Purling Hiss "High Bias"
Philly psych rockers Purling Hiss are back! High Bias (Drag City) is everything you love about the trio. 6 albums into their career, and they are only getting better with each release. Fuzzed out garage rock a la Cali’s Ty Segall scene, plus a bit of the new/old brit-psych a la The Apples In Stereo (note to self: you aren’t allowed to say “a la” for at least 30 blurbs) and the gauzy reverb rock of Black Mountains. Check out the albums first track, the viral symptoms of “Fever.”
C Duncan "The Midnight Sun"
You want BRM to perk up when reading the press for a record? Then take a note from C Duncan and talk about how your new album was born from your fascination with The Twilight Zone. Make sure to mention that you wanted the album to have an atmosphere that ties all the songs together, just like the famous anthology series.Also, naming your album after an episode of The Twilight Zone helps. (Extra credit to the first of our bands that fills their press with Odd Couple references and pictures of Albert Brooks). The Midnight Sun (Fat Cat) is exactly what Chris set out to do. Each of the songs feel like they come from the same beautiful, jittery, claustrophobic, synth-y world. Imagine the Carpenter-esque score of Stranger Things written by an ‘80s Doobie Brothers and you sort of get the idea behind the stunning vibes of Duncan’s dream-pop. Check out the Portisehead-y trip hop of “Other Side.”
Dillinger Escape Plan "Dissociation"
Dillinger Escape Plan threw everything they had left into Dissociation, their farewell album. Thankfully, everything they threw stuck too. The mathy syncopations, the operatic shifts in dynamics, the screaming, the searing licks, the Apex Twin-esque sidebars. Seriously, almost every song on this tremendous album has more shifts in style than most artists’ entire catalogs. Guitars stretch as far as they can, while all the while vocalist Greg Puciato channels the simultaneous auras of Mike Patton and Ozzy Osbourne. Check out the as close to a ballad as you’ll get from this record with “Symptom Of Terminal Illness.”
Moby & the Void Pacific Choir "These Systems Are Failing"
Moby is mad as hell, and he’s not gonna take it anymore. These Systems Are Failing (Mute), the debut album from Moby & The Void Pacific Choir, is an overtly political album. The sound of it is a bit of a throwback to his early days with Ultra Vivid Scene and Vatican Commandos, or his late ‘90s alt-record Animal Rights. It would appear that when the going gets tough, Moby turns to hardcore to soothe his savage beast (right there with ya buddy). This time around though, he has added in elements of the electronica he is most famous for. Actual guitars, keyboards; pulsing and distorted, this is the danceable (or at least thrashable) sound of Moby’s disillusionment. Can you blame him? Misery loves company, so check out the Joy Division meets Atari Teenage Riot sounds of “The Light Is Clear In My Eyes.”