ALBUM OF THE WEEK: mclusky - "Unpopular Parts of a Pig / The Digger You Deep"
With ear issues seemingly on the men, it would seem mclusky are ready to reconvene their second coming, a handful of great songs leading the way. The band released as “double A-side” single, with subsequent “double B-sides” to boot, delivered via Bandcamp in order to raise money for international touring and hefty visa costs.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Tomb Mold - "The Enduring Spirit"
Tomb Mold have pushed boundaries since their formation. With The Enduring Spirit, they’ve decimated form in favor of exploration, from caustic prog to jazzy psych expanses, and dare we say they’ve done it without alienating metal purists. Their latest album favors an open mind, a collision of primal force and deranged technicality.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist - "VOIR DIRE"
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Speedy Ortiz - "Rabbit Rabbit"
Sadie Dupuis and her crew are BIG on sonics; they played about fifty different guitars, through over a hundred effects pedals and thirty amps at Rancho de la Luna and Sonic Ranch for Rabbit Rabbit. The band has always had a guitar focus, and the riffs have continuously been hot, but engineer Sarah Tudzin, brought added heat.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Prewn - "Through The Window"
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Vangas - "Vangas"
The recent self-titled album by Atlanta band Vangas is a punishing and relentless record. From the first moments of “Chromatic Ascending” to the closing “The Handstand (Pt. 2),” there’s little room to breathe as the band tunnels through a hole of noise for 35 minutes, dragging you along amid some of the year’s most exciting noise rock.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Helvetia - "The Beach At The Edge Of The World"
We can’t overstate the importance of Helvetia, a constant favorite for well over a decade. The impact of its sound and style, the structure, finesse (as well as lack of finesse), has left a profound impression on what this era’s psychedelic music can be. The Beach At The Edge Of The World is a prime example of Helvetia at its absolute best.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Florry - "The Holey Bible"
Some bands just sound like they are up for a good time. Florry are one of those bands. Led by frontperson Francie Medosch, Florry continue to let loose with a rootsy folk/country blend and some truly incisive and often times devastating lyricism on the Philadelphia based band's second full length, The Holey Bible.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Silicone Prairie - "Vol. II"
The sense of freedom that reigns supreme on Vol. II is immediately apparent. It’s that exploration (along with Ian Teeple’s songwriting) that make up the heart of the record. He’s content to choogle along in a warped and weird world of progressive bedroom pop, distorted post-punk, glam-tinged power-pop, alien dream-pop, and lo-fi psych.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Snōōper - "Super Snōōper"
Super Snōōper toughens up the band’s sound. The recording lends depth and metallic sharpness for maximum wallop; Blair Tramel’s voice is brought more to the front of the mix, and gains range and power. With this more straightforward sonic palette, an array of Snōōper’s best material holds up: taut, funny, and ribboned.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Palehound - "Eye on the Bat"
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: PJ Harvey - "I Inside The Old Year Dying"
Set in the woods of Harvey’s hometown of Dorset, I Inside The Old Year Dying constructs a folk-horror universe with the assistance of longtime collaborators, Flood and John Parish. Old Dorset dialect, musique concrète, field recordings, audio libraries, and standard instruments reshaped create surreal sounds that transport listeners.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Drive Like Jehu - "Yank Crime"
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Squitch - "Tumbledown Mountain"
Without giving consideration to the future or lack-there-of, it’s safe to say that Squitch have made their best record to date with Tumbledown Mountain, a collection of songs both personal and inherently complex. It’s an album that deals with the finality of things but as the band know, “it’s not the end.”
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Geld - "Currency // Castration"
Ain’t shit pretty about Currency // Castration and that’s the beauty of it. The band’s third album is ensnared in filth and dissonance, at home amid the depravity, for better or worse, this is where we’re at and Geld aren’t delusional. Rather than collapse under the weight of it all, they chose to decimate, creating something that feels relevant and timeless.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Goo - "Squid Ink Sky"
The world of Squid Ink Sky lives in the moon’s glow, it fills the space at the end of the day reserved for late night sentiment. It’s the feeling of being alone with your thoughts, watching as your mind wanders from what could be to what is, and how it could have gone a million different ways between. It’s also astonishingly beautiful.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Protomartyr - "Formal Growth In The Desert"
The band’s sixth full length album is drawn from life’s very real low points, both personal and general, namely the death of Joe Casey’s mother and the worldwide misfortune of the pandemic. In what could have been a collection of songs buried in doom and gloom, Protomartyr return with a new resolve.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Stuck - "Freak Frequency"
Stuck’s expertise lies in making deeply entertaining post-punk and art rock by means of leading the listener into unknown and unpredictable directions. Each song metaphorically tears into the listener with the canines and incisors and slowly but surely moves them into the morals in the back of the mouth, ruminating on its themes.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: GracieHorse - "L.A. Shit"
Gracie Jackson’s journeyed voice reflects the years of entropy and moil but spins that into songs of self-determination, confidence, and humor. Whether eating fried chicken in a hazmat suit, breaking up fights, or dancing with a stranger in a white stetson, her narrative lyrics are almost cinematic in their oddly specific detail.