Verity Den, like most of the current artists working in the indie rock mode have their inspirations that range from the best of shoegaze and dream-pop, spiced with a good dose of Yo La Tengo. Yet, what is not so often the case, the trio have re-modeled and re-shaped their inspirations into a defined, individual sound.
Last year's 馬 (Uma) may seem smaller-scale with its runtime just under half an hour compared to its predecessor's near-hour, but it's in this smaller scale that Betcover!! has managed to build its tightest work yet. They’re a band that feels slightly out of time, the mix of modern techniques with old school blues at once new yet classic.
Australia's own Split System have presented their latest album, Vol. 2, as a kind of musical counteragent. By first questioning if our "demands of punk are a little too high... [or] a little too exacting," not to mention talk of primal itches that need scratching, they’ve positioned themselves as a hard-hitting salve for needless wanderlust.
The Wisconsin based trio - comprised of Bobby Hussy, Tyler Spatz, and Hart Alan Miller - are no strangers to the world of DIY punk, but with their latest project they’re blurring the lines and creating their own boundaries, taking equal parts sinewy post-punk and corrosive artistic grunge, and then flipping it all on its head.
If the world feels especially cruel, Mary Timony is the last to know. Speaking to Post-Trash from her home on the eve of Untame the Tiger’s release, the singer and guitar virtuoso sounds carefree and positive. This juxtaposition between heavy circumstance and her unsinkable attitude reflects what Untame the Tiger does so well.
Marisa Dabice said I Got Heaven is about unleashing the animal inside of her, about a kind of freedom we aren't allowed. It is that feral eeriness that defines this album and what gives it a distinct sound from previous Mannequin Pussy records. The ten songs feel like crawling through mud, sprinting through tall grass, seeing your hot breath.
DRILL return with Permanent, their first (and unfortunately last) full length, but they’re not going quietly into the good night. Animated and agitated, the trio - Sonam Parikh (vocals, keys), Gavin Perez-Canto (drums), and Nina Ryser (bass, vocals), continue to craft songs with a charming sort of irreverence, creating post-punk as minimal as it is vibrant.
Vibrations Now is the new EP from Fantastic Purple Spots, the duo of Barrett Jones and Dave Junker out of Austin, Texas, four songs full of folk-ish dreamy psychedelia that lingers in the eardrums well after its done. They lean into the spacier aspects of their influences and recall the fuzzier elements of a band like Brian Jonestown Massacre.
The elusive Fugitive Bubble bursts through the Olympia, WA music scene to wreak havoc on conscientious, hard-core thrill seekers with their glorious re-issue of Delusion through Sorry State Records. Blazing through ten tracks in less than twenty minutes, Delusion flashes teeth to freedom, and casts off the cuffs of bondage.
BALACLAVA originally started as a solo of Dylan Joyce aka BALA, but has now become a five-piece live band based in Ridgewood, Queens. The looming question that they seek to answer is, “What does animated trash sound like?” Their EP, THE 1/4 INCH ALMANAC, is out March 1st with tapes via Orlando based label Godless America.
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.
Friko is the latest band from Chicago’s expansive indie scene to turn heads with the release of their debut full length. In an impressive and complex blossom of chamber-pop, post-punk, and poetic spite, the duo have loomed together a blistering quilt of melodies, moving compositions, and notable spine-shivering anthems.
Souvenir is Omni’s second LP on Sub Pop and fourth overall. It has that same disciplined, musical excellence we've come to expect from them, and the ideas on here remain as exquisite as ever. It's been over four years since their last (and strongest) album Networker, and some subtle adjustments have been made.
If there can be such a thing as a silver lining to stragedy, perhaps part of it is Nina Nastasia’s new band Jolie Laide, which started as a startlingly productive long distance project with Jeff MacLeod and has since grown into a full band. Talking to them, it became clear why the band’s growth has been so propulsive. Besides obviously being close friends, they are stoked.
The passing of the lyric writing and, often, vocal duties, to his partner Denée Segall and collaborator, emphasizes the general musical direction Ty Segall seems to be taking his project. Both this record and his prior album, “Hi, Hello,” share what feels like less of an urgency to arrive at a specific destination.
