Wye Oak "Cut All The Wires (Merge)"
From Merge Records:
Ten years after its release, Wye Oak’s Civilian remains a raw, sinewy punch of a record—bleak and intense and lonely and self-assured all at once. It marked both the ascension and death of Wye Oak, or at least a version of it. Now, a decade later, Civilian + Cut All the Wires: 2009–2011 delves back into that pivotal record and adds a lost album of 12 unreleased tracks and demos to Civilian’s universe.
Sonic paradoxes abound: The mellow “Sinking Ship” is preceded by the wall-of-sound grunginess that roars through “Half a Double Man.” A pared-down acoustic Daytrotter live session of “Two Small Deaths” dovetails into the jangling “Holy Holy” demo. The closing lyrics over the frenetic, screeching feedback of “Electricity” lend the anniversary release its title: “There’s nothing about you that I don’t adore / Show me these rooms and I’ll show you the way to the door / Walk me through / I’ll cut all the wires and spend my life with you.”
On the occasion of its 10th anniversary earlier this year, Stereogum described Civilian as “an album of hellos and goodbyes at the same time, introducing us to everything Wye Oak could be, before setting the stage for the other Wye Oaks we’d soon get to know, and the all the others we’ve still yet to meet.”
Justus Proffit "SpeedStar (Bar/None Records)"
Damon & Naomi "A Sky Record (202020)"
From 202020 Records:
Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang began playing music together as the rhythm section, co-songwriters, and sometime singers in Galaxie 500. Since the demise of Galaxie 500, Damon and Naomi have worked as a duo, exploring folk music, psychedelia, and collaborations with other like-minded musicians. After releasing a series of recordings with Shimmy Disc, Sub Pop, and Drag City, they established their own label 20/20/20, releasing the Damon & Naomi albums The Earth Is Blue, Within These Walls, False Beats and True Hearts, and Fortune. All their LPs and CDs are available from 20-20-20, or via high-quality download from the Damon & Naomi bandcamp page.
In addition to their work as musicians, Damon & Naomi are the publishers of Exact Change, a small press dedicated to avant-garde literature and artists’ writings. Damon is also a writer (books, blog, podcast, articles for Pitchfork, Art in America, Artforum and others), and Naomi is a visual artist (photography, video, and graphic design).
Deafhaven "Infinite Granite (Sargent House)"
From Sargent House Records:
“Everything works perfectly here. Like, perfectly. These are clearly the tightest and most deliberately constructed songs ever written by Deafheaven; the progressions and patterns rise, fall, and rise anew as steadily and naturally as the ocean tides. It’s a glowing, sad, beautiful album. But it’s so fucking powerful, too. It’s physically powerful. These dudes are a goddamn machine. They are a force.”