The Roof Dogs "Here You Are"
You’ve been testing out all your angles, your arms and legs are tangled up there in your room, the Roof Dogs sing on Starpower, the penultimate track from “Here You Are.” Written during 2020 lockdowns, the Roof Dogs’ first LP leans into repetition, drawn out musical passages, and lyrical themes of isolation and fatalism. Musically the album is less concise than previous releases. The songs are longer and are arranged around extended instrumental passages, with lyrics sometimes taking a backseat to the band’s playing. Keyboard instruments rise to new levels of importance, with almost every track including serious contribution from the synthesizer, organ, or piano. Despite these developments in style, characteristic Dogisms such as Maher’s syncopated and groove-heavy bass lines remain. The record was recorded over 2021 between Strange Magic and Jamdek recording studios in Chicago, as well as the band’s practice space and apartments with help of frequent collaborator Tristan Huygen.
Cory Hanson "Western Cum"
Western Cum (say it three times fast! Nope, doesn’t help) departs radically from the acoustic existentiell of Cory’s first two solo releases, torching their haunted dreamscapes by upping its heat to molten levels, six strings at a time. A darkly comic evisceration of the end of the American road; great tunes to modern dance along with, too.
Cooper Wolken "Chapters"
Due June 9th via Earth Libraries, Cooper Wolken’s debut solo album Chapters translates the duality of darkness and sublime beauty with intimate personal vignettes. This collection of songs, written across 2018 and 2019, are tied closely to moments in his relationships and personal life, but all point to something universal. Realizing he’d accrued an album’s worth of new music, Wolken brought together guitarist Steven van Betten, bassist Marcus Högsta, drummer Nick Hon, and trumpeter/producer Louis Lopez to round out his compositions. The group set up camp at Theo Karon’s Hotel Earth, cramming an album’s worth of tracking into a weekend. The resulting Chapters honors that familial coziness, a record at once diaristic in its familiar warmth and profound in its resonant emotionality.
Big Blood "First Aid Kit"
While any fan of the band will tell you that no two albums sound very much alike, First Aid Kit displaying for the first time their affinity for the emotional effects of bands like The Cure, Bauhaus and The Clean, there’s a clear thread throughout all their records. First, there’s Kinsella’s voice, which pivots from upbeat fun to pure dread, presumably based on how she was feeling that day she recorded. Secondly, Mulkerin’s production preserves layers of could-have-beens by keeping the ghostly presence of past takes alive in the background of tracks like subliminal thoughts. Their songs achieve the double satisfaction of being immediate, catchy and memorable, while also revealing inner depths at repeated listens. Some of the best experimental music is cloaked as mundane.
First Aid Kit was recorded entirely at the family’s home onto 1” eight-track tape. It achieves the magic of capturing a moment and making a lasting impression. There aren’t many family bands, and there’s definitely no other band like this.