by Álvaro Molina, Alyana Vera, Benji Haywood, Charles Davis, Corey Sustarich, Dan Goldin, Dash Lewis, Delia Rainey, Isobel Mohyeddin, Jeremy Zerbe, Joe Gutierrez, Kris Handel, Matt Watton, Matty McPherson, Patrick Pilch, Rachel Min Leong, Ross Atkinson, Ross Jenkins, Scott Yohe, Taylor Ruckle, Will Henriksen, and Zach Zollo

Another great year of new music is in the books. Welcome to our “Year in Review,” a feature with no pre-determined length or ranking, but a guide to the year that was. We like to think these features are about discovery and we hope you find something new to enjoy. Support the bands you care about. Buy music. Have fun listening. We hope you’ll dig in and spread the word. The “further listening” is full of gems as well, literally albums that we feel are worth further listening to. There’s only so much time in the day, but it’s never too late.

We’d like to thank everyone who reads Post-Trash, contributes to the site, and all the bands that trust us to cover their new releases. Post-Trash is here because we love music and we’re excited to share it with our small corner of the internet. While this list is determined by our editors, check back shortly for our “writer’s choice” feature, a very different list of music to discover than this one.

J A N U A R Y :

Featured

FIEVEL IS GLAUQUE | "God's Trashmen Sent to Right the Mess"

La Loi Records

By releasing their debut album on New Year’s Day, Fievel Is Glauque ensured their album would be the first essential of the year. God’s Trashmen Sent To Right The Mess arrived just as 2021 began, released via new label La Loi, and while the debut project on a brand new label may seem unfamiliar, it should be known that Zach Phillips (OSR Tapes, Blanche Blanch Blanche, etc) is the mastermind behind both. He’s been a creative force within the national and international DIY community for well over a decade at this point, and amongst his many accomplishments, Fievel Is Glauque may be his best project yet. Located out of Brussels, Phillips teams up with the amazing Ma Clément, who handles all the vocals with an undeniable radiance. Together the pair worked with five large ensembles (over 30 musicians) to create their world, with appearances from Chris Cohen, Stephe Cooper, Quentin Moore, Ryan Power, and so many others. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

GATECREEPER | "An Unexpected Reality"

Closed Casket Activities

The mighty Gatecreeper returned with An Unexpected Reality, a surprise album (or EP, depending on how you look at it) that in true Gatecreeper fashion absolutely destroys. This is not your typical Gatecreeper release however, but a chance for the band to experiment, moving away from their colossal death metal sound to something a bit more ferocious (if possible) and a bit more out into the cosmic sludge realm, a tale of two halves. The first half is comprised of one minute doses of brutality, grinding metal with a primal sense of destruction. It’s phenomenal. The second half is a single eleven minute whirlwind of crusty space doom, crawling along with a pummeling intensity. Gatecreeper can do it all. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

GOAT GIRL | "On All Fours"

Rough Trade Records

Goat Girl’s self-titled album was an absolute favorite of 2018, one of the best debuts of the past decade. As the singles of their follow up, On All Fours, began to trickle out, it was apparent we weren’t getting a repeat of their previous record. While the singles could be slightly misleading to the album as a whole, it’s definitely clear that Goat Girl have expanded their sound, moving deeper into synth experimentation, but that smoky charm and dusty post-punk twang that lie at their core remains well in-tact. Songs like album opener “Pest” and “Once Again” are great examples of the band’s knack for taught songwriting opening up to more celestial exploration, an outward reach into cosmic pop that works together with their darker lounge soaked aura. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

MAXSHH | "Feedback & PB"

Sad Cactus Records

Recorded sporadically over the span of five years, it’s a colossal reflection of Max Goldstein’s many impulses, with each idea fully explored and given space to evolve. This is a fantastically weird album and it wears that experimental quality with a cohesive grace. It’s not strange for the sake of being strange, Maxshh’s latest is still built on songs, but the tendency to push those songs further into the abyss of no-wave, manipulated noise, and the progressive beyond is ever apparent. Which is all to say that Feedback & PB is a wild ride, but one that’s been constructed as such from the classical folk swoon of “Song for F” to the impenetrable atonal finale of “Alignment,” and all the cacophony that comes between. There’s no one song that captures this album, it’s a living, breathing statement of shifting ideas, which really needs to be heard in full. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

MJ LENDERMAN & WEDNESDAY | "Guttering"

Super Enema

Guttering may be a low key release between last year’s Wednesday album I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone and their upcoming Twin Plagues record, but it is no less essential. Credited to MJ Lenderman & Wednesday (aka Jake Lenderman and Karly Hartzman of the aforementioned Wednesday), the set captures the North Carolina duo writing swampy lo-fi tunes, heavy burnt out folk, front porch grunge, and dimly light skeletal slacker rock. It has a fantastic vibe, rustic production, frail melodies, and closely murmured harmonies lead the way through rusted twang and droning Americana, the end results nestled somewhere between early Cat Power and Neil Young. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

NOPES | "Djörk"

Magnetic Eye Records

We’ve been huge fans of Nopes over here for the past five or so years and with each album they seem to get better and better. Stapler was among our favorites in 2018 and the Oakland trio return with in 2021 with the wonderfully named, Djörk, a record that is seemingly faster, louder, and generally more mangled than ever before. Built on blistering noise rock with a tinge of SST and a bit of hardcore pummeling, Nopes both SHRED (and we can’t overstate that) and offer a deranged boogie in equal measure, always clawing into the red and hellbent on raw destruction. It’s loud, heavy, and this time around, oozing with a sordid swagger. Sadly the band have since called it a day, but don’t miss their swansong. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

PALBERTA | "Palberta5000"

Wharf Cat Records

Palberta have been inching closer to “pop” with every single release since the very beginning, and they’re more or less arrived in the pop-realm on the exceptional Palberta5000, or at least as close as they’ll ever get. No one is going to confuse Palberta with Lana Del Ray or anything like that (thankfully), but the weird-to-accessible scale is tipping closer to the accessible this time around with some amazing results (“Big Bad Want”). This is still very much the world that Palberta created way back in 2013, complete with detached punk (“The Cow”), inescapable harmonies (“The Way That You Do”), and off kilter progressions (“Red Antz”), but it’s all been sewn together into something “neater” and more digestible, their post-punk bliss shinning like a beam of delightfully unique sunshine. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

POM POKO | "Cheater"

Bella Union

“Poptimism” is unavoidable in 2021. It’s taking over everything in sight, but with it comes sordid strains of what pop could be. Take Norway’s Pom Poko who make the type of mutant pop that is generally reserved for bands like Deerhoof and The Raincoats. Fusing together art-rock influences with post-hardcore and punk isn’t exactly unheard of, especially in this era of fluid genre experimentation, but on Cheater, Pom Poko’s sophomore album, they’ve fused it together with the sweetest of twee pop charm, making sing-song earworms out of the most jagged of riffs and contorted of rhythms. Everything crashes together, ignites, burns, and reforms perfectly in place, a wild hodgepodge of ideas that comes together in perfect unison, all in its delicately balanced discord. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

THA GOD FAHIM & YOUR OLD DROOG | "Tha Wolf On Wall St"

Mongoloid Banks / Fat Beats Distribution

While the pair have collaborated plenty over the past few years, Tha Wolf On Wall St. is their first official record together and the duo delivers with flawless execution. Both Tha God Fahim and Your Old Droog offer their brand of wisdom and slick rhymes, dazzling with lyrics that both stunt on gimmicky cornball rappers and address social justice and class warfare. The way both TGF and YOD are able to seamlessly weave between the two is always impressive, often giving the impression that their deliveries are effortless, but there’s few in modern hip-hop who are operating at this level. The entire record is produced by Fahim, who has an impeccable taste for jazzy loops and dusty soul beats that keep it simple, an easy framework for the duo to lace the tracks with an onslaught of memorable rhymes. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

VIAGRA BOYS | "Welfare Jazz"

Year0001

Following a 2020 EP that took the band in some different directions, Stockholm’s Viagra Boys released their second full length album, Welfare Jazz. If anyone was worried the band had “matured” beyond the sound of Street Worms, their new record should have put to rest any concerns. Viagra Boys’ sound remains brilliantly sleezy and tongue-in-cheek, built on raw attitude and a pointed sense of humor that stings with hilariously repulsive characteristics. The band take a sludgy and deranged approach to danceable post-punk, like a crusty Devo with skronky sax and a permanently sardonic tongue. - DG || LISTEN: Spotify

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EDITRIX | "Tell Me I'm Bad"

EIS Records

On their debut full-length Tell Me I’m Bad, Editrix shifts through permutations of metal and punk faster than you can throw subgenre descriptors at them. For a solid thirty minutes, the lean and loud Massachusetts trio twists and turns through mathy riffs and pummeling breakdowns, phasing in and out of pocket grooves--they’re noisy, they’re poppy, they’re sludgy, they’re technical, and out to rock whatever type of socks you’ve got. “Brainy” is a word that comes up a lot in the conversation around Wendy Eisenberg’s music. It applies to Editrix too, and I mean that thoroughly; listening to Eisenberg jam it out with bassist Steve Cameron and drummer Josh Daniel will engage most every part of your brain, from left to right and from the deepest pleasure center up through the wrinkles. - Taylor Ruckle || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

MISTER GOBLIN | "Four People In An Elevator And One Of Them Is The Devil"

EIS Records

It should be known by know that Mister Goblin (aka Sam Goblin, formerly of Two Inch Astronaut) is a great songwriter, but it’s never been more evident than it is on Four People In An Elevator And One Of Them Is The Devil. With lyrics that are both tongue-in-cheek and sincere (often simultaneously), the project structures everything with the utmost impact, diving into hooks that don’t wait until the chorus to seep into your memory. It’s like a moving playbook on how to write a great song, from the album’s conceptual opener “The Devil” to the reflective “At Least,” each song explores genuine emotion and the complexities that come with it. Songs wander into sweeping crescendos and back into swooning acoustics with a graceful simplicity, each moment driving the next and building upon the last. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

NIGHTSHIFT | "Zöe"

Trouble In Mind Records

There’s nothing quite like a record that gets better with every listen and Nightshift’s full length debut Zöe continues to grow on me toward the point of obsession, due in large part to its dynamics. There are a lot of great songs and perhaps the best thing about it is that each one stands out in its own unique way. There’s a unity that allows it sound cohesive, but their blend of post-punk, psychedelic rock, and motorik dream pop takes many shapes from the mesmerizing sprawl of “Piece Together,” the transcendental boogie of “Power Cut,” and the nervous post-punk of “Make Kin.” The disorientation of “Outta Space” is what sucked us in, a song that grooves and drifts out of time from their usual sharp focus. It feels formless, a cloud of lush harmonies and a crackling framework that’s steeped in jazzy touches with a French-pop sort of malaise, as hypnotic as it is mysterious. Zöe is made up of great moments but it’s something impeccable when listened to in full. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

POISON RUÏN | "Poison Ruïn"

Urge Records

Philadelphia death rock/dungeon punk band Poison Ruïn consolidate their two EPs into one ten-song, self-titled album. Brained, fleshed, and recorded by Mac Kennedy, this effort is one of a personal nature. The sonic nature of the album has a human looseness, apparent like a cassette tape warbling from being wound and rewound. At times the songs sound thin and brittle, as though they are breaking apart simply by being played. The lyrics walk the same path and describe a world of cosmic horrors and environmental disaster. With their soft, eerie, medieval-hall introductions, each song transports the listener to a world of runes and swords, but staves off dorkiness with the relevance of a chewy post-punk center. Rife with sweetly stark guitar hooks and drums that flail like a death march, this self-titled LP gives off black metal at first glance. On further inspection, there is a gradation of inspirations ranging from pond-hopping blues guitar solos, heavy-handed punk drumming, gothic ambiance, and progressive song structures. - Corey Sustarich || LISTEN: Bandcamp

SILICONE PRAIRIE | "My Life On The Silicone Prairie"

Feel It Records

Silicone Prairie is the solo outlet for Kansas City artist Ian Teeple (of Warm Bodies and the Natural Man Band). Their first full-length release My Life on the Silicone Prairie is accidentally a perfect record for the lockdown era. Recorded at his home on 4-track over the last couple years, it would have been a solitary effort regardless. The eponymous track “Silicone Prairie” plays like a mission statement: tongue in cheek lyrics of exurban decline, with a jaunty melody of pounding drums and spacy synths, and some subtly virtuosic guitar work. “Born into Trouble” and “Open Module” embody that bouncing, midwestern, Devo-influenced punk we know and love from bands like the Coneheads, Erik Nervous, or the Minneapolis Uranium Club. Silicone Prairie treads their own path, with hints of an older slanted pop sensibility, like Ray Davies combined with the whimsy of Zappa. - Matt Watton || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SPODEE BOY | "Rides Again..."

Goodbye Boozy

Nashville’s weird and wild garage punk odyssey Spodee Boy has returned in a way we’ve never heard him before. While most of the band’s catalog is very much in the “Devo-core” pocket of the egg punk world, Rides Again… is something else entirely, an oddly twangy sort of slow moseying outlaw cowboy punk… and it’s amazing. The fidelity is easily the best we’ve heard from the project and the song’s feel a bit more realized, at least in the regard that there seems to be a conceptual theme tying each of the EP’s four songs together. It’s like an acid bender through the desert, imagine Morricone meets The Butthole Surfers, delivered with a reckless brand of Western dirt. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

THA GOD FAHIM & YOUR OLD DROOG | "Tha YOD Fahim"

Mongoloid Banks / Fat Beats Distribution

The “Dump Gawds” just keep on dumping. Following their Tha Wolf on Wall St collaboration in January, Your Old Droog and Tha God Fahim didn’t even wait a month to release Tha YOD Fahim, one of the our most anticipated hip-hop records of the year. While Droog hails from Brooklyn and Fahim from Atlanta, the two are kindred souls as far as modern hip-hop goes, with a tireless work ethic and the desire to keep banging the illest verses over dusty beats. Droog has become one of rap’s most clever lyricists, inspired by MCs like Redman and MF DOOM, while Tha God Fahim goes in with bars that hit direct and clear with an often radiant positivity and knowledge (he’s also an incredibly gifted producer, delivering many of the album’s beats). Together, they are unmatched. With already proven hits like “Mailman” (a favorite hip-hop track of 2020) and “Charles Barkley,” the duo expand for a full length where every line hits and each artists brings their personal flare, forever intertwined on stand-outs like “Icee Shop/Entrées,” “Slam Dunk Contest,” and “Disney World.” Free of commercialism in a way unlike most, this is pure hip-hop, through and through. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

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ALIEN NOSEJOB | "HC45-2"

Iron Lung Records

Australia’s Alien Nosejob aren’t wasting any damn time. After three records in 2020, the band returned with HC45-2, another hardcore punk ripper that could only come from Jake Robertson. While he’s released punk and hardcore as Ausmuteants and Leather Towel, it always feels extra exciting when it comes from Alien Nosejob, as his solo project truly has no genre boundaries, bouncing between releases that include garage pop, lo-fi fuzz, and some disco influenced releases. The sequel to HC45 is as reckless and repulsive as the original, with a breakneck speed and intensity that shreds and thrashes for just over eight minutes of punk disdain. Robertson’s music has always been a gift for the subversive, but the sheer amount of blistering riffs crammed into this EP is truly something to admire. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

ARMAND HAMMER & THE ALCHEMIST | "Haram"

Backwoodz Studioz

Some phantoms project themselves from the depths of the multiverse, acting as celestial conduits to Earth's relative place in time/space - exposing the moment for what it truly is - such is Haram, the most recent release from The Alchemist & Armand Hammer. Though it is an otherworldly, glooming ambience which first envelopes the listener, such pensiveness is reflected with an off-kilter sanguinity, entrenching one in the ever-changing, hypnotic soundscapes and incantatory wordage. These swift flows run gauntlet after gauntlet of abstract rhythms and atmospheric textures, each more dangerous and demanding than the next, inviting and challenging one to take part in the adventure. Armand Hammer’s Billy Woods & Elucid are offered room to truly spread their wings, casting resplendent, sunset-esque visuals amidst the greater, lush-forested, mountainous horizon of grooves and textures. - Charles Davis || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

BENNY THE BUTCHER & HARRY FRAUD | "The Plugs I Met 2"

Black Soprano Family / SRFSCHL Records

The ascension of Benny The Butcher from the underground to the mainstream is a fun one to watch as he continues on a rise that shows no limitations. While he and his Griselda cohorts continue to flood the streets with rap that takes us back to the early 90’s glory days, they’ve done so on their own terms, keeping things relatively grimy in the process. Last year’s Burden of Proof album was the exception. Benny’s most high profile crossover album was entirely produced by Hit Boy, and as a result, it certainly felt like a push toward the Top 40 hip-hop crowd. Benny still did his thing, but it missed the raw production he’s spent all these years rhyming over. The Plugs I Met 2 however puts him right back to hustling and hard, dusty production courtesy of Harry Fraud. While it doesn’t feature the caliber of guests as the original (Pusha T, Black Thought, Jadakiss), it’s a welcome reminder why he’s one of rap’s best and most consistent MCs. - DG || LISTEN: Spotify

COOL GHOULS | "At George's Zoo"

Empty Cellar Records

Like all of the best albums, I wasn’t so sure about Cool Ghouls’ latest LP upon first listen. After growing obsessed with 2017’s Gord’s Horse LP, expectations were high for At George’s Zoo, an album that takes repeat listens to fully grasp. Those repeat listens are worth every moment though because Cool Ghouls have created something profoundly special, a record that shines with a Pet Sounds level brilliance while sliding between enormous psych-pop (“Smoke & Fire”), fuzzy folk (“Flying”), crooning and lackadaisical prog (“Land Song”) and full blown harmonized psych that rivals the best of Brian Wilson (“Look In Your Mirror”). It’s a record that really shimmers on repeat listens with each song delivering its own earworm voyage into the sunset, pulling from a worn record collection and fusing it together. We’ll have this on repeat for the remainder of the year. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

ESTHER ROSE | "How Many Times"

Father/Daughter Records

New Orleans’ Esther Rose always finds that perfect spot between country music and indie rock in her music. How Many Times, her third album (and second full-length for Father/Daughter Records), highlights once more what make Rose’s music so special, and it’s the sincerity of the songwriting. It doesn’t matter the genre when you’re writing songs this good. What started as a break-up album feels like a new lease on life, developed over some home-cooked country tunes. Her songwriting remains built on a warm jangle, an infectious smokey twang, and confident vocals, but it’s the enormous hooks, melodies, and silky strings that make her heartbreak feel so radiant. You feel her emotions break and twist, rooting for the better days to come, which are never too far behind. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

FAKE FRUIT | "Fake Fruit"

Rock In Your Head Records

Fake Fruit deliver their self-titled debut after a few semi-nomadic years for band frontperson Hannah D’Amato and with it they introduce their jittered and tense punk. Her vocals easily slide between ranges as the bobbing bass of Martin Miller drives the music forward between skittish guitar fills. Fake Fruit embrace the sounds of late 70s-very early 80’s post-punk filtered through a skewed pop sensibility found in well-known and oft-cited mid-90s ‘indie rock’ bands but with a more modern and aloof disposition. D’Amato and bandmates shift between fast paced and nervy songs that come in a blur of about ninety seconds and tunes that manipulate a larger amount of space while maintaining an underlying unease. - Kris Handel || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

FLOATIE | "Voyage Out"

EIS Records

Floatie operated in a constant state of unfinalized growth for the better part of their existence, becoming a bigger band, a sharper band, a better-every-time-you-see-them band. Voyage Out is the culmination of these pursuits, an excellent and cohesive collection of skittering “frog rock” enveloped by the quartet’s clever arrangements of balmy six-string bass and twin guitars. The songs on Voyage Out deftly balance Floatie’s punctuated instrumentation and offshore aura, combining and oscillating between spindly math-rock and a cog-like wash of the band’s moving parts. Floatie make the most of entwining these seemingly opposing approaches on the record’s standout bookends—mood-setting opener “Shiny” and highlight closer “Lookfar.” Voyage Out is an exploration in itself. The record relishes in experiment and traverses toward understanding, as the band makes strides toward self-assurance and acceptance. The destination has always been out there; it just takes someone to find it. - Patrick Pilch || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

M.A.Z.E. | "II"

Lumpy Records

It’s not often a band gets harder and lower-fi with time--not without sounding contrived, anyway--but on their new LP II, Japanese post-punk band M.A.Z.E. tap into their hardcore influence with unqualified success. Their 2019 self-titled outing, their first on Lumpy Records, was raw in its own way, luxuriating in the open space around their singsong melodies and clean-ish guitars (on the opener, “I’m Grey,” you can hear the bass amp rattle the beads in the snare drum). II is faster, furiouser, and more fun, filling in singer Eriko’s vocals with fuzz and throwing some real punch behind guitarist Tatsuya’s oscillating riffs and scorching chord swipes. The record benefits on every level from the newfound distortion, which makes for M.A.Z.E.’s most hot-blooded material yet. Drummer Chiba is compressed to hell and back on “311,” where the snare hits burst like firecrackers. Bassist Tanji steals the spotlight on “Psycho Eyes” with a thick, clacking lead. Eriko’s shouted vocals always gave the project a clear punk attitude, but with the un-polished production edge, they’re downright acidic. - Taylor Ruckle || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

MAL DEVISA | "Wisdom Teeth"

Self Released

Any time we’re graced with new music from Mal Devisa is cause for celebration and the impact of her latest album can’t be ignored. Wisdom Teeth is the first new full length from the Amherst based songwriter in three years, a triumphant return built on profound songwriting, powerful performances, and that same assuredness that blesses all of Deja Carr’s music. Poignant and poetic, she moves between the heart wrenching jazz of “JD’s Tune/The Spring,” a song that feels both immaculately fragile and emotionally shattered and the neo soul of “The Room Is Spinning/Rough” with natural grace. The songs complement each other while highlighting Mal Devisa’s continued evolution, a blend of timeless music that plays to every whim. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp

THE PEACERS | "Blexxed Rec"

Drag City Records

I never expected to love The Peacers as much as I do but I consider their sophomore album, Introducing the Crimsmen to be a genuine under-appreciated classic. The band, led by Mike Donovan (Sic Alps) create lo-fi psych that feels as though it could either crumble into the dust or cosmically explode at any minute. Its casual fuzz and analog sound is gentle but the band draw upon a progressive touch at times (often courtesy of former Thee Oh Sees drummer Mike Shoun), subtly bending time and space. The quartet returned with Blexxed Rec remaining true to the form they last established (with the band’s line-up in tact), both subdued and soaring way up in the clouds. Donovan and co. keep it warped, relaxed, and always a bit unpredictable in the way everything lands. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

PINK SIIFU & FLY ANAKIN | "$mokebreak"

Lex Records

Following last year’s excellent FlySiifu’s LP, Pink Siifu and Fly Anakin teamed up once again to bring us the record’s companion piece, $mokebreak. The extended record draws on the themes of the original and the general vibe, as the MC’s continue to prove why they are among the underground’s best. Over relaxed beats and psychedelic synths, the pair often go in over tracks void of drums, offering bars through clouds of dreamy drifting soundscapes, bringing along peers like Chuck Strangers and Koncept Jack$on. There’s a general haze that resides over the production, the smoke of the title offering thick clouds that recline as they slide beneath Siifu and Anakin’s freeform deliveries. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

RENÉE REED | "Renée Reed"

Keeled Scales

While Renée Reed’s debut album arrives after a flurry of songwriting and stray single releases over the past year, the story of its genesis goes back to her early years. Reed is very open about her upbringing, describing herself as “unselfconsciously Cajun.” Growing up surrounded by Creole musicians and folklorists, she might have been primed to follow in their footsteps. Since then, she has broadened her palette, taking inspiration from a wide range of folk and popular musicians. Her self-titled debut album is a surprising, subtle joy to listen to, showcasing both her roots and a path forward. Any references ought to come with a warning: a game of “spot the style” won’t reveal the world of twists and turns and careful composition that are uniquely Reed’s. It’s not easy to balance stylistic diversity with a clear musical voice. With one foot in the past and another constantly on the move, Renée Reed is already showing that she’s a winner. - Will Henriksen || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SMIRK | "LP"

Feel It / Drunken Sailor Records

Over the past few years Nick Vicario has released great punk records, excelling at both noisy hardcore with Crisis Man and post-punk with Public Eye. During that time he’s also released a string of EPs from his solo project, Smirk. Having released a pair of cassettes in 2020, those efforts were remastered and released together on vinyl as the cleverly titled LP. The music definitely leans closer to Public Eye than it does Crisis Man, but the hypnotic grooves of the former are replaced with a bit more agitation and punk experimentalism, that’s more Devo influenced than say Wire. It’s a great collection of songs that show a depth in propulsive songwriting and Vicario has never sounded better. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

THIRDFACE | "Do It With A Smile"

EIS Records

Blending all things hardcore, Thirdface – led by the fiery vocals of Kathryn Edwards – exudes sheer agility and intensity. Do It With A Smile is a 22-minute continuous tour de force filled with blistering riffs, blast beats, ear-piercing feedback, and roaring vocals. Bangers like album-opener “Customary” and “Grasping at the Root” will surely get your fists pumping, feet stomping and head banging with straightforward, zero-fucks-given, crossover thrash. This album is no customary or self-satisfying testimony of the genre. Thirdface are aware of this and they bring a load of twists and turns throughout the brutalism and vividness of the songs. The crass mixtures of grindcore and atonal, noisy passages in tracks like “No Requiem for the Wicked” or the savage groove of “Villains!” makes you think these four are not in this game just to screw around. - Álvaro Molina || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

WRITHING SQUARES | "Chart For The Solution"

Trouble In Mind Records

Philadelphia duo Writhing Squares transport us to another reality altogether on Chart For The Solution, perhaps the best escape of this world we’ve been given in 2021. The double LP is cosmic travel in audio form, a sinister blend of psych, kosmiche, krautrock, prog, and no wave that feels both retro and light years into the next millennium thanks to hypnotic synths, bleeding sax, and warped vocals. From mesmerizing to sonically arresting, the band have created an escape but not necessarily toward the better, with tales of annihilation and a caustic tension, this one is a voyage best experienced in full with attention undivided, but it also makes a great soundtrack for any creative adventures. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

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BIG | BRAVE | "Vital"

Southern Lord

Montreal based trio Big|Brave’s previous record, A Gaze Among Them, was one of our favorite albums of 2019. The band have followed it up with their fourth full length, Vital, another beautifully heavy record built on piercing feedback and soaring melodies. With each song’s expansive framework, Big|Brave take the opportunity to get stretch out (as they do more often than not), letting every drone and drift careen endlessly. The band’s use of minimal rhythms is always stunning, with the placements carefully chosen, bringing a primal lurch to the otherwise meditative sludge. As always though, it’s Robin Wattie’s vocals that really pull everything together, her voice both commanding and cautious, the perfect way to cut through their atmospheric doom. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

BRONZE NAZARETH & RECOGNIZE ALI | "Season of the Se7en"

Mello Music Group

Last year introduced me to the Recognize Ali, an MC from Detroit via Ghana, and one half of the duo Dueling Experts, who dropped a pair of albums in 2020. The beats on those albums were handled by Lord Beatjitzu whose take on RZA’s production is near perfection. Ali has now teamed up Bronze Nazareth, the Detroit based producer who is an actual member of the Wu-Elements, as reliable a RZA disciple as they come. Season of the Se7en proves to be a perfect match for Recognize Ali’s gravely rhymes and Bronze Nazareth’s dusty loops. Over rolling drums and slow strings, Ali attacks the beats, running over samples and proving himself to be one of the underground’s best voices, bringing a prophetic street knowledge to his lyrics. It’s an impressive statement of a record from start to finish and one of the best hip-hop records so far this year. We hope to see these two continue working together. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

CONWAY THE MACHINE | "La Maquina"

Griselda / Drumwork / Empire Records

These days it’s starting to look like Westside Gunn is the industry figurehead (a la Puffy), Benny The Butcher is the mainstream crossover, and Conway The Machine is the beating heart that remains forever hard, or as he refers it “grimiest of all time.” While last year’s From King To A God played to certain mainstream appeals, La Maquina could be Conway’s most solid effort to date, a record that stays gutter from start to finish with diamond hard beats that don’t even flirt with pop tendencies. This one is a street record and Conway is laser focused, crushing any obstacle with stories from the struggle to the lavishes of success, but it’s with a chip on his shoulder attitude like he still has something to prove, rather than rest on all he’s done so far. Conway still sounds hungry, preparing for the takeover, and pushing himself over a great selection of beats from Bangladesh, Don Cannon, The Alchemist, Daringer, and more. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

CRUMB | "Ice Melt"

Crumb Records

New York’s Crumb are back with Ice Melt, their first new album since the release of Jinx. The band created an enormous buzz with that album and a heavy touring schedule and it’s well deserved, as their music is instantly enjoyable yet complex and nuanced. Swirling together jazzy psych and dreamy pop, they are a rock band at heart, but all edges have been melted and shape is only a concept. Ice Melt takes their signature formula and adds a bit of fuzz into their hypnotic sprawl, grooving through the verses and bending into the static of the space aged echo in the hooks. It’s as smooth as butter. Crumb don’t sound like Stereolab or Broadcast, but they do occupy a similar headspace and a shared brilliance. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

DINOSAUR JR. | "Sweep It Into Space"

Jagjaguwar

About two years ago we said that J Mascis’ Elastic Days was the best thing the legendary musician had released in about a decade. Thankfully that same sentiment can be said about Sweep It Into Space, the latest album from Dinosaur Jr. After a pair of albums that always felt slightly amiss for the trio (maybe due to the high expectations that follow an album as great as Farm), the band sound triumphant on their latest, picking up the same magic they’ve been offering since the 80’s and 90’s. Lead single “I Ran Away” is a gorgeous bit of the band’s “ear-bleeding country,” with a subdued twang, a dense rhythm and some great Mascis lyrics. The remainder of the album follows suit, capturing the band in a return to form, with sharpened songwriting that leans a bit closer to Mascis’ solo efforts and the band’s softer tendencies but with the ever thick rhythmic heft of Lou and Murph. Lets make no mistake though, every song shreds because we are talking about Dinosaur Jr after all. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

LAUNDROMAT | "Red EP"

Brace Yourself Records

Following the great Green and Blue EPs last year, Laundromat complete their EP series with Red. While this is not a collection of King Crimson covers (though that would be cool), we’re always excited to hear new music from Toby Hayes and his Laundromat project. From lead single “Flat Planet,” another slinky gem of dreamy krautrock and heavily “vibing” slacker pop to the slowed sizzle of “Milky,” Hayes has a gift for writing songs like these, with beats you can sink right into, colored with perfect noise pop bursts and earworms of blistering distortion and fuzz, giving us the texture we’ve always dreamed of. Things run in reverse, there’s slightly buried samples, and feedback that becomes downright silky. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

MOONTYPE | "Bodies of Water"

Born Yesterday Records

Bodies of Water introduces a band that have a well-crafted vision of what they want to achieve and the ability to execute that vision almost immaculately. Margaret McCarthy’s brand of no holds barred songwriting is striking and beautiful on so many levels that it’s hard to fully fathom, and her way with words displayed on this record leaves quite an impression. There’s a flow that is mesmerizing and the trio show off their adept takes on alt-country and melodic noise pop with a lingering familiarity that you can’t fully put your finger on. Moontype have produced a confident record that rarely misses the mark on any standard of excellence, which for a debut is pretty astonishing. McCarthy’s vocals are enchanting as Emerson Hunton and Ben Cruz mesh seamlessly as the trio relentlessly hit transcendent moment after transcendent moment. - Kris Handel || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SOUR WIDOWS | "Crossing Over"

EIS Records

On Sour Widows’ second LP, Crossing Over, there is a departure from the alt pop-infused sound of their debut, instead deriving their power from a place of sheer tenderness and meditation. Despite being recorded remotely due to the pandemic, the Bay Area trio has managed to create a harmonious and expansive atmosphere in just four songs. Soft, stirring and serene, Crossing Over seamlessly glides from track to track, showcasing the group’s slowcore sensibilities and ability to craft deeply immersive tracks out of simplicity and lightness. Simply put, Crossing Over is a small collection of infinitely expansive tracks. - Isobel Mohyeddin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SPREAD JOY | "Spread Joy"

Feel It Records

Chicago’s Spread Joy have released their self-titled debut and it’s one of our favorite albums of the year so far. Clocking in at a very lean ten songs in thirteen minutes, it’s a quick listen, and subsequently quick repeat (you’re going to want to listen a few times, trust me). Released via the always dependable Feel It Records (Qlowski, Smirk, Silicone Prairie), the album is expertly delivered tightly coiled post-punk that seeps with the band’s personality, primarily to be found in Briana Hernandez’s charmingly animated vocal performances. Yelping, engaging, and at times utterly deadpan, Hernandez gives a sardonic character to the band’s razor sharp compositions. While only lead single “Unoriginal” breaks the two minute mark, the songs feel fully realized with structures that complete in sub-two minute glory, leading directly into the next. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

WASTE MAN | "One Day It'll All Be You"

Feel It Records

If you were to describe Waste Man’s latest album, One Day It’ll All Be You, as New Orleans’ street-punk, you’d be painting the picture, but leaving out much of the details. The album is undeniably full of rambunctious punk anthems that, while not having gang vocals, could most definitely be shouted by a large group of people. There’s a real dexterity to the band’s music though, part slurred noise rock, part swaggering rock ‘n’ roll, part propulsive garage punk, the band toss elements into the blender and spit them back out in a spirited way, full of frenzy and yet oddly nuanced too. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

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BACHELOR | "Doomin' Sun"

Polyvinyl

Bachelor, the duo of Jay Som’s Melina Duterte and Palehound’s Ellen Kempner have offered the world a string of well-crafted hits. Their debut album, Doomin’ Sun, seems to bring out the best in both of their respective songwriting styles, fusing together with their friendship radiant from the core. It’s ever apparent and the songs really do thrive as a result of feels like a relatively carefree project. With songs that capture the glory of classic alternative rock, there’s a great chemistry the two have that oozes into the twangy guitars, the circular riff patterns, and the heavy hum of the low end. It’s sugary and intelligent, shinning like the sun, doomed or otherwise. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

BLACK MIDI | "Cavalcade"

Rough Trade

London’s Black Midi truly are the most unlikely of buzz bands. The quartet play a borderline inaccessible blend of prog and post-punk with a graceful technicality and a penchant for off-kilter melodic sensibilities. The praise is well deserved though and it’s always impressive when a band this strange is accepted into mass culture. Their sophomore album, Cavalcade, remains every bit as freaked out and progressive as the best moments of Schlagenheim, but goes further, weirder, and jazzier. From the stuttering stop and start pounding of “John L,” the band launch into the unknown with a complexity that’s always well-constructed, with a composers attention to detail. It may not hit as immediately as the band’s debut but the challenges the band present are more than worth the time to takes to sink in, entering their world and leaving this one behind us. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

CZARFACE & MF DOOM | "Super What?"

Silver Age Records

Originally set for release in 2020 before the devastating passing of MF DOOM, the trio of Czarface (the legendary Inspectah Deck, Esoteric, and 7L on the beats) teamed up once again with the metalface super villain for their second collaborative effort, Super What?. Much like the Czarface Meets Metalface album before it, the three MCs sound like they are having a blast, rhyming circles around comic book culture and boom-bap glory. Songs flow directly into one other with patchwork production that hits hard and loose, allowing DOOM to do his thing in great company. While it feels like a posthumous release due to timing, this one isn’t a cut and paste effort, and while DOOM might not feature on every track, he does deliver some gems that sit with his finest work. - DG || LISTEN: Spotify

FACS | "Present Tense"

Trouble In Mind Records

Present Tense doesn’t have time for a meet and greet. It opens in media res; percussion bomb blasts, a gristling base, and snaring garage riffs and bloodshot vocals. If you know FACS, and by that I mean Noah Leger’s blown out drums, Alianna Kalaba’s doom drenched bass grooves, and Brian Case’s sputtering ellipses and noise pulses, then you’re already home. Over the past few years, the Chicago trio’s annual dispatches (on Trouble in Mind) have seen significant augmentation that parallel FACS’ previous form, Disappears. Where the latter practically took the post-punk playbook until they arrived at a void-driven strain of post-post-punk, FACS continued tinkering with that strain. Reveling in it enough to the point of becoming both gothic cyborgs and brutalist jam machines. - Matty McPherson || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

L'ORANGE & NAMIR BLADE | "Imaginary Everything"

Mello Music Group

A new record from L’Orange is always a reason for excitement, as the producer has given us modern staples like Marlowe (with Solemn Brigham), his work with Jeremiah Jae, and collaborations with vets like Kool Keith and Mr. Lif. Imaginary Everything finds L’Orange teaming up with Nashville’s Namir Blade, an MC and producer that has a colorful spectrum that was explored on last year’s spaced out Aphelion's Traveling Circus. Together they seem to bring the best out in one another with beats that crackle open and hit hard on the boom-bap vibes and funky wah-wah soaked guitars. It’s the perfect psychedelic set for Namir Blade to cruise over, kicking out rhymes with a playful style that tramples the beat but never comes across self-serious. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

MACH-HOMMY | "Pray For Haiti"

Griselda Records

After several years doing his own thing (and releasing a slew of modern hip-hop classics in the process), Mach-Hommy has teamed up with Griselda Records once again, the immediate result his new album, Pray For Haiti. Executive produced (or “curated” as they like to say in the “high art” world of Griselda) by Westside Gunn, the album finds Mach-Hommy doing what he does best, spitting hazy raps over warped production that works with his dexterous delivery, punch lines and abstract bars swirling together for what he describes as “Mach-phonics” on “The 26th Letter.” The real highlight of the album may be “Magnum Band” pairing Mach-Hommy together with co-conspirator Tha God Fahim, the pair going in over a tough as nails piano beat that’s both dreamy and mountainous thanks to the echo of the rhythm. Mach-Hommy delivers triple folded rhymes of braggadocios fly shit like this gem, “catalog one in a trillion, Dumplestiltskin, odds stacked against me and I still win.” You gotta give love for the Dump Gawd gifting the world, “Dumplestiltskin.” - DG || LISTEN: Spotify

MCKINLEY DIXON | "For My Mama And Anyone Who Look Like Her"

Spacebomb Records

For My Mama And Anyone Who Look Like Her unabashedly expresses the totality of the artist in a project that succeeds at combining aggression and cynicism with the message that pure love, sincerity, and vulnerability are some of the most crucial feelings needed to survive and thrive. McKinley Dixon delivers this range of emotions with confidence as he submits the conclusion to a trilogy of projects that present Dixon’s processing of his own and others lives as a part of the greater Black experience. As For My Mama jumps from quick and poignant raps to lingering and catchy hooks sometimes incorporating other vocalists, Dixon can be heard processing his trauma and anger in context to the passage of time and progression of life. It’s the confidence in voice and sound that creates an incredible atmosphere in each song that allows for constant variety and complex tracks. With For My Mama, McKinley Dixon has created a project that tells a tale of deep emotion and vulnerability. Through an incredibly versatile use of sound and an incredibly honest dictation of his own life and his own struggles, Dixon delivers an amazing piece of work. - Ross Atkinson || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

MESH | "Mesh"

Born Yesterday Records

Mesh are an awesome new post-punk band from Philadelphia, one that gets better with every repeat listen. Having released a three song demo back in 2019, the band’s official self-titled debut EP is here and everyone is rightfully taking notice. The record is tightly wound, with hard and jittery rhythmic coils and guitars that peel away at the foundation. They make post-punk in the vein of Wire and Swell Maps, but where most of the “revival” bands go for a steely disposition, Mesh seem to prefer their attack to be rattled, fuzzy, and delightfully melodic. There’s more of a spiritual similarity with bands like Uranium Club or Research Reactor Corp as Mesh lay on their conspiracy theories and cultural disdain with a thick tongue-in-cheek charm. Rolling over mesmerizing rhythms, their debut is punk with a krautrock touch, steadily ripping, constantly grooving. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

PACKS | "Take The Cake"

Fire Talk Records

For any long time readers of the site, you’ll know that we’ve been singing the praises of PACKS (formerly known as PAX) for quite a while now. The Toronto band make dreary lo-fi and tapey pop among the best of them, warping sounds and layering on just the right subtle touches to keep it all interesting. Now the group has joined Fire Talk Records and released their stunning “proper” debut. It finds all the hallmarks of a great PACKS songs in place, dizzying vocal deliveries from Madeline Link, flashes of blunted sunspots and aural squiggles, everything wrapped together for a wondrous calm. There’s a certain kind of stoned joy that comes with every song, pulled from their woozy mystique that makes Link’s songs so infectious. Chilled out yet never boring, the drums stutter around, the guitars come in and out of focus, the warble of the recordings accent the syrupy downer vibes that sit somewhere between bands like Helvetia and early Cat Power. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

PET FOX | "More Than Anything"

EIS Records

Boston band Pet Fox, composed of Theo Hartlett and Morgan Luzzi of Ovlov and Jesse Weiss (formerly of Palehound), continue to expand on their respective styles. More Than Anything, the trio’s latest three track EP, is in line with their previous releases, but this time around, they keep the songs shorter, sweeter, and embedded with a tried-and-true, upbeat indie energy. Theo Hartlett’s vocals and songwriting may be what’s most remarkable here, as there’s a noted, natural progression in his approach that wonderfully entices. The EP feels both expected and promising. It continues to tread in the same waters of the members’ other projects - which is a great thing - but makes steps towards a more mature, astutely crafted and accessible sound. While refined, it’s not too simple or even stale. - Zach Zollo || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SQUID | "Bright Green Field"

Warp Records

If you only have room to embrace one buzz band, let it be Squid. After a string of exceptionally great singles and then an EP that didn’t quite live up that promise, Bright Green Field is the bold and chaotic masterpiece full length we were always here for. The band’s mix of wonky motorik rhythms, art-rock influences, and punk abandon come together brilliantly throughout an unapologetic record of songs that are both hypnotic and ruthless. It’s “psych rock” for a generation of shattered mental states, a never ending parade of delusion with a cosmic persistence. With one of the best agitated yelps there is, Oliver Judge’s croons and shouts blend together seamlessly, a rollercoaster of sonic and mental disparity. The manic outpours coupled together with the band’s locked in grooves make for one of the year’s best records. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SUPREME JOY | "Joy"

Self Released

Following a great solo album in 2017 and amid an impeccable run with Cool Ghouls, at some point Ryan Wong moved from the Bay Area down to Colorado. While little has changed but the scenery, he’s back with another project, Supreme Joy. Their debut album’s title, JOY, could be a bit misleading. While it’s most definitely a joy (even a “supreme joy”) to listen to Wong and co.’s songs, they don’t necessarily come from a place that oozes happiness and excitement. JOY was written by Wong during a time of civil unrest and a great deal of identity crisis. However heavy those feelings and soul searching may weigh, the band’s mix of psych pop, slacker fuzz, and dreamy punk jangle give everything an uplifting sheen. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

TEKE::TEKE | "Shirushi"

Kill Rock Stars

Shirushi, the debut full length from Montreal’s TEKE::TEKE is a wild amalgamation of sounds, a perfect vision brought to life by a seven piece band where every element plays an essential part in the cinematic wonder. The album is a boiling mix of traditional Japanese instrumentation, surf-rock, retro psych, no-wave, punk, and maybe a touch of free jazz and noise rock. It shouldn’t work, but it does, and it’s fairly incredible. It could come across as gimmicky, but TEKE::TEKE’s music is the embodiment of sincerity, this is who are they are and where they come from. With vocals performed entirely in Japanese and inspiration from Takeshi ‘Terry’ Terauchi’s guitar playing, the band slink between unglued chaos and horn assisted soul, sultry one moment and boisterous the next. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

YAUTJA | "The Lurch"

Relapse Records

There is no force in metal and its many sub-genres quite like Yautja, a band who defy all odds and simply crush at all times. The band’s new album and first for Relapse Records, The Lurch, is nothing sort of a masterpiece of artful sludge and metal at its most intelligent, putting them in a similar league as forward thinking bands like Sumac and Botch. Which isn’t to say they sound like those bands, but more share that spirit of pushing down boundaries. The Lurch is immaculately dense, moving with the force of a herd of elephants and a relentless ferocity burning a trail of never ending riffs and fills in its wake. The three members shred with a shared complexity, each one encouraging the other in terms of pushing technical ability, raw aggression, and a dynamic brutality rarely seen. For those keeping an AOTY lists at-home, put Yautja at the top. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

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BIRDS OF MAYA | "Valdez"

Drag City Records

Before there was Purling Hiss, Spacin’, or Watery Love, there was Birds of Maya, a reckless garage psych band that plays blown-out caveman punk that was both loud and free. The trio’s sound was dangerously lo-fi, rattling speakers with bluesy distortion and extended jams that went way beyond the point of mind-melting. They never released anything that had even a passing “studio sound,” until now. Valdez, recorded back in 2014 but never previously released, is out now on Drag City, and while no one would dare describe the sound as clean (it’s far from it), there’s definitely a higher fidelity, a positive development. The band’s bleeding distortion sonic cocktail and power-trio fury is still as chaotic as they come (think Feral Ohms but further off the rails). Slurred vocals and surging guitars battle against pounding rhythms, everything awash in feedback and a layer of fuzz so thick you could swim in it. The band lock into free falls of blistering shredding and peel away the rust with sheer force. It’s a swarm thick enough to get lost in, perfect for the summertime heat. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

HELVETIA | "Essential Aliens"

Joyful Noise Recordings

After two fantastic releases in 2020 (which ranked among the best of last year), we were mentally prepared to have a 2021 without a new release from the majestic Helvetia. Thankfully for us all, Jason Albertini’s creative well knows no limits and his long running project have released their tenth album, Essential Aliens. Albertini sounds as vibrant as ever, with another batch of incredible warbly lo-fi psych, beautifully produced and carefully textured. It’s both dreamy and anxious, swirling feelings and mental concerns together into something like slow dripping cosmic meandering psych. The gravel ripped tonality feels undeniably warm, subtly dense, and loaded with the lite touches that make Helvetia one of the best bands going. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

L'RAIN | "Fatigue"

Mexican Summer Records

Destined to be one of the year’s biggest break-through artists, Brooklyn’s L’Rain hardly needs our support but we’d be remiss not to praise her majestical new album, Fatigue. The collaborative project of multi-instrumentalist Taja Cheek takes a kaleidoscopic approach to song creation throughout her sophomore album, a collection that feels much like a beautifully surreal collage. In conversation you’ll hear L’Rain’s music described as anything from R&B to prog, and incredibly enough, it all makes sense. She’s not creating with a sound in mind but a spirit of creativity, putting pieces together to create the overall shape of her music, wherever it may fit. The mix of glitchy pop, synthetic psych, and textured R&B is an escapist ambiance, with L’Rain’s words and gorgeous voice at its heart. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

MARINA ALLEN | "Candlepower"

Fire Records

Mystical and mysterious, Marina Allen’s debut album Candlepower feels like a spirit winding and warping its way through the alleys of San Francisco or the canyons of LA at the hazy tail-end of the 1960s. Allen conjures up phantasmagoric melodies that clink and clash with haunting chimes and radiant guitar strums, questions and superstitions hovering over groovy bass with touches of saxophone, flute, and keyboard. Percussion casts a spell under Allen’s swirling voice, a fall in slow motion, words reflecting a desire to leave, to begin again, renewed and on a quest for refuge and clarity. Contemplation in a comfortable space, on the verge of knowing a serene sense of confidence. It’s the soundtrack of someone searching for something, always on the brink of finding it, just in sight of the light. - Joe Gutierrez || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

MOUNTAIN MOVERS | "World What World"

Trouble In Mind Records

The latest in Mountain Movers’ deepening discography, World What World shows the New Haven, Connecticut band continuing to explore their own beautifully distorted landscape. It’s single, “Way Back to the World,” is a Crazy Horse-esque anthem that at first gives the impression that this might be the record where the lyrics and structure come to the foreground - a feeling that is quickly dismissed by an oscillating, overdriven solo that threatens to derail the entire ensemble. Where most bands would fall apart, Mountain Movers thrive. This willingness to deconstruct such climactic moments is what makes the band’s records exciting, and always worth revisiting ... Crucial to the band’s sound is the live and unrestrained form that each album takes; a performance that’s tastefully edited to fit the LP format. An editorial hand guides us through tracks that start (what feels like) midway through a longer jam, and others that fade out not long after achieving altitude. - Ross Jenkins || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

OPTIONS | "On The Draw"

Self Released

Chicago-based studio whiz Seth Engel has put out a steady annual drip of self-produced bedroom-rock since 2013. On the Draw is not only one of the best Options releases so far, it’s one of the best pop rock collections in recent memory. Presented as a “summer 2021 mixtape,” Engel’s latest is a nimble and gripping batch of bass-driven tunes that rarely breach the two minute mark. Hit repeat: On the Draw confidently leans into brevity, and will only leave you hungry for more. Options’ latest is all hits, no filler. Seth Engel crams pop appeal into every moment of On the Draw; melodic bass hooks, lead-tone arpeggios and cranking solos coexist in colorfully tight quarters. - Patrick Pilch || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

PART CHIMP | "Drool"

Wrong Speed / Learning Curve Records

With Drool, Part Chimp’s third release since their break, the South London band seem to make the case that their first six years were just a lead-up to the earth-shaking post-hardcore they’d produce during their second coming. The looser, faster songs from their earlier catalog have, by Drool, all but entirely been supplanted by the thunder-heeled, mid-tempo thumpers that always were Part Chimp’s real speciality. Focusing on those big, head-banging grooves have given the band a shape and a fullness reminiscent of Torche or any number of Relapse bands, from the first drop of “Back from the Dead” to the marching beat of the title track. Even the noisy transitional tracks that dot this sixth full-length feel more controlled and complete than their squealing counterparts on the earlier run of records. So, too, do the vocals of frontman Tim Cedar. Where he once could sound overly choked (and, often, completely buried), Drool finds Cedar at his perhaps most confident and developed. - Jeremy Zerbe || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

POM POM SQUAD | "Death Of A Cheerleader"

City Slang Records

Mia Berrin - the lead singer, songwriter and driving force of Pom Pom Squad - wanted to be a cheerleader. As a person of color discovering herself in a position of disadvantage at a John Hughes-esque high school, Berrin was infatuated with the social power these girls carried, their expressions of femininity coveted by the male gaze. They were a constant reminder of everything she wasn’t... or at least, what she was led to believe she couldn’t be. With Death of a Cheerleader, all these horrid, asinine assumptions are laid to rest in an enthralling fusion of 90s emo, riot grrl and grunge. Berrin, with a blistering attitude and personal freedom indebted to self-discovery, establishes herself as a songwriter of raw pathos. The kind where every plucked string is a “fuck you.” The kind where snark and melodrama are cherished tenets of a sound and style. The kind that’s so fundamentally queer, it’s inspiring. - Zach Zollo || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SEPUTUS | "Phantom Indigo"

Willowtip Records

The long-in-the-works new Seputus album does not disappoint. The savagely experimental sophomore album is the masterwork of Pyrrhon drummer Steve Schwegler, who plays both guitar and drums for the band, in addition to composing their menacing chaos, while his Pyrrhon bandmates Doug Moore and Erik Malave handle the vocals and bass, respectively. Give the drummer some, damnit. Phantom Indigo is dense and brutal, an album with death metal at its core, but the rules of genre have been dismantled and disintegrated in the name of colossally heavy extreme metal. It’s technical and psychedelic, a ruthlessly crushing record that twists and twists and twists until you have no idea which way is forward and what was happening in the first place. It’s decisively brilliant and jaw-dropping more often than not (see “Tautology”). - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SOURSOB | "Soursob"

HoZac Records

Having formed in Glasgow, Soursob’s roots are spread between the UK, Australia, and Europe, bringing global ideas of punk together to create one brilliantly raw debut album. Their trio’s self-titled record is minimal punk at it’s most skeletal, but there’s not a thing missing from their spirited dismissal of modern luxuries, as they take the piss out of everything from TV to shoegaze music. It’s funny music that never even hints at being funny, the band deliver their disdain with stone-faced sincerity. The minimal structures work so well with sludgy bass tones, doubled vocals, and post-punk beats to build the framework. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SWEET WILLIAMS | "What's Wrong With You"

Gringo Records

The syrupy sludge of Sweet Williams is instantly identifiable and yet nearly undefinable. It’s slow, tense, heavy, and often abrasive, creating something with the dexterity of post-hardcore, the patient beauty of slowcore, and the raw tonality of noise rock, and yet all those genre tags feel somewhat off. It’s that artistic blend that becomes something else altogether that has been at the core of Thomas House’s project since he formed the band a decade ago in England. Now based in Spain, there has always been a collective approach to Sweet Williams with House as the one constant, the ragged soul of the music, scraped across the layers of distortion, feedback, and that impenetrable sludge that really defines their sound. What’s Wrong With You finds House joined by the members of Picore (a band he also plays in) to flesh out each song, with a mix of atonal drifts, dragged-through-the-mud melodies, building motorik tension, and plenty of colossal dirge. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

THA GOD FAHIM | "Dump Gawd: Stock Lord"

Self Released

As of writing this post the only way to hear Tha God Fahim’s latest album, Dump Gawd: Stock Lord, is to go ahead and buy yourself a copy via his Bandcamp page, which we certainly recommend to anyone into Fahim’s music. While many of the songs are also on his Youtube page, the collection pulls together a prolific few months for him, with the bulk of the record self produced. As always, Fahim’s flow and style of delivery feels off the cuff and effortless, an MC rapping because it comes natural and he’s got stories to tell. The mix of jazzy beats and simple soul samples allow Tha God Fahim to deliver old school hip-hop at his absolute best, spitting lyrics like he still has something to prove. There was a period where Fahim’s music got me through a tough time in my life and with each new release it feels like a reminder that things will ultimately be okay if you manifest it. - DG || PURCHASE: Bandcamp

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BABEHOVEN | "Nastavi, Calliope”

Self Released

Nastavi, Caliope, the latest EP from Babehoven, the outlet for artist Maya Bon, is a must listen. Written in the wake of twin upheavals – the death of her dog and the reunion with her estranged father, Nastavi, Caliope captures the sadness, anger, isolation, and monotony of these moments, transforming them into a musically and emotionally compelling seven tracks. Musically, Babehoven explores space and dynamics to great effect. Her songs are layered with sparse and crescendoing guitars, synths, and programmed drums (as on “Bad Week” or “Annie’s Shoes”). The openness of the instrumentation complements Bon’s vocal melodies, which are variously haunting, lachrymose, and captivating. - Matt Watton || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

CRAVEN IDOL | "Forked Tongues"

Dark Descent Records

There’s an unholy amount of evil carnage to Craven Idol’s third full length, Forked Tongues, a ritualistic shred fest that pulls from thrash, black metal, and the occasional death metal influence. Released via Dark Descent, the London based band tear away at full speed, decimating with an unreal sense of urgency, a constant avalanche of riffs, and relentless blast beats. By the end of the album the band have moved beyond the traditional and into unique territory, thrashing over expanded structures that twist and turn with fiery depravity. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

IZZY TRUE | "Our Beautiful Baby World"

Don Giovanni Records

Chicago indie-rock band Izzy True speaks to comfort and new truths on their third album, Our Beautiful Baby World. Joined by Sam Goldstein and Curtis Oren, the band is fronted by Izzy Reidy, who has always explored versatility in her sound; but this album is defined by its experimental arrangements and poignant lyrics. Our Beautiful Baby World combines influences of jazz, classic rock, and modern elements of indie to deliver their stories with the greatest poise. In a world of political and social fragility, Izzy True addresses inner and outer revelations. - Rachel Min Leong || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

LYSOL | "Soup For My Family"

Feel It Records

Seattle’s Lysol play the type of punk that is damn near impossible not to enjoy. The quartet have released a slew of singles and demos over the past six years and earned a reputation for their live performances in the Pacific Northwest, but that buzz has spread worldwide with their full length debut, Soup For My Family. Out via the incomparable Feel It Records, Lysol have crafted a record that hits the sweet spot between hardcore, punk, and garage rock, with songs that rip and shred with sweat soaked tenacity. The record is loose and ramshackle, feeling both corrosive and a bit sardonic. The band shift tempos between pounding hardcore rhythms and spirited garage punk stomps, colliding head first into their raw energy with a deranged sense of melodic rust. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

MEGA BOG | "Life, And Another"

Paradise of Bachelors

Life, and Another is a fourteen-track, 44-minute affair, transmitted with the descriptor, Sci-Fi (“skiffy”) Pop, and yes, with James Krivchenia of the notorious B.I.G. Thief producing the sound palette is ripe of the sort. If there is a novum for what Mega Bog is currently accomplishing and presenting, then it is found within that synthesis of Erin Birgy’s lyricism and madcapper sonic arrangements. To do so with a flush music palette is no small feat. Many similar artists chew at the scenery or find themselves playing with entendres. Yet, Birgy’s words are deep in lockstep with the sound. Right now, it all works to convey inscrutable, cryptid feelings better than anyone in the game—the kind that makes you silently weep as much as laugh with your belly. On Life, and Another, Birgy excels at that tightwire act. - Matty McPherson || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

MUI ZYU | "A Wonderful Thing Vomits"

Father/Daughter Records

As a huge fan of both Dama Scout releases, we were thrilled about the introduction of Mui Zyu, a new project from London’s Eva Liu. “Pour A Brain,” the first single, instantly pulls you into its world of A Wonderful Thing Vomits, one that’s slowly building, intrinsically disorienting, and most of all, gorgeously dreamy. The stubbed bass notes of the lead single rattle and contort, the dark and doomy atmosphere a perfect juxtaposition for Mui Zyu’s comforting vocals. Mui Zyu pulls at the compositions, warping electronic pop into slow dripped experimentation that represents both her culture and her displacement from it, bending the music appropriately to match. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

PSYCHIC FLOWERS | "For The Undertow"

Living Lost / RIP Records

Led by David Settle (Big Heet, The Fragiles, Ex-Breathers), the band have been continuously upping the ante with each album and they continue to do so on For The Undertow. The record was recorded by Settle with Leo Suarez on drums and mixed and mastered by Justin Pizzoferatto (Dinosaur Jr, Krill, Halfsour) once again. The sound is big and overdriven, blasting power-pop melodies with an enormous wall of fuzz and distorted crunch. It’s everything that Psychic Flower’s catalog has been building toward and for the first time, its pressed to vinyl to really get your speakers rattling. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

RESEARCH REACTOR CORP + PRISON AFFAIR | "Split"

Erste Theke Tontraeger

The pairing of Sydney’s Research Reactor Corp. and Barcelona’s Prison Affair is what a perfect split EP is all about. The scuzzy post-punk bands (“egg punk” if you will) both had great releases within the last year or so, playing heavily deranged synth punk that’s both energetic and down right disgusting. Their music compliments each other well, darting around sharp angles and with a rattled alien-like intensity. While this release is barely ten minutes in length, both band’s cram in plenty of sordid and psychedelic punk that’s as chaotic as it is fun. These bands don’t take themselves too seriously and it’s for the better, giving their grimier tendencies a sense to ooze into the ramshackle delivery and triumphantly lo-fi production. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp

SMILE MACHINE | "Bye For Now"

EIS Records

Smile Machine may be a new name, but Jordyn Blakely is most definitely a familiar face on the music grid, having played drums for a cadre of who's who in the "indie" music universe. On Bye for Now, Blakely places herself front and center of a muscular and versatile EP that shows off her range as a musician and so much more. She incorporates bits and pieces of the countless musicians/bands she's worked with over the past decade and puts them all in a blender to create a furious attack. The melodies Smile Machine is able to coax out of these songs is indelible and prove themselves irresistible on a number of levels, a creative force of extreme strength. - Kris Handel || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SNAPPED ANKLES | "Forest of Your Problems”

The Leaf Label

From out the trees, Snapped Ankles have returned, still fully committed to making the best and most hypnotic dance punk and krautrock infused post-punk of the era. Drawing influences somewhere between The B52s and Can, the London band’s third album, Forest of Your Problems, continues to sharpen their madness into electronic beats and mesmerizing sonic density. The record is full of motorik boogie, spoken and chanted punk vocals, and lyrics that are both hilarious and sociopolitical with an emphasis on the environment, the economy, and class warfare, all thinly veiled behind the band’s cloak of nature and wilderness. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

UPPER WILDS | "Venus"

Thrill Jockey Records

Upper Wilds return with their latest album Venus, an anthemic and immediate record that does not let up for a second. The title of the album is apt because what you get on this record is ten love songs, all with some sort of story or allegory about love. Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, would be grateful that something this good shares her name. The first thing that is apparent when listening to Venus is just how insane the guitars are on every song. Each track is packed with some sort of wonderful guitar sound that is always satisfying, never lacking anything. It is all exciting, all the time. - Scott Yohe || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

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BOLDY JAMES & THE ALCHEMIST | "Bo Jackson"

ALC Records

Detroit’s Boldy James was on a tear last year, dropping one great album after another, the most high-profile of which was The Price of Tea in China, his collaboration with The Alchemist. The duo are back together again for Bo Jackson, their latest full length and quite possibly the best project either has released in recent memory (which says a lot as they’ve both been having a pretty flawless run). James has never sounded better than he does on this record, lacing cold street rap with vibrant lyricism and an endlessly effective flow. This record is easily one of the year’s best hip-hop albums, and one of the year’s best overall. - DG || LISTEN: Spotify

BRNDA | "Do You Like Salt?"

Crafted Sounds

Washington, DC’s BRNDA are soon approaching a decade together as a band, a longevity that’s produced two full lengths and most recently, 2018’s Thanks For Playing EP. Last year and all it’s ample time gave the trio a chance to complete their third record, Do You Like Salt?, capturing the band at their artist punk best, engineered by Dischord staple Justin Moyer. Released via Crafted Sounds, it’s an album that finds its own groove, sputtering and darting around impeccably tight rhythms and an irreverent sense of humor, drawing comparisons to bands past (PYLON) and present (Fake Fruit). - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

FASHION PIMPS & THE GLAMAZONS | "Jazz 4 Johnny"

Feel It Records

The outrageously named Fashion Pimps and the Glamazons are digging deep into the punk sludge on their debut album, Jazz 4 Johnny. Out via Feel It Records, the Cleveland based band (featuring members of The Cowboy, Cloud Nothings, Donkey Bugs, etc) make post-punk at its most sordid, pulling elements of no-wave and noise rock into the mix, creating something decidedly atonal and darkly entertaining. It’s often reminiscent of Spray Paint due to the layered vocals, but with a greasier, more sinister feel. This isn’t a project to over analyze. This is grade-A scuzz so just dive in and let the skronky filth wash over you. This one is a diamond in rough (very in the rough). - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

FLORRY | "Big Fall"

12XU Records

Big Fall is full of songs that bend and bop, dip and soar, swing and twang. Florry’s Sheridan Frances ‘Francie’ Medosch serves up a potpourri of melancholic acoustic numbers, heady barn-burners, saloon confessionals, and even an electropop extravaganza. Exuberance and celebration abound on a journey towards happiness and self-assuredness. It isn't a stretch to compare the eclectic Big Fall to Neil Young’s best records; Medosch not only draws upon Shakey’s folky flair, but also takes that composed and courageous deep dive into the unknown, in pursuit of that special sound. It is a profound 21st century entry into the luminous chasm of Cosmic American Music. - Joe Gutierrez || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

PILE | "Songs Known Together Alone"

EIS Records

Terror and trauma are not typically what you want an album to remind you of, but then again, there’s not a whole lot of albums that so specifically exist because of such life-altering circumstances. Songs Known Together, Alone, Rick Maguire’s compelling re-imagining of fifteen Pile songs pulled from across their discography, owes a debt to the pandemic that derailed his 2020 solo tour. Yet, we still win. The resulting album is as magnificent as it is terrifically lonely. Silver linings aside, Songs Known Together, Alone exemplifies the artist’s versatility while proving that art is no static thing. It is resilient through its ability to change. Perhaps there’s a lesson in that. Listening to Maguire belt it out for an hour hammers it home. - Benji Heywood || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

PINK SIIFU | "Gumbo'!"

Dynamite Hill

Following two great collaborative releases with Fly Anakin and last year’s punk/noise rap extravaganza, NEGRO, Pink Siifu returns with his latest full length, GUMBO’!, a record that radiates “feeling” and a cosmic spirituality as decadent as they come. Taking influence from the legendary Dungeon Family (always a great idea), Siifu slides and contorts from track to track with a rich atmosphere that feels both welcoming and triumphantly alien. It’s a mix of soul, funk, jazz, and of course hip-hop, and Pink Siifu transcends it all to create something rich and freeform. If the appearances of Big Rube and Georgia Anne Muldrow are anything to go by, this one is a cerebral listen, a vision from beyond this reality. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

STUCK | "Content That Makes You Feel Good"

EIS Records

Change Is Bad, Stuck’s full length debut, was easily one of our favorite records of 2020, a sort of reimagined post-punk that drew on noise rock and post-hardcore to create tension within its otherwise steely disposition. The band returned in August with Content That Makes You Feel Good, a new EP that picks up where they left off with an increased intensity and sarcastic animosity, brought to life against the police, Spotify, and the evil that lurks in plain sight. Greg Obis’ lyrics have sharpened and become increasing direct, his words every bit as aggravated and insightful (albeit often sarcastic) as the tight post-punk that lies beneath. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

THA GOD FAHIM & NICHOLAS CRAVEN | "Dump Gawd: Shot Clock King Vol. 1 & 2"

Nature Sounds

You can’t keep the Dump Gawd down, because he’s always dumping releases on us, staying busy with a host of collaborators. This year he’s released two records together with Your Old Droog, a solo full length, and two EPs that find him back together with producer Nicholas Craven. Those records, Dump Gawd: Shot Clock King Vol. 1 & 2, were released just a few weeks apart at the beginning and end of August, a pair of jazzy dust-bin gems on the production side with Tha God Fahim’s direct and off the cuff lyricism bringing an immediacy that’s best described as “street casual”. - DG || LISTEN: Youtube | Spotify

TROPICAL FUCK STORM | "Deep States"

Joyful Noise Recordings

Melbourne’s Tropical Fuck Storm released their third album (in four years), Deep States, via Joyful Noise Recordings, another exceptional album that gets better with each repeated listen. The record seems to take on worldwide political themes with a rather unwound sensibility, taking cues from all sides of the conversation (which is to say the songs are not all written from whatever the band’s perspective may be). It’s dangerous at times to play sordid characters, but we’ve come to expect and embrace some sort of maniacal discourse from the quartet. The band deliver their usual brilliant swarm of warped guitars and detached rhythms with radiant pop melodies that are bent beyond radio accessibility while retaining a wonky catchiness. With every TFS release, you get out of it what you put it into it. Spend time with this one and you’ll soon be pulled into their world of impending annihilation and societal flaws. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

WATER FROM YOUR EYES | "Structure"

Wharf Cat Records

Brooklyn-based experimental dance duo Water From Your Eyes’ “concept” album Structure jerks you between harmonious 60's pop, crushing industrial dance, and sprechgesang curiosities, and back again. Nate Amos and Rachel Brown’s latest offering reveals both their penchant for eclectic genre experimentation and their inquisitive process. Half of the songs on Structure pull from the same set of lyrics—including the night and day versions of “Quotations”—as if Amos and Brown wanted to try every possible combination. The lyrics are abstracted to nearly the edge of meaning, allowing instead for the focus to be on how the music makes you feel and move. Structure manages to avoid emotional whiplash by offering spoken-word interludes as breaks, but even then it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the catharsis the album has to offer. A few cheeky feints at the idea of a concept album (like titling the sixth track "Track Five") keep things from veering into pretentious territory—after all, Water From Your Eyes is, at its core, a dance project. Structure is the duo's best album yet, all this rigorous sculpting and experimentation resulting in an electronic sensory journey that will leave you winded and bleary-eyed as you try to make sense of the last half hour. - Alyana Vera || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

WEDNESDAY | "Twin Plagues"

Orindal Records

Wednesday’s second album is driven by dynamics. Screeching, crunchy guitars materialize with a wail and hiss only to disappear suddenly and give way to ghostly vocal whisps and tip-toeing guitar lines. The lyrics cobble together half-remembered moments of days past, at once fleeting visions and permanent mental fixtures. The apparent contradictions – the loud and the soft, the sludgy and the soft-spoken, the shoegaze and the slide guitar – combine and swell into razor-edge tension to convey powerful emotions and cathartic release. Standout tracks include: ‘Twin Plagues,’ ‘They Burned Down a Dairy Queen,’ and ‘Toothache,” but the album’s full force is felt in digging in and listening from start to finish. - Matt Watton || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

ZELMA STONE | "The Best"

Self Released

San Fransisco’s Chloe Zelma Studebaker records music under the name Zelma Stone, creating a beautiful blend of indie rock with a touch of post-punk, folk, and Americana twang that should appeal to fans of Angel Olsen and Tenci. Zelma Stone’s latest EP, The Best, is nothing short of mesmerizing. The songs drift between detached and forlorn verses and the boisterous riffs and earworm hooks of the chorus, with an anthemic quality that should have everyone talking about Zelma Stone’s music. It’s gentle but fully developed and built to appeal to a wide range of listeners, from the noir tinged indie to the shimmering folk. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

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AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS | "Comfort To Me"

ATO Records

There’s no dearth of hard-rocking, infectious Australian bands these days. Amyl and the Sniffers have been the vanguard of this revival with their particular brand of snotty, indignant, bash-your-head-in rock. (Refreshingly, there’s nothing “post” about this punk.) The songs are as tight and catchy as ever, with a tasteful mix of primo riffs, hardcore back beats, and fat solos. A standout as ever is Amy Taylor’s vocals and lyrics, which here take a more introspective turn towards themes of self-love, female autonomy, and embodiment. The lead single ‘Guided By Angels’ encapsulates all this album’s best tendencies, and exemplary tracks include ‘Hertz’, ‘Don’t Fence Me In’, and ‘Knifey’. All this makes Comfort to Me the band’s best work yet. - Matt Watton || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

LOW | "Hey What"

Sub Pop Records

The advent of streaming services unceremoniously ended the loudness wars, as artists mastered tracks to be played through computer speakers rather than stereos. Still, there’s something thrilling about Low, a slowcore band from Duluth, absolutely obliterating the competition in 2021 with the loudest album of the year – and it’s not even particularly close. HEY WHAT positively booms. A noisy collection of praise songs that hiss and churn with ferocious beauty, Low has made a wildly original album without losing the simple pleasure of their trademark harmonies. It’s refreshing to hear a band thirty years into a career still pushing the boundaries while still sounding like themselves. - Benji Heywood || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

MACIE STEWART | "Mouth Full Of Glass"

Orindal Records

Macie Stewart has continuously released forward thinking art-pop and indie rock as one half of Chicago’s Ohmme, and now she’s released her solo debut, Mouth Full of Glass. The record is a beautiful mix of serene and avant-garde, a sure footed approach that relies on musicality over any genre boundaries. There’s an orchestrated attention to detail, with songs swelling and resolving with natural grace. “Garter Snake” is one of the year’s highlights, a woozy acoustic song featuring captivating vocals and a very delicate horn arrangement by Sen Morimoto. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

MAXSHH | "Bonus Flowers"

EIS Records

There’s a wide world of wonder contained within Maxshh’s latest album, Bonus Flowers. Created by circumstance when Max Goldstein was literally confined to his bedroom due to a roommate coming down with Covid, he embraced the isolation and limited resources and made his “acoustic” album. Comprised primarily of vocals and acoustic guitars, there’s a baroque elegance and classical complexity to most of the record. The gorgeous music and vocal melodies are juxtaposed by fractured lyrics taken from poetry books, leaving an ocean of “choose-your-own” interpretations. The acoustic songs are balanced by moments of sonic freak-outs, the way only Maxshh is capable of, creating a wide range of dynamics when you least expect them. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

NOLAN POTTER | "Music Is Dead"

Castle Face Records

Nolan Potter kept himself busy during the pandemic with EGGBOUND, Quarantine Quovers Quollection, and most importantly, Music Is Dead. Released last month via Castle Face Records, Potter wrote and performed this one solo but you’d never know it upon listening. The record is utterly enormous, mixing together old school prog rock, psych pop, and the occasional fuzzy metal riff to create something both kaleidoscopic and brilliantly constructed. Nolan Potter is an exceptional musician and an exceptional songwriter, and the wide expanses of his progressive psych come into view repeatedly on Music Is Dead as he gracefully shifts from movement to movement. Potter darts between ethereal moments of King Crimson-like beauty and tension to ELO-tinged cosmic pop with a heavy dose of psych coating it all. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

PEARL & THE OYSTERS | "Flowerland"

Feeltrip Records

With Flowerland, Los Angeles’ Pearl & The Oysters fully embrace the technicolor blend of psych, noise pop, and Tropicália, creating a record with a thick pop sheen and all the heat of the summer. The band’s music video for the title track does much of the same, inviting us into the sunshine with fluorescent filters and VHS tape-esque warbling effects. The glitchy charm matches the record’s stuttered groove, full of AM gold melodies and drum breaks worthy of lo-fi hip-hop. There’s a welcome escapism to it that feels removed from our times, it’s all good vibes and dreamy compositions without a worry in the world. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

PSYCHIC GRAVEYARD | "Veins Feel Strange"

Deathbomb Arc

When you reach a certain pedigree in music, you’re allowed to relax. If your next album takes a bit longer than the traditional album cycle, no one cares, everyone will wait. The members of Rhode Island’s Psychic Graveyard have earned that veteran status, having played in bands that include Arab On Radar, Doomsday Student, All Leather, and Hot Nerds among others, but the idea of relaxing has never crossed their minds. Since forming in 2019 the band have released two full lengths, two EPs, and a string of collaborative singles, and they’ve got album number three, Veins Feel Strange out now. The record is nervy and claustrophobic, as synths and guitars bleed together with a sludgy disdain for melody against a mechanical rhythm that never flinches in the face of “bad circuitry.” It’s delightfully ugly and abrasive, which is business as usual. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SEMIRATRUTH | "I Got Bandz For The Moonlandin'"

Self Released

A prismatic slice of super-rapping from a young Chicago talent. Over the course of 22 minutes, Semiratruth reconciles her desire to escape the horrors of a collapsing nation with the peace that comes from immense self-love. The production, handled largely by Semiratruth herself, constantly shifts beneath her feet, moving from shuffling sample collage to cosmic trap. It packs an impressive amount of ideas into a tiny space; with each listen, Bandz unfurls further, revealing new existential insights from an extraordinarily creative artist wise beyond her years. - Dash Lewis || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SMOKE BELLOW | "Open For Business"

Trouble In Mind Records

Based on their music, Meredith McHugh and Christian J. Best must really love puzzles. The core duo of Smoke Bellow, the Baltimore-via-Australia psych-pop band, revels in fitting together wildly disparate influences to create wholly new sounds. The individual elements are generally recognizable—highlife guitar figures, buzzing Casio chord vamps, melodic vocals gently kissed with reverb—but the songs in which they reside bend them into new shapes, clicking into physics-defying interlocking grooves. Their new record, Open for Business, is an excellent slab of jigsaw pop, collecting pieces they’ve cut out over the course of their discography and arranging them into something beautiful and unexpected. - Dash Lewis || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SOLEMN BRIGHAM | "South Sinner Street"

Mello Music Group

Over the past three years Solemn Brigham has become known for his chameleon flow as one half of Marlowe, his duo with producer L’Orange. The North Carolina natives worked together to introduce the world to Brigham’s charismatic delivery and lyrical gymnastics. After a pair of Marlowe records, Brigham steps out on his own for South Sinner Street, his much anticipated solo debut. Working with producers include Krum, The Lasso, L’Orange and beyond, the record finds Brigham doing what he does best, riding casual beat and moving with a flow that’s forever adapting, approaching each track in a new direction. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SPIRITS HAVING FUN | "Two"

Born Yesterday Records

Spirits Having Fun’s sophomore effort sounds a lot like their name, ephemeral spectres churning around a mansion playing tricks and laughing heartily. The band has a heavy history of improvisation, and that spastic yet measured magic is prevalent in every crunchy riff, every cymbal splash, all the woozy organ and synth flurries. Two is a maze with a kaleidoscopic mural lurking around every corner, a furious and frantic dash through a penny arcade. The band is adept at morphing together and then branching out into distinct melodic tendrils, concocting a potent potion of post-punk, jazz, and psychedelic pop ripe for submergent listening. - Joe Guiterrez || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

WHELPWISHER | "Eerie Dearie"

Self Released

Our love for Whelpwisher, the solo project of Ben Grigg (Babe Report, FCKR JR, Geronimo!) knows no bounds. The Chicago based songwriter writes damn fine songs and his latest album, Eerie Dearie, is no exception. Grigg’s guitars are always set to blistering, with big and bright solos, seismic distortion, and a core rooted in late 80’s and early 90’s underground rock. Every chord is radiant, the choruses thick with earworms, and the deflated vocal melodies that feel bummed out but hopefull. Whelpwisher aren’t reinventing the wheel but they make a really fucking good wheel. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

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APRIL MAGAZINE | "If The Ceiling Were A Kite: Vol. 1"

Tough Love Records

If The Ceiling Were A Kite: Vol. 1 isn’t exactly a new record but rather a collection of April Magazine’s previous output in the way of singles, demos, and EPs. It does however make for a great starting place for anyone interested in the San Francisco collective’s lo-fi pop. The records are raw and full of 4-track bliss, like a white noise machine that instead plays dreamy psychedelic pop as you drift off to slumber. The songs range from syrupy slow jangle to gently whirring drones, but regardless of form or texture, there’s a consistent warmth in their guitars and the celestial embrace they offer. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

ATRÆ BILIS | "Apexapien"

20 Buck Spin

Regardless of how you feel about technical death metal, Atræ Bilis have unleashed a ripper for the damn ages with their latest album, Apexapien. Out via none other than the always reliable 20 Buck Spin (Tomb Mold, Cerebral Rot, Witch Vomit), the band instantly flood all senses with complex blast beats moving at light-speed and primal riffs forever winding tighter. It’s so damn heavy and so damn brutal, with a technicality that’s sure to please the nerdiest of prog metal nerds (in a good way). This is pure sonic annihilation, exorcising demons (or maybe summoning them) and exercising mental capacity at the same time. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

BAD HISTORY MONTH & NYXY NYX | "Death Takes A Holiday"

EIS Records

Sometimes a split release feels inevitable. Case in point, Death Takes A Holiday, an album length split from Boston’s Bad History Month and Philadelphia’s Nyxy Nyx, two impeccable songwriters that have found a great deal of influence among one another over the past few years. With a prolific back catalog between them, the two artists come from a similar background of depressive yet immersive songwriting, the type that captures both the depths and beauty of fractured mental states. Bad History’s songs tend to be lyrically dense and profound (one of the most gifted of our generation) while Nyx’s are often more esoteric, but they bring out the best in each other and each sounds their most focused on this release. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

BIG|BRAVE & THE BODY | "Leaving None But Small Birds"

Thrill Jockey Records

Big|Brave have certainly earned their place among our favorite bands over the years and their recent album, Vital, stands among the year’s best. When it was announced the band had collaborated on a full length with experimental duo The Body our minds began wandering as to what exactly that would sound like, thinking of the sordid noise of The Body’s previous collaborations with Full Of Hell, Thou, and Uniform. Where those efforts followed a recipe of adding chaos to chaos to see just how crazy things can sound, Leaving None But Small Birds on the other hand, is nothing like that. It’s immaculate, a record that finds the compositional and textural bliss of both bands fused together to form something new. The album is sparse and hypnotic, but airy and dare I say somewhat twangy. It’s still heavy, but rather than the apocalyptic sludge either band can produce, they’ve created something closer to cosmic Americana and timeless folk (with a heaping of droning repetition) and we’re here for it. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

DEERHOOF | "Actually, You Can"

Joyful Noise Recordings

The fact that Deerhoof’s latest album (their eighteenth to date) was recorded with each member living in a different city is astonishing because it sounds so damn live. Leave it to Deerhoof to find a way to make everything sound explosive on Actually, You Can, a highly politicized record that bursts out of the speakers with prog, funk, noise pop, and punk woven together as only they can. While we await the return of the band to the world of touring, their studio output continues their legacy as one of our generation’s greatest bands, never out of fresh ideas and brilliantly fractured songwriting. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

DUMMY | "Mandatory Enjoyment"

Trouble In Mind Records

L.A.’s Dummy are purveyors of absolutely blissful drone-pop. The quartet’s motorik rhythms and squealing guitars aim straight for the pleasure centers carved out by Stereolab and Broadcast. For some, those bands are a genre unto themselves; their name checks alone could be all that’s needed to sell a couple more copies of Mandatory Enjoyment. Dummy’s goal, however, isn’t simple imitation. Sure, the hallmarks are there—gently bouncing “ba-ba-ba”s, droning guitar chords, a love of repetition—but the band gently folds in plenty of outside influences. They create a sound that’s reverent to its progenitors but not beholden to their rules. - Dash Lewis || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

FULL OF HELL | "Garden of Burning Apparitions"

Relapse Records

There’s a special kind of fury that envelops all Full of Hell records, one that is unique to them, and unafraid to take risks that always seem to reward. The band’s latest full length, Garden of Burning Apparitions, continues to expand their extreme metal assault with noise rock bile, shifting focus and production techniques to work with their sludgy carnage. With so many elements of heavy music coming head to head and splattering together, the Maryland based band really are creating their own breed of sonic violence that draws as much from metal as it does noise and no wave. Garden of Burning Apparitions is undeniably abrasive and dynamic, a rush of furrowed noise and disgusted tension that filters out of focus and back again. It’s full of texture and inescapable density, where primal and technical come together. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

GUSTAF | "Audio Drag For Ego Slobs"

Royal Mountain Records

Few bands manage to capture the spirit of live music as well as Gustaf. So, when Gustaf's debut album Audio Drag for Ego Slobs was announced, the question was whether their record could capture the energy of their live act. Key to their live appeal is a heady mix of snarky humor and zany energy that could make even the most stone-faced punks uncross their arms and dance along. The narrator on Audio Drag—described by Lydia Gammill as an anti-hero—is loathsome, pitiful, and familiar. What Gammill is doing is exaggerating and reflecting our worst behaviors back at us to comedic effect. - Alyana Vera || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

HELVETIA | "Helvetia presents Sudden Hex"

Joyful Noise Recordings

Helvetia released their second album of the year, though perhaps the credit for this release goes to Sudden Hex, a “side project” of Helvetia’s Jason Albertini. Either way, we’re all in luck as it’s another raw glimpse into the process of Albertini’s songwriting. Released as part of Joyful Noise Recordings’ ongoing Gray Area Cassette Series, Helvetia presents Sudden Hex, finds Albertini creating a set of punk-indebted rippers and fuzzed out rock ‘n’ roll songs (there’s even an homage to Hendrix). It’s clearly still Albertini doing his thing (and no one would question it as a Helvetia record), but it’s brash and abrasive rather than tranquil and psychedelic. These songs don’t feel fussed over, instead Sudden Hex feels like first takes with sonic destruction at its core. - DG || LISTEN: Spotify

ILLUMINATI HOTTIES | "Let Me Do One More"

Hopeless Records

Let Me Do One More is the second true full length from the California based Illuminati Hotties, a record that went through a lot to finally see the light of day. Although the past few years have been rough on many people due to a truly bizarre period of time in history, IH frontperson Sarah Tudzin has experienced trials in regard to releasing music as well as some personal life tumult over this time. On Let Me Do One More there is still some of the added muscle from their prior mixtape, but Tudzin's ear for bouncing and exuberant pop melodies is on full display here and there is an obvious restoration of enthusiasm and enjoyment in the performances and songwriting. - Kris Handel || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

JULIA SHAPIRO | "Zorked"

Suicide Squeeze Records

Best known as the leader of Seattle’s Chastity Belt, guitarist/vocalist Julia Shapiro is back with her second solo album, Zorked. The record is rooted in a heavy shoegaze sense of dread, one that Shapiro has done to perfection. Recorded together with Melina Duterte (Jay Som, Bachelor) in Los Angeles, it’s awesome to hear Shapiro embrace heavier tones and walls of guitars. It’s not all tension and slow crushing riffs though, there are moments of tranquility but the dark and ominous impact at its core is never too far behind. Guitars flicker in shadows, careening with Shapiro’s drifting compositions and a sweet yet haunting vocal melodies. It’s a heavy album both in sound and theme, but you can still hear Shapiro having some fun. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

KOWLOON WALLED CITY | "Piecework"

Neurot Recordings / Gilead Media

Praise be the return of Oakland’s Kowloon Walled City. It’s been six long years since the band released Grievances, their last full length. Following a three-way split earlier this year, the band are back with Piecework, their fourth album, out via Neurot Recordings and Gilead Media. The dense and intelligent record is everything you’ve come to expect from the band, a crushingly sludgy blast of dismal noise rock and post-hardcore fusion with glacial pacing and heaviness. Everything sounds willingly destructive yet precisely clear, a crisp recording of the bubbling chaos and insurmountable tension. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

LA LUZ | "La Luz"

Hardly Art

Not even a global pandemic could slow down La Luz. Sure, they couldn’t tour for awhile, but they played some exceptional streaming shows and recorded their self-titled album together with Adrian Younge. While an unexpected choice for producer, his retro tinged soul production lends itself perfectly to the album that finds La Luz in peak form. There’s whirs of cosmic synths and static-rattled fuzz mixed in for texture, but the general disposition remains serene and gentle, with the band’s knack for multi-part vocal harmonies setting the tone. The band sway between their signature surfy-pop sound, dreamy art-folk, and a warm psychedelic sound that clatters throughout a set of impeccably tight songs. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

ORUÃ | “Íngreme”

Transfusão Noise Records

Rio De Janeiro’s Oruã return after last year’s split single with Disco Doom, with the first new full length in a couple years, the majestic Íngreme. As with everything this band and their members touch, the album is packed with glorious guitar tones and tape recorded fuzz, capturing layers and layers of experimental textures that should appeal to fans of both Stereolab and Duster. Oruã’s music feels like it slinked in from another planet, looked around at all of life simultaneously and then patched it all back together from memory. The guitars are ever radiant but also laid back, allowing the songs to veer closer to dreamy atmospheres and soul-inspired beats than anything overly produced or stagnant. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SPIRIT WAS | "Heaven's Just A Cloud"

Danger Collective Records

Heaven's Just a Cloud is the first full length by Spirit Was, led by Nick Corbo (formerly of LVL UP), which finds itself in a whole new space to explore heavier avenues while maintaining a wonderful melodic ear. A bit of a departure from his previous work, this project allows a whole new universe for the listener to envelop themselves in, one that provides many rewards for doing so. Corbo's guitar-work is masterful in the quieter moments but he is also unafraid to dirty everything up and unleash torrents of heavy chords and dark textures in various manners. There are moments of almost 'found sound' ambience scattered throughout the record, used for reflection and peace in songs as well as playing with the atmosphere in magical ways. - Kris Handel || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

STEEL TIPPED DOVE | "Call Me When You're Outside"

Backwoodz Studioz

Steel Tipped Dove achieved a goal that plagues some producer-led hip hop albums: the instrumental versions are equally as vital to the experience as those featuring rappers. Crafting a sound that’s equal parts DJ Shadow and DJ Screw, Dove builds a fractured world of thudding drums that tumble over warped samples and snaking drones. The dense textures of his beats bring out the best in his guests, with ELUCID and Skech185 contributing some of the best writing of their careers. billy woods acts as executive producer, lending his impeccable curatorial ear to the sequencing. - Dash Lewis || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

SULPHUROUS | “The Black Mouth of Sepulchre”

Dark Descent Records

The never-ending avalanche of great new death metal releases isn’t showing any signs of slowing down and the latest from Copenhagen’s Sulphurous is brutal, technical, and utterly monstrous, with riffs both lurching and shredding. The Black Mouth of Sepulchre is the band’s second full length (out on the ever consistent Dark Descent Records) is full of menacing dread, but the band’s dexterity keeps this one exceptionally dynamic. At one minute they’re blasting through rapid riffs and complex rhythms and the next they’re digging into sludge and primal fury. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

VANISHING TWIN | "Ookii Gekkou"

Fire Records

Vanishing Twin claims many influences from the 1960s and 70s, such as Alice Coltrane and Art Ensemble of Chicago, and most listeners can detect echoes of Stereolab and Broadcast. Cathy Lucas’ vocals groove in a looping train of haunting clarity, instantly directing memory to Trish Keenan’s “Come On Let’s Go.” However much Vanishing Twin honors electronica and free-jazz of the past, Ookii Gekkou swirls these genres into something else ever-changing, as we would hope music in the future would do. Although all nine tracks stand alone as their own experience, Valentina Magaletti’s masterful percussion grounds them. With swift fills and swishing snares like feet shuffling to and from worlds, she never lets us diverge from her orbit. - Delia Rainey || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

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ALIEN NOSEJOB | "Paint It Clear"

Feel It / Anti Fade Records

For those who like to take deep dives into a musician’s back catalog, as far as modern punk goes, there’s none more enjoyable than Jake Robertson’s. As a core member of Ausmuteants, Leather Towel, Hierophants, and Smarts (among others), he’s been focusing on his ever shapeshifting solo project, Alien Nosejob, for the past several years. Each release expands the realms of his sound, from agitated hardcore to mutant disco and whatever may pique his interest in-between. This year brought us the blistering HC45-2 and now he’s back with Paint It Clear. The album continues Alien Nosejob’s streak of never releasing the same record twice, warping Robertson’s signature punk with disco beats and more prominently, deranged new-wave. There are moments throughout the album that will surprise you and then there are moments that just show a refinement of Robertson doing what he does best, but it’s the fusion of it all that makes this album so special. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

BIG HEET | "Playing The Bug"

Living Lost Records

David Settle has been exploring the wide world of punk with each successive Big Heet release, each a significant departure from the last. The Philadelphia based musician first caught our attention with Ex-Breathers, a brilliant post-hardcore band that was as heavy as it was intelligent. The first Big Heet album followed in a similar fashion, while the band’s second album, Hiss, leaned into blown out basement punk caterwauling. Playing The Bug finds Settle joined by his former EXBX bandmate Adam Berkowitz on drums, and the pair have shifted Big Heet’s sound once again. Scaling back a degree of the aggression, this one is maybe a bit closer to the Sonic Youth catalog than anything In The Red Records, but it’s still full of intensity, textured distortion, and Settle’s knack for memorable songwriting. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

CLAIRE CRONIN | "Bloodless"

Orindal Records

Some of the best records are the ones that sneak up on you. Claire Cronin’s last album, Big Dread Moon, was a solid record full of thoughtful and haunting folk songs, but Bloodless takes the formula to the next level, creating an essential album in the process. From the production to the sullen terror, it’s a heavy record in the emotional sense and a beautiful record in the compositional sense. “Feel This,” the album’s third single might just be the record’s highlight (on an album with no shortage of highlights), a slow pit of despair that imagines life outside oneself and the feeling of exiting your body. Built on Cronin’s closely recorded harmonies, the song’s glacial pace, and viola courtesy of Ezra Buchla, it’s stark and minimal but constructed for unshakeable impact, much like everything Bloodless. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

FLOATING ROOM | "Shima"

Famous Class Records

The EP is an exercise in self-imposed limitations. The amount of artistic energy, musical creativity, and emotional power Floating Room packs into just under twelve minutes of music is truly remarkable. A kind of post-punk riot girl, Maya Stoner seeks but fails to find romantic closure but the result is staggering – coherent four chord sequences devolve into grungy distortion, melodic vocal lines give way to literal, anguished shouting. Like the proverbial glacier, these four short songs belie the depths of passionate maturity and artistic inspiration the make Shima such a promising and exciting EP. - Matt Watton || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

HYPERDONTIA | "Hideous Entity"

Dark Descent Records

After their colossal debut album, Turkey / Denmark’s Hyperdontia followed it up with a string of great singles and splits, creating a strong buzz for the band as one of modern death metal’s best. With their sophomore album, Hideous Entity, they make good on the hype, creating an album that’s equal parts brutal, technical, and flush with some of the greatest riffs of the year. Released on Dark Descent Records, there are enormous riffs that slow the pace only to “heavy shit up” again on a record that is constantly evolving but always crushing. The demonic forces may be at play here but they’re been rattled and whipped in all directions. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

J.R.C.G. | "Ajo Sunshine"

Castle Face Records

Working outside of the pummeling post-punk of his main band, Dreamdecay, Justin R. Cruz Gallego’s Ajo Sunshine feels reminiscent of the early-aughts cassette scene of frayed drone psych. Sunshine’s pulsing waves of distortion fill the gap left by the dissolution of bands like Teeth Mountain and Topaz Rags. Where those bands cloaked their maelstrom under sludgy tape hiss, Ajo is clear-eyed and confrontational. It’s a charred slice of blown-out drums and wobbling synthesizers, shot through with energy both terrifying and ecstatic. Named after Tucson’s Ajo Way, a road that stretches due west, the album feels like a psychedelic drive into a burning sunset. Though at times completely distressing, Ajo Sunshine is thrilling. - Dash Lewis || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

JULIE DOIRON | “I Thought Of You”

You’ve Changed Records

While Julie Doiron has stayed active contributing to other people’s music (Mount Eerie, Astral Swans, etc), I Thought Of You is her first solo album in nearly a decade, and it was worth the wait. The Montreal based musician sounds full of life and renewed energy. Lead single “You Gave Me The Key” is full of indie rock swagger (seriously, listen and tell me there’s not an overload of “swagger”) as she rocks her way through a ballad dedicated to “starting over again”. It’s bright an immersive, an alternative pop song as only a veteran songwriter could deliver. The remainder of the album is just as good, packed with vibrant songs, recording with great detail to Doiron’s many strengths. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

KRIMI | "Demo CS"

Helta Skelta Records

KRIMI is a great new punk band from Perth, Australia featuring a few familiar faces from Cold Meat, Nerve Quakes, Body Type, and Product, but their sound is one unique to this new formation. The band tear through lo-fi punk and razor sharp guitars to a rhythm section that’s more indebted to new wave, allowing the band to both boogie and sound aggressive at the same time. There’s old school punk vibes to it but the lyrical content is firmly placed in modern times as singer Ash (the brilliant vocalist in Cold Meat) takes aim at consumerism, the internet, and social injustices. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp

NECKBOLT | "Midwestern Drawl"

Spider Dispatch Unit

Austin’s Neckbolt are a new band that are making noise rock in their own way, deranged and slurred, loud and abrasive, but colorful and a bit psychedelic. It rips with amp blaring intensity but has a prismatic gleam, a sordid kind of fusion that sits somewhere between fellow Texans like Cherubs, Borzoi, and Butthole Surfers. Their debut album, Midwestern Drawl, is refreshing in its sonic approach, a barn burner that’s heavy on kaleidoscopic pummeling, Southern twang, and bent melodies. Neckbolt are truly onto something special. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

NO ONE AND THE SOMEBODIES | "Ceasefire Violations"

Jam Eater Records

There are plenty of long running and eclectic DIY punk bands out there, but there are few as eclectic and as long running as New York’s No One and the Somebodies. Celebrating their 20th (!!) year making music together, the quartet of Yankou brothers (Brian, Steve, Kevin, and Bobby Yankou) are making the most of it with the release of their latest album, Ceasefire Violations. The record marks their first new release since 2015’s Chips For Dinner split LP with Palberta, but as the six year draught ends, it becomes immediately clear that Ceasefire Violations was worth the wait. The record fuses together garage punk jangle, damaged art rock, and hardcore influences. In true NOATS form, they’re able to bring together carnival prog and socio-political aggression to create something detached and disorienting in structure but thoroughly focused in its earned agitation. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

OVLOV | "Buds"

EIS Records

Buds is phenomenal because the songs are phenomenal, full stop. Dynamic without being jarring, catchy without being saccharine, and intricate without being overwrought, these eight lean-n-mean tunes are a joy to listen to. The album’s brevity is its only weakness, but it also plays to a strength. There’s no room for filler. Take opener “Baby Shea.” Blending sincerity and exaltation over a bed of distorted guitars and quick-fire drums, Ovlov get in and get out. It should be noted that while Ovlov’s guitar tones are the envy of gear geeks everywhere, Theo Hartlett’s drumming on Buds is masterful. Whether navigating the complicated chord pattern of “Baby Shea” or the shuffle-and-smash of “Cheer Up, Chichiro!,” Theo’s drumming adds weight and resonance to the songs. - Benji Heywood || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

RICHARD DAWSON & CIRCLE | "Henki"

Domino Recording Co

This release is over the top, way over the top, and that’s where it finds its strength. The combination of Richard Dawson and Circle was not one we saw coming, but the musicians have come together to create Henki, a collaborative record that never ceases to amaze. So what does the pairing of the English experimental folk bard and Finnish krautrock explorers sound like? Kind of what you might expect… and maybe also not what you’re prepared for. Henki is a strange mix of everything that makes both projects the visionaries they are, a limitless mix or baroque songwriting with a hypnotic rhythm and all the progressive swells and medieval accented folk touches you can hope might come from this unnaturally natural union. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

WENDY EISENBERG | "Bent Ring"

Dear Life Records

The banjo is Wendy Eisenberg’s vehicle of choice for the delivery of Bent Ring’s songs, a different approach from their previous records and an instrument much more unfamiliar to them than the guitar. The compositions range from flickering fingerpicks like shuffling little jolts of twang to solemn strums that stagger steadily, dipping and diving through pitch black and bright light. Eisenberg adds a touch of bass guitar to the songs, nothing complicated or showy, just enough underlying pulse to add some heft to the banjo plucks and sung reflections hovering above. Often the few notes procure the slightest hint of doom, an ominous air later vanquished by the singer’s reflections and emboldened confidence. - Joe Gutierrez || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

YOUR OLD DROOG | "Space Bar"

Mongoloid Banks

Listening to Droog rap is an absolute blast. Though Space Bar is his fourth project of 2021, he’s still tip top, keeping the artform of punchline-heavy rap alive and well. He floats over flickering beats from producers like SadhuGold and Nicholas Craven, while trading bars with Lil Ugly Mane, billy woods, and Richmond’s perennially underrated Nickelus F. Droog has an unmatched work ethic and is a virtuoso at shit talk, always quick with an eerily calm reminder that his pen is not to be doubted. - Dash Lewis || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

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BEAUTY PILL | "Instant Night"

Northern Spy Records

The latest from DC legends Beauty Pill is a bit of a boutique release, a record made with design just as much a factor as the music itself, one that captures a specific time and place for the band. The EP is comprised of the title track single, originally released last year around the presidential election, a short instrumental interlude, new single “You Need A Better Mind,” and a remix courtesy of Chad Clark’s “alter-ego” Brown Eno. That being said, it’s another essential piece to the Beauty Pill puzzle, a constant evolution as the band continues to progress in functionality and personality. The song’s blend together electronic elements with layered harmonies and reality begins to blur. While it’s fairly well documented that Clark doesn’t consider Beauty Pill to be a “rock band,” I consider him and the remainder of Beauty Pill to be among rock’s most forward thinking, putting art and experimentation at the forefront while still creating music with listenable structures and sonic clarity. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

CHRISTIAN FITNESS | "Hip Gone Gunslinger"

Self Released

While it still feels like a relatively new project, Christian Fitness just released their seventh record, Hip Gone Gunslingers, the much anticipated return of Falco and Jack Egglestone’s endless catastrophic cleverness. Maybe it’s a testament to the band that it still feels so fresh and maybe it’s the fact they’ve released records at a pace quick enough that you never get a chance to get sick of the previous record. Regardless, Hip Gone Gunslingers is a triumphant album, one of both sheer irreverence and eloquent takedowns of idiots, both famous and otherwise. The title track is a hilarious jab at anti-vaxxers while “Boutique Festival” laments exactly that, another unnecessary festival. There’s nothing like seeing the world through Falco’s eyes, grim in disposition but almost giddy to skewer it as a result. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp

THE CRADLE | "Half A Double Life"

Cows at the Edge of the Earth Records

Sneaking in just as the year is coming to a close, I sincerely hope this “year end feature” is out prior to the actual release of The Cradle’s latest album, Half A Double Life. Luckily I’ve had the opportunity to hear this home-spun gem, and while I can’t say I’ve spent months listening to it, the calming nature of Paco Cathcart’s acoustic folk songs are consistently beautiful and engaging, with unique rhythmic flourishes and a wealth of swooning harmonies (courtesy of Lily Konigsberg). With songs written and recorded over the past three years, Half A Double Life is still very much cohesive as Cathcart sets both relatable mental pictures (pouring rain, crossing the street, etc) and offers stunning performances of hand-picked acoustics, sparse warbling synths, and delicate arrangements. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp

MACH-HOMMY | "Balens Cho"

Self Released

Having already released one of the year’s absolute best albums with Pray For Haiti, New Jersey’s own Haitian born legend Mach-Hommy wasn’t done yet. As year end lists already began trickling out the praise for his record, he returned with Balens Cho (which translates to Hot Candles), a brief but undeniably essential release. Clocking in at just about 24 minutes in length, the album’s eight actual tracks continue to find Mach-Hommy at his all time best, riding over jazzy looped beats and working his lyrics with a crystal clear delivery as offers lines on par with the greats, cementing his place among them yet again. From the braggadocios “Labou” to the important self-care of “Self Luh,” Mach-Hommy is spitting solid gold raps that favor intelligence and heart over simply being the hardest. - DG || LISTEN: Spotify

MALIGNANT ALTAR | "Realms of Exquisite Morbidity"

Dark Descent Records

It’s hard to judge an album you’re hearing for the first time in mid December as one you’ve been listening to since January, but on first impressions, Malignant Altar have released one of the year’s best death metal albums with Realms of Exquisite Morbidity. The title really says it all, but there’s something undeniably special about the way the Texan death metal quintet have built their full length debut, with dynamics that move between utter annihilation and a more serene and ominous terror. From the chiming church bells and their natural reverb of the intro into the decimating riffs and thunderous rhythms (huge shout out to drummer Dobber Beverly), it’s impeccably well constructed, matching ferocity with brilliant textures that keep this record endlessly repeatable. There’s a lot going on here and it’s well worth spending the time to digest. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

MARISSA PATERNOSTER | "Peace Meter"

Don Giovanni Records

While Marissa Paternoster is best known for her work in Screaming Females, she’s released several solo albums under the Noun moniker over the years. With Peace Meter though, Paternoster has released her first album under her own name, and it definitely feels as though it’s her most personal work yet. Joined by a few other musicians (Shanna Polley of Snakeskin, Andy Gibbs of Thou, and Kate Wakefield), there’s an immediate intimate to every track, built on emotions and atmosphere rather anything remotely “shreddy”. There’s a warmth to the record with Paternoster’s vocals and lyrics sitting at its core, a rare invitation to see another side from one of modern punk’s best. - DG || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify

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by: post-trash staff