Long Beach, CA noisemongers, Gang Wizard, are back with their fifth properly manufactured full-length in their 19 year career.
On his EP, Simon Adams’ influences are certainly of large arena pop, bombastic and saccharine, but his own reproductions are scaled-back and quainter, yet no less appealing.
For their seventh album, New Zealand duo Claypipe brought their instruments to the beaches of Dunedin, where they explored their signature improvised noise drone among the ocean waves, sand and birds.
In a bold, unexpected move, Athens, GA’s Tunabunny drop the Fall-like post-punk that had come to define them in favor of electronic music, yet somehow create an album that is wholeheartedly rock at its core.
Returning for their first physical release of original songs in five years, Athens, GA’s Casper & the Cookies offer a collection of catchy post-punk and punk songs showing that the time off was time well spent.
Always unpredictable, Instagon return with a collection of spacey, yet sparse, previously unreleased recordings from 2007 and 2008.
After a slew of 7“s released in the UK, US and their home country, Hamburg, Germany’s Tripping The Light Fantastic finally deliver a strong debut album that hearkens to the ’80s in its retro sound.
This self-titled Progressive release by Ras Xix is an overall well-rounded and exciting effort, and it’s especially ambitious for the work of one person.
“It’s time to evolve, man!” asserts Lionize on its fifth album, and takes its own advice.
It’s a sure sign that a group has gained enough of a cult following when they release a remix album, and Godhead have done just that.
Long Island’s music scene may be dominated by tribute and cover bands, but once in a while a band of striking originality crawls out of the cesspool.
Despite being an odd hodgepodge of remakes, stray tracks from side projects and new tunes, Spacehawks keeps the train on the track.
The ever-prolific Neorev continues his collaboration with Long Island rapper Marcuss with a collection of originals, remixes and instrumentals that builds on the sound established on the previous Make Your Body Sway EP.
Place For One Day is that rare release that pushes tradition a few measures forward, this is no small feat nor is it anything to take for granted.
Atlas maturely reveals a band refining the indefinable thing that they do better than anyone else.
Bordeaux, France is known mostly for wine and history, two subjects that certainly influence the married duo of Pascale and Michael, aka Watoo Watoo.
The Strypes, Ireland’s successor to the Undertones in the teenage rock & roll sweepstakes, finally drop their full-length debut Snapshot in America.
Shanghai, China’s Pairs are back, this time with compatriots Stegasaurus?, for a twisted little split where they cover each others’ songs and toss in an original to boot.
It sounds glib to say so, but Lost in the Dream, the third LP from The War On Drugs, is just like its breakthrough album Slave Ambient, only more so.
We Create is exactly what its title suggests: a charming, unassuming collection of homespun recordings by a couple with a chemistry unmistakable.
London’s Band of Holy Joy began 30 years ago as a dark electronic group along the lines of Cabaret Voltaire and early Human League, eventually morphing into the type of dramatic British art rock that Jarvis Cocker delivered on his solo albums.
DRUNKSOULS are the kind of band that makes exactly the type of music you would think they’d make from their name: a good listen while having a drink at a backyard BBQ or any laid-back social gathering.
Like a darker, heavier Queens of the Stone Age or a meaner Wolfmother, Truckfighters updates classic rock for the 21st century.
Over 50 years, ESP-Disk has released some of the most ground-breaking albums in the jazz arena. Chicago’s explosive Tiger Hatchery continue in that tradition, delivering what could be the most extreme record in the label’s catalog to date.
Michael Cullen may not be a household name, even to indie music fanatics, but his roots lie deep in Australia’s 90s post-punk scene with membership in bands like The Hardheads.
There is a gift at work in the songs that you have to squint to see sometimes, but damn if this album isn’t something that should be considered an underground legend, a sun-damaged Love Tara for this generation.
After several European albums since their forming in 2006, Czech duo Dva finally get their first domestically available American release.
Released by the nostalgia crazed label, Sundazed Music, the compilation plays like a greatest hits LP, boasting the many resplendent sides of the London quintet.
Released in early January on New Fortune Records, the album adds to the group’s already impressive canon.
Each Other appeare to be a band brimming with innovative indie pop ideas on their first full length, Being Elastic.
Amatus is positioned between the experimental and the accessible, as if she purposely isn’t looking for large commercial potential, but she gives everything enough of a pop undercurrent to make even the most avant garde moments extremely melodic.
Since the mid-80s, Sea Monster has successfully straddled the opposing worlds of suburban Long Island and New York’s punk scene.
Culling influences from the obvious bands one would expect from an indie pop group like the Smiths to the more unexpected like Syd Barrett, the band has crafted a wonderfully unique and fresh take on a well-worn genre.
Paris’ Noise Generator has provided Neorev with some of his best remixes, though on their debut release, the duo reveals their true nature, and it’s not necessarily what we would expect.
Austin’s reigning Americana champs, So Long, Problems, split the songwriting and find their sweet spot on Ashes in the Rearview.
Recorded in his mom’s garage in January, the short release reveals a skilled musician performing both lighthearted and austere compositions with command.
Following up on his last release, A-Sides, Josh Matthews continues to expand his unique take on Leonard Cohen-like folk with a more modern and experimental twist.
Nearly five years after playing their last show, this Seattle and New Jersey-based trio release a fetching new EP.
The Cold of the Morning was recorded in 1976 by Jim Dickinson and was the first release for Peabody. The monumental record exhibits Selvidge’s rugged understanding of African-American field songs, Tin Pan Alley schmaltz, regional blues, and coffeehouse folk.
This five-song cassette EP, sold at Landing’s 15th anniversary tour in the summer of 2013, suffers no drop-off in quality from their previous releases.
Small Faces’ Here Come the Nice box set is a remarkable treasure case for super fans. And on two of the four CDs, said fan is a fly on the wall, watching the four Faces trying out their ideas, and gauging their working process, noting their recognizable steps to where they were ultimately, familiarly going.
Bassist Michael D. Donnelly played in such London-based experimental rock bands as Delicate AWOL, Rothko and Elite Barbarian before striking out on his own with this, his disturbing first solo release.
Because Epperson’s voice is neither like the monotonous polished throngs nor the overdone gruff roaring of the new folk revival but rather somewhere in the middle, the individuality of his voice adds a unique dimension to his music.
The trio of Mary Halvorson (guitar,) Michael Formanek (bass,) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums,) known as Thumbscrew, make for an assured ensemble on their self titled debut.
On their first US release since 2007, Aa create the cybernetic march of the future with tribal drumbeats, synthesizers and Auto-Tuned vocals, while somehow recalling the early ’80s.
Although only three songs long, Montreal-via-Romania’s Olteanu shows off the competency of his guitar playing and the flair of Franco V’s vocals on this EP immediately.
Former Emeralds member, Mark McGuire, steps his ambient sketches into the spotlight on Along the Way. The pop sensibilities McGuire has alluded to on previous works finally come to full bloom on his newest full length.
There are so many aspects flowing in and out of their music—from industrial clangs to the spoken word style of Tennant—that instead of losing themselves in their influences, no:carrier have created something entirely refreshing and new.
From the album, you’d think McCarty is from London, England, not Canada, because The Speed of Light plays like a history lesson of the UK’s last three decades of indie and Brit Pop.
