by Brian Manley, Dan Goldin (@post_trash_), Dalvin Aboagye (@dalvinandhobbes), David Anthony (@DBAnthony), Dylan Pennell (@dylan_pennell), and Patrick Pilch (@pratprilch)
The world continues its slow march toward oblivion, but great new music continues to be made. Post-Trash began as a way to share our undying love for new music, and we present to you "The Post-Trash 60," a collection of some of our favorite records released thus far in 2018. We couldn't include every album we love, but we hope you'll find some new music to discover within our hand-picked selections. It's important to remember that music press is simply opinion and as such we've chosen to avoid calling it a "best of" in favor of "our favorites" because as the Big Lebowski once said... "well, that's just like, your opinion, man."
I hope you find something (listed here in alphabetical order) new to enjoy and while it's tempting to scroll to find out if your favorites made the cut (apologies, a lot of them didn't), I highly recommend checking out anything you're not already familiar with (that is the point of these lists after all... I think). Check out "The Post-Trash 60" followed by some further listening. Enjoy and please let us know if you discover something new. - Dan Goldin
ANNA MCCLELLAN | "Yes And No"
Father/Daughter Records
This is one of the year's best albums, hands down. Anna McClellan's voice is utterly incredible, a natural presence that's so strong yet fragile, emulating the grandiosity of the singers from the 50's and 60's, but the earnest cracks and trills are explicitly modern (and expressively personal). Her analysis of anxiety and relationships mixed with the mundane and scattershot thoughts is brilliant, effective, and easy to relate to. We all have a galaxy of thoughts in our heads, only a fraction of which we ever choose to articulate, but throughout Yes And No, McClellan lets us into her mind, pulling at sentimental moments with a deadpan sense of humor. I don't often keep tabs on my favorite song of the year, but "Nail Biting Song" is an undeniable classic, a sweeping calamity of anxious energy set to staggering brilliance. Except no substitutes, Anna McClellan forever. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
ASTRAL SWANS | "Strange Prison"
Saved By Vinyl
When we last heard from Calgary's Astral Swans, they had just released All My Favorite Singers Are Willie Nelson, one of our favorite albums of 2015. Three years later, Matthew Swann and his beautiful project are back with Strange Prison, a new full length produced by Scott Munro of Preoccupations. Lead single "What Are You Gonna Do With Yourself" reintroduced us to the sparse and spectacular world of Swann's songwriting. His gentle vocals are soft but confident, singing with a hazy sort of dejection, offering lines like, "when I finally get a chance, make the same mistakes again". The song's gorgeous backdrop of acoustic guitars, simplistic yet effective rhythms, and the breezy whir of electronics create a heavenly soundscape for Swann to ponder it all. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
BAMBARA | "Shadow On Everything"
Wharf Cat Records
Brooklyn's Bambara have always been a good band since their days of blistering wall of sound shoegaze and noise rock. Their transition into the Nick Cave indebted sound of western post-punk however brought them from being a very good to an undeniably great band with 2016's Swarm. Shadow On Everything (the band's first for Wharf Cat Records), shows that they are only getting better. The record is a narrative masterpiece, Reid Bateh's low vocals embellishing dark tales of twangy fright and endless night. The rhythm section (Blaze Bateh and William Brookshire) sounds impossibly tight, jostling and galloping with an incredibly flexible density, ramping up the intensity to match the deranged howls of the vocals as they (and the narrative) head toward the dirt. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
BAPTISTS | "Beacon Of Faith"
Southern Lord Records
Vancouver's Baptists play hardcore music with a sludgy fury, shoveling on loads of filth and noise to complicate their already unrelenting sound. Their third album, Beacon Of Faith, is a brutal beast of primal hardcore and spastic metal that should appeal to fans of everything from SUMAC and Total Abuse to Oozing Wound and Harvey Milk. The album rips from start to finish, blasting with siren like guitars and Nick Yacyshyn's (also of the aforementioned SUMAC) incredible rhythmic dexterity, absolutely pummeling the kit with an unpredictable barrage of shifting time signatures. While the songs never feel overly complicated or progressive, the band tear through sections with a brilliant disregard, leaving a smoldering wake in their path. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
BIG UPS | "Two Parts Together"
EIS Records
Two Parts Together aims to throw everything off its axis, Big Ups' fine tuned post-hardcore continuing to take new artistic shapes while throwing in more than a few enormous moments of hook-fused catharsis. It's heavy and menacing but introspective and heartfelt, balancing brutality with a sense of humor and stark representations of each member's personalities digging through. It's a dynamic record that also sounds cohesive, a smattering of brilliantly elastic guitars and colossal rhythms. It feels classic, with Two Parts Together serving as the blueprint of punk to come, at least we like to hope so. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
THE BREEDERS | "All Nerve"
4AD Records
While The Breeders' pair of classic albums (Pod and Last Splash) are over both over 25 years old, the band, despite some lengthy gaps, never stopped making great records. Both of their efforts from the early-to-mid 2000s were solid explorations of what made them alternative rock royalty without simply retreading hallowed ground. Nine years later, The Breeders still sound as fresh as ever, blending together vibrant pop immediacy, impeccably hooky guitar riffs, and an emphatic "good morning" for us all. All Nerve is bubbling with the type of fuzzy yet driving melodies and sharp snarky bite that marked so many of the band's classics, built on good natured humor, inward reflection, and unshakable soaring hooks. The Breeders are a rare breed, a band that may never lose their touch. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Spotify
CHRISTIAN FITNESS | "Nuance - The Musical"
Prescriptions Music
For the past five years, Andrew Falkous abandoned the "industry" that essentially abandoned him and has been prolific ever since with both Future of the Left and his "one-man-band-but-never-solo-project" Christian Fitness. Last year's Slap Bass Hunks showed Falco moving into new territory, pushing the boundaries of the sound he's been perfecting since the days of Mclusky. Looks as though the envelope has been bust wide open with Nuance - The Musical. This album is brilliant as always, but there's an urgency to the musicianship that has the band adopting new textures and forms of attack. It's essential listening and could be one of the year's best come December. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp
COURTNEY BARNETT | "Tell Me How You Really Feel"
Marathon Artists / Mom+Pop Records
Whatever creative hang ups were neurotically laid out over the course of Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile’s 2017 collaboration Lotta Sea Lice felt simultaneously assuaged by the album’s lilting rock n’roll vibe. As if as soon as the grievances were aired, they seemed to evaporate in the breezy synergistic songcraft of Barnett and Vile. So where is there to go once you’ve eased the pain? If you’re Courtney Barnett you don’t revel in your peace of mind, rather Barnett shreds through a fresher batch of songs simultaneously exercising her own demons and the sociocultural ones unearthed by the recent Me Too movement. It’s hard to hear a song like “Nameless, Faceless” and not instantly envision a festival crowd full of men uncertain if they can even sing along to a song like it. Barnett, however, is not hear to finger point, but her wry perspective is often illuminating and her penchant for ass-kicking rock knows no bounds on festival-pleaser-to-be “Hopelessness,” “City Looks Pretty,” and album highlight “I’m Not Your Mother, I’m Not Your Bitch.” Whereas Barnett once used aimed her hundred yard gaze inward, turning to the world outside has produced some of her most vicious and wildly impassioned work to date, proving to the music world that her songwriting is one for the ages, and more pressingly, the voice we need to hear now. - Dylan Pennell || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
CZARFACE & MF DOOM | "Czarface Meets Metal Face"
Get On Down Records
For five years running, Czarface, the collaboration between Wu-Tang's Inspectah Deck and 7L & Esoteric, has been the champion of underground hip-hop, at least in the circles we're concerning ourselves with. Like some sort of "boom-bap" miracle, the group announced a new record together with the one and only MF DOOM. Yes, that's correct, two of the best MCs the world has ever known (and Esoteric ain't too bad either) teamed up for a full album with 7L and The Czar-Keys handling production. Combining the knock-out punch of The Rebel I-N-S and Esoteric's hard-nosed delivery with the abstract glory of MF DOOM's lyrical magic, this one is ripped straight from the comics, a perfect union of true hip-hop legends. All three MCs go in, offering a taste of their individuals personalities and strengths over a sinister low-end heavy beat. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Spotify
DOFFING | "Tower Of Ten Thousand Miles"
Self Released
Tower of Ten Thousand Miles is the first proper full-length from the Montreal quartet, and their most impressive release yet. On their latest, Doffing deftly recall some of the finest post-hardcore, indie rock and punk moguls of the past 20-something years. The explosive “F.O.A.M.” breaches with the disruptive intensity of Evasive Backflip’s “WaspspraY” and melodically unfurls like a sinister edition of Archer of Loaf’s “Sick File.” Two tracks later, “Homing” arrives like the long-awaited musical follow up to At the Drive-In’s jittery “Invalid Litter Dept.” The track’s heady and anxious lyrics bring Cap’n Jazz’s shroom-driven tangents to mind, lines filled with adolescent angst following a sad boy writing “his name in the sand, hoping someone might see it/aliens, some known god or maybe the heroes told about in the constellations.” The band is still quite under the radar, but they’ve already begun to carve a lore-heavy persona for themselves alongside their increasingly spectacular tunes. - Patrick Pilch || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
DRINKS | "Hippo Lite"
Drag City Records
We're happy to be welcomed back into the world of DRINKS, the collaborative duo of Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley. The two have continued to work closely since their debut Hermits On Holiday, a criminally overlooked album blending eerie post-punk minimalism and softer edged psych pop songs. The combination of Le Bon's experimental folk sensibilities and Presley's swirling lo-fi jangle works together perfectly, creating a detached sheen built on both repetition and lilting melodies. For anyone nervous the project was a one-time thing, fear not, the band released a sophomore album, Hippo Lite. Its hypnotic and tightly wound, structured with off-kilter grooves and discordant melodies that sound delightful under Le Bon's gloriously cool vocals. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
DUSK | "Dusk"
Don Giovanni Records
The Wisconsin based Dusk's self-titled full-length debut is nothing short of spectacular, a record that combines folk and country music with a slacker pop drawl and a dusty nuance of Americana storytelling. It sounds modern with a call-back to the easy going days of folk music's roots, a collection of songs that would sound as great being sung around a campfire as they do on your headphones walking through a crowded city. Dusk transport you from where you are to where you wish you were; the open air, endless freedom, and thick harmonies of a better life. Traveling from red barns to monster trucks, bolo ties to bald eagles, this one plays up their surroundings with gorgeous images and the band's slow-dripped twang in impeccably lackadaisical form. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
THE EX | "27 Passports"
Ex Records
Nearly 40 years into their existence, Amsterdam's The Ex continue to find ways to push punk music ever forward with their heavy and hypnotic new record, 27 Passports. Veterans of the original punk expansion into more experimental music, it's incredible to hear them remain so sonically hungry after all this time. Resting on their past would have been easy, but that's never been The Ex, who have spent much of the past decade working with Ethiopian musicians to incorporate traditional East African music into their abrasive rhythmic attack and three guitar onslaught. It's those brilliant rhythms and caterwauling guitars that shine through the dissonance on 27 Passports, a tangled ripper of intelligent socio-political art-punk fury, burning a new cathartic impression into their already illustrious career. No one expects an album this good after 39 years, but then again, The Ex have never been one for expectations. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp
FACS | "Negative Houses"
Trouble In Mind Records
From out the ashes of Chicago's beloved Disappears comes FACS, a new band that features three of the experimental luminaries four members. Their sound remains hypnotic, dark, and sleek, a sinister futurism that comes in electronic minimalism. The songs are bleak but iridescent, blinding when pointed in the wrong directions and melting with a radiant sort of corrosive post-punk expanse. There's little of FACS that really feels human on Negative Houses, a record that draws an alien experience from us all, with cold, calculated mesmerization and a triumphantly focused numbness in its clinical precision. It's a great debut that doesn't feel at all like a debut, this is merely the next chapter. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
FLOATING ROOM | "False Baptism"
Good Cheer Records
Floating Room's sophomore album is stunning at every turn, in both it's shimmering atmospheres, gentle moments of reflection, and it's nuance for swarming, muscular, shoegaze done-to-perfection. The Portland quartet navigate heart yearning sentimentality and brawny noise pop in simultaneous bursts, the force of their blanketing guitars only aiding Maya Stoner's beautiful lyrics and floating melodies. False Baptism is a testament to everything they do so well, balancing blistering leads with dreamy haze, an approach that manages to retain aggression without compromising any of it's delicate emotional heft. Layering guitars, synths, vibraphones, and beyond, Floating Room's wall of sound is lush and dense, but light and accessible, the perfect come down to get lost in. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
FRANKIE COSMOS | "Vessel"
Sub Pop Records
Frankie Cosmos has continuously been improving on their sound since the release of their prolific back catalog and their "studio debut" Zentropy, a benchmark for all the "bedroom pop" that has flooded indie rock in the years since. While there have been hundreds of replicants in the years since, Greta Kline and company remain the best, a testament to Kline's effortless and relatable lyricism and knack for crafting the perfect bit of ear candy simplicity. Weaving songs of heartbreak and the tribulations of being alive, growing up, and dealing with all that entails, Frankie Cosmos' Vessel builds upon their calming pop softness, jubilant spirit, and brilliant melodic phrasing. The band are able to shift between anxious pop splendor and their usually dreamy twee perfection, once again proving why Frankie Cosmos is the best at what they do, and why so many have followed in their path. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
GIVING UP | "Garner Cardinals"
Sophomore Lounge Records
Iowa's Giving Up (with members in both Minnesota and Kentucky) like to play it loose. It's kind of their gift. On the band's sophomore album, Garner Cardinals, the band's ramshackle punk is, intentionally, coming apart at the seems, and it's exactly what makes them a great band. Developing their sound over the past decade, it's tightly wound slop-perfection, an intimate look into trash-pop that wriggles with a twitchy disposition and enough charm to choke us all. It's not always pleasant, but it's essential for flavor. The more you listen, the better it gets. Led by Mikie Poland and Jenny Rose, the band's harmonies tighten around simple progressions, expanding what often seems askew into something poetic. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
GOAT GIRL | "Goat Girl"
Rough Trade Records
Back in April, London's Goat Girl released their full length debut, as confident and impressive an introduction as any, and one of our favorite (and most listened to) releases so far this year. Their songs are short and the lyrics are simplistic, but everything the quartet does is effective and sharpened to puncture. Repetition of phrases and ideas are cemented in lyrics that are both fed up and biting, a brash set of songs that make their point without raising the volume. Goat Girl's record is packed with 19 short and concise songs, each one offering its own vignette to the greater theme, transitioning with ease from surly to sarcastic. The record slinks forward with deep bass lines and Western-inspired gallops; dusty framework for the sinister aura and Goat Girl's well-produced malaise. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Spotify
GOBBINJR | "Ocala Wick"
Topshelf Records
gobbinjr is among an elite group of pop songwriters, the type that create songs that wiggle their way into your head, forever and unshakably engrained there for the rest of time. While Emma Witmer's songs often revolve around anxiety, falling apart, and everyday tragedies, their music is always radiant and clever. Their new album Ocala Wick came out on Topshelf Records, in all its hooky glory. It's somber yet uplifting, infectious and well-constructed... and dammit, these songs are all on a scale of incredible to flat out amazing (Sorry Charlie). It's the most fun you're ever going to have from what is essentially a set of sad songs. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
GUIDED BY VOICES | "Space Gun"
GBV Inc
The ever majestic Guided By Voices are one of those bands that you can never count out, no matter how many records they release and how is involved in the band, there's always a chance for a new classic album in the endless parade of albums that are brilliant at best and still pretty damn good at worst. Last year Robert Pollard celebrated his 100th release (even with as many projects as he has, that's still monumental) and he's put more than a couple since then, their latest effort, Space Gun, a reminder of just how great a focused Pollard can be. There are always gems scattered in their daunting catalog and Space Gun is definitely a recent entry, one of the best records Pollard has worked on in the past decade. It's fully realized, relatively concise, and free of anything that may have been questionable to release, which is to say that these songs all rip it out of the park. Take for example "Colonel Paper," before it digs into a bluesy solo that wouldn't sound out of place on a Led Zeppelin album, Pollard musters his best self with lyrics like, "Eat a cigarette, man." - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Spotify
HOOKWORMS | "Microshift"
Domino Records
I did not like many of my all time favorite albums upon first listen, but there's something to be said of a record you didn't seem to like, but continuously have the desire to try again. Those albums that call you to keep trying, keep listening, you just may get it yet. I have been relatively obsessed with everything Hookworms have done since their debut back in 2011, but when I first heard their latest, Microshift, their change in direction left me disappointed to say the least... or so I thought. While I had written the album off almost instantly, as the months rolled by I kept getting that urge, the unmistakable feeling that I should give it another listen. Eventually, it clicked, and while their sound might take new shapes from their blown out garage punk/krautrock roots, Microshift is still Hookworms underneath all that technicolor pop splendor and the songs still engrain themselves with a hypnotic awakening. Resistance is futile. Embrace the future. Hookworms have thrown us for a loop, but their craft is still unmatched. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
HOT SNAKES | "Jericho Sirens"
Sub Pop Records
It's been fourteen years since the last Hot Snakes album but the reckoning has returned. Jericho Sirens is a promising return. Built upon the ever present chemistry of John Reis and Rick Froberg, their guitars unfurl with the same discordant spaghetti western bliss and the garage punk attack that established Hot Snakes' gnashing grooves and rock 'n' roll swagger. It's full of fire and shouted vocals but there's plenty of hip-shaking to go 'round. Reis and Froberg are great musicians in their own right, but they're at their best when together. Joined by Gar Wood, Jason Kourkounis, and Mario Rubalcaba, Hot Snakes are back at their usual tricks and we're as grateful as can be. It's a remarkable return that hasn't missed a step. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
ILSA | "Corpse Fortress"
Relapse Records
The DC based band have been creating an uncompromisingly heavy mix of blackened doom metal for about a decade and their new album Corpse Fortress has them sounding more filthy than ever. ILSA retain their signature sludge and primordial fury, generally delivered at a crawling pace, but there's an extra sense of depravity this time around... the times, right? Playing on Satanic themes (y'know because... metal) with colossal sludge riffs that absolutely demolish everything in it's path, its the filth you can love. ILSA is the soundtrack to your nightmares and the darkness on your bleakest dreams. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
JEAN GRAE & QUELLE CHRIS | "Everything's Fine"
Mello Music Group
It takes a fair amount of gumption to perfectly execute the political awareness imbued in the sounds of Jean Grae and Quelle Chris’ collaboration record Everything’s Fine. An intoxicating combination of delightfully grimy beats from the underground and thoughtful verses from the Brooklyn rapper and Detroit MC forces you to come to terms with the fact that everything is anything but fine. The conscious tone taken by both Grae and Chris hit hard with an armor of self awareness that guard them from any lapses in thought. Songs like “Gold Purple Orange” and “My Contribution to the Scam” see the pair easily reflect off of each other in a manner you’d expect from frequent collaborators. The production has an aged style to it that’s a refreshing break from the intricate beats of the mainstream. On a track like “Zero,” the beats accentuate Grae’s bashful bars. The recruitment of comedians like Hannibal Buress, Michael Che, Nick Offerman and others drive home the album’s message of engaging with the world through related skits. Offerman’s dialogue on “Everything’s Still Fine” does the most to prick up your ears with words to the contrary: “Relax, everything is just fine / You don’t have to do anything about issues that don’t affect you / Why would you?” Here, and in just about every song prior, Grae and Chris make the case that your obligation to the world doesn’t have to cost you your sanity. “(Everything is fine) go ahead, be complacent / (Go ahead) go ahead, be complacent, because everything is just fine.” - Dalvin Aboagye || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
JO PASSED | "Their Prime"
Sub Pop Records
Vancouver's Jo Passed have made one of the year's most immersive records. The quartet's full length debut, Their Prime, out on Sub Pop is at times dazzling, challenging, contorted, and dreamy. There's a sense of freedom and abandonment when it comes to styles, with their sound eschewing tradition in favor of their own floating whirlwinds of noise pop taking every shape imaginable, touching upon influences like Fugazi, Cate Le Bon, and Deerhunter. Combining detached rhythms and skronky guitars that twist knots around the calming vocals, it's an incredible display of divergent styles in perfect harmony. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
JUNE GLOOM & ROCK SOLID | "Subletter / Something Solid"
EIS Records
Feelings... am I right? June Gloom and Rock Solid make good use of their feelings, from sadness to hopefulness, anxiety to acceptance, loneliness to realization, they work their thoughts out on Subletter / Something Solid. The split is a bare bones release for each songwriter, working through the challenges of life, love, and the world at large. It's honest and beautiful, inner-thoughts translated into songs that reflect their feelings with a stunning immediacy. Rock Solid and June Gloom's lo-fi production works to their advantages, the songs wrapping themselves around you with the intimacy of an old friend, someone who understands, and someone who wants to listen. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
KAL MARKS | "Universal Care"
EIS Records
Kal Marks has always made ugly music, and I mean that in the best way possible. In the same way that Unsane utilized painfully claustrophobic music to build sonic onslaughts, Kal Marks has done the same, and while Universal Care still sounds like sheet metal being forged, it’s also the most beautiful thing they’ve ever made. The record oozes with a kind of fervor that the band has always had and captures perfectly here, with songs that push them in new directions without losing sight of their ultimate goals. It’s the kind of album that consumes you and makes you want to revisit because so few bands dare to be as uncompromising as Kal Marks. - David Anthony || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
LA LUZ | "Floating Features"
Hardly Art Records
The Los Angeles-based indie quartet La Luz has concluded their trippy trifecta of surf-inspired psychedelic rock with the release of Floating Features. Lead vocalist and guitarist Shana Cleveland, drummer Marian Li Pino, keyboardist Alice Sandhal and bassist Lena Simon, broadcast a strong signal to anyone drifting out there in the vast ocean of music. The message is clear: hop on board now if you don’t want to drown in choices. Once you emerge from the merciless waters, you’ll find yourself grateful for sinking some time into this ecstatic LP. At its peak, the thoughtful arrangement of instruments plays like an acid-fueled studio session between the Beach Boys and the Zombies. They play multiple positions very well as they bounce around from catchy earworms one minute to a living, breathing, surf rock symphony the next. Look no further than “Cicada” or “Loose Teeth” — two back-to-back tracks — if you need proof of how deep the bond goes. The potent blend of glittering guitar riffs and captivating compositions on the keys produces enough sensory input to rival the most complex art installation. Li Pino, Sandhal and Simon form the perfect trio of backup vocalists, working in tandem with Cleveland on songs like “California Finally” and “Walking into the Sun.” Their sunny disposition belies their deeper emotional range. This whole album has a shine to it. No matter how much you give it the side-eye, you’re going to see the light eventually. - Dalvin Aboagye || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
LAWN | "Blood On The Tracks"
Forged Artifacts Records
New Orleans' Lawn are a special band, the type that can shift between jangly pop, warm indie psych, and tangled moments of post-punk without ever committing to one sound, creating something cohesive in the process. Following 2016's exceptional out-of-nowhere introductory EP, Big Sprout, the band released their full-length debut, Blood On The Tracks via Forged Artifacts. An early favorite for the year, the album pulls from the garage pop minimalism of Flying Nun's catalog, built on tight melodies and precise rhythms that carry the jangle into the psychedelic beyond. The duo are putting songwriting first, and heading wherever that may lead them second. Its an approach that could leave an album sounding scattered, but Blood On The Tracks is an impeccable listen, shifting seamlessly and creating a carefree cohesion. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
LICE | "It All Worked Out Great Vol. 1 and 2"
Balley Records
There's also been something just a bit more snide about noise rock in the UK that has spoken to my sensibilities. In an era where it seems many are content to pull from the Mclusky playbook (and aspects of The Fall's impeccable catalog), there's a new crop of bands over the pond making artistic weirdness and spewing their own venomous sarcasm. Enter LICE, the first band signed to Idles' record label, Balley Records, a band that incorporate a sinister twang into their unhinged freaked out cowboy punk. The band released two companion EPs, It All Worked Out Great Vol. 1 and 2, both scratchy and scathing, taking a bluesy saunter and dementing it into their own slurred punk chaos. It's brash, noisy, and full of that maniac charm Falco perfected so many years ago. The next generation is arriving, and LICE is one of the better starting points. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Spotify
LITHICS | "Mating Surfaces"
Kill Rock Star Records
It could be argued that none do post-punk better these days than Portland's Lithics. The band released their debut, Borrowed Floors, two years ago, a stunning record that cemented them as one of the underground's most exciting new bands. The quartet returned with Mating Surfaces, their Kill Rock Stars debut, a tightly wound record that sounds something like a tool box falling down a flight of stairs, the contents rattling as they hurtle confidently forward. Lithics work with jagged elements at their most fluid, the type of post-punk that will have your head bobbing or find you checking your pulse to make sure you're still alive. Quick barrages of shifting hypnotic grooves lay the perfect framework for Aubrey Hornor’s unshakeable vocals and lyrics. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
LOCATE S,1 | "Healing Contest"
Nicey Music
Christina Schneider returns with a new album and yet another new moniker as Locate S,1, the latest iteration of her perfect avant-pop constructions. Healing Contest's discordant washes of guitar and fuzzy production hint at psych and surf pop, blurring the two with Schneider's jubilant rhythmic funk, forming new shapes and patterns. Recorded with Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes, Healing Contest is one of Schneider's most hi-fi records, adding a layer of glistening sheen to her infectious vocal melodies as they pop from the many layers of good vibes. Dance along with the record, you just may have a great time. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
MAMMOTH GRINDER | "Cosmic Crypt"
Relapse Records
At this point in my life, I believe I owe a great deal of my continued sanity to my wife and to extreme metal (though pretty much never simultaneously). While I've dabbled in metal's outer genres (sludge, doom, post-metal) for decades, it's only been the past five years or so I've been digging deep and finding out that the world of metal is vast and infinitely enjoyable, once you find what works for you. Mammoth Grinder works for me. The band's latest album Cosmic Crypt is all destruction and no bullshit, a wild ride that rips and rips and rips, and never lets up. They embrace thrash, progressive metal, doom, and sludge, reworking all them to sound a bit unrecognizable, a pummel steam engine barreling forward with massive force and apocalyptic fury. In what has been one of the roughest years of my life, its bands like Mammoth Grinder that have kept me mind afloat (its great music to work too as well). - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
MIRANDA WINTERS | "Xobeci, What Grows Here?"
Sooper Records
While Melkbelly thrash through colossal riffs and brilliantly chaotic rhythms, at the heart of the band is guitarist/vocalist Miranda Winters. Her vocals and clever lyrics twist delicate word-play around the ensuing pummel she and her bandmates are consistently perfecting. Slight uses of near-repetition and warm melodic touches cut through the noise, it's the counterpoint in their sound that makes it so special (and the drumming... hot damn, that drumming, but that's not what this post is about). Back in January, Winters treated us to "The Future District," a solo effort that stripped everything back and confirmed what we all knew, she's a gifted songwriter in any capacity, context be damned. That song is but one of ten incredible songs from Winter's solo album, Xobeci, What Grows Here?. The lo-fi cassette release is a pleasing blend of Winter's songwriting and field recordings, perfect in any context. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
MOMMA | "Interloper"
Danger Collective Records
Los Angeles' Momma is the project of two life-long friends, navigating their way through high school (yep, they are that young) in exceptionally surreal vignettes on their debut album, Interloper. Songs like "Caterpillar" take a sparse melody and use it to imagine life as a confident bug with no vertebrae, while the relatively grungy warble of "Belong On The Bed" is built on self empowerment and washing machine metaphors. The entire album highlights the duo's songwriting with bare compositions that rip just a little too much to call bedroom pop, and for that we're thankful. Their songs are full of harmony ("Sidewalk"), bent pop ("Pipe Thing"), and dreamy indie rock ("Work"), making Interloper a truly impressive debut from a young band we hope to be hearing about for years to come. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
NO AGE | "Snares Like A Haircut"
Drag City Records
No Age are back and their unique brand of deconstructed radio rippers is still well in tact. The fuzzy LA duo have been making their own blown out chaotic pop for a decade now and after a four year absence, the timing of Snares Like A Haircut feels not only welcome, but necessary. While many have tried to replicate what they do in the past few years, the subtle touches of their all encompassing distortion, dense melodies (that simultaneously hook and scrape at your senses), and the general friction of their pop carnage forever remains something special and unique to No Age. It's the understated weirdness that never fails them, and never disappoints. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
PALBERTA | "Roach Goin' Down"
Wharf Cat Records
Avant-punk heroes Palberta continue to get better with every passing release, taking everything that makes them amazing and expanding upon it, often becoming simultaneously more accessible and discernibly stranger. In the year that has passed since their last record, the members have kept themselves busy with a multitude of projects including the amazing sludge noise of Shimmer and the bizarre-pop mastery of Lily & Horn Horse. On Roach Goin’ Down, their second effort for Wharf Cat Records, the trio are pulling themselves slowly in the pop direction. The band do it on their own discordant and brilliantly disjointed terms though, as evident by the album's weaving non-conventional hooks and each and every twist and howl, twitching between skronky melodies and fractured rhythms with an experimental grace. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
PLLUSH | "Stranger To The Pain"
Father/Daughter Records
San Francisco based quartet Pllush's new record is a beautifully dynamic album the wavers between slowcore longing, dream pop, and muscular indie rock, touching on everything from punk and shoegaze in-between. It's a testament to the band's songwriting, a big and brash record that relies on confidence and casually crushing melodies. "Shannon," the album's lead single is a fine example, a song that puts as much wondrous emphasis on the bridge as it does in the hook-strewn verses. It's only a matter of time before that piano refrain is driven deep into your subconscious. On the other side, "Ortega" leans toward the band's penchant for fuzzy slacker punk. The song, a reflection of growing up and figuring shit out, takes solace in that while everything may not be perfect, it's all the learning experience that is part of getting older. With stretched syllables and walls of thick guitars, Pllush maneuver melodic ideas in and out of distortion, casually creating deep hooks and layered bliss. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
PROTOMARTYR | "Consolation"
Domino Records
Old Reliable aka Protomartyr have done it again. Less than a year after the release of their latest full-length (and Domino Records debut), Relatives In Descent, the Detroit quartet are back with a new four song set, the Consolation EP. Picking up where their last record left off, Joe Casey's lyrics continue his poetic sprawl, with a souring look at culture and the depravity caused by it. Joined together with The Breeders' Kelley Deal (whom the band have previously worked with via their split 7" with Deal's R. Ring), the EP is a boisterous slow burner, Protomartyr offering a great deal of nuance as it plods forward, from piercing feedback to stampeding sludge and sharp stabs of distorted guitars. Protomartyr forever. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
PUSHA T | "Daytona"
G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam
The Clipse were the best new rappers to emerge for the 2000s, the flawless combo of brothers Pusha T and Malice. Their first two albums are legendary (and their third a classic in its own right) and the series of Re-Up Gang mixtapes (together with Ab-Liva and Sandman) are just as essential. Pusha T aka King Push (and rightfully so) has stayed active in the years since their dissolution, and his latest album, Daytona, produced by Kanye West, is as hard-hitting and hard-spitting as the best moments of his career. Pusha's coke rap lyrics have always been something to behold, his clever word play unmatched, proving there's always a new way to talk about what you know about. While his G.O.O.D. Music debut took him out of his comfort zone, Daytona finds Pusha making the beats work to his vision, demolishing each one with pure unadulterated lyricism that hold no punches and bites no tongues. Don't even talk about that other dude, he's not even in the same league. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Spotify
RENATA ZEIGUER | "Old Ghost"
Northern Spy Records
Brooklyn art-pop extraordinaire Renata Zeiguer's new album Old Ghost is a work of true visionary beauty. Navigating between disparate genres and tonalities, Zeiguer's music paints portraits in broad strokes of color; vivid compositions that pull psych-pop and R&B together with indie rock and dreamy folk in unpredictable ways. "Wayside," one of the many stand-outs, is both gentle and explosive, led by a soulful rhythm, warm guitars, and Zeiguer's unbelievable voice. The verses collide with the comparatively mountainous hooks, slowly building into the a quick dash of distorted bliss. When the verse returns it's slightly amplified, a stunning yet subtle inflection that highlights the devout attention to details in all of Zeiguer's brilliant new record. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
ROSE MERCIE | "Rose Mercie"
Monofonus Records
There's something undeniably special about hearing an amazing band for the first time. It can change perspective, mood, and disposition all at once. Rose Mercie's self-titled debut is that type of album. The Parisian quartet's music is hypnotic and nuanced, slowly building pop songs with radiant hooks and subtle post-punk bliss. With sparse introductions of alternately ringing notes that linger in the air and a heavy thudding rhythm, album highlight "Floating" shares the type of minimal groove that made Grass Widow a legendary band. A warm and fuzzy synth fills out the spacious gaze, adding a lush blanket of reverb to the steady beat. The entire album unfolds in beautiful ways, like a candle flickering in a breezy night sky. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp
THE ROYAL THEY | "Foreign Being"
King Pizza Records
It was only January and there was a good chance The Royal They had already released one of the year's best albums. Nothing has changed. From the colossally heavy beginning of Foreign Being through to the wildly energetic end, the Brooklyn based trio's sophomore album is all smash hits. Power pop songs buried in heavy punk slime and surging post-hardcore deviations, The Royal They blur the lines between sweetness and primal fury, writing songs that are bright and hooky with enough muscle to shake the foundation of any DIY venue. There's not a moment wasted throughout Foreign Being, a record that shifts between ominous and immediate with explosive grace. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
SCAPHE | "Factory Gleam"
Forward Records
The thing about Scaphe is that no single, no matter how good it may be, really does the band justice. The way the Minneapolis band construct their records lays waste to the idea that one song can possibly capture even a portion of what's to come, and that's truly the beauty of it. Darting between hardcore, noise rock, shoegaze, and some twangy post-punk, the band can rattle your brain one song and soothe it gently back into ease the next. When sequenced together, it barely makes sense, but the thread that holds it all together is the one undeniable constant, everything they do, they do really well. The record bops around like an old Meat Puppets song, hardcore one moment, twangy and full of fuzz the next. Factory Gleam is another glimpse to the ever unwinding Scaphe puzzle. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp
SCREAMING FEMALES | "All At Once"
Don Giovanni Records
True DIY heroes and living legends Screaming Females have been on an incredible hot streak for the past six years, releasing one stunning record after another, proving just when you think the trio can't get any better they can. They continue to refine their sound and do so with positive results, creating bigger and bolder songs on All At Once that still capture the essence of Screaming Females, the powerful vocals, the powerful riffs, and the explosive hooks. It's becoming more accessible, but the band haven't compromised their vision in the slightest, they are simply taking all they've learned from endless touring and working it into colossal pop tinged punk and shredding guitar anthems. They also brought out Thou and HIRS on tour, making themselves the least heavy band of three by a great margin and still managed to blow everyone out the water. This album is one fuzzy masterpiece after another. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
THE SEDIMENT CLUB | "Stucco Thieves"
Wharf Cat Records
It's been three long years since we've heard new music from The Sediment Club but the wait is over. Stucco Thieves, the New York band's latest album of sordid punk is as chaotic as ever. There's a new focus on "songs" within the album, but it's a refinement that only devoted fans will notice, as the band still embrace inaccessibility and discordance at their core. "The Payoff" is as good an introduction to the new record an any, a reward for those who have been waiting patiently. In less than two minutes, The Sediment Club invoke the ghosts of no-wave inflected krautrock, riding a tightly wound groove as the melodies swing wildly around, gasping and shouting at one moment, calm(er) and focused the next. The album splinters into a dust storm of contorted glory from one warped song to the next, arriving somewhere between the avant-punk of U.S. Maple and the crisp post-punk of Uranium Club. Which is to say, it's great. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
SHAME | "Songs of Praise"
Dead Oceans
Another of the UK's exceptional post-punk records, Shame's debut is full of piss and vinegar, and a contender for album of the year. The young punks are snide as hell, digging into the anxiety and unease of our times with songs that create hypnotic lulls that ring false, quick to startle you back into their abrasion. It's crass and rude, but blistering and indignant in the best, most reckless of ways. The songs that make up Songs of Praise are well structured and intelligently played, easing tension with bursts of melody and just enough hooks to shout along while still keeping their punk abandon firmly in tact. It's a kick in the teeth with all the cleverness one can muster, a tip of the hat as you collapse from mental exhaustion into a heap of garbage. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
SHARK TOYS | "Labyrinths"
In The Red Records
With a sinister bluster and pow, Shark Toys storms back with Labyrinths, a battle zone of discordant blares and bashes that fits well into the In The Red library. Hurling headlong through the boiler plate and crowded marching formation of post-punk descriptors, this three-piece from LA strikes beyond cliches and churns out cut after cut of frantic bangers that jerk to and fro, most at a nice choppy speed. Despite the volume of your player, Shark Toys sounds like a loud band with guitars slashing along with the furious drums, and the addition of sax weaving through three songs adds a frenetic no-wave-ness to Labyrinths. However, while the album plays with a frenzied pace, it doesn’t veer into noise, but rather lathers up fast rock n roll into a headbanging unscrewed punk. - Brian Manley || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
SHELL OF A SHELL | "Already There"
EIS Records
Last year found Nashville's Chappy Hull pretty busy. Gnarwhal, his long standing post-hardcore duo, released the incredible Crucial and he joined Pile as their new second guitarist, spending a good majority of the year out on tour. At some point it seems as though he had some downtime, and with that, Shell Of A Shell was born as a "proper" band, fleshing out the home recorded demos and songs Hull had been working on. "Already There" and "To Disappear," the album's first singles are rippers (as one might expect) but its a different approach than Gnarwhal's bludgeoning virtuosity. Burning with vibrant guitar grooves reminiscent of John Reis' finest work, the songs twist through wiry verses and spiked melodies, Hull's voice commanding yet casual, opting for a near-spoken intimacy on the former and a gorgeous ease on the latter. Spoiler alert: it works. Hell, you could argue he's never sounded better. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
SLEEP | "The Sciences"
Third Man Records
Doom metal titans Sleep returned with their third full length album, The Sciences, after a nearly twenty year break (perhaps longer, depending on how you choose to look at it). While some may find it diminishing, it gives me great pleasure to say the record sounds like Sleep, in the best ways imaginable. Sometimes you want change and innovation, but then again, if you're looking for a lot of change, Sleep was probably never the band for you. Known to obliterate a riff into the sludgiest breaking point, the band sound like demonic behemoths once again, really destroying all the can be seen as they plow down decency at a slow and stoned pace. There's a good deal of kitsch going on here in the lyric's space aged psychonaut adventures, but Sleep sell it with every ounce of their being, proving once again that sludge is life, and life is better when really fucking high. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Spotify
SNAIL MAIL | "Lush"
Matador Records
While it’s been written that Lindsay Jordan’s Snail Mail project has unearthed and relives some form of 90s indie pop, her debut full-length Lush on Matador comes across as an earnest press of charming melodic songs that would freshly fit well on a Sun Kil Moon-style rainy afternoon. Yes, the eighteen-year old singer-songwriter hangs her electric guitar tunes somewhere on the mantle of sadcore near The Softies, but her clear and rich voice, surrounded by the tight instrumentation of the main trio that is Snail Mail rings of heartbreak, melancholy, and plush gestures of just dealing with things. Jordan’s delivery is a downstroke that can ring maybe as blue, but these are often beautiful tracks that swirl in a cool ambience, making Lush a perfect title for the album. The songwriting on pieces such as “Pristine” and “Deep Sea” betrays how young Jordan is, finding a glancing hope in the sites of feeling low. - Brian Manley || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
SNAKESKIN | "Hangnail"
State Champion Records
New York-via-New Jersey's Snakeskin have quietly released an early contended for "best kept secret" of 2018 in the way of their new mini LP Hangnail, an impeccable collection of seething indie rock buoyed around the songwriting talents of guitarist/vocalist Shanna Polley. Hopefully I'm wrong and that *secret* is spoiled because this album really is incredible, from the lyrics to the avalanche of guitars and saccharine beauty buried just beneath the towering distortion. Digging into fuzz and winding melodies, taking the surge of their indie, punk, and shoegaze forbearers (think Screaming Females, The Breeders, Sonic Youth) and turning them outward, the record is a full blown sonic assault with infectious guitar melodies, deeply gorgeous vocals, and their own shifting structural phrasing. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
SPEEDY ORTIZ | "Twerp Verse"
Carpark Records
It's been three long years but Speedy Ortiz are back with a new record, Twerp Verse. Adopting some of the synth pop elements of both Foil Deer and Sadie Dupuis' solo effort Sad13, their latest pushes new textures to the forefront, but it's still undeniably Speedy Ortiz, built on clever lyrics and sweeping hooks. Dupuis' lyrics take slight twists whenever possible, offering expected lines and lyrical cliches in jest, pulling away at the last minute and subverting meaning and context to her whim. It's an album that speaks loudly, fighting for all it believes in over a landscape of easily memorable hooks. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
SPLIT CRANIUM | "I'm The Devil And I'm OK"
Ipecac Recordings
Aaron Turner (ISIS, Sumac, Old Man Gloom), patron saint of all thats heavy, resurrected Split Cranium with a record following a six year silence from their debut. The viscous crust punk meets d-beat meets apocalyptic metal band have expanded their line-up to include fellow Gloom member Nate Newton (Converge), Faith Coloccia (Mamiffer), and Tomi Leppänen (Circle), joining Turner and Jussi Lehtisalo (Circle). The results are brutally heavy yet leans further into punk and hardcore than ever before. Tearing through everything in it's path with a spastic d-beat rhythm and Turner's unmistakable world crushing bellow, catharsis has arrived. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
SUPERTEEN | "Over Everything"
Sad Cactus Records
Having spent the past five years releasing increasingly great albums, perfecting their vision of tattered indie rock with sharp stabs of post-punk, psych, twangy hardcore, and their own unique go at jangly art pop, Over Everything, is a sweeping collision of opposing forces, a menacing blend of explosive dynamics and infectious melodies. Opening with the blur of "On Dogs," the picture slowly comes into focus, disorienting your senses before exploding into a sugary sweet melody on top of increasingly shaky ground. SUPERTEEN prove once again to expect the unexpected. There's a disarming sense of calm when their songs are slow to unravel, but they do so with a majestic fury. Stinging guitars and stuttering polyrhythms crash around the doubled vocals of Sam Robinson and Meryl Schultz, their voices working together in ragged harmony and spastic abandon. From there, the carnage ensues, a sound that SUPERTEEN do better than most - like a tornado running through a small town and everyone just shouting rather than taking cover. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
TY SEGALL | "Freedom's Goblin"
Drag City Records
For what seems like an eternity, Ty Segall has been releasing exceptional records that brilliantly explore one of his many passions at a time, from blown out garage punk and Sabbath inspired doom pop to acoustic 60's leaning voyages and glam at its most psych rock. He's excelled at just about everything he's attempted and on Freedom's Goblin, he's finally putting it all together, and running goddamn wild. The results are sprawling and reeling, but it's a burst of every color in the spectrum, a odyssey of freaky grooves and phenomenally crafted rock music, breaking down just about every door in existence and spinning around in the collective dust. It's the album that's been (figuratively) decades in the making, and it's Ty Segall at his most daring and unpredictable. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
WATER FROM YOUR EYES | "All A Dance"
EIS Records
Call it the best "sad dance" album or your favorite "motorik pop" record... it's all the same to me. Brooklyn duo Water From Your Eyes have created a mysterious masterpiece with All A Dance, embracing 80's post-punk, 90's dream pop, and their own futuristic fusion of the two throughout their latest album, their fourth release in less than a year's time. With extended track lengths, Rachel Brown and Nate Amos are able to create hypnotic landscapes, transfixing on a groove and steadily evolving outward from there. Songs like "That's The Girl" and "We're Set Up" use repetition in unique ways, developing a blanket of synths and pulsating rhythms, slowly layering on melodies to create something incredibly infectious and increasingly engaging. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
WAVELESS | "As One More Folded Paper Crane"
Moniker Records
Waveless make that real shoegaze. That kind of shoegaze that swallows everything whole, only the strongest of vocal melody rearing its head out of the blanketing layers. The production isn't pretty. There's no studio gloss. It's as ragged as the distortion pumping its way through the earthquaking amplification... you know, the way it's supposed to be, ten leagues beneath the fuzz. Their latest As One More Folded Paper Crane should be a genre staple, and for anyone paying enough attention, it's sure to be. The record is dim but utterly enormous, thriving on berserk feedback that bleeds all over the tracks. It's shoegaze for those tired of the cleanliness that's infiltrated so much of the genre. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
WRONG | "Feel Great"
Relapse Records
Let's get it out of the way, WRONG sound an awful lot like Helmet circa 1992-1994, and in no way are we upset about that. For the first half of the 90's Helmet were unstoppable, deriving their own mix of hardcore, punk, and melodic "alternative" rock that sounded thick as bricks and brilliantly aggressive. However, it's been 20 years since they released a good album, and it's time that sound is repurposed in capable hands, none more capable than WRONG. Feel Great, their sophomore album, is full of bludgeoning stop/start riffs, cavernous beats, and tight snapping howls. The thunderous grooves part for a twangy muzak styled interludes, only to dive back in for a touch of serious shredding. It's big, nasty, and direct as a bat to the skull. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
YAZAN | "Hahaha"
EIS Records
Yazan Fahmawi is a real soul man. Throughout his latest album, Hahaha, he speaks from his heart, opening himself up with vulnerable tales of heartbreak, forgiveness, and destruction all in the name of learning, growing, and bettering oneself. Joined together with Pile's Kris Kuss on drums and occasionally bass, Yazan (the band) rip through a history of rock 'n' roll from hazy blues and folk to proto-metal and post-hardcore, shredding all the way. While Yazan's powerful voice and resonant vocals do plenty of talking, his guitar playing fills in any gap with jaw-dropping adaptability that sounds radiant in any setting. Hahaha is Yazan's life and spirituality poured into song, and his spirit shines bright from the joyous start to the gravelly finish. - Dan Goldin || LISTEN: Bandcamp | Spotify
Further Listening:
ANNA BURCH "Quit The Curse" | BIG BITE "Big Bite" | BOOJI BOYS "Weekend Rocker" | ED SCHRADER'S MUSIC BEAT "Riddles" | DR. OCTAGON “Moosebumps: An Exploration Into Modern Day Horripilation” | DRAHLA "A Compact Cassette" | FAILURE "In The Future" | FAILURE "Your Body Will Be" | FORTH WANDERERS "Forth Wanderers" | GREG ELECTRIC "Greg Electric" | ICEAGE "Beyondless" | ILLUMINATI HOTTIES "Kiss Yr Frenemies" | KEIJI HAINO & SUMAC “American Dollar Bill - Keep Facing Sideways, You're Too Hideous To Look At Face On” | LACE "Human Condition" | MEDIA JEWELER "1-800-SUCCEED" | MELODY'S ECHO CHAMBER "Bon Voyage" | MELVINS "Pinkus Abortion Technician" | MIKE DONOVAN "How To Get Your Record Played In Shops" | MIND SPIDERS "Furies" | NATE TEREPKA "Sunlight Farm" | PALM "Rock Island" | PORCHES "The House" | PSYCHIC FLOWERS "Big Egg Universe" | RATBOYS "GL" | THE SOFT MOON "Criminal" | STAY ASLEEP "Mourner" | SUMAC "WFMU" | TRACE MOUNTAINS "A Partner To Lean On" | TUNDRASTOMPER "Clean It Up" | ULRIKA SPACEK "Suggestive Listening" | VITAL IDLES "Left Hand" | WAND "Perfume" | YOURS ARE THE ONLY EARS "Knock Hard"