San Francisco’s Micropixie creates spacey warm sounds with a sixties French psych pop feel. It’s a multilingual, multi-genre listening experience addressing social norms, masculinity, and gender and cultural identity. The video for “Como Mínimo” is a captivating and thought-provoking viewing experience that we recommend. Singles have been sprinkling out of upcoming album Dark Sight of the Moon and we’re bracing ourselves for the full release this week. Out the third of May. – Michelle Kicherer, Associate Editor

Let the antipathy wash over you on Superblonde’s new record Stay Dumb, an eight track hardcore symposium on fatalism and self-doubt. From fire starter “Learning To Burn’s” introductory lyrics (“our lives are over”) to the allegorical title track “Stay Dumb” (“I’m… like a fly on a sundial with no wings, no real desire to leave”) to shredded closer “Chüb,” the scope of Superblonde’s philosophical outlook comes at the behest of frontman Ryan Richardson’s shrewd, meticulous lyrics. While the content is often bleak, a close reading shows Richardson’s worldview is at times ambivalent, recognizing the difficulty of change, in both a personal and cultural capacity, but acknowledging it is possible. Parred with floor tom destroying percussion and ear ringing guitar work, Stay Dumb is a cathartic album for the increasingly uncertain times we live in. Stream it below. -Connor Beckett McInerney (@b_ck_tt)

Brooklyn-based band Crumb’s mesmeric melodies and enthralling jazz arrangements will spread across broader than ever with the release of their debut LP Jinx on June 14th. The lead single for the LP, “Nina” contains all the haunting vocals, entrancing guitar licks, and poised beats that have made this band’s last two EPs—2016’s Crumb and 2017’s Locket—a buzz story in New York City and beyond. Lila Ramani (guitar, vocals) showcases her casual confidence in her vocal delivery, keeping pace with the instrumentation of the rest of the band, concocting an imaginative sound that find its roots in bedroom pop and psychedelia. The music video for the song stars David Patrick Kelly of the acclaimed TV show Twin Peaks and is as captivating as the song itself. Don’t believe us? See it for yourself here. – Rene Cobar

The Replacements, $3 malt liquor, summer vacation, Cal Rifkin‘s music conjurs sounds and memories, a commendable accomplishment. All the ingredients for success are there and are intuitively executed. The driving, lo-fi rock sound, the sentimental lyrics, the secretly sick guitar solo, oh the fond memories that I’m sure it would evoke in me if I had any fond memories of high school and college parties. Rifkin has the basics down, and the result is music made with passion; music that can satisfy the short-attention spans of the inebriated; music that can engage you while also secretly helping you to achieve catharsis. To this I say well done sir!

-Mike Dranove

The lush vocals of Brooklyn, NY musician Johnny Darlin slip into the eardrums of the listener early on in his single “Way With Words,” and with the assistance of sixties-styled vocal harmonies, delayed guitar licks, and a groovy drum beat create a sedating listening experience. The lounge-pop sound of Johnny Darlin is intriguing enough as it is, and yet the accompanying music video to the single adds another layer of interest for the listener—the setting of an Arkansas church, where Darlin entertains the devotees, is transformed into a bubbly dance dream to the sound of his baritone voice. The video for “Way With Words” was released last month, and the song is available in his 2018 EP of the same name. Johnny Darlin knows how to tell a good story, see it for yourself here. – Rene Cobar 

Music doesn’t have to be confrontational, hammering away or building tension, in order to convey to the listener a sense of gratification. NTHNL has chosen a path of escapism rather than digging into gritty details on “Away We Go,” opting for broad synths and effervescent vocals that lift the track to a headspace that is both introspective and exploratory. Drifting up and down doesn’t mean the production is aimless, however; the seemingly skeletal nature of the song traces the miniature climaxes that occur with every chorus. It’s a delightful soundscape, perfunctory yet powerful. “Away We Go” is the second single off NTHNL’s upcoming album and you can stream it below. –Tucker Pennington

I didn’t know it was possible to make good music with even more reverb than Mogwai, but Bound does it, quite well I might add. Nuthin like a good ol fashioned post-rock buildup into climax to make an impact on your overloaded senses.  As Ronald Reagan once said, “One thing ’bout music when it hits you feel no pain.” And you gotta appreciate the thought and effort they are putting into the tracks; this is some primo sound design, expense not spared here. Seriously, I listened with headphones and I was basking in the tone quality. Even if you don’t love post-rock, check this out.

Stand out tracks: Current, Hold

-Mike Dranove

The Fuse Ensemble achieves full spookiness on “Mirror” from The Music of Gina Biver. The track features a discordant string/piano thing with Gina Biver intoning, “something looks back each time I move, oh demon mask, sad, turned down mouth” from American poet Colette Inez’s poem “Empress in the Mirror.” In all, the creative mixing and pleasantly random improvisation is able to get the spooky sound, or as the liner notes put it, “awakening new shapes and realities while the repetitive nature of the Biver’s electric guitar maintains an underlying continuing, eternal presence.”

I could see some cool audio/visual collab on this one.

-Mike Dranove

Isador Kaufman’s debut EP, Scattered Efforts, is a “collection of songs about happy and sad.” It’s his first solo album after his former band, Watergate Sandals, disbanded in 2017. “I was in a bit of a creative rut for a while there,” Kaufman says, and is grateful to have re-found the creative energies to make Scattered Efforts. Some tracks have a bit of a Mac Demarco thing while others have a sometimes spacey, sometimes beachy psych rock feel. The simple description of “Pop” does not do this work justice. It’s an honest and raw collection, written, performed, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Kaufman himself. He recorded and mixed on Pro Tools then mastered songs on an old Foster 4 track cassette player he bought off Craigslist. As a first effort at production, we’re impressed. We’re also impressed that he decided to donate 100% of the proceeds from EP sales to Planned Parenthood. Stay tuned for tour dates and his second album, which is in the works as we speak. Like we say, stay tuned. – Michelle Kicherer, Associate Editor

Garage rock is still kicking very hard in NYC thanks to bands like Daddies who take every aspect of the genre’s do-it-yourself(-and-have-fun) very seriously by churning out one distorted chord progression after the next in their first EP titled—simply and in classic punk fashion—EP 1. The crazed songs in their debut record summon the energy of ’70s pioneers like The Ramones and The Dead Kennedys. The acoustic opening in their song “GoodBye" (streaming) is perfectly disrupted by the electric guitars which come roaring in, and the aggression is taken to the next level by a seemingly constantly speeding tempo and by a furious drum solo finale – there’s Daddies for you. The group is taking the stage at Baby’s All Right on May 23, and it is bound to be a hell of a good time. Check out “GoodBye” here below. – Rene Cobar

NYC pop masters Modern Diet are back with a new EP that serenely lays out a sonic tapestry of colorful compositions that are brushed with indie rock, R&B, and psych-pop influences. Sit Down and Dance is an appropriate title for a record that grooves and entrances at once with waves of flanged guitar chords and synth embellishments that linger regally. There is a poise to the record that shows the band’s ability to mold its music: while the group’s 2015 self-titled debut album had a more aggressive approach of alternative rock with a tinge of mellow jazz, this second release expands on the latter and adds some rich harmonies to boot. The band is preparing for a string of shows, and one of the stops will be at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn on May 1st. We have a track from the new EP here for you. – Rene Cobar    

Nikki’s Wives released their uplifting alt-rock song “Lemonade” this past February, and now it has a music video to accompany it. The hilariously yellow-themed video stars the band and – as you one might expect – lots of lemons. The comedic interactions between the band members add an exciting layer to the already anthemic choruses and hard pounding drums driving the song forward. The band recently spent time recording at the Hollywood Hills home featured in the video and promise to release more music soon from these sessions. The band’s 2018 debut EP Motor Court can be streamed now on all major platforms and, if their upcoming music is anything like it, the odds are good that they will continue their rise. – Rene Cobar