Thanks For Coming put out a lot of music in 2017. Their Bandcamp page shows 21 releases from the past year, most only a few songs each, but the particularly noteworthy full-length “Missing Out” and two EPs “Sspplliitt” and “Thanks For Having Me” offering a little more. It works with the band’s signature sound, which makes use of homemade aesthetics and intimate lyrics that sound like they came (and quite possibly did come) from hurriedly typed entries in iPhone’s notes app. For the last couple months, however, Thanks For Coming has been relatively quiet as the group works on recording a new full-length. While there’s no firm word on the pending album yet, the band will return to the stage to join Remember Sports and Sidney Gish at Silent Barn on February 21st and you can listen to one new track via a Post-Trash benefit compilation below. – Cameron Carr

Sloppy Jane is a band with bizarre and grotesque inclinations and an interest in translating them into their performances. Naked bodies, colored dye, and television screens set a backdrop for melting inhibitions as the music (and often the musicians) tumbles into chaotic fits. It’s a must-see for fans of avant-garde, performative punk. Deservingly, the band, led by Haley Dahl, will bring its ravenous live show to SXSW this year with a string of other dates surrounding the trip. Leading up to those gigs, Sloppy Jane will unleash new album “Willow” on March 2nd with a release show at The Glove on March 7th. The group is currently scheduled to play SXSW showcases for Melted Magazine (March 12th), Desert Daze (March 14th), Invertebrate (March 17th, day), and Siren Sound (March 17th, night). – Cameron Carr

It’s easy to call to mind artists similar to Crosslegged, but it’s not easy to think of artists that actually sound like Crosslegged. Behind the music made by Brooklyn artist Keba Robinson under the Crosslegged name is a sense of invention and adventure. There’s something in common with the delicate songwriting of folk, the melodic ease of pop, the precise arrangements of electronic music, but Crosslegged fits neatly into none of these categories. There’s more in common here with the innovative work of artists like Bjork, Sufjan Stevens, or Kate Bush. The excitement of originality is what makes Robinson’s work worth following. You can see the next performance February 16th when Crosslegged opens for Hovvdy’s record release show at Baby’s All Right. – Cameron Carr

Harry Teardrop makes the kind of hazy, daydream-inducing bedroom pop that you can get lost in. New single “Chinatown” is no exception, but it works the smooth, jazzy undertones to more soothing ends. Teardrop—a.k.a. NYU student Harrison Li—crafts indie music that’s unafraid to be pop and, in this case, unafraid to be ‘80s style romantic. Originally written for Li’s senior prom as a slow dancing song for his band to play, “Chinatown” is a lo-fi ballad with nonchalant cool. Listen below and be sure to catch Harry Teardrop opening for Dolly Spartans on February 11th at Trans-Pecos. –Cameron Carr</p>

While Secret Crush’s music clearly comes with heavy debts to shoegaze, the band’s incorporation of indie rock immediacy gives them an added dimension. With guitars covered in fuzz and dripping reverb, there’s still plenty of the trademark shoegaze wash of sound, but the vocals tend to sit more upfront and there’s a tendency toward riffing that’s rarely seen in the genre. For fans of moody, effects-laden music, Secret Crush offers an excellent gateway to the more experimental corners of the shoegaze world. Get a taste of that sound when the band headlines Elsewhere on February 12th.

Solid Goold lives for all things retro, to the point that it’s sometimes unclear whether the ‘70s inspired outfits and ‘60s style harmonies are meant jokingly or lovingly—likely a bit of both. It’s fitting then that the music video for “New Best Friend” plays into similar aesthetic tropes, caking on cheap visual effects and dopey characters to good measure. Frontman Albert Goold finds himself hopelessly chasing a lover when, as the lyrics foreshadow, he may just need a new best friend. It’s the first video from Solid Goold’s 2017 album “Metabeta” and it does an excellent job highlighting the band’s lighthearted, throwback pop style. Watch the video, directed by Patrick Elmore and featuring actress Katy Rea, below and catch the band performing at Sidewalk Cafe tonight as part of the Winter Antifolk Fest. – Cameron Carr

The story goes that The Rizzos‘ Megan Mancini skipped senior prom and got drunk with her mom instead, at least that’s how it’s told on “Prom Mom,” the lead single from the band’s 2017 EP “No Parents, No Rules 2: Beneath the Planet of No Rules.” While the exact storyline may or may not be true, it speaks to a nostalgia for the teenage years, or at least a nostalgia for escaping the pains of teenage years. This year, The Rizzos host their own Senior Prom, leaning heavy on all things glam and garage rock with sets by Plaid Dracula, The Royal They, and Ghost Funk Orchestra. The show takes place February 9th at Gutter Bar. – Cameron Carr

The lie “Half-Remembered” asks us to believe is that it is cinematic for its ambience and minimalism. This is not the truth. “Half-Remembered” is cinematic for its drama, its likeness to the grandeur of a big screen in a dark room. At the start of Tim Kuhl’s newest track, the second single from the Margaret Glaspy and Sean Lennon drummer’s upcoming album “Sky Valley,” the dripping piano introduces a gentle music in the lineage of film scoring. This gives way to a dark stretch of synth pop, decorated with gloomy vocals from poet Geoffrey Bankowski. It’s the second half of the song that breaks the illusion of minimalism. Kuhl orchestrates his ‘80s instrumentals to a fiery crescendo fueled by post-rock and all the epic drama of the big screen. The track owes as much to the dynamics of Explosions in the Sky or Godspeed! You Black Emperor as it does to the gothic synth pop of John Maus or The Cure. You can listen to “Half-Remembered” below and pre-order “Sky Valley,” due February 23rd, here. Kuhl will perform a string of shows at Pete’s Candy Store as part of an extended five-month residency beginning February 17th. – Cameron Carr, photo by Nathan West

There’s something decidedly midwestern about Dougie Poole. It’s not so much the love for heartland country that Poole wears proudly on his sleeve, but the odd ways he stretches out those influences. Poole’s take on country sees mainly the sappy sentimentality at its core and embellishes that with generous reverb and synth-heavy arrangements. It’s definitely not country, but alt-country would be a major misnomer too… it owes far more to ‘80s synth-pop and new wave. There’s not much else like it, you really have to hear it to understand. You can experience this intriguing blend of influence in person next February 4th when Dougie Poole opens for Paul Bergmann’s record release show at Baby’s All Right. – Cameron Carr

Listening to The Royal They can feel like teetering on the brink of chaos. The trio seems captivatingly in control of impromptu bursts of sound, explosions of cymbals and fuzzy guitar. At some moments you wonder if the band is about to lose control, but they never do. The dynamic intensity has visible roots in ‘90s grunge but The Royal They abandons lethargic delivery in favor of ferocity. The band’s thunderous sound will strike again on February 1st when they open for Big Ups (our Best NYC Band of 2014, featured on our cover that year) at Silent Barn. – Cameron Carr

Beginning with pummeling tom drums, Russian Baths‘ first single from the upcoming “Penance” EP could easily be a soundtrack to fleeing the titular Slenderman character. While the airy vocals emote almost plainly, the instrumentals jostle with each other to occasionally cacophonous peaks. At its calmest, “Slenderman” is a foreboding, gothic track but the noisy, feedback-laden guitars topple over in threatening outbursts that do justice to the fictional character’s horror legacy. Most startling about “Slenderman” is the calm portrayed in the vocals throughout it all. In another context the voice might be a soothing reassurance, but here it only adds to the tension. "Penance" is out February 23rd via Good Eye Records. – Cameron Carr

With no fear, The Muckers embrace a rock ‘n’ roll of the past: cyclical riffing, healthy doses of reverb, song structures built for guitar solos, and a taste for the slightly psychedelic. There’s something classic New York about the band too, a bit of Strokes imagery (check the floppy hair and stylized logo font) and some garage rock sensibilities. But, the problem is, The Muckers only have one recording to their name, the retro-styled “Suspended for a Long Time.” For now, you’ll have to catch the band in concert to hear more—the group’s upcoming gig at Elsewhere on January 21st will be the next opportunity. – Cameron Carr