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This top ten list includes recent releases I’ve been digging lately. Each one can be streamed in full using the links in the text below. Enjoy!
Auxes – More! More! More! (Gunner)
Led by former Challenger and Milemarker frontman Dave Laney (originally from Chapel Hill, NC and Chicago, now based in Hamburg, Germany), this is Auxes’ third LP. Armed with a full band, it’s more dynamic and punishing than his 2008 debut Sunshine, on which Laney played everything himself. More! is jittery and frenzied punk in an OFF! meets Didjits vein, topped off with Laney’s restless and exasperated vocals.
Das Kapital – Ghost Bikes Ride 12” + download (Johanns Face)
This Chicago foursome was formed in 2004 by guitarist/singer Marc Ruvolo (ex-No Empathy/Traitors) and drummer Davey Houle (ex-Atari Star), and this is their third album. While the opening “Nocturne” recalls Pink Flag-era Wire, their fiery punk more often evokes Windy City legends Effigies and Naked Raygun, crossed with Bad Religion. The guitars are thick and raging, the bass springy and grinding, and the drums heavy and battering!
The Honest Mistakes – Sundowning EP (The Honest Mistakes)
Following their jangly, vibrant 2010 debut LP Break Up, this Baltimore trio’s new 4-song EP sports improved arrangements and meatier playing – see the rousing opener “Cry” or the crunchy “Put Those Things Away.” Founded by guitarist Chris Ehrich and fetching vocalist Joylene Dalia (both formerly of CheapPaperbackRomance and The Chris and Joylene Show), their attractive, melodic pop is like a cross between Wednesday Week and Blake Babies.
The Modeens – Music From the Edge of Town Part 1 EP (The Modeens)
This Tucson, AZ foursome’s new 3-songer veers from their previous ‘60s-inspired garage-psych rock, into rootsier, country & western/Americana territory. The driving, harmonica-laden “Faster” is the prize here, featuring Cristina Williams’s sultry, soaring vocals. But the Jamie Laboz-sung blues stomp “Drinkin’” and pretty duet “Free My Mind” are good, too. I can’t wait for Part 2!
Moga – Reservoir (Moga)
Like their 2010 debut Jamboree, this youthful Providence, RI quintet’s follow-up has a down-home and rustic vibe, with nostalgic, ‘60s/70s-inspired country-folk, R&B, and Americana. But Reservoir has a more free-flowing, full-bodied groove, and is peppered with relaxed horns, soulful female harmonies, and swirly keyboards. As before, they recall The Band and The Flying Burrito Brothers, while Oliver Williams’s gravelly, Southern drawl brings to mind CCR’s John Fogarty.
Papermaps – Inferior Ghost EP (Sparks Music)
Toronto singer/producer Dean Marino is the backbone behind this atmospheric guitar pop quintet, and this limited edition vinyl/CD follows up their 2011 self-titled debut. Once again, their indefinable, ever-changing personalities are apparent, as each of these six songs recalled a different band. To wit, “There Are Wolves” resembled a lighter Nada Surf, “Break” brought to mind Bends-era Radiohead, and “Reaction Formation” (with its “Good Vibrations”-like intro) evoked Sloan and The Posies.
Pheroze – Crows into Swine (Pheroze Karai)
London-born, Brooklyn-based Pheroze Karai is a fan of heavy grunge/metal like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Black Sabbath, and those influences are all over this follow-up to 2008 debut Driftwood. But having spent part of his childhood in Saudi Arabia (he smuggled Penthouse magazines into the country to pay for his first instrument!) and India, his music also incorporates Eastern hues, and his guttural, overpowering wail is invigorating.
Screen Vinyl Image – Strange Behavior (Custom Made Music)
On this third album, Arlington, VA husband and wife duo Jake and Kim Reid (formerly of Alcien Blue) offer up more glacial and expansive, synth-fueled electronica/darkwave. They’re like a blend of later New Order, The Sisters of Mercy, and Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, with an industrial-strength wallop. They also mix in doses of fuzz-bathed noise and shoegaze, as on the Jesus & Mary Chain-esque “New Visions,” and top everything off with Jake’s melancholy, David Gahan-like vocals.
Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys – 28 Seeds (The Soundtrack) (Wireforest)
Though they’re about to release a new LP called Soft Time Traveler, this was an earlier 2012 release, recorded as part of a live collaboration with Boston performance troupe Liars & Believers. Sickert’s Broken Toys are a seven-piece “steampunk musical ensemble” whose kitchen-sink instrumentation includes mandolin, ukuleles, melodica, upright bass, and viola, all creating an absurdist, carnival-esque rumpus behind Sickert’s despondent croon.
Sylver Tongue – “Something Big,” “Creatures,” “Hook You Up” (Dancing Coins)
I’m a big fan of Charlotte Hatherley’s spunky, punky guitar pop, both as a member of Ash, and on her three superb solo LPs. But I was unprepared for her complete 360-degree electro-pop reinvention as Sylver Tongue. These three tunes all appear on the just-released, 4-song Something Big EP (buy here). And judging by their accompanying futuristic, full-costumed, Lady Gaga/Grimes-inspired videos (see here, here, and here), her new outfit’s emphasis and appeal is as much visual as it is musical.
