To start things off we got the great new album from singer-songwriter John Darnielle, otherwise known as The Mountain Goats. The album is entitled Beat The Champ, and all the songs revolve in some way around professional wrestling. However, (as he is often prone to do) Darnielle uses his really great lyricism to make the songs about a whole lot more than just a bunch of dudes in masks fighting in an arena.
In addition to that, we have some dreamy, psychedelic tunes courtesy of Moon King, as well as some great indie folk rock from Houndmouth. Check it all out below!
-Dan
**= push *= recommend
ARTIST ALBUM DESCRIPTION LABEL
| The Mountain Goats** | Beat The Champ | Really great! Songs are well written and all about pro wrestling. A lof ot nostalgia and sentimentality to go along with it because of ties to his childhood and his deceased father. Try 2,3,4,7,8. FCC clean. | Merge |
| Houndmouth* | Little Neon Lime Light | Upbeat indie folk/rock, great guitar work, good energy levels, sometimes upbeat and others emotional. Chris loves this album. Play anything. | Rough Trade |
| Moon King* | Secret Life | Dreamy rock/pop from Montreal. Hazy. Psychedelic production with elements of rock and electronic intertwined. Something like a glistening web of poppy dream rock. Male and female vocals, female side sounds like Beach House. RIYL: Tame Impala, Ex-Cops. FCC 7. Play 1,3,4,5,6,8 | Last Gang Records |
| Drenge | Undertow | Grungy, guitar driven, heavy songs surrounding subjects relating to cars and the outdoors. Doesn’t quite pack the punch that you expect though. | Infectous |
| Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds | Chasing Yesterday | Decent alt rock. Sounds very similar to oasis in the 90s. Standard Noel Gallagher lyrics, sounds well done. If you like: Oasis. Try 5,10. | Sour Mash |
| Mini Mansions | The Great Pretenders | QOTSA spinoff, but lacking polish. Very unremarkable. Track 4 is kinda weird. | Capitol |
| Atrocity Exhibition | Year One | Genre jumping sampler of a hadful of shoegazey and dark and stormy rock jams. Most aren’t worth it. 8 pretty cool though. | Compilation |
| Mary Epworth | Dream Life | Psych-pop with folksy influences. Slow tempos with high pitched droney noise, not in a shoegaze way, but a kinda boring pop way. | Highline Records |
| Matt and Kim | New Glow | Bright, poppy, cheesy “anthems”. Gets kind of annoying at times but still catchy choruses. Sometimes cringey attempts at pandering to trends. Try 8. | Harvest |
| Wardell | Love/Idleness | The Speilberg kids rip off Tennis and add a synth. It’s much easier to sing about having fun and enjoying yourself when you have a couple billion in the bank. | Self-released |
| Joel Michael Howard | Love As First Response | Chill, laid-back guitar pop w/ helium induced vocals. Nothing special, but hey, it doesn’t suck. 3,5,9 are good. | Ernest Jenning Record Co. |
| Joel Plaskett | & The Park Avenue Sobriety Test | Interesting and melody based alt rock with both funk and folk elements and influences. Very diverse, overall good. FCC 1,2,13. Play 2,3,5,6,7,10 | Pheromone |
| Doug Burr | Pale White Dove | Slower Americana type of rock. Pleasant to listen to. Musically a little repetitive and boring. A little difficult to understand vocals. | Velvet Blue |
| White Like Fire | Wait the Night Out | Pop rock/indie rock. Bright guitars, vocals sound like a higher Kings Of Leon, easy listening, some cool guitar riffs and piano work. | Self-released |
| DTCV | Uptime! | Post punk rock n roll jams. Oriented in that 90s indie rock construct: pinchy guitars, dynamic drum beats. RIYL: Sonic Youth, Breeders. Play 5,6,3,10. | Unsatisfied Records |
| Dinner | Three Eps | Mod synth pop with elements of 80s house/new wave. RIYL: Ariel Pink, College. Play 7,8,9 | Captured Tracks |
| Emil Friis | Sand In Your Eyes | This dude really likes The National. Songs are good but borrow a lot from other acts. Some alt-country vibes w/ his vocals. Try 1,2,6. RIYL: The National | Southern Imperial |
| Pale Blue | The Past We Leave Behind | Synth pop from a defected Italians Do It Better synth wizard Mike Simoneti. Majority female vocalists. Slow, pulsing tunes. All have dreamy timbres. Pretty good. RIYL: Chromatics, Lower Dens, Caribou. Play 1,3,8,9,11. FCC clean. | Captured Tracks |
| Vessels | Dilate | Rhythmic post-rock/soft electronic; instrumental, some female vox on 4,6. Textured, ambient melodies accompanied by throbbing synth beats. A bit slow for the dance floor, but sonic and moving nonetheless. Long tracks! FCC clean. Try 3,4,6. | Bias |
| Emprss | Blue | Laid-back melancholy “alt-pop” male vox. Rich production, with inventive rhythms, keys, string backing, electronic elements. Mood and looming. Solid stuff! Try 1,2,4. FCC clean. | Family |
| Painted Caves | Painted Caves | Hypnotizing arabic folk rock. Uses a wide array of Middle-Eastern instruments to create lush intricate grooves. Uplifting spiritual lyrics. Vox reminiscent of Chris Cornell’s soft side. Try 6,5,2. | Amarrass Records |
| East India Youth | Culture of Volume | A bit electronic, a bit rock, theatrical. Some interesting dynamics (ex: techno-style on 6). FCC clean. Try 4,7. | XL Recordings |
| Rollercoasterwater | Dripping Retina | Drowned out electronic. Buried vocals sit beneath glitchy, bleedy slow jams. FCC clean. Try 4,2. | Self-released |