Starting off, let’s send good vibes to UConn basketball – men’s and women’s – in the hopes that we’re crowned National Champs/the best. I hope everyone has a good time watching the games!
Now with what you’re really here for, sweet Studio A Adds. Cloud Nothings is our push album of the week. Here and Nowhere Else is cool noisy fun punk rock. The War on Drugs is back with a newalbum that brings back the rockish electronicish stuff you might know and love. Please enjoy the reviews of the other artists too, spread the love around!
Check it all out below!
Have a great week,
Aislinn
New Added Releases
** = Push
* = Recommend
| ARTIST | ALBUM | DESCRIPTION | LABEL |
| Cloud Nothings** | Here and Nowhere Else | Always loud, often near-chaotic punk rock. Screamed/gritty vox and insane drums. FCC Warning: #6. RIYL: Japandroids, Wavves | Mom + Pop |
| Meklit* | We are alive | Singer songwriter with a nice voice making a mix of jazz, soul, folk, and soft rock. Nice instrumentation between horns, drums, and keys. Try # 1,3,4,6,7 | Six Degrees |
| Owls* | Two | The Kinsella bros. new album has some pretty righteous riffs and “emo” vox. Math rock touches bring twinkly guitars and jazzy melodies. RIYL: Joan of Arc, Owen, Capn Jazz | Polyvinyl |
| Rafter* | It’s Reggae | An indie pop/noise pop experimenting with some real reggae groove. Not very classic in a reggae sense, but super progressive in a pop sense. Try #1,7 | Asthmatic Kitty |
| Snow Ghosts* | Secret Garden | Really awesome song! The #1 is great, #2 is a more droney, ominous, ambient mix, pretty good, #3 and #5 aren’t much to call home about. | Houndstooth |
| The War on Drugs* | Lost in the Dream | Rock n roll with some ambient, electronic, shogaze influences. Vox very similar to Tom Petty with good lyrics. Lengthy instrumentals and tracks may cause some to hate, but I love it. Try #1,4 FCC Warning: #8 | Secretly Canadian |
| Tribu Ultravioleta* | Piñata | Ambient, upbeat electronica with hints of world music thrown in. Fun and relaxing, lots of different instrumentals keep you hooked. Try #1,3 | Self-released |
| White Hinterland* | Baby | Part groovyh, synth led pop and part sincere piano ballad. Bold. Vox are really good, some of the synth grooves are also really funky! | Dead Oceans |
| Alden Penner | Exegesis | Ex-member of the indie rock band The Unicorns and is friends with Michael Cera. Low key Unicorns-esque songs? Listen to this. | Dazzleships Records |
| Architecture in Helsinki | Now + 4EVA | Pop that’t not overdone and very polished, a lot of energy. Much more dreamy compared to older material. T1, T5 | Casual Workout |
| Bonson Berner | Passport | Alt rock with electro tendencies and a sprinkle of industrial blues? RIYL: The Bravery, The Killers Try #1,2,5 | Forty Below |
| Dan Croll | Sweet Disarray | Fun, catchy pop tunes with some rock influence. This dude writes some really cute lyrics that I can girls swooning over. Some Vamp Weekend similarities. Electro with organic textures. | Capitol |
| Das Funk Haus | Electric Garden Party | Quite a misnomer, progressive almost metal guitar riffs combine with sports of jazz and out of touch vox. Not a pleasant mix. Try # 1,8 | Cortez Heights Records |
| Drive-by Truckers | English Oceans | Good old country rock. Super American sounding but also reminisces back to 90’s slacker rock/indie rock like Yo La Tengo and Uncle Tupelo | ATO |
| Elbow | The Take Off and Landing of Everything | Pop-rock with distinct vox that have soulful edge. Songs have either a long build up or mellow endings. | Concord Records |
| Hamilton Leithhauser | Alexandra | Poppy, folky, rocky. Cool vox but hard to get into. Doesn’t show much promise. | Ribbon Music |
| Howler | World of Joy | High octane rock that’s easy and fun to listen to, annoying, gutsy vox. Alt rock by some rebellious teens. | Rough Trade |
| Lyla Foy | Mirrors the Sky | Lowkey, mostly mellow folk pop with understated female vox, songs smolder like campfires and the vox are romantically icy. Very enjoyable. RIYL: Marissa Nadler, Beach House Try #2,4,5,8 | Sub Pop |
| Manchester Orchestra | Cope | Indie rock outfit with hard-hitting riffs full of emotion. The whole thing is pretty homogenous. | Republic Records |
| Marching Band | So Much Imagine | Pretty standard rock with some chamber influences. So long! Simple songs, simple arrangements. | U&L |
| Maximo Park | Too Much Information | Indie-pop, Smiths-esque, very clear, jangly guitar lines, etc. Try #4,8 | Daylighting/PIAS America |
| Metronomy | Love Letters | Some of the synth melodies on this poppy record sound like they were lifted from mod rock. Pretty minimal with vox, super high in mix. | Because Music |
| Monokino | Fake Virtue | Slightly whiny pop rock with breathy almost unintelligible vox. Some synth parts, some guitar. The instrumentals are pretty cool. | My First Sonny Weissmuller |
| Odonis Odonis | Odonis Odonis | Shoegaze with drowned out vox. Try #2,5 | Buzz |
| Panther God | Golden Changes | Sludgy, grooving electronic with glitchy samples, really cool warm synth textures. | Outside Recordings |
| Porno Mags | Porno Mags | Jangly garage rock and unlike the promo label says – they’ve a 70’s garage punk/60’s revivalist band. | Self-released |
| Pretty Lights | A Color Map of the Sun | Remixes of tracks from the album by a ton of different artists. All electronic, but a variety of styles present, none of them boring or “stereotypical”. Try #1,3,9,13 | 8 Minutes 20 Seconds |
| Pure X | Angel | Slow, chilled out rock, soaked with reverb and chill vibes. Similar to Deerhunter at points. Pop record with a few country/soul elements. RIYL: Ariel Pink, Deerhunter | Fat Possum |
| S. Carey | Range of Light | The drummer of Bon Iver – he makes woodsy, delicate, and ornately arranged folk/rock music. Pretty minimal with arrangements of piano, guitar, and voice are beautiful. | Jagjaguwar |
| The Crystal Method | The Crystal Method | Electro dance duo with heavy synths and bass at the forefront. FCC Warning: #2,6,7 Try #1,2,4,8 | Tiny e |
| The Hold Steady | Teeth Dreams | Rock group with 1000 anthems returns. This sounds like that but a bit older. Pretty righteous guitar riffs that are satisfying. | Hold Steady |
| The Strypes | Snapshot | These kids are like 16 years old. Sounds like they grew up listening to their dad’s classic rock and made a copy of it. Like classic sounding rock. RIYL: 60s-70’s radio stations | Island |
| Tokyo Police Club | Forcefield | Alt pop rock. Very bright and poppy melodies instrumentation. High velocity all the way through. Use of synth comes in occassionally. RIYL: Foster the People, Metronomy FCC Warning: #1,4,9 | Mom + Pop |