickstart us off and bid farewell...
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Future Islands – Singles (4AD)
LET’S DANCE Samuel T. Herring is a bit of strange dude. He's a pioneer of NORMCORE, dances like you do in your underwear with a blowdryer as a microphone, has the least “frontman” look in the world, and sounds like an overdramatic musical actor in his...
Perfect Pussy – Say Yes To Love (Captured Tracks)
The only thing louder than the buzz is the band. The aforementioned buzz around Perfect Pussy’s debut “Say Yes To Love” is well deserved given their rare and powerful energy. Their combination of hardcore and noise rock isn’t entirely new, but...
The Coathangers-Suck My Shirt (Suicide Squeeze)
A different tier of garage rock When they formed in 2006, The Coathangers could, as the story goes, barely play their instruments. Eight years later, though they may know how to play a bit better, they have lost none of their initial shoddy magnetism. These are garage...
Liars-Mess (Mute)
In their nearly decade and a half long career, the thing Liars have been most associated with is their willingness to wildly change musical style from one release to the next, while always and astonishingly sounding exactly like themselves. Their discography ranges...
S Carey – Range of Light (Jagjaguwar)
Justin Vernon taught him well. It is impossible to not think of Bon Iver when you hear the name S Carey. But in his first full length solo LP, Sean Carey steps out of Justin Vernon’s enormous shadow and creates an intricate, imaginative, and painfully beautiful...
Tokyo Police Club ÛÒ Forcefield (Mom & Pop)
Pop overload. If Tokyo Police Club incorporated elements with any rock influence prior to their most recent release, they have since been diminished. Forcefield is a pop album through and through. The group is excessively energetic, with simplistic guitar and...
Big Scary- Not Art (Barsuk)
Creative indie that weaves in some noise rock. With an album named “Not Art” and tracks like “Phil Collins” and ÛWhy Hip Hop Sucks In 13,” Big Scary's newest LP might seem cheeky on the surface, but at a closer look, “Not Art” is a creative work with...
David Novick ÛÒ Your Sister’s Hand (GOD?)
Softly psychedelic One distinctive feature of the second album from David Novick, Ty Segall's buddy and kinda label mate (GOD? is an imprint of Drag City, and Novick played drums on the Sleeper track “The KeepersÛ) is the number of instrumental tracks (three on a...
Porno Mags- Porno Mags (Self-Released)
Proto-punk-garage-rock-hyphen-sound Chicago based Porno Mags has an incredibly cohesive sound for a band formed less than a year ago, probably gained from their strict definition of the proto-punk genre. Porno Mags follows the recipe rather well- late 60s meets...