The Foreign Department is Rhys Edwards’ (of Ulrika Spacek) follow up to 2022’s impressive Flickering I, released under the name Astrel K. Under this moniker, Edwards’ pop sensibility is more transparently laid bare. There’s equal parts hooks, sweet melancholy, and beautiful song arrangements throughout the album.
Timony epitomizes the rock-and-roll lifer, a journey-person musician who has integrated different genres through a steady output. This new solo album feels different, however. Though she has never been absent, Untame the Tiger sounds like both a culmination of these prolific decades and a re-introduction.
Over the span of a decade there’s been some refinement and what was once masked in acid-fried tape hiss and awash in caterwauling guitars has become distilled into something cleaner, yet every bit as strong. David Nance & Mowed Sound is the next chapter of an already essential story, an evolution of his penchant for country subversion.
There have been more than enough high highs and low lows to go around since Rick Rude’s last album, and yet, Laverne feels like a celebration. It’s a record that revels in the glow of family and friends, remembering the best of times, the moments of pure joy, but it’s also mindful that we all need support to maintain stable footing.
Hot Air Balloon continues Pile’s mastery of intricate post-hardcore, animating a skeleton of sludge with the weeping flesh of psychedelic folk. Off the heels of their latest album All Fiction, the EP is composed of songs left off the final cut. Far from scraps, each song on Hot Air Balloon is striking enough to stand alone.
Toronto’s PACKS return with Melt the Honey, their third full length and their second within a span of a year, continuing to cover new ground as they go. Fronted by Madeline Link, their sound plays from a controlled burn of garage rock, anti-folk and the barebones of pop-eccentricism, redefining the mundane with gasps of fixation and sincerity.
Olympia’s Physique have returned with Overcome By Pain, a blistering six track EP on Seattle’s Iron Lung Records, giving a form to the noise of the body – the body reacting to the deep silence keeping this rotten imperialist foundation in place. Fresh off February’s Again, Physique continue their d-beat bombardment.
Darling aka Charlotte Kouklia is a member of Rose Mercie, and has already released two solo singles, various CD-R releases, and one widely distributed full-length of her own. It took her a few years or so to share another solo effort, but judging by the nine tracks (and a voice recording) on La Porte, it was quite worth the wait.
The Chicago quartet play hardcore at the speed of light, their fury only matched by their willingness to distort their assault with subtle psychedelic shifts. Harsh Reality, released via Three One G Records is aware of police brutality, corporate greed, and ever present inequality, and Stress Positions are none too happy about any of it.
Blacklisters strike the perfect level of sardonic humor and cultural disgust, so interwoven it’s hard to tell exactly where one ends and the other begins. Sludge and bludgeoning density are paired with acidic noise and a stumbling resolve that feels like a reprieve from polite society or a scourge on meatheads worldwide.
The Giant’s Lawn is something spectacular, a record with a natural feeling of awe, like the sun shinning from deep within in the forest woods. Their third album is ambitious, but it never feels like they set out with ambitious intentions, the songs are following a path, treading space and time with a steady atmosphere of wondrous permanence.
If there’s an art form to deconstructing art-punk syllable by syllable, Leeds trio Beige Palace stand at the vanguard. There music seems to look at the bigger picture in scope, just before it’s shattered into drawn out shards, dangerously crafted with sharp edges and puzzle pieces that delight in never quite fitting the way they should.
Marnie Stern's name remained stuck in the minds of modern rock fans. With a mention of Stern comes her always incredible guitar technique, never showing off, but always played with purpose. She’s back with another incredible offering, aptly titled The Comeback Kid, pushing forward without sacrificing her musical sense.
Infinite Hatch opens up a new realm in SPLLIT’s expanding galactic journey. The Baton Rouge duo dive into the deep end on their second full length, and they’ve created a masterpiece in the process. From songs that sound like bugged out pinball games to laser driven art punk odysseys, the layered eccentricities are tight yet discombobulated.
Less More shouldn’t be confused with the old adage of “less is more,” a saying that rarely applies to Tundrastomper’s nuanced compositions. The theme seems to be more of a contradictory nature, the push and pull between two sides of a spectrum, less vs. more. Whichever way you go, Tundrastomper offer a path.
The Map and The Territory, EXEK’s latest album, never subsists on dread or tension, the sound is rarely claustrophobic, but the sense of mystery is palpable, we’re wandering the unknown. That seems to be by design, as the band worked to create an emphasis on pop structure, but the atmosphere remains vast and disorienting.
