Sharkswimmer "Course Correcting"
Written over several months and recorded with producer/engineer Brian Dimeglio (Bartees Strange, Pinkshift, Superbloom) and mastered by Jon Markson (Drug Church, Koyo, Soul Blind), Course Correcting is, at its core, a remarkably well-crafted, aggressive alt-rock EP that befit the band’s DIY roots. Disarmingly earnest lyricism that evokes the most heart-wrenching ballads of ‘90s emo serves as a perfect counterbalance to the record’s sonic aggression, anchoring it to the humanity that makes up the record’s spiritual center. Largely a vehicle for vocalist/guitarist and principle songwriter Justin Buschardt to exercise the emotional trauma of divorce, Course Correcting explores the universality of heartbreak against a backdrop of anthemic, guitar-driven tracks that would be as at home on the Jade Tree catalogue of the 90s as they are next to contemporary acts such as Drug Church or Militarie Gun.
Miss Grit "Under My Umbrella"
For their second full-length album, Under My Umbrella, Miss Grit has lifted the lid on their internal world, lasering in on the anxieties and heartbreak of the past two years, following their acclaimed debut Follow the Cyborg.
On this album, Margaret Sohn – aka Miss Grit (they/she) – channels the noirish atmosphere of classic trip-hop bands, while adding a hefty dose of maximalism and a dream-pop sensibility. The title is a nod to the iconic Rihanna song and embraces Sohn “…letting people in more on this record and trying not to shy away from that. I’m leaving the cyborg behind, I’m letting it all out.”
This record started to take shape when Sohn returned from an intense touring schedule where they’d driven themself around North America totally alone. When they returned home, Sohn found themself yearning to capture that specific, less restrained energy of playing live.
Under My Umbrella not only presents Sohn’s gift for complex production, but also the boldness of finding your voice, and ultimately is about coming to terms with yourself, your imperfections, and your complex interior world.
credits
Setting "Setting"
The North Carolina Piedmont-based trio of Setting bring together their substantial collective skills as musicians and their collaborative, explorative mindsets from groups such as Mind Over Mirrors, Califone, Black Twig Pickers, Pelt, Peeesseye, Sylvan Esso, and Jake Xerxes Fussell to bear in their inventive and rich improvisations.
Multi-instrumentalists Jaime Fennelly, Nathan Bowles and Joe Westerlund subvert expectations while creating a sense of ease and wonderment. Their intricate interplay of synthesizers, cassette loops, banjo, keyboards, electronics, zithers, and a litany of percussive instruments form a tactile amalgam of celestial transcendence and terrestrial rhythm, a loamy pulse fluidly guiding every minute fluctuation in feel. Dedicated improvisers with years working together, the band has developed their own idiosyncratic vernacular and sense of flow. Setting’s self-titled album is a definitive statement of their improvisational acumen meeting compositional rigor, a robust wellspring of hypnagogic grooves and mosaiced textures.
Setting harnesses the euphoria of communal creation. “This is one of the most joyous albums I’ve made with other musicians. It felt like we were all in the slipstream,” notes Fennelly. Bowles adds: “Making this is maybe the easiest thing in my life; it’s not struggle music. This collaboration feels like it’s just coming out of the air, like it’s breathing.”
OOIOO and Lightning Bolt "The Horizon Spirals / The Horizon Viral"
OOIOO and Lightning Bolt are both bands whose music is wholly unique and whose creators’ influence would be impossible to overstate. YoshimiO, OOIOO’s founder and bandleader, has been a guiding force in uncompromising art across the continuum of rock and improvised music for four decades, from her work in UFO or Die to BOREDOMS to SAICOBAB and beyond. OOIOO serves as a core outlet for melding freeform experimentalism with hypnotic rock pulses, defying boundaries with her acrobatic voice, electronics, trumpet and gamelan. Lightning Bolt’s Brian Chippendale and Brian Gibson have remained unparalleled in their ability to transmute frenetic whirls of percussion, gargantuan fuzz and dizzying melody into monolithic vistas. THE HORIZON SPIRALS / THE HORIZON VIRAL is a split that captures the parallels in ethos between these two ensembles, their sense of gleeful abandon and freight train momentum, in inspiring detail.
The pairing of OOIOO and Lightning Bolt is a natural extension of their decades-long bond. Following a lifetime of being inspired by and supporting one another, brought together by the overlaps in their singular visions, THE HORIZON SPIRALS / THE HORIZON VIRAL is a celebration of indomitable creativity. In their endless pursuit of crafting pure, uninhibited, enchanting art, OOIOO and Lightning Bolt continue to make astonishingly powerful, invigorating music.