Bushwick’s reclusive Billy Woods has once again tossed out one of his cryptic introspective message-in-a-bottle albums. Following 2013’s highly-praised Dour Candy produced by indie-rap super producer Blockhead, it maintains Billy’s acerbic assessment of life and struggle. In contrast to his highly political work in side project Armand Hammer, this album feels more like a stack of random diary pages ripped out and read before being doused in kerosene and ignited. But with track names like “Zulu Tolstoy” and “U-boats” and lines like “That great escape – tree of knowledge, bagged and sold by the eighth – it only took one snake,” it’s not without its social commentaries. It moves quickly with few tracks even reaching the three-minute mark, but, knowing Billy, this is probably just a clandestine jab at audiences’ diminishing attention spans. For an artist as prolific as Woods, one can only wonder what would happen on the day he truly “wrote nothing.” Billy will be performing alongside Open Mike Eagle and The Karma Kids at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn on Sunday 4/19. – BrokeMc

Brooklyn via Boston duo Sonnymoon is a band criminally under-covered by many "cutting edge" music blogs – we wonder why. They just released their third album "The Courage of Present Times," follow up to their self-titled 2012 sophomore, which became a cult record for the rather small layer of music fans interested in that paradoxical genre known as "experimental pop." Since producer Dane Orr likes to keep hist mostly electronic arrangement at a minimum that borders on the "barely there," at least 75% of what happens in Sonnymoon’s music is centered around Anna Wise’s vocal experimentations, which constantly fluctuate between unpredictable improvisations and repeated melodic hooks, therefore creating a new interesting incarnation of pop’s proverbial "tension and release" dynamic. Check out "Grains of Friends from the latest release, streaming below.

With the spring comes the longing for travel, and, with it, the need for good soundtrack for the road. Notwithstanding the title, Brooklyn’s Such Hounds new 7" "Drink to Sleep" helps us fill that need. The track walks the line between Americana and Dinosaur Jr. style wall of distorted guitars. We encourage you to travel to The Shop on May 06 for their upcoming live show.