No Age "Snares Like A Haircut (Drag City)"
Minimalist noise/art punk duo No Age are back for a world barely deserving of their fine gifts. Snares Like A Haircut (Drag City) are gonna take you back to a time in the ‘90s when I hosted a college radio show and played… oh wait. Sorry, you didn’t have the same life as me. So it’s gonna remind you of whatever you were doing back in the day… Being born? Perhaps hosting a radio show of your own? Too bad we don’t have the technology to make these blurbs a 2 way street–no jetpacks, no two-way blurbs, this truly is a bleak future. Thankfully the Deerhunter-meets-Times New Viking-meets Pavement at their slackiest sounds of No Age are here to numb the pain. Tie yourself off and shoot some “Drippy” directly into your veins.
Ty Segall "Freedom’s Goblin (Drag City)"
There are very few comforts left in today’s modern world. Soup is still pretty good. Chocolate and peanut butter will never turn their collective food-based backs to us. Reruns of The Odd Couple still warms the soul. That’s about it, right? Wrong! New Ty Segall music always fits the comfort bill! If there’s one thing Ty knows it’s writing some killer psych garage-tinged, glam-flavored rock ’n’ roll tunes, then recording said tunes in a manner that is pleasing to the ears and the rockin’ soul of a rock ’n’ roll lover. Ok, so maybe he knows more than one thing (seeing as how I just listed numerous things). Gimme a break! I’m trying to be blurb eloquent while rockin’ my socks of listening to Freedom’s Goblin (Drag City), the newest album from Ty Segall. Filled with raucous tunes that fall somewhere between T-Rex and Abby Road-era Beatles, all through Ty’s patented Tune-Askewer (individual results may vary, ask your doctor if Tune-Askewer is right for you.) Check out the fuzzed out Prince-esque delight that is “Every 1’s A Winner.”
Mt. Wilson Repeater "V’Ger (Merge)"
Seeing as how Jim Putnam’s band Radar Brothers have been on hiatus since 2013, it makes sense that he would resurrect his experimental side project Mt. Wilson Repeater. Here, now, is where it gets tricky. The album, out now on Merge Records, is called V’Ger. I am a HUGE Star Trek fan. V’Ger is a Star Trek Reference. Therefore, it’s hard for me to do anything here other than make Trek references. But this is work! So for more on what I think about the infinitely strange Star Trek: The Motion Picture, let’s hang out sometime. For more on Jim’s new album, stay right here in this blurb. V’Ger (the LP) is full of lush, baritone guitar shoegaze-y psychedelia and dreamscapes. Think Kris Kristofferson meets Yo La Tengo meets Air meets lots of other great things, all at once, and funneled through Jim’s unique world view. Check out the sinister swirls of “Get By.”
Daniel Avery "Slow Fade EP (Mute)"
Recently Daniel Avery made electronic music fans very, very happy. First, he announced that he will be back this April with the follow-up LP to his beloved debut from 5 years ago Song for Alpha. But it’s almost like he knew that we’d been waiting so long that April would sound like a million miles away. Maybe that’s why he surprised us all with a tease of an EP. Slow Fade (Mute) is a hint of what’s to come on that upcoming full-length (OH APRIL–SO MANY MONTHS AWAY!) As Daniel says in the press for this EP “I’ve become increasingly interested in those moments in a club when the outside world becomes little more than an inconsequential thought at the back of your head. Eyes closed as opposed to hands in the air. A light emerging from the darkness – this is the idea I repeatedly returned to in the studio.” Well he succeeded in doing just what he wanted, as these calming, trance-esque tracks are just what the doctor ordered for these troubled times. Beautiful, haunting, modern, comfortable and new at the same time, that’s about all you can ask for. Check out the sophisticated “Slow Fade,” or if you want to know how I feel when I’ve been in a club too long check out the nightmarish “Fever Dream.”