You are now entering a pro-Joan Shelley zone. Be prepared to listen to some of the best contemporary folk music around. Joan Shelley is a pro at this, and she’s got a new record coming soon to prove it. The Spur is arriving June 24 via No Quarter Records, and features contributions from Bill Callahan, Meg Baird and more.
Realized I had never given this track its own standalone post – not once in the entire 12-year history of this blog. “Bermuda” is a track worth posting about, I think. A highlight of my early blog-posting days, but arriving a bit on the late side on the entirety of the era, Kisses’ were a pretty buzzy band that dropped their debut LP, The Heart of the Nightlife, in late 2010. I had “Bermuda” on my “Best Tracks of 2010” list allllll the way back then. It’s stuck around in my rotation of favorite 2010s tracks ever since.
Should I make Shoegaze Tuesday a thing? Nah, I’m too disorganized for that. Either way, I’ve got some white-hot dream pop for you noise addicts out there via Los Angeles band Mo Dotti and their new EP Guided Imagery, out now via Smoking Room Records. The opening track will give you all you need, but strap in to experience the rest.
Craving some hypnotic, rumbling jazz in your life? Look no further than a new track from Nova Scotia’s JOYFULTALK, aka Jay Crocker and his motley crew of players. Their new record Familiar Science is out May 6 via all-star label Constellation Records, but you should preview this first track now so you can get wholly amped up for the trance-like grooves that await you.
TOPS-heads rejoice! Keyboardist Marta Cikojevic just released her David Carriere-produced debut single, “Entertainment”, via Arbutus Records. David, as you may know, is the guitarist in TOPS. It’s a whole family affair. Keeping in form, this new song would feel right at home in the windswept, infatuation-saturated pop that we heard off TOPS’ most recent record I Feel Alive, which I absolutely loved. Ergo, I love this song.
After a long pause, The Range aka James Hinton is BACK with a new album on the way, Mercury, arriving June 10 via Domino. He’s already released “Bicameral”, which is a fine song, but I’m very into the most recent single “Ricercar” – channeling classic The Range with a catchy, bassy beat and soulful vocal sample woven throughout. There’s something about The Range’s music – despite it being comprised of pieces that other electronic projects share, all his music has a distinct sound and feel that I can’t get enough of.
Perennially overlooked modern shoegaze group Young Prisms are making their grand comeback TODAY with their new album Drifter, out now via Fire Talk. If you’re looking for some real dreamy melodies, juxtaposed light and heavy textures, and all that good old noise pop stuff, look no further.
There are many albums coming out this Friday (March 25th, 2022) and I haven’t posted any singles talking about how excited I am for them. I’m changing that today. I’ve got some tracks coming up today and tomorrow that will mark the moment in time these four LPs came out. Will they be good? Only time will tell. We’ll start with Destroyer, and their most recent single “June”, which features a video made for the intersection of Vancouver and burrito fans.
My partner likes to make fun of me because I often romanticize the late 90s / early 00s in terms of a culture standpoint. Obviously every era has its problems, and I realize that this little slice is by and far one of the lesser romantic ones that I could highlight, but some things about it has always stuck with me, mostly being that of early blog culture and embracing of computer electronics. One major touchpoint would be Radiohead’s pivot on Kid A. Another would be Dntel’s wonderful Life Is Full Of Possibilities. You could say Broadcast and Colleen fit in as well. This early incorporation of glitchy electronics, listless melancholy and homespun fidelity into indie rock and pop has such a sincere feel in my mind. I just checked out another album to add to the canon, that of Lali Puna’s Scary World Theory, which should have been listened to much sooner due to their close association with Dntel.
Take a Friday chill pill with the newest single from Toronto singer/songwriter Evan J Cartwright’s upcoming debut LP, “impossibly blue”, and its initially unassuming yet harshly stimulating companion video. Cartwright, the go-to drummer for mainstay Canadian acts like U.S. Girls and The Weather Station, brings his unique songwriting chops to this solo LP, and that’s on full display on this charming, meditative cut.
Warm Visions 