Anna Burch "If You’re Dreaming (Polyvinyl)"
From Polyvinyl:
With recurring themes of isolation, weariness and longing, these songs deliver that emotional arc with a delicate but uncompromising execution. Burch’s intrinsically catchy songwriting dials down the urgency of her debut a notch, taking a turn towards airy, jazz-voiced chords, floating reverb and an expansion of the sonic palate with unexpected instrumentation. The soft-rock bass grooves and understated saxophone lines of “Not So Bad” push an impressive pop structure into exciting new territory, and the sweetly melancholic “Tell Me What’s True” centers around muted electric piano, its languid but metered vibe recalling the gentler side of Carole King.
Check out “Party’s Over.”
Waxahatchee "Saint Cloud (Merge)"
From Merge Records:
Waxhatchee’s Saint Cloud is an unflinching self-examination whose raw, exposed narrative terrain is aided by a shift in sonic arrangements. While her last two records (Out in the Storm and Ivy Tripp) featured the kind of big guitars, well-honed noise, and battering sounds that characterized her Philadelphia scene and strongly influenced a burgeoning new class of singer-songwriters, Saint Cloudstrips back those layers to create space for Katie Crutchfield’s voice and lyrics. The result is a classic Americana sound with modern touches befitting an artist who has emerged as one of the signature storytellers of her time.
Check out “Lilacs.”
Grumpy "Loser (Acrophase)"
It’s Grumpy‘s debut album on Acrophase Records! Loser is a candy-coated collection of alt-pop gems. A little like ’90s college radio, a even more like the current youth rock that obviously leans on that sound but has updated it to the current times. This is a head-bopping, jangle good time rock record. So get ready to bounce along to “Davy Jones”!
Green / Blue "Green / Blue (Slovenly)"
From Slovenly Records:
lovenly Recordings is proud to present the debut hard copy from GREEN / BLUE: manually opening up a can of syrupy tones and pouring them down upon our daily bread. Each track cuts through a work uniform and plugs guitars directly into a human heart, encapsulated by a fully functioning warm body, which is either hugging a pillow and singing along to the 80% cocoa bittersweet dual vocals of Jim Blaha (The Blind Shake) and Annie Sparrows (The Soviettes), or revving the engine to the stoner, greaseball anthems of high motility.
The Green / Blue sound is primarily influenced by visual art, or more specifically, collages (“‘cause you can grab from anywhere and make a new story with it” – J.B.) and inverts itself for manifest on the album artwork, also performed by Mr. Blaha. His recent discovery and newfound love for lo-fi pop jangle (The Clean, The Chills and early GBV, as well as longtime JAMC lust) represents a bit of a sonic departure (not to be mistaken with maturity) for the label as well.
Each fat track was recorded on the thinnest of tape in the basement studio of Blaha’s Minneapolis home. What originated from batches of his home-brewed solo songs and electronic experiments, Green/Blue developed into a four-piece live force after adding Danny Henry (The Soviettes) on drums and Hideo Takahashi (Birthday Suits) on bass.
Check out “With That Face.”