Brian Gibson "Thrasher"
Brian Gibson is an artist and composer whose career is defined by uncompromising creativity. As the bassist for legendary duo Lightning Bolt or as a composer and artist on video games, Gibson consistently tests boundaries by injecting wonder and excitement into his singular body of work. Gibson’s 2016 release Thumper, produced by Drool, was an award-winning smash hit game and soundtrack. Thrasher is Gibson’s triumphant return to VR, a fantastical whirlwind co-created with Mike Mandell via their partnership Puddle. The soundtrack harnesses Gibson’s otherworldly visions with bright musical clarity, trading the “rhythmic violence” of Thumper for expansive and sublime atmospheres punctured by cascading, serpentine arpeggios embodied by otherworldly creatures.
Gibson and Mandel call the game “a mind-melting arcade action odyssey and visceral audiovisual experience.” The game was designed as an immersive virtual reality experience following a kind of evolving space centipede from “crawling from the depths of primordial gloom to the heights of celestial bliss, culminating in a heart-pounding reckoning with a cosmic baby god.” Gibson’s start in game designing began at Harmonix working on tentpole titles like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Thrasher breaks from Gibson’s history in rhythm-centered games. Arpeggiated synths and undulating textural loops mimic the segmented art style of the centipede, as well as the game’s more open and nuanced emotional core. Through these intricate sequences, Gibson imbues the soundtrack’s ceaseless propulsion with melodic mystery and tensions. The crystalline twirl of “Magenta Machine” expands and contracts like a living, breathing biosphere. Tracks like album opener “Metal Maze” and “Mica” harken back to the trance-inflected movements of Lightning Bolt’s Hypermagic Mountain. The existential dread of Thumper carries over to pieces like “Timekeepers” and “Mad Moon,” but across the album Gibson infuses that dread with an equal share of awe.
Quivers "Oyster Cuts"
Oyster Cuts, the Merge debut of Quivers, finds the Melbourne, Australia–based outfit awash in the kind of emotions people tend to fear losing themselves in. Finding love after grief, the outsized guitar pop of Quivers gleams like the surface of an ocean, beneath which lies a reef that is at turns beautiful and painful, its features alien and sharp enough to wound. Propelled by melodies that at times recall Galaxie 500 and The Pretenders, Quivers make music that is tender and tough, compelling the listener to dive in again and again, each song a new angle on all of your feelings.
The losses and loves that have informed Quivers’ music since their inception—the sudden loss of a brother in the cracked optimism of We’ll Go Riding on the Hearses (2018) and the life in and after grief of Golden Doubt (2021)—ripple into Oyster Cuts, which is committed to moving forward while accepting that some feelings, like grief, are a cycle. Crucially, Quivers committed to moving forward with each other. Paring away the choir and strings of its predecessor, Oyster Cuts is a showcase for what’s still possible when four people—Sam Nicholson (guitars), Bella Quinlan (bass), Michael Panton (guitars), and Holly Thomas (drums)—make music together.
Thee Marloes "Perak"
From Big Crown Records:
When you first hear Thee Marloes, their particular soul sound may seem familiar enough. There are the weighty drums, a crooning guitar, and a beautiful voice singing about unrequited love and the complications inherent in affairs of the heart. But then there is something undeniably different about Thee Marloes and their music, something new and distinct. And while you may be acquainted with soul music, you’ve probably never heard it from Surabaya, Indonesia—the place they call home.
Thee Marloes are Natassya Sianturi singing and playing keys, Tommy Satwick on drums, and Sinatrya (“Raka”) Dharaka on guitar and handling production. Their sound has the universal appeal of soul, jazz, and pop, but with a distinct approach attributable to their local culture and global influence. The world’s introduction to Thee Marloes’ debut album Perak, started with “Midnight Hotline” the scorching A side to their debut 7” on Big Crown. A punchy dancefloor number with an infectious chorus, vibey piano, and jazzy guitar licks. Contrasting that energy in the classic plug and ballad pairing dynamic, the B side “Beri Cinta Waktu” has all the makings of a beloved soul ballad but the lyrics are in Indonesian. Regardless of any language barrier, the sentiment in their music is palpable, helping to make their songs relatable and heartfelt. The rest of Perak fits perfectly in between those bookends of both energy and language, “I Know” is a mid-tempo burner that talks about pulling the veil of lies off a love affair founded on falsehood. “Not Today” is right up there with the grooviest feel good songs you could ever play on a Sunday morning with Natassya reminding us to make space for ourselves no matter what life throws our way. “Mungkin Saja” brings the tempo back up with another dance floor smoker while “True Love” finds Thee Marloes dipping into the soulful side of jazz with a beat ballad that could soundtrack a Tarantino dance scene. “Over” starts out with a heavy drum break and evolves into an epic arrangement drenched in layers of gorgeous melodies capturing the havoc of a love affair that ends abruptly perfectly.
Perak is a journey from the heart of Surabaya into the spirit of the soul sound. It’s about creating a space where none existed, and doing it because you love it. You can tell that Thee Marloes enjoy making their music, from the process of writing and recording, to performing in front of crowds. “We want to share what we live,” Natassya tells us. No
matter what language you speak or culture you come from, Thee Marloes music and energy is so charming that we will all be keeping it close to the turntable for years to come.
Torres & Fruit Bat "A Decoration"
A Decoration is a six-song collaboration between Mackenzie Scott of TORRES and Eric D. Johnson of Fruit Bats. In working together, Scott and Johnson neither changed TORRES or Fruit Bats at their core to suit their collaborator’s ideas, nor did they merely look for places in each other’s music where they could fit themselves in. A Decoration is something else entirely, something new and vibrant and vital to the catalogs of two songwriters whose most recent albums, Fruit Bats’ A River Running to Your Heart and TORRES’ What an enormous room, found them at the peak of their creative powers, at a perfect moment to begin a new conversation through song.