Radian "Distorted Rooms"
Vienna has a storied history as a ground-zero for new music. Radian, who calls Vienna home, embodies the city’s spirit of innovation. Martin Brandlmayr (drums, electronics), Martin Siewert (guitar, electronics) and John Norman (bass) are stalwarts of the European contemporary music community. Radian’s angular, expansive music delights in tension and contradiction, sound and silence, improvisation and composition. The trio employ a singular and wholly unique sense of microtonality. While their creation process is complex, the resulting music is emotionally affecting, creating an aura of suspense and at times unease. Distorted Rooms presents a dazzling new elevation of the trio’s employment and manipulation of microtones with a new emphasis on abstracted guitar motifs, often employing a more loop-based or electronic approach to the guitar’s sonics.
Sally Anne Morgan "Carrying"
Carrying finds unity in life’s burdens and joys, shared experience of our day-to-day lives. “So much of what we accumulate and carry around with us burdens us, but we also can’t or don’t know how to let go,” says Morgan. The album weaves a thread of common experience wrapping the listener in the intimacy of emotional response while simultaneously demonstrating the universal nature of many of these moments. Says Morgan, “I use my own music, the creation, formation and shaping of songs and compositions, as a way to explore and articulate the deepest, often most hidden and spiritual, parts – of myself, but also since we are all connected at the deepest level, it reaches a common connected force of some kind.” A deeply affecting process for Morgan was contemplating the awesome power of the human body and spirit; the complicated and unpredictable wash of emotions that come with nurturing and nourishing another life, while also starting a new venture with her and her partner’s microbrewery. The album’s songs are snapshots of Morgan’s own self-reflection as these changes came to define the upcoming chapter of her life.
Danko Jones "Electric Sounds"
From Napalm Records:
In the last ten years, DANKO JONES have visibly shifted up a few gears. Since frontman Danko and bassist JC joined forces with drummer Rich Knox, the band’s creative fire has blazed brighter than ever. A string of albums has led to even more intense touring and tireless dedication to the cause of rock. “Electric Sounds” is the best proof that even a global pandemic couldn’t stop DANKO JONES.
The McCharmlys "The McCharmlys"
From Hi-Tide & NuTone Recordings:
Debut LP from The McCharmlys, five-piece combo from Santa Ana, Calif., currently taking the scene by storm with their stylish blend of doo-wop, surf, beat & 60s style rock ‘n’ roll. LA Weekly called the band “an absolute joy” as they “recall sounds from past while adding a contemporary edge that is attractive to punk, new wave and rockabilly fans.”
Taking their name from a obscure Beatles interview, the band was assembled by band leader & primary songwriter Angie Monroy in 2018, carefully selecting key players from the Santa Ana scene. Monroy writes music every day, with influences ranging from The Ramones, Roy Orbison & The Beach Boys. The band’s lush sound is rounded out by layered harmonies & instrumentation that has captivated audiences on stage alongside Jason Joshua, The Delta Bombers, Josie Cotton, Slim Jim Phantom, Los Yesterdays & more.