Vacations

Australia's been churning out a great array of pop lately, from psychedelic mayhem to jangly, surf-indebted pop.  For the latter, check out the latest album "Changes" from Vacations.  Summery, melancholy little nuggets to get lost in the haze to.  Listen to "Moving Out" below and get the album here via Human Sounds Records.

CASTLEBEAT

Here's a little lo-fi, bedroom pop for your pre-holiday Saturday.  New York's CASTLEBEAT draws from goth, 80's pop, dreampop, and shoegaze and ties it all together in a nice jangly bow.  Listen to "Here" below and snag the "VHS" album here via Spirit Goth Records.

Failure - Dark Speed

We got new Failure yesterday!  I had heard a rumor that there were some possible EPs in the works for 2018, and the first (of four) is out now.  Watch the video for "Dark Speed" below.  The song's got a real motorik krautrock kind of thing going for it, and it works.  The "In the Future" EP is available for download from the band here, where you can also pre-order the other EPs as well as an LP that will compile the music later in the year.  Hooray!

Hilary Woods

Something akin to being lost in a snowy wilderness, the haunting and atmospheric music of Dublin's Hilary Woods is the sound of the snowflakes floating in the air around you, your breath visible before your eyes, the limbs of the trees moving in the wind.  It's the sound of a cold surf retreating back into the ocean.  Listen to "Inhaler" below, the opening track from the artist's upcoming "Colt" LP, a cold, stark, and dreamy affair that dips its toe in folk, drone, and cooing dreampop.  Pre-order the album (due in June) here from Sacred Bones.

Friday Horror Trailer - Xtro

Kali Uchis

I am always so, so late to the party on stuff like this.  It's like if there's even a modicum of main stream hype surrounding an artist, i turn my nose up at it without listening.  It's a bad habit i picked up as a teenager, and i need to quit that shit.  Anyway, i'm sure a lot of you already know the silky chanteuse Kali Uchis and her brand of R&B.  Funky and smoky and locked in a groove, the Bootsy Collins and Tyler The Creator assisted "After the Storm" is apparently totally my shit.  Watch the cool video for it below, and be on the lookout for the "Isolation" LP next month on Interscope/Virgin.

PILOTPRIEST - Others

Hooray!  We've got a new jam from one of my favorite synth wave artists PILOTPRIEST today, and it's every bit as moody and propulsive as you could ask for.  Listen to "Others" below and download it here.

Memory Keepers

Here's a little synth and vocoder action from Austin duo Memory Keepers.  "No Distractions" comes from the band's upcoming 7" release, due later next month.  In the meantime, listen below, and download the song here from the band.

Sloppy Jane

Usually during SXSW, on that last Saturday, we'll take the kids out to see some music, which is how my eldest got to see Mobb Deep perform before he was even a year old.  This year, neither boy was feeling it, so no SXSW for them...admittedly though, it's probably for the best.  There was a solid chance we were going to go to Brooklyn Vegan's last day show of the year, and if we had, we would have gone early, and if that had happened, we would have seen New York's Sloppy Jane play a crazy and raucous set...that would have included WAY more nudity and performance art than i think i could have explained to the 4-year old.  So, bullet dodged there, though i feel like i totally missed out.  Listen to "King Hazy Lady" below, the opening track on the band's new "Willow" LP, then get the record here.

Altars of Grief

Here's some gloomy, doomy, goth-tinged black metal from Canada's Altars of Grief to continue your Monday with.  The band's new album "Iris" is out now on Hypnotic Dirge Records (get it here).  Listen to album opener "Isolation" below.