by: Martim Galvão
Moonstone Continuum - Salon Edition - Totally Gross National Product
A delightfully odd, funny, and enticing album from the Minneapolis, MN conceptual ensemble. It's hard to pigeonhole this group's sound but if you have a sense of humor and an ear for something interesting you'll probably enjoy it. Almost falls into the experimental category
Ghost Wave - Ages - Flying Nun
Slick melodic pop from the other land down under (NZ), complete with jangling guitars, a drum beat to move you along, and something of a surf feel to make it feel at home next to that beach bonfire.
Capsula - Solar Secrets - Krian
The Bilbao-based Argentine band have just released their latest album with the help of legendary producer Tony Visconti (of Space Oddity fame). Not only is the production value great but the music itself rocks, definitely worth a listen.
Porcelain Raft - Permanent Signal - Secretly Canadian
A cooler and less ebullient follow-up to Porcelain Raft's debut chill-party. Permanent Signal is like the contemplative fall after a summer of partying, still beat-driven but not more in the foot-tapping sense.
Crocodiles - Crimes of Passion - Frenchkiss
"Crocodiles' fourth album in as many years, Crimes of Passion, is the San Diego noise-pop duo's most concise and sonically refined to date, taking the somewhat sunnier approach of last year's Endless Flowers and combining it with the fuzzed-out, punky aesthetic of their first two albums." - Slate Magazine
Dodos - Carrier - Polyvinyl
"The Dodos’ strongest effort since 2006’s freewheeling debut, Beware of the Maniacs. By contrasting downer themes of death/agony/alienation against an experimental angle, The Dodos cull authenticity from the ashes of heartache." - Consequence of Sound
Celestial Shore - 10x - Hometapes/Local Singles
"In nine songs, Celestial Shore deconstructs city life, the history of pop music, and their own jazz educations into something both heartbreakingly raw and mystically timeless. In between the lines, the band exalts the vibrant scene they call home: the album was mixed by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier, includes Empress Of‘s Lorely Rodriguez on vocals, and features cover art by Prince Rama." - Force Field
Lizzie Davis - Latitudes - Alight
Lizzie Davis' sophomore debut is 12 tracks of laid-back pop with a vintage sensibility and a twang of folk influence. Enjoyable throughout and a good choice for popping into the CD player as you try to keep calm in rush hour traffic.
Goldspot - Aerogramme - Mt. Hoboken
"a charming mash of melodic retro-rock influences -- 10CC, Beatles, Del Amitri -- blended with Khosla's own idiosyncritic art-pop writing style, eclectic instrumentation (harmonium anyone?) and touches of his own New Delhi heritage and family story (needless to say he and Goldspot are hugely popular in India)." - Direct Current Music
Jail Weddings - Meltdown - Neurotic Yell
"Meltdown: A Declaration of Unpopular Emotion... is an album that seeks to drive their multi-layered ensemble playing in into more grandiose and creatively diverse spaces, with allusions to everything from Celtic folk to Springsteen-esque anthemics, whilst still retaining their Phil Spector meets Bad Seeds signature touchstones." - The 405 Magazine
Dent May - Warm Blanket - Paw Tracks
"Now on this third album, Warm Blanket, May has taken on the identity of a heartsick fella on a piano bench, singing his sweet guts out as the strings swell and the horns serenade. Think Paul Williams, Harry Nilsson and Van Dyke Parks and you’re on the right track." - The Allmusic Blog
Jacuzzi Boys - s/t - Hardly Art
"Miami’s Jacuzzi Boys seems to exist on the janglier, more psych-informed side of the garage rock spectrum, where sugary harmonies and earworm riffs are valued over all-out raucousness." - Fader
Ski Lodge - Big Heart - Dovecote
"Ski Lodge delivers a great deal of angst and passion in Big Heart, making for the ideal indie pop/rock combination. The tempo is illustrative and fun, complementing lead singer Andrew Marr’s soft yet slightly grief-stricken voice." - Violent Success
The Spyrals - Out of Sight - Mock
"The Spyrals bring us jangly garage rock that’s reminiscent of late 60?s rock and roll. Out Of Sight is a summer must have. Perfect for throwing on while you’re hosting a shin-dig to get your guests moving and shaking." - DINGUS
Hiatus Kaiyote - Tawk Tomahawk - Flying Buddha
A difficult to categorize re-release of the band's 2011 album, Tawk Tomahawk is described as a foray into "future soul". Personally I'm not exactly sure what that genre consists of, or if it even exists, but in either case this album is worth checking out if only for the ecelctic mix of influences.
Zorch - Zzoorrcchh - Sargent House
"Traces of Animal Collective, Dan Deacon, Hella, and Jaga Jazzist can be heard, as can the glitched bliss of chiptune music and the indomitable thrust and pacing of punk. But considering the incredible verve that these two apply to swirling up their influences, the end result is truly their own." - Spin
Cock & Swan - Secret Angles - Hush Hush
"Featuring the haunting vocals of Ola Hungerford and the intricate multi-instrumentalism of Johnny Goss—who has recorded and engineered tracks for La Luz upstart all-girl garage/surf group La Luz—Cock & Swan resemble a drugged-down, more experimental Phantogram, somehow creating an eerie harmony out of unconventional and often discordant instrumental layering." - Paste Magazine
City Riots - Sea of Bright Lights - s/r
"The album highlights the band’s devotion to classic pop-rock music. The band’s evocative lyrics and adventurous, extraterrestrial musical arrangement are a real throwback to some of the great Brit-pop bands of old." - Indie Shuffle
Hunter Hunted - s/t - s/r
"In just five songs, Hunter Hunted have crafted an absorbing, intoxicating and utterly infectious EP. Moreover, it seems almost implausible to think that this album will not get noticed or passed around. There's just something sun-drenched, enveloping and buoyant about every song." - AbsolutePunk.net
Braids - Flourish // Perish - Arbutus
Perish] caresses your ears with chiffon textures, complex but elegant drum patterns and a litany of exquisite flourishes (the manipulation of Raphaelle Standell-Preston’s pixie-ish vocals is sublime). Occasionally subtlety spills over into insipidness, but overall this is a masterclass in restrained beauty." - NME
Califone - Stitches - Dead Oceans
"Intimate timbres--garage sale drum machines, slack guitar strings, hushed vocals--offset the album's cinematic inclinations. The listener moves through a landscape of Old Testament blood and guts, spaghetti Western deserts and Southwestern horizons, zeroing in on emotions and images that cannot be glanced over." - Dead Oceans
Bent Shapes - Feels Weird - Father/Daughter
"Like a quick shot of adrenaline, the brevity of each song combines precise arrangements with sharp lyrics that get their point across and then get out. And it’s on these terms that ‘Feels Weird’ excels: it doesn’t overthink, it has fun." - DIY
Zola Jesus - Versions - Sacred Bones
Versions is the fruit of Zola Jesus' collabration with J.G. Thirlwel for a performance at The Guggenheim in NY. Thirlwel and Jesus worked together to transform the singer's electro-operatic tracks into a set of well-executed string arrangements.
Ty Segall - Sleeper - Drag City
"on Sleeper, Segall trades in his noisy ragged glory for an album that’s almost exclusively acoustic. With no wall of noise to blow through, the album works solely on Segall’s craft as a songwriter. " - The A.V. Club
No Age - An Object - Sub Pop
"[No Age's] fourth full-length album, An Object, finds No Age withholding bruising rushes of power and blistering payoffs as often as it doles them out. In their place is a compact but searching 30 minutes of music that seethes stubbornly when it could have far more easily opened up at full blast and stayed there." - NPR
Pangea - Snakedog - Harvest
"William Keegan's vocals recall the nasal tone of another ripping garage great, King Tuff, and the track is all muscle. While the drums are thoroughly bludgeoned, the band churn out some absolutely stellar guitar solos." - Pitchfork
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