ConnectionsCool ChangeTrouble In Mind Records [2023] Connections have established a strong position on the indie music scene since 2013 with five full lengths and a handful of 7″s released over the span of six years. Now, five years has passed since their last release, Foreign Affairs (2018), and the band has made a glorious rock … Read more
U2Songs Of SurrenderInterscope Records [2023] A while back, it became cool for a significant moment in time for major touring rock acts to pause in the middle of their set and pull out the acoustic guitars and move to a couch on the edge of the stage to create an intimate concert moment, no doubt … Read more
The Lost DaysIn The StoreSpeakeasy Studios SF [2023] After meeting at a memorial for a mutual friend, Tony Molina (Ovens) and Sarah Rose Janko (Dawn Riding) started spending time together playing guitar and singing their hearts out. This was the beginning of The Lost Days and after their 5-song Lost Demos EP was released in … Read more
Lonnie HolleyOh Me, Oh MyJagjaguwar [2023] Long before Lonnie Holley made any music, he had been discovered as a visual artist and sculptor, initially making sandstone carvings from discarded stone linings used for industrial molds, but later constructing found-art sculptures from junkyard detritus and things discarded by our consumer-driven culture. Holley’s childhood as an African … Read more
The Royal Arctic InstituteFrom Coma To CatharsisAlready Dead Tapes And Records [2023] The Royal Arctic Institute is a quintet of seasoned NYC musicians playing their own brand of cinematic, post-rock & jazz instrumentals, with nine titles of previous recordings available on their Bandcamp site. The 6-track EP that is From Coma to Catharsis comes a … Read more
Gee TeeGoodnight NeanderthalUrge/Goner Records [2023] Sydney’s Kel Mason is the man behind the spastic lo-fi punk sounds of Gee Tee. He has released a multitude of music under this moniker since 2016 and has grown his underground following with every new release. Gee Tee’s newest long player, Goodnight Neanderthal, formalizes all his past work and … Read more
EyelidsA Colossal Waste Of LightJealous Butcher Records [2023] As they finish out their first decade as a band, Portland, Oregon’s Eyelids have covered a lot of ground. From the half-studio, half-live hybrid of 2018’s Maybe More, 2019’s EP with John Cameron Mitchell (Turning Time Around), and 2020’s collaboration with Tim Buckley lyricist Larry Beckett (The … Read more
Shana ClevelandManzanitaHardly Art Records [2023] Manzanita is the common name for a kind of small evergreen tree endemic to California which has strong medicinal properties. It is a fitting title for the newest solo album from La Luz’s Shana Cleveland as the record displays a gorgeousness that will instantly change your state of mind in … Read more
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs PigsLand Of SleeperRocket Recordings/Missing Piece Group Records [2023] Disciples of the riff fall to your knees and raise your hands to the heavens shouting, “we’re not worthy!” Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs is here to crush your skull with the solar mass of multiple black holes. Hailing … Read more
Gramercy ArmsDeleted ScenesMagic Door Record Label [2023] Gramercy Arms is a NYC musical collective brought together around the songwriting of Dave Derby, who keeps the focus of this third album locked in on polished power/pop that’s inspired, as the band bio says, “by the artistic heyday of the 70’s and 80’s-era.” Derby sings, plays guitar … Read more
Philip SelwayStrange DanceBella Union [2023] Philip Selway, best known as the drummer in Radiohead, has released his third solo album revealing an affinity for the elegant and artful, technologically enhanced, somewhat experimental, larger than life arrangements that has long been part of his main band’s largest works. Surprisingly, Selway and producer Marta Salogni brought in … Read more
Ron GalloFOREGROUND MUSICKill Rock Stars [2023] Ron Gallo has been a very well known name on the indie circuit since his solid 2017 record Heavy Meta was released. He has earned a loyal live following and shared the stage with plenty of big names like Spoon, Parquet Courts, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Wilco, and … Read more
Jack Harlon & The Dead CrowsHail To The UndergroundBlues Funeral Recordings [2023] I will fully admit that I am a very hard sell on cover albums. I have always felt that this type of record, no matter who the artist, has novelty act qualities automatically built into its creation because you can go to any … Read more
LuceroShould’ve Learned By NowLiberty & Lament/Thirty Tigers [2023] If that sturdy, fast drumbeat that opens Lucero’s new album doesn’t convince you they mean business by the time the crunchy rhythm guitars fall into place, perhaps that cowbell will do the trick. That sound, which conjures the classic rock ghost of “Mississippi Queen” by Mountain, is … Read more
Narrow HeadMoments Of ClarityRun For Cover Records [2023] Moments Of Clarity is the third long player from Houston’s Narrow Head. The record continues the heavy alternative rock and shoegaze mix the band is known for that transports you back to the 90’s while dealing with the world’s issues of today. Right from the opening track, … Read more
Neutral Milk HotelThe Collected Works Of Neutral Milk HotelMerge Records [2023] Neutral Milk Hotel made two modest lo-fi releases in the mid to late 90’s that over time proved far more influential as the band’s cult status grew in spite of singer/songwriter Jeff Mangum’s reclusive radio silence. Loosely described as psychedelic folk and indie rock, … Read more
OkonskiMagnoliaColemine Records [2023] Magnolia, the debut album from jazz trio Okonski, uses a simple formula: piano, bass, and drums. But simplicity can be deceptive, and Magnolia manages to cover a lot of musical and emotional ground over its seven tracks. Bandleader Steve Okonski’s piano work is the primary focus conjures a range of moods and styles, but … Read more
The ChurchThe HypnogogueCommunicating Vessels [2023] The stature and reputation of Australian indie/rock band The Church is such that with only one charting Top 40 hit to their name, “Under the Milky Way” from the band’s 1988 release Starfish, in 2015 and again in 2016 they shared a co-headlining tour bill with The Psychedelic Furs, the … Read more
InhalerCuts & BruisesGeffen Records [2023] The first thing anyone is going to tell you about Irish band Inhaler is that the band’s singer and rhythm guitarist is Elijah Hewson, the son of U2’s Bono, and the minute you have that information it’s almost impossible not to hear the vocal similarities. What all the debates about … Read more
FranLeavingFire Talk Records [2023] The sophomore release from Chicago-based band, Fran, finds vocalist and principal songwriter Maria Jacobson reflecting on the underlying philosophical values and thinking that people rely on to help make sense of their experiences. Inspired by reading Alan Watts’ “Wisdom of Insecurity,” which suggests a Zen-like acceptance that “impermanence and insecurity are … Read more
Tee Vee RepairmannWhat’s On TV?Computer Human/Total Punk Records [2023] Australia’s Ishka Edmeades is involved with a multitude of bands that includes Satanic Togas, Set-Top Box, Research Reactor Corporation, Gee Tee, Remote Control, Mainframe, and 3D & The Holograms – and the list keeps growing. Well, besides all of that work, Edmeades has now released his … Read more
Shonen KnifeOur Best PlaceGood Caramel Records [2023] The Japanese female pop/punk trio that is Shonen Knife have been plugging along since the early 80’s, parlaying their novelty act status to a couple of major label releases in the early 90’s, including Rock Animals. Here on their 24th album, they are still plugging away, still pounding away … Read more
PileAll FictionExploding In Sound Records [2023] Take a moment to remember everything that you know about Boston’s Pile. Ok, perfect, now forget all that. Pile has been making music solo since 2006 and as a band since 2009. Pile first caught our ear with 2013’s incredible Dripping (which was just remastered and re-released btw). Since … Read more
CIVICTaken By ForceATO Records [2023] Melbourne-based five-piece CIVIC are back with their biggest rock album to date. The group lead by the power singer Jim McCullough takes their fiery punk to a new level that is more melodic than previous efforts but delivered with the same take no prisoner passion. After a quick intro track, … Read more
QuasiBreaking The Balls Of HistorySub Pop Records [2023] It appears to have taken a global pandemic to get Portland, Ore. power duo Quasi back into the studio 10 years after their last release. Surrounded by numerous end-of-the-world scenarios with no touring happening, it seemed the perfect time for the combined talents of Sam Coomes and … Read more