SNST "Turn Out The Lights"
Look, no one needs to know what I was up to when I was 16 (it wasn’t pretty), but suffice it to say, I certainly wasn’t a member of influential indie band Braid (I was, however, a member of the highly un-influential Francis Nietzsche’s All-Star Groove Extravaganza). Chris Broach, however, was a member of Braid. He’s also spent 2 decades releasing music as The Firebird Band. In 2015, Chris started a Kickstarter campaign with his longtime collaborator Steve Znavor. Deciding that the whole thing needed a new name, they settled on SNST. Turn Out The Lights is the fruit of that labor. Combining electronic music, organic instrumentation, and a pop-punk frankness to the vocals, the whole affair sounds like a stadium sized update of the Death Cab/The Postal Service vibe. Check out the U2 guitars of “Running From the Girl.”
Jay Som "Everybody Works"
Oh, if you like the quieter My Bloody Valentine jams, or the Craneberries mixed with a little Liz Phair, you will dig Jay Som! I mean you gotta at least like two out of three of those new classic vintage reference points. Dreampop? Slow-core? Words i don’t get to type often enough (same with Zamboni, I NEVER get to type that!) – so thank you Jay Som for hitting those marks with ritalin like precision. Check out the bubbling “Billion Dogs.”
Las Rosas "Everybody Gets Exactly What They Want"
I sure do like the garage these Las Rosas guys are playing music in! Dirty, dusty, filled with Rolling Stones albums (mono version of course), and old VHS tapes of the Yardbirds on “Shindig”. Ok, they’ve probably got a few cds lying around by newer bands like The Black Lips and even Twin Peaks, but I think if these guys could get a time capsule, I know where they’d wanna go (honestly, how does Doctor Who do anything other than go to concerts?). So dig into “Boys” and get your freak on!
Ibibio Sound Machine "Uyai"
You’re likely going to be at least a little surprised when I tell you that your favorite new dance album is coming to you from our friends at Merge Records. Ibibio Sound Machine’s Merge debut Uyai is a delicious mixture of amazing genres and influences. Led by London-born Nigerian vocalist Eno Williams, this is an impossible-to-sit-still-through combo of disco, new wave, post-punk, and most notably Afrobeat and West African Funk. The result is like a masterful mashup of William Onyeabor, Missing Persons, late-era Talking Heads, Fela Kuti, and Deerhoof. Yeah. They are going on all of your playlists. You will finish the album, and start it over again immediately. Begin your love affair with “Give Me A Reason.”