Carpenter’s songs feel like they’ve existed forever, swirling loosely in the ether until called forth the moment he picks up a guitar. End of the Kicks, his newest collection, is due out September 29 via Durham, NC label/collective PotLuck Foundation. It’s his best work yet, adding a gentle psychedelic shimmer to his classic songwriting.
Sleep Sinatra’s work is fascinating, full of precision cut lyrics that present the grimy and philosophical in equal measure. “Intuition,” the single from Shadowself, a full-length, Carl Jung-inspired collaboration with Richmond beat shaman Ohbliv, beautifully illustrates his particular set of skills.
For Kosmetika, true craftsmanship lies in the details. “House,” the second single from the Melbourne art-punks’ new album, Illustration (due April 21 on Spoilsport Records), feels instantly familiar and comfortable. It’s full of new wave signifiers, settling nicely in the middle of a Venn diagram that includes Charlie, Le Tigre’s, and ESG.
It feels like Glenn Donaldson plucks his songs out of mid-air. The hyper-prolific San Franciscan’s latest project, The Reds, Pinks and Purples, continues the tradition of catchy Bay Area pop. The second single from the upcoming Slumberland mini-LP, They Only Wanted Your Soul allows Donaldson’s bitter assertion to cut through clearly.
All of Action Bronson’s best work treats music like Calvinball—meticulous and detailed worlds seemingly unspooling in a stream of consciousness. Cocodrillo Turbo is no different, as it loosely ties together a beasts-of-the-wilderness theme through nature show samples and a production palette of fuzzed-out, hungover psychedelia.
Boon says “Candle” is about how hard we’re all working to toe the line between being functional and overwhelmed, a dizzying task that seems to produce more anxiety than it quells. It’s a whirlwind of a tune, bursting at the seams with manic energy. Brendan Principato’s lyrics evoke the stress that surrounds us like thick humidity.
In November of 2021, Defcee released Trapdoor, a collaboration with producer Messiah Musik. Backwoodz Studioz, the current bastion of forward-thinking rap music released the album, giving Defcee’s already-rising profile a considerable shove. Defcee simultaneously writes from insular and elevated perspectives, presenting a harrowing personal narrative that speaks to the grander dystopia in which we’re mired.
Post-Trash’s Dash Lewis spoke with Cities Aviv shortly before the vinyl drop of Crashing Sound about how he crafted the album, whether or not he considers his music experimental, and his endless prolificacy. They discuss his insatiable appetite for music, swinging widely from Japanese sludge rockers Boris to free jazz pioneer Milford Graves.
It’s not always easy for a band with such a plethora of ideas to integrate them so smoothly. Without the strength of their songwriting, Mandatory Enjoyment could come off as a hollow list of reference points that dissipate the moment the record ends. That is decidedly not the case here, as each touchpoint is confidently held in veneration.
Smoke Bellow, the Baltimore-via-Australia psych-pop band, revels in fitting together wildly disparate influences to create wholly new sounds. 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.
HEY WHAT, Low’s stunning third album with BJ Burton, refines its predecessor’s approach, sculpting its slabs of noise into something more defined and accessible without losing any of the impact. It’s an album that grapples with the questioning of faith and the acknowledgement that the answers sought may never appear.
