July 2023

Albums

Escape the Compound - Landowner

Post-punk is grand when it’s twitchy. It might be even better when it’s convulsing. That’s the only way to describe Landowner’s Escape the Compound. It’s a deep dive into North Eastern mythology from Salem to modern traffic medians named after the people who died on the concrete. Josh Owsley’s disgusting, almost synth-like, bass lines bring to mind the most hellish moments of Minutemen and ends up being the album’s driving force.

Nighttime Dreams - Christopher Corr

This is an ambient album about a dog. I don’t know what more you could want. Corr weaves a surprising collective of instruments together to craft a melatonin saturated night. There’s sadness rippling at the edges and occasional whispers of unease. But, the core (ha!) of this album is soft, lullaby like tranquility.

Alchemy - Disclosure

Disclosure’s career trajectory has gone from promising to huge to disappointing to weird and finally, now, intriguing. After perhaps blowing up too soon with their first album Settle, the Lawrence brothers didn’t seem to know where to go. But after a decade of detours, they’ve found an anchor. With no features, Alchemy is the purest vision of the duo’s musical loves and it is house music and UK garage all the way down. With their signature smoothness creasing every corner, Disclosure have made a dance record that’s welcoming and comforting more so than barnburning. We, and perhaps the Disclosure themselves, needed a hug on the dancefloor.

In the Garden By the Weeds - Josaleigh

The genre tags associated with Josaleigh flatten her work. Indie pop, rock, folk, sure, but does that convey the scratchy terror that rumbles out from beneath her songs? How electronic washes of feedback cover the album in dread? No. If you want to know what you’re getting into, listen to the monstrous “The Nothing Answered Back” first and see if this dark fairy tale is for you.

The Strange Case of Steve - Rascal Reporters

Reptile people, hijacked weather reports, space time distortions–jazz?

Familiar Spirits - Oromet

Metal that wants you to avenge your lost ancestors, metal to curse those pesky hobbitses, metal to drink wine from a skull. With Oromet let’s add metal to burrow deep within the earth as our dwarven forefathers would want.

Centurion - Sluice

“I am a cartoon Callahan,” smiles Justin Morris. And Sluice does hold the hodgepodge zen charm of Bill Callahan’s Smog days. A rambling, yet catchy, album of folk-rock, Radial Gate is an ambling sort with a surprise emotional wallop hiding around the corners.

Agriculture - Agriculture

“I love the spiritual sound of ecstatic black metal by the band Agriculture,” reads one of LA weirdos Agriculture’s t-shirts. And I’ll be damned if they ain’t right.

Astral Plains - Peace Flag Ensemble

Hovering in the same spiritual plane as Fuubutsushi, new-age Jazzists Peace Flag Ensemble bring a patchwork joy to their light, mercurial tunes. Lead single “You Can’t Pin Joy Like a Moth” flutters like an imaginary score to a David Attenborough narration and “Too Beautiful for a Cubical” doesn’t just live up to its title, it might get you to walk straight out of your office all together.

Don’t Test the Pest - Pest Control

Camp is a double edged sword for metal. Go too far and you ended up in the dreaded King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Zone, where you seem to be making fun of the audience. But also, metal should be fun damn it! Pest Control hit the balance masterfully with a absurdly fast slice of old fashioned thrash, polished with chops and humor from a more modern era.

Tiny things to love

First Love - Astra King

I’m pretty sure I had a 6th grade science textbook that looked exactly like this album cover.

Astra King linked up with PC Music’s AG Cook to create a gen z version of Caroline Polachek. Just making a good facsimile would have been impressive, but King’s fluttering pop chops and giddy enthusiasm make First Love a welcome addition to the modern pop canon. If there’s anyone on this list to keep an eye on for future stardom, it’s King.

Wespennest/Candidasa - DJ Koze

Alongside producing Roisin Murphy’s new disco mutations, German techno tinkerer DJ Koze has time for his own mad experiments. Two bubbly, dub infected house cuts that deliver unending grooves is exactly what this summer needed.

Painful Choice / Sugar Coat / The Arrival Note

Ferocious, passionate, on the edge of complete collapse, if this had been the 80s, these bands would have been your life.

I - svrm

Some evil, wintery black metal shit to make the hottest months feel like the coldest seasons.

Tried and True - Alexa Rose

The Lucinda Williams cover is welcome, but the real heart of Alexa Rose’s work is the originals which sound like they’ve been around since the dustbowl. Well worn, lovely, radiating warmth and timeless beauty.