New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
*~*SpArKLeTeArS*~* have released a new EP called "Brisket". This is the follow-up to last year’s mixtape, "This Is Sparkletape".
This is the work of Lauren Herrmann (electric ukulele, vocals, percussion), Morgan (electric bass, vocals), and Z (drums, percussion, vocals).
Garage Metal group Hitter recently released their debut full-length album, Hard Enough. This is the culmination of two years of work and collection of gritty barroom anthems turned up to 11.
This is the work of Hanna "Hazard" Johnson (Vocals), Adam "Lucky" Luksetich (Guitar/Bass), and Ryan "Wizkid" Wizniak (Drums). This is the band’s last release with Madalyn "Maddog" Garcia on Bass and have recently added Patrick "Rüsty" Woodall.
The album’s lead single is called "Motorcycle Psycho" and is accompanied by the amazing visuals below.
Emily Blue has recently released a new single called "Aperture". This ethereal track was produced Uuskhy and is a more firmly planted in Dream Pop than Blue’s previous singles.
This is the fourth single from Blue since the released of her amazing 2018 album "*69".
Brooklyn-based performer Aubrey Haddard understands the scrutiny one faces as a performer — the inkling that “everyone’s watching,” of feel[ing] on the display.” Such sentiments influenced her latest single “Thin Line,” a new pop offering with strong indie rock roots. Driven by a walking alt soul baseline and a punchy percussive backbone, Haddard’s melodious range dominates the space, bringing the necessary bravado this maximalist effort, while lyrically detailing feelings of uncertainty, or in her own words, “starting to realize I’m walking on a thin line” just as everything seems to be going fine. It’s a clever(and catchy) exploration of the singer’s psyche, a track that splits the difference between extreme confidence and self-doubt that feels quintessentially human — watch the video below, and keep an eye out for Haddard’s forthcoming LP, out later this year.
This past April, Boston’s Woundikin released a gritty folk single that seems to float, smoky and soothing even. “So It Goes” lets its acoustic guitar arpeggios fly, and the lead vocals linger to form a melody that comes from reflection, understanding, and acceptance for the unknown things of this world, as beautiful as they can be. Woundikin, like many of us, is making the best of his time in quarantine and so we have this gift for the weekend ahead. Check out Woundikin’s Tiny Desk Contest 2020 performance of the song streaming below. – Rene Cobar
We are proud to be able to premiere the debut single, "You Are Just Not Alone", from Black Moon Book. This is the new project from singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Mark Lofgren (The Luck of Eden Hall, The Thin Cherries).
Lofgren plans to release his debut album as Black Moon Book on June 12th. He had previous released a solo debut under his own name in 2014.
This primarily collection of bedroom pop recorded in his home studio during the quarantine.
New York experimental pop outfit Los Cumpleaños subvert expectations on new EP Agua, making for an exciting, thoroughly novel release that modulates between styles conventional and avant-garde (and back again). While each of the extended play’s four tracks finds its footing a heavy Cumbia rhythm, heady synth leads and expressive brassy fanfares quickly fill in the space, lending a psychedelic atmosphere which, combined with double time segues, create an ecstatic, joyful energy throughout the effort’s roughly 23 minute run-time. Moreover, Los Cumpelaños synthesis of elements old and new enables electronic experimentation, while retaining elements of traditional Colombian music, in a manner that feels both contemporary and classic — more importantly, it’s an EP that’s nearly impossible not to dance to. Recommended for fans of artists like Sun Ra, Flying Lotus, Animal Collective (or anywhere in between), stream our premiere of this rousing release below. Photo by Brennan Cavanaugh
It’s hard to tell who’s the subject of Grace Ludmila’s rage on new track “Hollow,” a punk-influenced indie takeover wherein the artist admonishes all who think they can put her in a box. Much of Ludmila’s lyricism over the the song’s four minute runtime uses a variety of dialectics to determine, more so, who the artist isn’t rather than what she is — lyrics such as “I’m not your therapy, don’t hand your trauma to me” and “I’m not on a movie screen, don’t project your shit on me” seem to direct their anger towards both listeners who may claim to have Ludmila “all figured out,” or critics who think they can ascertain her true motivations through circumstancial evidence. In the end, however, Lumdila’s series of first-person statements serve as a kind of manifesto on the self, a laundry list of metaphors and proclamations that do a much better job at telling you who she is than whatever bullshit observations I’ll type up here — on that note, stream it (loudly) below. —Connor Beckett McInerney
Quicksails has released titled track, "Blue Rise", from his forthcoming LP which is due out via Hausu Mountain on July 24th.
This is the experiment work of multi-instrumentalist Ben Billington. He has been helping Experimental Sound Studio over the last couple of months in the curation of their Quarantine Concert Series.
This is the follow-up to Quicksails 2018 album, The Bright.
Ambient artist Matt Jencik recently released a new single called "Mind Out of Joint". Both songs on the single were created during the same period of time as his 2019 album Dream Character, and have a similar tone and feel to that beautiful album.
These tracks have been utilized by artist and director Lori Felker as the soundtrack of a short film that can be viewed below.
Cafe Racer recently released their latest album, Shadow Talk, via Born Yesterday. With the release the band dropped a Zach Harris directed video for the album’s lead single, "Faces".
This is the work of Michael Santana, Adam Schubert, Rob McWilliams, Andrew Harper, and Elise Poirier.
Wet Tropics recently released the first single, "Cool California", from their forthcoming debut LP.
This is the work of John Rejba, Krystal Smith, and Justin Watt.
