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.
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.”
Typhoon "Offerings (Roll Call)"
Offerings, the fourth LP from Portland indie rockers Typhoon, is a majestic, mysterious journey. A story about the loss of memories told in 4 parts and inspired by the art singer/songwriter Kyle Morton was consuming at the time. Films by David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Fellini; the writings of Samuel Beckett; as well as the paintings of Bosch and Rorschach paintings. The result is an acoustically led rock and roll album with a sound somewhere between The Decemberists, early Arcade Fire, Califone, and other literary rockers, but with a haunting quality that is all Typhoon’s. More haunting than an actual Typhoon? I imagine an actual typhoon is far more scarier than it is haunting, so the award goes to the band, not the weather phenomena. Check out the unforgettable “Remember.”