Album: Thin Lear – Many Disappeared
Thin Lear’s Matt Longo taps into the otherworldly to process loss and loneliness on a superb yet bittersweet sophomore album.
Album
Album: St.Arnaud – S/T
Setting words of heartbreak to smooth jazz turns cynicism into celebration on St.Arnaud’s third LP, their first as a full band.
Album: Shapes Like People – Under The Rainbow
Shapes Like People return with their second album, an evolution of the first, with jangle pop mastery hitting every hue, brightness, and shadow on the spectrum.
Album: Final Days Society – You Can
A post-rock, indie, shoegaze fusion, the ambitious new album from the Swedish rockers is a sprawling, audible adventure. This is music at its most powerful.
Album: Superintendo – Beauty Routine
Shifting between genres but full of energy regardless, Superintendo make their beautiful debut on Punkerton Records.
Album: Winston Hightower – 100 Acre Wood
As someone who was there when lo-fi rock and pop started becoming a common thing
Album: Frog – Frog for Sale
Therein lies the brilliance of Frog: a coy, sleight-of-hand songwriting that launders longing through desire, dread through humor, and profundity through crassness—all neatly packaged into infectious, instant-classic tunes.
Album: Carsie Blanton & the Burning Hell – Everything is Great
Carsie Blanton’s new album features outrage and the outrageous. It is absurdity as a response to a diabolical but absurd world.
Album: Air Mail – a.m. Continental
Air Mail’s new album is pleasant and enjoyable little jaunt through precious songs that capture the feeling of an impressionable journey.
Album: Empired – Strikes Back
A couple years after their debut and with the world at least twenty times worse, Empired return with an album speaking more truth to power than ever before.
Album: Adiós Ghost – Happy House
Entirely live-tracked, the second album from the Brooklyn “power disco” quartet is full of immaculate vibes and impressive musicianship.
Album: Vilde – Qualia At Odds
Dreamy synths, glittering guitars and woozy electronic textures combine to make an evocative album full of gentle off-kilter lullabies.
Album: Kvisa – A Pathetic Excuse For A Feeling
Kvisa, in Hebrew – כביסה – means “laundry” or “washing”. I did not know that
Album: Bleak Streak – Peak Bleak
Sweden’s Bleak Streak rave on about the lowest lows of life with punk rhythms written to raise your spirits, regardless of the lyrics.
Album: The Pretty Flowers – Never Felt Bitter
The Pretty Flowers’ third album uses the ideas of space and community to produce a big sound, one more massive than the sum of its parts.
Album: SSAANN – Higher
The Milwaukee dream gaze band’s debut album sequences lush synths into a symphony for introspection.
Album: Hanemoon – Untitled
A polished tapestry of guitar-driven bedroom pop, 90’s slacker indie, and 60’s psych-pop whose effect lands softly, vivid in its impact but blurred at the edges like a memory.
Album: Mindy Gledhill – The Phone Booth Sessions, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2
On Vol. 2 of The Phone Booth Sessions, Mindy Gledhill continues her talks with her inner adolescent, weaving the edges and roughness of her younger days into her music.
Album: Jacob The Horse – At Least It’s Almost Over
Jacob The Horse’s brand of punk blares triumphant, a fanfare to stir the heartstrings against an unjust society.
Album: ELROD – House Fires And Broken Teeth
ELROD’s new album crafts a complex sonic portrait — dark, enchanting, magical and haunting — all with succinct brevity.