Favorite New Music: June 2017

Cool American Infinite Hiatus

Self-proclaimed “dorito pop” Portland four-piece Cool American released Infinite Hiatus on bandcamp at the beginning of June, but might best be played at the beginning of December: the melancholic delivery of the vocal performance tint each song with a wistful energy, and in the case of the title track, paint a solemn picture ideal for lonely dark months. Long live guitar bands!

Standout Track: “Great at Parties”

Bleachers Gone Now

Bleachers’ sophomore album is another case of more-of-the-same syndrome, but when the debut album is as good as Strange Desire, it’s not such a terrible ailment from which to suffer. The choruses are still big, the vocals have the same filters, the 80s vibe is still loud and clear…but every touch is welcomed back for Bleachers fans.

Standout Track: “Everybody Lost Somebody”

Calvin Harris Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1

It’s hard not to like, at least a little, an album that’s just a pile of dancable pop tunes from recognizable names…and this one trumps the new DJ Kalid project Grateful. As a disclaimer, however, the Nikki Minaj track is complete garbage and should not be bothered with for any reason.

Standout Track: “Heatstroke” ft. Young Thug, Pharrell Williams, Ariana Grande

Tigers of Youth Rapture and Gravity EP

Portland’s TOY have released their debut EP and it captures the band’s excellent songwriting and lyrical compositions by frontman Dave Wentz. The smooth vocals and equally smooth guitar tones seduce the ears and make the EP feel like a full experience. Here’s to hoping they get some attention soon.

Standout Track: “Simple Treason”

Other Solid Releases: Lorde Melodrama ; Vince Staples Big Fish Theory

 

 

 

Favorite New Music: October

Cakes Da Killa Hedonism

The front end of Hedonism has rapper Cakes Da Killa spitting over thumping techno beats, which propels the album with high energy. “New Phone (Who Dis)” moves the album into a poppier field with a beat complete with syncopated rim shots and a synth melody reminiscent of late 2000s pop rap. The down tempo, moodier songs “Tru Love” and “Revelations (Outro) are a nice reprieve from the heavy bass hits, and balances out the album from the back end of the track list.

Standout Track: “New Phone (Who Dis)”

Jeff Rosenstock Worry.

Life-long outcast Jeff Rosenstock comes through with another solid emo rock album that nearly rivals the near-perfect We Cool? of a few years back. A short documentary was produced to back the album, and shows Jeff’s strong vision for this higher budget project.

Standout Track: “Wave Goodnight to Me”

D.D Dumbo Utopia Defeated

Standout Track: “Satan”

New Wave can seem, well, old. Utopia Defeated is soaked in sonic nostalgia, but the dance rock beats and the very Sting-esque vocals create a fun album for dancing. This is a strong debut album for the group as they are added to the 4AD roster.

Lewis Del Mar S/T

This acoustic dance duo have found their footing in popular culture with their single “Loud(y)” and much of this album features similar musical tropes: simple, distorted percussion, single-note lead guitar melodies, and vocals akin to that of Imagine Dragons’ cleaner tunes. The more cut-and-paste the instruments, the more energy the group exudes in their work.

Standout Track: “Malt Liquor”

Joyce Manor Cody

There is something special when a band gets away with selling the lines: “What do you think about Kanye West? / I think that he’s the great, I think he’s the best / Yeah, I think he’s better than John Steinbeck / I think he’s better than Phil Hartman.” Is it stupid? Yes. Is it brilliant? I can’t tell.

Standout Track: “Fake I.D.”

More Solid Albums: Phantogram Three ; Acid Arab Musique de France ; The Game 1992 ; Bell X1 Arms ; NxWorries Yes Lawd! ; The Radio Dept.Running Out of Love ; C Duncan The Midnight Sun

 

 

Favorite New Music: May 2016

Car Seat Headrest Teens of Denial

From the opening guitar licks in “Fill in the Blank” to the Dido reference in the middle of “The Ballad of Costa Concordia” Car Seat Headrest shows their songwriting prowess on this Matador Records debut. Will Toledo pens some killer drepressing lyrics and pairs the sentiments with indie guitar tunes that sit somewhere between surf rock, lo-fi, and punk. The songs are all very catchy, too, and melodies will stick around in your head, especially the refrain from “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales”.

Standout Track: “Fill in the Blank”

Mutual Benefit Skip a Sinking Stone

Sometimes you need an album to just sit on the floor and soak in. For a long time, that album for me has been Burst Apart by The Antlers, but now it might have some company. These folk tunes from Jordan Lee deliver the mellow vibes through the lightly harmonized vocals and the thick, legato string arrangements.

Standout Track: “Not For Nothing”

Nothing Tired of Tomorrow

17 year old me would have been disappointed in his older self’s musical tastes. This album would have been written off as “too soft” in a world where nu-metal ruled and bpms under 140 were discarded. Nothing’s washed out opening tracks cresendo two minutes into “Vertigo Flowers” where the half time count builds into an incredible wall of sound. The album shows its 90’s sensibilities and holds a lot of similarities to the drugged out, dreamy songs of my early childhood. The nu-metal turns on at “A.C.D.” with harmonies one could find on a track by The Urge.

Standout Track: “A.C.D. (Abcessive Compulsive Disorder)”

Death Grips Bottomless Pit

And then there’s Death Grips.

Standout Track: “Three Bedrooms in a Good Neighborhood”

ANOHNI Hopelessness

Have you ever been engaged with entertainment and cannot come to the conclusion whether you are either captivated or baffled? So continues my relationship with ANOHNI’s vocals on Hopelessness. The sexual ambiguity makes the music more difficult to categorize, which makes the album more interesting to explore. Plus, “4 Degrees” is a great pop song with one catchy hook.

Standout Track: “4 Degrees”

Other Solid Releases: James Blake The Colour in Anything; Fruit Bats Absolute Loser; Homebody Sandman Kindness for Weakness; Yoni & Geti Testarossa; Chance the Rapper Coloring Book; Astronautalis Cut The Body Loose

 

 

Favorite New Music: March 2016

1. Into it. Over it. Standards

Evan Weiss’ project as Into It. Over It. sounds like the best versions of emo-rock from the mid-late 2000s. There’s chord progression, and even guitar tone, that one might find on Death Cab For Cutie’s Narrow Stairs. Even Weiss’ vocals have Ben Gibbard gloss all over tracks like “Closing Arguments” and album opener “Open Casket.” The drummer, on the other hand, it let loose on the albums best tracks and the duo create some exciting indie rock tunes.

Standout Track: “Adult Contempt”

2. Miike Snow iii

Britney Spears’ pop monolith “Toxic” is my favorite pop song. It’s my go-to karaoke song. It’s one of two cover songs my band has learned. It just rocks. Turns out, two of the three members of Swedish electro-pop group Miike Snow produced that song over ten years ago! Miike Snow’s previous releases (apply titled i and ii) have both had songs on my best-of-the-year lists and this release proves to be no different. The sonic textures here remind me of Foster The People’s debut record Torches when it comes to syth tones and melodic phrasing. And just like FTP, this trio is groovy as hell on some tracks, and pulls out some great lyrical play on others. Not only to mention, the music video for “Genghis Khan” may be hard to beat as my favorite music video of 2016. We’ll see!

Standout Track: “Genghis Khan”

3. The Knocks 55

The Knocks debut album is like listening to the best party playlist your cool friend painstakingly pieced together, but without their incessant sleeve-tugging quips to distract and annoy you. This LP is all over the place, but its core is steeped in nostalgia for places (“New York City”) modernized takes on antiquated grooves (“Classic”) and coupled with like-minded artists just as eager to live in bygone eras (e.g. Carly Rae Jepsen, X Ambassadors, WALK THE MOON). A majority of these songs dip into that anti-party sound akin to Alessia Care’s work, but the party is the point on every track here.

Standout Track: “Collect My Love” (feat. Alex Newell)

4. Thao & The Get Down Stay Down A Man Alive

Back in 2013, when I first caught wind of Thao Nguyen’s band, it ended up on my favorite albums of the year list as well as setting the benchmark for great band names. Three years later, Thao releases an album that is like a tUnE-yArDs art-rock project. As it turns out, Merrill Garbus herself produced this latest LP and it is cut from the same sonic cloth: distorted mic effects, choral vocal backup melodies, heavy drums, and endlessly interesting lyrics. A huge win here for Thao!

Standout Track: “Departure”

5. M. Ward More Rain

M. Ward has been a busy man as one half of She & Hims many releases, but he’s back for another solo record, and it is just as classic and moody as one might expect. The hollow-body guitar sounds beautiful soaking M.Ward’s usual reverb and delay effects. More of what we love here on More Rain.

Standout Track: “I’m Going Higher”

More Solid Releases: Primal Scream Chaosmosis; Baauer Aa; Bent Shapes Wolves of Want; Policia United Crushers; Wussy S/T; Cub Sport This Is Our Vice;

 

 

New Music: November

1. Foo Fighters St. Cecilia EP

This surprise EP from the modern rock icons holds together as a brief bunch of great, simple rock tunes. They are my favorite rock band and they have won me back after their departure into rock history anthology projects. Here, they focus on catchy melodies and stacking guitars. Love ’em.

Standout Track: “St. Cecilia”

2. Rapzilla Freshman ’15

The Christian Hip-Hop site has produced their own mixtape of new MCs gaining traction in the genre. The glue that holds this project together is up-and-coming producer Wontel as he gives each rising star enough room to showcase their talents.

Standout Track: “Glorify” Davis Absolute

3. Alessia Care Know-It-All

From her hit single “Here” to her strong EP Four Pink Walls to this debut album, Alessia Cara has exploded in 2015. Here’s to hoping her fall from pop radio is much slower than her sudden success.

Standout Track: “Wild Things”

 

4. Grimes Art Angels

This is my first introduction into Grimes and I was surprised that this project wasn’t a lot weirder given the album art and her indy music status. Art Angel instead gives us some synth pop that’s got some top 40 and some K-Pop and some house.

Standout Track: “Kill v. Maim”

 

 

 

 

New Music: February

1. Marian Hill Sway

An LP filled with electronic hip-hop beats with some fun, airy vocals. Maybe what Lorde would create if she ever got in a good mood.

Stand Out Track: “Got It”

2. BADBADNOTGOOD / Ghostface Killah Sour Soul

This project bridges two generations of hip-hop: The 90s heyday of gansta rap and the current era of post-modern self referential college kids. How these two musical entities found one another is unknown to me, but the product is delicious.

Standout Track:”Ray Gun (feat. DOOM)”

3. Drake If Youre Reading This It’s Too Late

Is it a mixtape? An album? Was is leaked to add to the Young Money debacle with Lil Wayne? None of that actually matters. The music is good, really good. Drake raps and sings in more honest shades of himself here and falls between the melancholy of Take Care and the anger of Nothing Was The Same.

Standout Track: “You & the 6”

4. Jack U Skrillex and Diplo Present: Jack U

Another collaboration LP this month! Here is Skrillex and Diplo’s album feature a deeper cast of characters. It flows from Bro-step to South American dance to house music. A little taste of each artist’s musical interests.

Standout Track: “Where are U now (feat. Justin Bieber)”

Favorite Music Video: Flight Facilities “Down to Earth”