Leif Vollebekk "New Ways (Secret City)"
New Ways, the new album from Leif Vollebekk, is a meticulous, sparse, stunner of a soul-esque album. I cannot think of a recent example of better use of silence on an album than this. Now, I’m not talking John Cage silence here, I just mean that everything sure has room to breathe, and breathe it does. As the PR mentions (quite correctly) there are parallels of sound to be heard here to both Prince and Bill Withers. Frankly, if those two names don’t want to get you to check out an album then I don’t know what sorts of things you are looking for. Check out the first single from the album “Hot Tears” and dig all that space!
Mikal Cronin "Seeker (Merge)"
For his fourth full-length record, Mikal Cronin forwent the naming scheme of his last few releases and went with Seeker (Merge). Well, whatever he was seeking he found, as Seeker is the best thing Mikal has ever recorded. Joyous, slightly (and blissfully) ramshackle in the best possible way. With each release, he’s been pulling back the layers of garage-ness his earliest releases had, and Seeker is the most focus the always fantastic Mikal has ever had. Like a reborn jam-free, song forward Dead, or a Simple Songs era Jim O’Rourke-this is the sound of maturity and confidence without sacrificing fun or rock ’n’ roll. Look, dude’s got a bachelor’s degree in music and it shows. This is some fantastic songwriting. Ok, I’ll stop waxing poetically and let the songs do the rest of the talking. Check out the Tom Petty meets The Dead intro of the super-fun “Show Me.”
Great Grandpa "Four Of Arrows (Double Double Whammy)"
Look. We all know it. You want some rock in your life. Nay, you NEED some rock in your life. That’s why you are about to absolutely fall head over heels in love with the new Great Grandpa album. Four Of Arrows (Double Double Whammy) is everything you want it to be. Equal parts boisterous and emotional, loud and quiet. It’s like they took everything you love about ‘90s indie and mixed it up with everything you love about modern indie sounds-and threw in some choice sensitivity to really hit you in the feels. Then they mixed in just a hint of country music to leave the whole thing sounding fresh and unique. Check out the emotional ballad-esque vibes of “Mono no Aware
Anamanaguchi "[USA] (Polyvinyl)"
Like a cyborg, it is difficult to separate the technology and the humanity when it comes to the exciting music of Anamanaguchi. The four-piece band is intrinsically connected to video games. They have scored games in the past. They have released chiptune albums distributed on Nintendo cartridges. So it is not surprising that the sound of their polyvinyl debut [USA] (Polyvinyl) is something akin to video game/anime sounding. Which, honestly, is as timely a genre of sounds as is out there. These tunes are vital, exciting, and otherworldly. Imagine a mixture of video game music, j-pop, k-pop, anime opening credit sequences, and… you know what? Instead of imagining, why not just give a listen to the moving “On My Own.”