The Peacers "Introducing The Crimsmen (Drag City)"
There you are, you just built yourself a shortwave radio that you are sure will pick up frequencies from space. You tune it all over the dial (do short wave radios have dials? Admittedly, I didn’t do a whole lot of research for this…) and come upon some alien sounds. But suprisingly, the aliens speak English. Also, this sort of sounds like rock and roll music, but like none you’ve ever heard before. That’s because it’s The Peacers! Spilling out from a split in the fabric of the universe is their strange, frazzled garage rock from space. Introducing The Crimsmen (Drag City) is like if you pushed the Kinks down the stairs mid-practice, and they never stopped playing. Half way down the steps, they tumble into Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd who was working on some Monkees covers, and the whole thing winds up this alien-sounding supergroup before they hit the landing. Cool origin story right? Check out the stonned shuffle of “Jurgen’s Layout.”
Moby & the Void Pacific Choir "More Fast Songs About The Apocalypse (Mute)"
When last we heard from Moby & the Void Pacific Choir (on last years These Systems Are Failing) he was (to quote our blurb from last year) “mad as hell.” But things have gone so great since then, right? Moby is probably totally chill in 2017, just like the rest of us, no? Well, seeing as how this surprise album was announced via a press release written by “John Miller,” the fake name Trump used to use act as his own spokesperson in the past (seriously people, how many warnings do you… deep breath…), I’d think the answer is pretty obvious. More Fast Songs About The Apocalypse (Mute) is more of Moby’s reactionary, anthemic techno-punk. Full of guitars, frazzled beats, and anger. Check out the haunting strains of the new wave-ish “All The Hurts We Made.”
Dion Lunadon "Dion Lunadon"
For all of the amazing musical things Dion Lunadon has been involved in, a proper solo release has never been one of them. You may know Dion from his days in the New Zealand powerhouse D4, or perhaps from his recent stint as the bass player from A Place To Bury Strangers. But his self-titled solo debut is another beast altogether. A blast of noisy, swagger-y punk blues that is a little like Jon Spencer meets Mclusky meets Unwound with a healthy dose of New Zealand garage pop melodies thrown in to boot. The result is an energetic party in which you wear the blackest of clothes you have in your closet to, because it’s a super cool party too. Make sure you get yourself invited by checking out the distorted bounce of “Howl.”
Joel Michael Howard "5th Grade Part B (Ernest Jenning)"
With 5th Grade Part B (Ernest Jenning), the second solo LP from Joel Michael Howard, he has taken his lush pop sounds and added some frazzled edges to it. His ear for beautiful melodies and arrangements is augmented here with some jittery, stressed percussion a la Radiohead and stressed out synth sounds. The effect leaves the whole record just as simultaneously comfortable and paranoid as real life leaves us. Check out the angular, War On Drugs meets XTC dance-punk groove of “Lies.”