Angel Olsen // Burn Your Fire For No Witness
To my ears this release is a lil’ more upbeat than previous AO releases, some of the songs almost have a punky feel, but if you have intense personal demons or a dark heart, Angel will speak sweet nothings to your inner void.
Juan Wauters // N.A.P. North American Poetry
This is put out by Captured Tracks, which means it’s laid-back guitar jams. Way less reverb on this then like Mac Demarco/Beach Fossils/Wild Nothing, so I think it finds a niche of being catchy acoustic music without being overly derivative of other CT bands.
Bleeding Rainbow // Interrupt
Upbeat shoegaze jams from Philly’s Bleeding Rainbow!! This album is so much fun and an improvement from their last one in my opinion.
Speedy Ortiz // Real Hair
Another release from 90’s acolytes Speedy Ortiz. If you like them, you know what to expect: 1995 vibes that sound exactly like Helium. In fact, if you like Speedy Ortiz, go listen to Helium, and you’ll be getting the authentic 90’s experience.
Warpaint // S/T
Female-fronted space-rock goodness from a band who’s brand of psych I’ve admired for a while. Very ethereal, and by ethereal I mean any other word that means ethereal because that word gets used a ton, damn
Dog Bite // Tranquilizers
Silky PBR&B from Toro y Moi’s labelmate Dog Bite. Very smooth.
Habibi // Habibi
I feel like my parents would dig this record, but in a good way…? This is an all-female Burger Records (well-known Cali garage rock label) band that updates the sounds of 60’s girl-pop with modern punk and post-punk tropes, yet manages to avoid sounding like Best Coast. Omg remember Best Coast?
Orthy // Emily EP
A slightly older release, but re-released by the industry in anticipation of new music..? Anyway, this album feels like someone dumping a big box of Polaroids on your head. Very chill.
XIU XIU // Angel Guts: Red Classroom
If you’ve ever listened to a Xiu Xiu record you know what kind of dark vibes to expect. This is a band that has an album called Dear God, I Hate Myself. Does that put you in the right mindset? Anyway, this is dark post-punk synthy music with lyrics that are really dark, even for this milieu. Not entirely my thing, but hopefully this finds the right people.
Together Pangea // Badillac
More Burger Records royalty. Super fun and upbeat, if you dig Wavves and Fidlar and all that surfy garage stuff, this is along the same lines.
Marissa Nadler // July
Marissa’s first album for Sacred Bones, this sounds at place on that usually-dark label, as this is an album of solid dusky folk music. Also the cover has good typography, because it’s a Sacred Bones release, duh.
