New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
Multi-instrumentalist Billie Howard has released a new EP under the moniker Akosuen called At Sea (five movements for violin).
This album is meditative, achingly beautiful, contemporary classical music.
You can help Akosuen celebrate the release of this album on October 27th at Constellation.
Aitis Band have released their self-titled debut album. This is experimental LoFi Post-Punk, and truly original in every way.
You can catch Aitis at Empty Bottle on October 15th with B Boys and The Knees.
Brooklyn dreampop band 4Vesta recently released their digital EP “Light & Chemicals,” underscoring the timeless appeal and continuing influence of a style created in the early 1990s on emerging musicians nearly 30 years later. Featured opening track “Evening Star” (streaming below) serves as an homage to the pitch-bended, layered guitars and submerged vocals on Kevin Shields’ MBV masterpiece “Loveless.” In fact, the songs title hearkens back to the guitar-looped ambience of Fripp & Eno’s 1975 album of the same name. The NYC band’s new single moves at a deliberately melancholic pace before exploding into forceful walls of guitars and voices. More discernable male vocals appear on “Full Spectrum” approximating Neil Halstead’s low-key approach with Slowdive. “Autophase” doubles-down on the warped and warbly atmosphere, striking a middle ground between Colm O’Ciosig’s Loveless contribution “Touched” and some of Ringo Deathstarr’s recent output. Final track “Sea Plastic” serves up a five minute meditation on churning guitar textures, ethereal vocals and distant percussion. The EP is available for streaming on Spotify. – Dave Cromwell
Improvisational Acoustic trio The Few are releasing a new album, Beauty at Low Temperatures, on October 13th via Two Cities Records. The two 27 plus minutes tracks were recorded at the Hideout and May Chapel in 2017 and 2018.
The Few is the work of Macie Stewart of Ohmme (violin / voice), Charlie Kirchen (bass) and Steve Marquette (guitar).
You can catch The Few at Hungry Brain on October 13th celebrating the release of this album.
Williamstown, Massachusetts’ Won Ton Death is not your typical find: his music is an irresistible and rare merger between past and future. Jake Gagne (Won Ton Death) puts together exotic tracks that are glazed with melancholy and draw from ‘80s dream-pop elements. The songs flash electronic patterns only made possible by today’s sophisticated music-making programs. The production is crisp, but the mood is that of lo-fi intimacy and secluded artistry escaping the bedroom. Bordering on neo-psychedelia, Won Ton’s latest album Bean features exquisite tracks like "Jailbreak at Doubting Castle," a song that is a true carnival of varying drum patterns, swelling atmospheric sounds, and robot-like noises. The fast and furious punk-like ending of the track is just the type of surprises you can expect in Bean. Gagne flirts with dance music in “A Letter from Bean” and reveals his commitment to having a good time in the recording process. Won Ton Death is drawing appeal from all the places he can find it, and that is excellent. Listen to the entrancing track “Dung” streaming below. – Rene Cobar
Jupiter Styles (aka Sean Neumann) has released the first few singles from his forthcoming album Ultra St. Opera which is due out October 25th. The most recent single is called “Supermodel”, but all three can be streamed below.
You can catch Jupiter Styles at Burlington Bar on November 16th with Special Death, Nectar, and Dan Durley.
If you were to mute Behavior’s video for their latest single, "Organic," you could easily assume that it’s a corporate travel promotion sponsored by the city of Los Angeles. Except that behind the scenic landscapes and glamour shots, the L.A. trio juxtaposes these images with crippling unease—a disconnect they translate in their minimal, throbbing post-punk. Centered around Evan Burrows’ circuitous tom-tom hits, vocalist Bedros Yeretzian sets his disaffected, yet oddly sing-speak against Justin Tenney’s tight, rumbling bass.
"Organic" is the third single off of Behavior’s forthcoming third LP, Spirits & Embellishments, which comes out on October 18 via Post Present Medium. Before they head out on a West Coast tour, catch them their album release show at Zebulon on October 19. – Juan Rodríguez
Dan Derks released his latest album, “Phylum”, last week via the new label from Omar Akrouche and Zander Raymond, Proun Press.
This, the labels third release, is lush, warm, ambient music that will playfully fill any space you play it in. It is available digitally, but the 25 cassette tape run has been sold out.
Derks also hosts an amazing local podcast called “Sound + Process” that explores music with those whom create it.
Often times, a song will take a turn that evokes memories of another band’s music. In Sepoy‘s "Holy War" alone, they call forth the spirits of U2, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and LCD Soundsystem, among bits and pieces of others. And yet, Sepoy manages to take these alt-rock, psych rock, and power pop influences and spin them into their own sound, creating music that is full of energy and emotion and fit for a live stage. The band will take that stage on October 11th at Mercury Lounge; if you love Sepoy’s mix of sounds, you’ll want to attend this show to hear their new single "Motor Vehicle". Take a listen to their previous single "Till The End Of Time" below. – Will Sisskind
Country-twinged rock group Oakland’s Half Stack just released their latest EP, Aw Hell. The collection features four tunes that showcase the group’s lovely picking, twangy guitars and lyrics that are at times sad, at times funny. Self-described “choogle” and psychedelic rock, Half Stack is worth a good listen. –Lucille Faulkner
