In September of 2022, Preoccupations’ Monty Munro spoke with me over Zoom, where we dove deep into the mania behind their latest recording process, the bad luck streak of their 2018 tour, and most importantly: tons and tons of gear.

Sons Of features four lengthy modular synthesizer compositions from Sam Prekop and John McEntire, first forged across the duo’s improvised 2019 European tour.

Superchunk’s latest licks sociopolitical wounds while revisiting a more tunefully ambitious era of the band.

Bobby Burg’s first Love of Everything release in a decade offers aural hugs in a year where any kind of embrace is desperately needed.

Mouse on Mars, heavily featuring an AI software, return with their most impactful narrative album bearing small traces of what hints to later be truly revolutionary.

Tim Kinsella, Melina Ausikaitis, Theo Katsaounis, and Bobby Burg tell the tale of bringing Joan of Arc to an end in this oral retrospective.

Joan of Arc may have reached a career end, but they continue to be unstoppable.

EP2, further realizes cindygod’s potential for icky goth pop, confidently delighting in the dark hallways they began exploring with last year’s demos.

Sam Prekop the jazz rock frontman and Sam Prekop the modular synth artist are two very different people and Comma is the freshest, most spirited work either has shared in years.

While Nana Grizol’s latest is rife with sociopolitical columnist wit, Theo Hilton still weaves in plenty of the personal beauty he’s spent a few albums proving matters so much.

The Avalanche explores the doubt one can harbor as a father and husband set to a pure and endlessly beauteous void.

Les Easterby’s latest writings from a once-shut-out heart are perfect sympathies for the physically shut-in masses.

The group’s first collection of new material after a six-year hiatus is a feeling or wavelength pronounceable and describable on the user’s own elated terms, much like OOIOO’s namesake.

Whereas most collaborative efforts result in uninhibited vibe sessions, Little Common Twist offers informal exploration with intent.

Lightning Bolt’s seventh full-length is a mammoth epic that leaves in its wake the pulsating of ear drums and tremoring of pupils.

After nine years of radio silence, Versus have proven still very much electrified and full of life.

LP3 excitedly shatters the notion of expectation in American Football, blurring their legacy into a foreign concept.

Paul Quattrone discusses his love for The Bomb Squad, how it feels to step out of the drum throne in his new project Warm Drag, and why dabbling in odd time signatures can very quickly ruin an artist’s ability to be taken seriously.

Matmos’s newest effort broadens their toolkit considerably, featuring all things plastic from silicone gel breast implants to PVC pipes.

Julian Fader talks Ava Luna’s latest record, the near-discontinuation of their tenure prior to its release, and bandmates’ influences ranging from Enya to Cornelius.

Two years after Boo Boo, Chaz has channeled that chill opera’s focus on jadedness and turned it outward into riposte.

Gauntlet Hair has been reborn as cindygod. The change in name and lineup also comes with a revamped industrial and at times chilling demeanor.

Tangerine’s new EP suggests a brighter aptitude for instrumentation and arrangement than their synth pop predecessors.

Warm Drag is the authenticity yielded by a natural continuation of Paul Quattrone and Vashti Windish’s collaborative DJ sets, and the theme of this night is acid western.

Jones’s latest full-length indebts itself to his bygone friend and mentor John Fahey in a personalized sonic essay on his early teachings.

On their twenty-first record, Oh Sees remain confounding in their pace and dependability.

Aside from one breezy single, this perfunctory debut is about as catch-all as a ClipArt search result for ‘indie band.’

Joy resembles not the electric freak jam of its former, adopting instead a case of perpetual nervousness and a short fuse. Segall and Presley have bottled the essence of Dr. Jekyll transforming into Mr. Hyde.

Pram’s first release in a decade is often the score to the rumpus of ghosts in the attic after their being unleashed from a dusty music box ballerina’s stimulus.

The Switch does away with the sterility of Body/Head’s debut and seeks to better represent the group’s live sound.

Joan of Arc’s latest is a patchwork of retrospective blips that fade in and out at an almost subliminal rate, not looking to drag new meaning out of the past but rather to ensure that nothing was overlooked.

Any Day is a bold expression derived from stress and change crafted from the masters in rare form, typical form, and most importantly, new form.

Almost two years after they teased its title track, Jaala’s sophomore LP Joonya Spirit is well worth the wait.

Bewilderment over Hop Along’s latest cannot be indebted to any defined science—they just know how to wow by the cleverest and most economic means.

Beyond XXXL is made for those who love Iggy Pop’s The Idiot, but would specifically like a 45-minute reflection of “Nightclubbing.”

Revisiting Sleepyhead’s tenure on Homestead Records is as much of a trip down memory lane as it is an acid test for just how widely the gumption was spread to the more unknown sects of alternative circles at the time.

Featuring an array of guest musicians and a wide berth of ideas and styles, MoM’s latest plays out like a series of bite-sized In the Fishtank performances, each touting its own brand of curiosity.

GBV’s 25th album ensures that the frequency of their output isn’t due to phoning it in but rather the miracle of dedication.

The complicated time signatures and Matt Flegel’s snarl are still intact on the band’s third LP, yet the lack of a centerpiece may leave fans unsated.

This debut of a supergroup featuring members of Fugazi gets too caught up in the jamming aspect of band practice.

Now Only is a more focused and musically satisfying second chapter in the ongoing chronicle of Geneviève’s postmortem.

It’s 2018 and there’s a riot going on. As much as they opined, “This is it for all we know,” on last record Fade, it’s still too early to punch in their cards.

NYC indie rock veterans Sleepyhead debut a new single from the past, combining blistering drums with pleasantly fuzzed out guitars… and a slide whistle!

All at Once builds on the pop flirtations of their previous record while matching the length and bevy of ideas found on Ugly, marrying the two in a mettlesome, swaggering although humbled ultra-album.

On their third album in four years, Ought continue to be one of the most inventive bands of late, operating on the sheer ingenuity of its proprietors.

What a Time to Be Alive is a far more apt address than the one Donald Trump issued in January; it’s a State of the Union of the people, by the people, for the people.

Anna Burch’s solo debut proves that if you plug in a guitar and apply a noticeable amount of reverb somewhere within the process of recording, indie pop can indeed be quickly reduced to something anyone can do.

Jad Fair remains an overflowing fountain of wide-eyed, childlike poetry and his bandmates all craft the dependable art rock stylings that have become associated with the name over the years. “One word for it: Wow.”

Our aggressively dystopian present has collided with Tune-Yards, temporarily sapping them of their comedy. However, wit stays safely intact on their latest, and they’ve traded in their jesting aptitude for a beefed up dance engine, destined to get every last woke one of us on the floor.

Chad VanGaalen chats about his new record, balancing the roles of father and bandleader, future artistic aspirations, and why one should never Tarboz themselves.