Morgan Delt fits the Trouble In Mind mold. That’s to say his thick psychedelic-pop is drenched in layers of complexity of label-mates like Jacco Gardner, MMOSS and Maston. His new self-titled LP on the label dropped yesterday. Read More »Morgan Delt’s Self-Titled LP out now on Trouble In Mind
Tomorrow, Benjamin Verdoes releases The Evil Eye on Brick Lane Records. For Verdoes, a founding and continuing member of the Seattle-based internet sensation Mount St. Helens Vietnam Band (MSHVB) on Dead Oceans, it is his first venture into solo territory. I doubt I’m the first to say that Verdoes is just as powerful here as he has been throughout the MSHVB tenure. The Evil Eye is the first truly exciting album I’ve heard this year. Read More »Benjamin Verdoes: The Evil Eye
I recall the first time I heard Stephen Steinbrink. I caught the final few songs of his set at one of What The Heck Fest’s final years. The song was “Breath of Fire” off his 2009 LP Ugly Unknowns. Such a pleasant, poppy sound: I thought this a little strange coming from someone who so fit in with the lo-fi weirdness of the Anacortes crowd. Read More »Out Now: Stephen Steinbrink’s “Arranged Waves”
Spencer Krug returns with his next Moonface record, Julia With Blue Jeans On. Krug, as you may well be aware, has had a music career filled with diversity; if this is your introduction to Moonface, as it is mine, you may be surprised to hear Krug at his most endearing. Julia With Blue Jeans On consists only of softly pleasant, heartfelt piano-laden tunes. Read More »Moonface: Julia With Blue Jeans On
Jane Eyre is the emotionally-charged, psychedelic pop outfit fronted by Jesse Rifkin, former leader of The Wailing Wall. This new project has been brewing for a while now, with “Home Alone 2: Lost In New York” dropped a few years back. The band has finally released their debut full-length, With Our Thoughts We Make The World. Read More »Jane Eyre: With Our Thoughts We Make The World
Phil Elverum’s penchant for the unconventional has always been a recognizable trait of his work. I would argue that all his work under the Mount Eerie moniker is unconventional; there are, however, times where it stands out even more. His latest release, a forthcoming one titled Pre-Human Ideas out on his P.W. Elverum and Sun imprint November 12, is one of those times.
Read More »Mount Eerie: Pre-Human Ideas
Campfire Songs by The Men is among the most appropriate album titles of the year (perhaps being topped only by Ty Segall’s LP Sleeper). It was indeed recorded outside, under stars with a crackling fire keeping the clan warm. It found this band — often classified in a variety of genres from noise rock to post-punk — stripping away all electronics for something entirely acoustic.
Read More »The Men: Campfire Songs EP
I’ve become hypnotized. Haunted. Unsuspectingly allured. There is darkness / In every inch of my veins / In every pleasure, in every pain, coos King Khan with a high-pitched and heartfelt falsetto in “Darkness”, a bluesy, jazzy, laid back garage-pop ballad. The words are gripping amidst blaring soulful saxophones and trumpets. It’s enough to melt you inside. Read More »King Khan & the Shrines: Idle No More
In 2000, my grandfather on my dad’s side passed away. That year was a rough one: lowest GPA of my college career, switching majors to the massive dismay of my parents, a coming to terms with mortality and both who I am as a person and who I want to be. This sort of upheaval is common; still, it was rough, to say the least. As unpleasant as it was to experience, it seems like we all go through such phases, typically brought on by one, if not multiple, major life events. I imagine Ty Segall was going through many tumultuous experiences like these during his writing and recording of Sleeper. Read More »Ty Segall Sleeper Album Review + Pacific Northwest Show Dates
The Fresh & Onlys are back with a new EP called Soothsayer, due September 24 on Mexican Summer and it finds The Fresh & Onlys in an odd place. Transitioning from a once hard-hitting rock band into one with some depth, the band presents three louder songs, and three softer ones. This is a band far removed from the days of Play it Strange — even further from Grey-Eyed Girls — and somewhat a progression of what the band built off last year’s Long Slow Dance.
Read More »The Fresh & Onlys: Soothsayer EP (Album Review)
