Spanning 22 tracks, Palberta’s Roach Goin’ Down, released on June 15, is a practice in invention and freedom. Ideas are crumpled up, unfolded, cut apart, and pasted somewhere else. With the anyone-can-do-it attitude of K Records and the inverted instrumentals of early post-punk Palberta makes songs that feel simultaneously whimsical, challenging, and distraught. There’s a lo-fi a cappella intro to “Momentous Space-Up,” chaotic dissonance on “I Have Found The Ego,” and almost ordinary twee-punk on “Sound of the Beat.” Palberta will play Mercury Lounge on June 22 for an album release show. – Cameron Carr

“Not But For You, Bunny” begins with a thin guitar playing a sort of half-realized funk rhythm before drums come in with a mid-paced bounce, a dance beat but slowed down. It’s a standout track from Sidney Gish’s 2017 album No Dogs Allowed and a prime example of the musician’s effortless bedroom pop arrangements. Without losing the pulse and fun of pop music Gish simplifies and reinterprets, like cartoon drawings of everyone you love. See her at Baby’s All Right tonight (06.09) for a Northside Festival presented by Double Double Whammy, Grlmic, and Terrorbird Media Gish will be joined by similarly-minded artists Free Cake For Every Creature, Orion Sun, Yowler, GABI, and Michelle Blades. – Cameron Carr

Rachel Angel’s Not Enough EP, released in April of this year on Human Noise Records, is full of folky lo-fi recordings, calm tracks that play like warm cups of tea and morning sun. The EP’s three songs (it also includes a demo version of the title track) aren’t necessarily subdued, but Angel’s focus is on subtler, internal emotional tension. Her new video for “Not Enough,” directed by Olivia Mertz, fits perfectly into that aesthetic with a grainy VHS style quality, following Angel through a day that’s charming, if marked by brief discomforts. There are autumn leaves, bagels, and some reading in the park, all of which Angel’s music seems meant to soundtrack. Watch the video for “Not Enough” below. – Cameron Carr

What’s most impressive about Kodacrome’s latest album, Think of the Children, is its ability to feel weightless. Despite the dominance of synthesizers and drum machines, which often lend a heavy hand to electronic music, Kodacrome often seems to be floating by, almost effortlessly. Its in no small part due to the vocals of Elissa LeCoque which brush gently across the music beneath. LeCoque and musical partner Ryan Casey set the ambience with minimal arrangements and preferences for analog synthesizers. It’s not until the three songs in, on the titular track, that the backing beat even builds to a strong pulse. The duo’s airy production softens the edges and makes Kodacrome’s third album a worthwhile listen as a whole. Think of the Children is out now, stream it below. – Cameron Carr

There are currently three singles out from The Dreebs‘ upcoming album Forest Of A Crew and each is a dark, musically mysterious taste of the band. The three members have all spent time with New York avant-punk group PC Worship and it shows. Adam Markiewicz fronts with half-shouted, half-rapped vocals and dissonant, droning violin that would make John Cale and the Velvet Underground proud, Jordan Bernstein’s guitar contributions are twisted into metallic clangs, and Shannon Sigley’s drums thump with a dark fervor. The Dreebs will co-headline a release show at Secret Project Robot on May 31, the day before Forest Of A Crew is released via Ramp Local Records, alongside The Sediment Club, who released Stucco Theives on May 25. – Cameron Carr

The music made by New York art-punk quartet Woodhead takes in equal parts from the complexity of progressive rock and the immediacy of punk. Full of abrupt rhythms, squalling guitars, and moments of unhinged screaming by guitarist/vocalist Vern Woodhead, it’s a sound that’s conscious of its ability to be challenging and abrasive. It can be heard on 2016’s El Inmortal, from the twisted garage pop of “Boys Float” to the flurry of free jazz saxophone on “El Perro.” On May 30, Woodhead will release a new video for a track called “Four Corners.” You can catch the band live that night at The Footlight. – Cameron Carr

Beechwood’s specialty is classic garage rock with a psych tinge. Sometimes it’s in-your-face, loud and proud punk, sometimes it’s syrupy indie pop, but the New York trio pretty much has their thing figured out. The group’s newest single, “Boy Before,” hits closer to the later with a glam rock guitar riff introducing a Jesus and Mary Chain-esque haze. Guitarist/vocalist Gordon Lawrence in particular shines on the track with an almost sleazily enticing, half-murmured vocal delivery. The track comes in advance of Inside The Flesh Hotel (preorder it here), out June 8 on Alive Records, and a string of European tour dates. Take a listen to “Boy Before” below. Beechwood is currently touring Europe – Cameron Carr

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Already proven adept at hook-heavy alt-pop, in their new EP Isadora Deal Casino progresses their sound into more nuanced approaches to pop. New single “Soft Machine” showcases this clearly. While still working in the alt-pop realm, the tempos drop considerably, opening up space for a more atmospheric production where synthesizers challenge the edgy guitar parts, while vocals double up in intensity, for a more mature and powerful listening experience. THe arrangement accentuates melodies with bell-like glockenspiel, and peaks with a chorus practically inverted by echoing distorted guitar and a slowed down melody. “Soft Machine” is a strong step for the band toward a more matured sound. Isadora Duncan is out May 18, you can listen to “Soft Machine” below and see the band live at the Asbury Park Brewery on May 20th. – Cameron Carr

Nandi Rose Plunkett’s singing is deliberate. Her voice moves slowly, with seeming ease, as if each line is a response in real time, never rushed but carefully thought out and confident. The music Plunkett makes under the Half Waif moniker is equally precise, particularly on the group’s latest album, Lavender. Though often meditative in its ambience and melodic complexities, Half Waif flexes a knowledge of pop that brings the music to sweeping highs. Throughout, Plunkett contemplates womanhood and the distance accompanied by travel, perhaps best summarized in the opening track’s description of a visit with her grandmother. Both musically and lyrically, Lavender makes for a thoroughly engaging and ambitious addition to the Half Waif catalog. – Cameron Carr

The artwork for Glass Slipper’s 2016 demos is a photo of the band, but only of one pair of feet. It’s fitting, yet not. On one hand, the group’s sound is obscured, guitars hidden in fuzz, vocals distorted in that special, half-busted dive bar sound system sort of way. On the other hand, Glass Slipper is totally in your face. Everything is loud, compressed into a bundle of fiery garage rock with drums banging incessantly and voices never dropping below a snarl. Though the band hasn’t followed up that three track demo, they’ve kept busy and buzzing with bookings including the recent Pizzafest V and the upcoming Northside Festival. Take a listen to Glass Slipper’s demo below. – Cameron Carr

Like the mesmerizing blur of the world passing by as seen through a car window, Von Sell’s newest single “Digital Sleep” swirls with detail faster than we can understand. In a flurry of voices, delayed and warped into the dominant texture of the track, “Digital Sleep” urges us towards attention while never offering a chance to focus. Von Sell says, in an interview with Atwood Magazine: “I think we’re all constantly struggling to see what’s right in front of us. Being glued to your phone certainly doesn’t help but it’s probably the human condition to begin with.”

The track plays true to the idea of short-sightedness but also acknowledges its own investment in the beauty of so much sensory content, constantly veering in new directions, collaging together seemingly unlinked sections. The effect, particularly Von Sell’s production of his vocals into an ethereal backing, is dazzling. Though no concrete date has been released, the single will be part of an upcoming Digital Sleep EP, out this summer. Listen to the track below. – Cameron Carr

It starts with a moment of sincerity, the music gentler and more intimate, if only slightly, than the wry post-punk typical of Bodega: “well no one is as salty as the seven seas except me.” But the moment is fleeting. To each of Ben Hozie’s proclamations of individuality in “Jack in Titanic,” he and the band adds “and Jack in Titanic.”  With two previous singles from debut album Endless Scroll and a reputation for propulsive, artistically minded live shows, Bodega has already shown its strengths to be irony, critique, and repurposing. “Jack in Titanic” uses that to the effect of inverting traditional ideas of masculinity as shown by popular cultural: to be handsome, devoted, a good dancer, a good lover. Meanwhile, the video courses out erotic images of computer mouse and cable through a square frame, televisions and cell phones making due appearance—all a part of the digital, media-driven world Bodega is commenting on, the Endless Scroll. You can watch the video for “Jack in Titanic” below. Endless Scroll is out June 1 via What’s Your Rupture? – don’t miss the release party at Sunnyvale on that same night. – Cameron Carr