One of the positives to come from the split of beloved-indie rock band LVL Up in 2018 was the beginning of Dave Benton’s solo project Trace Mountains. While some elements of LVL Up could be found on Trace Mountains’ debut album A Partner to Lean On—lo-fi production, understated vocals, and a subtle taste for pop hooks—for the most part it ventured into new territory. Tender acoustic guitar, bedroom production, and light electronics made Trace Mountains a different but equally exciting project. The band’s newest single, “Where It Goes” opens with the same gentle charm of that debut but moves into a more heavily electronic territory only briefly explored on the album. With a minimal arrangement ruled by bass and an 808 drum beat, Benton sings of a childhood friend and the death of her father in a nostalgia-glazed whisper. It’s a soft but worthy addition to the Trace Mountain catalog that opens up the field for an even more eclectic sophomore album. – Cameron Carr

Richard Saunders and Zach Lipkins first met on Craigslist approximately five years ago. The two debuted their collaborative musical effort Refs in 2015 with “Pain Goes Away,” a slow-paced minimal electronic pop track that has since racked up millions of streams on Spotify. The duo has continued to make downtempo, playlist-baiting chill pop in small amounts. Their most recent track, “Stories,” premiered late in 2018 with Saunders’ lightly R&B inflected vocals atop a light but percussive production by Lipkins. This year, Refs will make its first live appearance: you can see the duo live at Baby’s All Right on March 2. – Cameron Carr

Bethlehem Steel is a force. Yes, they’re punk, and yes, they’re loud but the members of Bethlehem Steel perform with purpose and propulsion. Listen to “Fake Sweater,” a cut from the group’s split with Porky near the end of 2018, for reference. The classic alt-rock loud-soft dynamic establishes the song but it’s the howling bridge section in which the members yell at the seeming brink of desperation “will I be alright?” that earns a need for repeated listens. You can see Bethlehem Steel next at Bowery Ballroom when the band opens for Big Ups’ final show. – Cameron Carr

The music on Someday Cowboy, the debut album by Baby Jey, is catchy, familiar even, so it’s tough to explain what makes categorizing it so hard. Certainly, the Brooklyn via Edmonton group could be labelled country or Americana—take the opening lap steel guitar-driven folk of “Hannah Holliday’s Son” or the twangy ballad “Every Thing”—but there’s an almost kitsch (semi-)modern pop element, perhaps best summed up by the aptly titled “Someday My Space Cowboy Will Come” which features ‘80s synths, heavily produced drums, and lyrics about a space cowboy. The mixture is almost funny, almost overly earnest with hints of Paul Simon’s eclecticism and Father John Misty’s retro quirks. The result is charming and odd yet accessible. Take a listen to Someday Cowboy below. – Cameron Carr

Bethlehem Steel is a force. Yes, they’re punk, and yes, they’re loud but the members of Bethlehem Steel perform with purpose and propulsion. Listen to “Fake Sweater,” a cut from the group’s split with Porky near the end of 2018, for reference. The classic alt-rock loud-soft dynamic establishes the song but it’s the howling bridge section in which the members yell at the seeming brink of desperation “will I be alright?” that earns a need for repeated listens. You can see Bethlehem Steel next at Bowery Ballroom when the band opens for Big Ups’ final show. – Cameron Carr

Earlier this year, Queue released “Float Away,” a single that accurately sums up the band both in sound and name. The melody seems to glimmer through a mist with reverberant guitar echoing alongside airy vocal harmonies. “Float Away” was the first track the band released after finding a united home in New York, members previously spread out across Philadelphia and D.C. It’s safe to expect a fair bit more from Queue in 2019 with the group currently spending time recording at Brooklyn’s Degraw Studios. But you can catch the band early in the year opening for CUTTS at Mercury Lounge on January 3. – Cameron Carr

Much of Ackerman’s new 5 track EP, 1000 Variations of Yourself, is shrouded in echoes. This reaches a spacious pinnacle on the penultimate track “For Everyone You’ll Never Know,” where two-plus minutes of silky reverberation precede the core of the song. Ackerman, which describes itself as an “experimental rock group and multimedia collective,” invests generously in effects-laden transformations of pop sounds. Not to say that the Brooklyn group comes from an otherworldly place—opener “Tiger Traps” brings Animal Collective-esque electronica to the mix, M83 or Grizzly bear style indie rock ambience can be heard in the title track and “I am No Longer Afraid of Coyotes!,” and the closing falsetto and light funk of “Loverboy” holds plenty of pop appeal—but Ackerman’s tendencies toward the dreamy, less expected ends of that world distinguish them in the indie pop realm. Listen to 1000 Variations of Yourself below. – Cameron Carr

Huck’s music is a product of the internet era. Brooklyn musician John Wolfe blends woozy slacker rock with the bedroom beats of SoundCloud in a way once unexpected but increasingly popular among DIY producers. His latest track “Scrimmage” sees Mac Demarco-style synths with tight production and the syrupy soft rap of Sophie Meiers. Elsewhere Huck leans into melodic guitar (“Summer Lovin’”) and stuttering electronica (“Without You”). A sort of slight eclecticism that merges styles moving with parallels. You can catch Huck live opening for Blac Rabbit at Mercury Lounge on December 30 or joining Goth Babe, B.Miles, and Pom Pom Squad at Baby’s All Right on January 30. Listen to "Scrimmage" below. – Cameron Carr

Steve Gunn is perhaps best known for his collaborations, having contributed his psychedelic-tinged folk guitar playing to tracks by Kurt Vile, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Michael Chapman, among others. But beyond that, Gunn is also a quality songwriter. His newest solo work—The Unseen In Between, out January 19^th via Matador Records—continues the practice of those releases allowing Gunn’s talents to take center focus. The first single “New Moon” takes a 5-minute crash course into the guitarist’s style and influences, beginning with tape-crisped acoustic guitar and floating vocals that welcome in tremolo-doused electric guitar and further adventuring into gentle psychedelia. Like much of Gunn’s work, it’s a drifting track that maintains soft edges and fits perfectly to light pensive moods. Watch the lyric video for “New Moon” below. – Cameron Carr

It’s hard to imagine “Dunk On Me” without the video, or the video without the song. The pairing, directed by Idle House and Blood Cultures, is outstanding. Drawn in by film grain and a wash of hazy synths and distant vocals, “Dunk On Me” abruptly rushes into a suffocating rush of clanging electronics and gothic imagery as school-age lovesickness develops into horror movie plotline in just over three-and-a-half minutes. The disjointed, experimental approach Blood Cultures takes on the track should reel you in, but with the video it’s an act that’s difficult to turn away from. Watch below. – Cameron Carr

Gnarcissists are a rare band—raw and practically splitting apart with convulsive energy. Not that the sound is something unfamiliar, there’s a bit of The Stooges relentless garage rock energy, a twinge of Sex Pistols snarl, and enough drug references to bring the Velvet Underground to mind. But Gnarcissists’ newest EP, released earlier this month, captures that feeling of something alive happening in front of you in ways that many retro rock and rollers are unable to. The band plays next at Baby’s All Right on October 27 for a free show put on by Dr. Martens. – Cameron Carr

Fitting to its name “New Constellation” is a floaty, spacious new track by Atlas Engine—it’s also a notable step away from the more energized and guitar heavy work that Nick LaFalce has previously released under this name. Synthesizers lead the way with an echoing drum beat providing the pulse of the track. The voice and guitars of LaFalce remain, but heavier in reverb with the vocals tending toward falsetto and the guitar leaning toward subtle and spacious melodies. The bright echo of guitar picking is perhaps the only contrast to the dreamy, nighttime mood Atlas Engine invokes here. Listen to “New Constellation” below. – Cameron Carr