Anenon - Tongue
///BRAV-FUCKING-O\\\
Maybe obvious from an opener named "Open" that's replete with bird tweets, but through all the lonely airy sax and loopy piano layers and weepy drone it's capturing+integrating the 'outside' elements that ultimately sells it. The actual alfresco, sure -- window ajar on a windy day, close-by chimes, a ship off in the distance, rainy dayz -- but also the warmth that comes with hearing the performer's shuffling about and maneuvering fingers. Securing a synthesis on both synth-n-saxophone that's bewitchingly haunting and bonafide beach-breeze, well that certainly helps too. 7/10
Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)
///RE-FUCKING-DO\\\
Toledo revamping his 7-year old Bandcamp breakthrough may seem a bit superfluous, but it serves as a testament to relative newcomers like myself that he's long had an appetite for ambition. And whereas mainstream breakthrough 'Teens of Denial' took seventy minutes to get through twelve tunes, here it takes that to get through ten; with a less fluent flow to boot. Though his nervous+mopey mutterin' talk-sing tends to wear thin, Will is a stirring and sympathetic character who's also up for going hoarse and harmonizing; and spread through the many passages that are dynamic and immerse ya in greatness you're sure to find declines in direction and declared descents into cliche and dull+sulky diary-reads bout how he's not doing "shit" cuz he's not traveling the world like last year. Most convincing when resisting schizophrenia or in a room that's spinning. 6.5/10
Dedekind Cut - Tahoe
Leads with an ambient hush that's hard to hate yet easy to ignore, a sufficient synthesis of somber and elegant and barely there. Which is adequate and all, but I'm relieved when they eventually supe up the sounds and incorporate nature -- bit more tension, bit more weird, bit more glow. Ride the ripples of those gurgling streams through forests from dusk til dawn, encounter a cauldron and some throat-singers along the way; just be back on shore in time for church. 6.5/10
Endon - Through the Mirror (2017 release)
*******HIGHEST RECS*******
///BLAR-FUCKING-GGHH\\\
As someone weaned in my teens on powerviolence+grind and later on a staunch admirer of all-consuming drone-rock a la Swans, these Tokyo terrors have struck a nerve. Well, something more like slaughtered a nerve -- this is severely stentorian, enough to drop even Ballou's jaw one would hope; a magnitude they can and will preposterously replicate live. Probably implausible after the stringent litmus test that is "Nerve Rain", but there are a few real melodies to be had and crucially it'll get ya grinning. Cuz beyond unfailingly flabbergasting and leavin' your brain busticated it offers up the thrill of a sonic free-for-all: every shriek is all-ya-got bloodcurdling, low roars register as no less than a 500-foot demon, dense-as-hell din, oscillating babble, speed-n-sludge gone sensational. Ludicrous enough to come off cartoonish but so berserk+pulverizing en masse that you kinda just gotta bow. Bow to the sad sobber, the ablaze raptor, the scream-collage where a slice-o-Psycho fits right in. 9.5/10
Ezra Furman - Transangelic Exodus
Ezra's eclecticism is both a quirk and a curse, his pen and scene-setting tend to fold to trembly self-focused theatrics and platitudes -- but there's a life-affirming urgency and raggedy runaway backdrop that give this detailed departure a rather rousing oomph. Hitting the open road and evading authorities alongside a celestial hospital escapee with no plan other than living as free-ass freaks functions as a prominent thread; and what it lacks in denouement it makes up for with detours towards introspection and nostalgia. Stylistic grab-bag and sporadic arrangements give it spice; even if it means going from buzzy wailin' to doo-wop worship to sour western to conceivable showtunes. Mope about a maid sweeping up his ~very significant~ breakfast remnants he may, but dig the ingenuity of involving "Thin Mints" and "Winstons" in losing his "innocence" to "Vincent". 7/10
Rich Krueger - Life Ain't That Long
*******HIGHEST RECS*******
Lyrically lush and casually impassioned and pouring persona -- enough to coax me out of a comfort zone that often discounts the barroom bluegrassy blues types, especially a dude whose open mic live videos don't garner 500 views. But this random rambler wields a backing band that's classy and comprehensive, a gospel choir that are set to stun and seem to really care bout being there, and most imperatively a confident welding of wit, wisdom, affection and detail. He drunkenly falls for the bar singer night after night, Sex Pistols and f-bombs ain't just exclusive for flashbacks of being a dumb+horny 17-year old; yet he has the warmth to do the ol soulful chestnuts of church bells ringing and a light shining down justice. A sucker for kinda-cynical Christmas closers that casually segue into "Feliz Navidad" I am, but let's give it up for "Ain't It So Nice Outside Today", which oh-so-affably condoles and buoys those with maladies: the bent and broken, the deaf and blind, the shaky-handed and wooden-footed, the ones that bleed every time they take a shit. 8/10
Ought - Room Inside the World
On one hand it's swell to see Ought divagate some from their preceding post-punk apery, on the other kinda quashin' the dissonance tends to trim the propulsion, the tunes, the catchy catchphrases. Structures knottier but shakier, Darcy's sarcasm-n-solicitude converted to a calmer crooner, still good for slyly guiding you through a gratifying buildup. And they're rendered beautiful on a centerpiece once again -- this one comes with gospel singers. 6.5/10
Pianos Become The Teeth - Wait For Love
Overly reticent and tautologic tone-wise, nil screams and less explosive escalations -- no doubt it can feel torpid. But that adamant aura of ache-n-shimmer seldom ain't pretty or poignant to be in, their subtle bustle and structures banking on vigilance while the vocalist aims for passable. Kudos to the dutiful drummer who's determined to keep em outta the doldrums. 6/10
Superchunk - What a Time to Be Alive
*******HIGHEST RECS*******
The oft-plugged protest aspect here is so amiably and ambiguously delivered that most of it just comes off as your run-uh-the-mill fuzzy fervor. Which, them being them, is enough on its own. Helps that it's concise+consistent like a punk album perhaps should be, but ooo what versed maestros they are at crucial choruses, impeccable performances, melodic fire, whiny guitar hooks so obvious and ingenious you wonder if they're really NBDs. Impossibly vigorous and bright-eyed for a band that's collectively entering their fifties, not to mention maybe some of the most adept adolescence attainable at the moment. Blanket Tone: "Fight me / I don't like to get hit but fight me". 8/10
U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited
Meg Remy's disco-drifts further unshrouded from relative obscurity, still floating in a fog but with a newfound punch and fullness and flexibility. Sonically it's vibrant, varied, organic, a bit freaky, pops with pop potential and personality -- silly me misses the muck a bit. Singin' seems kinda stiffened and still demands a lyric sheet, but per usual peeping one pays off: "As if you couldn't tell I'm mad as hell" goes the buoyant chorus of a considerably veiled and regrettably refreshing Obama opposition, bold bangers "Incidental Boogie" and "Pearly Gates" are boosted by the subject of sovereignty reaped by many-a shitty male, and excavated from "Poem" is a mantra idyllic enough to warrant transparency: "No one needs to make a profit / No one needs to get paid". 7/10
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Answer Code Request - Gens 6/10
Loma - Loma 6/10
John Tejada - Dead Start Program 7/10
