School Damage "A To X (Chapter Music)"
A To X (Chapter Music) is the sophomore album from Melbourne’s School Damage. Spindly early new wave pop mixed with modern punk-lite. Imagine a world where Shopping teamed up with White Fences and Cate Le Bon and you are starting to get the idea behind this energetic sound. Guaranteed to get you chair dancing (because you are likely sitting when you read this) and face smiling (because, like me, you probably haven’t figured out how to make any other part of your body smile). Get ready to bounce along to “Assimilate.”
Alexander Tucker "Don’t Look Away (Thrill Jockey)"
Being psychedelic without falling back onto the accepted tropes of the form is something of a trick. Well, just call Alexander Tucker the David Copperfield of the genre (the magician, not the Dickensian character-that would be a whack metaphor… maybe I should have just gone with The Amazing Johnathan?) Anyway… Don’t Look Away (Thrill Jockey) is just that. All psychedelic swirls, warped, otherworldly music, but doesn’t sound just like all the stuff you think of when I use those words. Check out the Folk Implosion covering Pink Floyd sounds of “Visiting Again.”
Glenn Jones "The Giant Who Ate Himself and Other New Works For 6 & 12 String Guitar (Thrill Jockey)"
Few things warm the chilly depths of my soul like news of a new Glenn Jones record. His prowess on the fretboard, coupled with his ability to craft timeless solo acoustic pieces, is as familiar as a favorite shirt. Able to craft sing-a-longable melodies (not to mention emotional tales) with one acoustic guitar and a pair of hands like some sort of sonic wizard. Seriously. He’s the best. Check out the wistful beauty of “The Sunken Amusement Park.”
Glorietta "Glorietta (Nine Mile Records)"
Glorietta is a self-titled “friend record” debut from, well, Glorietta. Matthew Logan Vasquez of Delta Spirit and Middle Brother got a little drunk with Adrian Quesada one night at a David Ramirez show. Afterwords, the three tipsily agreed to make a “stream of consciousness record.” But unlike you and your friends who decide to go into business making a new dating app for cats 8 beers into the night, they actually did it. They collected a few more pals, and thus the band was born. Guitar driven, ramshackle rock and roll that would make sense coming out of just about any jukebox in the country. A little Springsteen-y, a little War On Drugs if they listened to more Traveling Wilburies and less Don Henley. Check out “Golden Lonesome.”