The Best

When A Light For Attracting Attention came out, I very absurdly listened to it without knowing any of the background context for it. It was on my list of albums that had come out, so I put it on and thought “huh, this band sounds a lot like Radiohead, what’s with that?” and then put it aside for several months. Then, after a chance article on them came across my feed, I realized that it was, of course, Thom Yorke, Johnny Greenwood, and jazz drummer extraordinaire Tom Skinner. It was a treat, one of those fun little supergroup projects that come up now and then and can be quite an interesting combination to listen to. Normally there isn’t a follow-up, they’re just one-off albums for fans – Them Crooked Vultures, Velvet Revolver, El Vy, etc. Sometimes they can go on a lot longer – in the case of Asia, entirely too long.

Wall Of Eyes is an indication that this trio is in it for the long haul. It also seems like a pretty bright flare that signals Radiohead as likely dead. It’s been eight years since A Moon Shaped Pool and at this point The Smile are putting out the most interesting Radiohead music since In Rainbows. It’s eerie, beautiful post-punk played with an eye toward jazz changes and moments of pure chaos – life mapped out and narrated anxiously by Thom Yorke. Simply put, as a supergroup, there is literally no reason they need to go this hard, but they do. They conjure up a cosmic journey through a universe where things are sinister at the fringes, a warped and paranoid complexity that seems to be operating multi-dimensionally – but it’s still a good trip.

The post-chillwave era has been replete with bands trying madly to show that their chosen medium of synth pop was still a viable, artistically legitimate form of expression while still being full of fun, neon-soaked whimsy that would have been right at home in the Eighties. You could throw CHVRCHES, Passion Pit, and Cold Cave into this group, with a wildly uneven pattern of success. Future Islands are another such band. Their ship came in ten years ago with the single “Seasons (Waiting For You)”; the song was well-received but it was the band’s performance on Letterman, in particular frontman Samuel Herring’s endearing crab-dancing, that drove it into widespread mainstream attention. Since then they’ve released a series of albums that have been solid but have stayed under the normie radar. There’s nothing on People Who Aren’t There Anymore that’s going to change that, unless one of their songs takes off as TikTok music a la MGMT – and this is always a possibility, don’t kid yourself. The overlook is a bit of a crime, though. This album is a good one for certain situations and settings – big rooms, sweeping emotions, some tears. The drums are gated like the Eighties but with taste, and the synth work is varied enough that every song has its own personality. These are heartfelt pop songs and Sam Herring is still one of the better synth pop frontmen of the modern era.

Veteran noise-psych auteur Ty Segall’s discography is an exercise in going everywhere, without fear or concern for consistency. Three Bells encapsulates that full-width attitude entirely in the course of one album. It’s influenced simultaneously by prog, jazz, and funk, with a lot of psychedelic guitars, keys, and studio trickery. It is, naturally, a veering off from his last record, the mellower and more acoustic-oriented “Hello, Hi” (save for the final track, the amiable “What Can We Do”), which in itself was a transformation from more recent work like Harmonizer, First Taste, and 2018’s highwater mark Freedom’s Goblin. If you like the heavy California psych scene in general or if you’re a long-time fan of Segall’s work, you’ll find something to enjoy here.

An imaginative and complex work of folk music, equal parts gentle and moving, a collection of instruments both analog and digital that phase in and out of harmony depending on mood and whim. Despite its ramshackle visage, it’s clear that considerable time and effort went in to placing each piece just so in the arrangements. Given that it was written in the early Pandemic era when many people had nothing but time, this tends to make a great deal of sense.

When my sister-in-law got married she lived in Brooklyn, so we all went down for the ceremony/reception. Between the two, we discovered that there was a little record-and-coffee shop around the corner called Black Gold. I don’t know if it’s still there, this was a few years ago. I found a copy of Seamonsters, the third record from The Wedding Present, and proceeded to have a conversation with the shop owner where I ended up having to explain what the hell C86 was. I’m not going to replicate that now, except to say that Slumberland is the new home of C86, a genre whose time has come again. The Umbrellas have a solid grasp on the sound, and while I will say that the woman singing is much more on point than the man, the latter still has a certain charm – just not the ethereal dream-pop trappings that underline so much of the best jangling/shambling/shaggy/however you want to call it sounds of the late 80s in British indie.

The Rest

Benny The Butcher – Everybody Can’t Go ★★★☆ (Def Jam) Once not long ago Benny the Butcher and friends were the new grimey Wu Tang. Now Benny’s on the big time label with the big time guests but it’s still the same stuff he’s always been saying, which as I recall ended up being the problem with Griselda. STILL – it’s pretty good major label hip hop, Alc is on the boards for some of it, and the guests are a lot of fun.

Lyrical Lemonade – All Is Yellow ★★☆ (Def Jam) The features that got added to this project seem to have hoovered up all the budget. The production is another sort of yellow liquid.

Courting – New Last Name ★★★ (PIAS) Buzzy indie punk that might have been at home in the Killers/Editors/Franz era of the 00s but seems a bit same-old now.

Cheekface – It’s Sorted ★★★ (None) People are always trying to show me comedic music and I always smile politely and scream internally because people’s taste in funny is extremely subjective. Cheekface is okay though. It’s comedy indie rock. YMMV.

NewDad – MADRA ★★★ (Fair Youth/Atlantic) Broad-appeal shoegaze that fills in some modern gaps for the listeners that are picking up the genre and running with it lately.

Alkaline Trio – Blood, Hair and Eyeballs ★★★ (Rise) Not a bad Alkaline Trio record – in fact, a pretty good one. If you’ve never gotten into the band before, start with their earlier work, but if you’re a fan you’ll enjoy this one.

Katy Kirby – Blue Raspberry ★★★☆ (ANTI-) If you like pianos and singer-songwriting, you’re in for a treat.

TORRES – What an enormous room ★★★ (Merge) A drop-off from the intensity of her last album, Mackenzie Ruth Scott is clearly searching for a way forward by experimenting with her sound – but here experimenting means slower tempos, melodies in search of hooks, and more abstraction.

Gruff Rhys – Sadness Sets Me Free ★★★☆ (Rough Trade) The veteran British art rocker produces another solid, mildly interesting collection of songs.

Vitriol – Suffer and Become ★★★☆ (Century Media) Brutal tech death that comes in like a barrage of missiles and does not let up.

Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes – Dark Rainbow ★★ (AWAL) Like if the Manic Street Preachers sucked.

Caligula’s Horse – Charcoal Grace ★★☆ (InsideOut Music) Prog metal and djent – the two genres of metal where I’ll think ‘god this album must be almost over’ and I’m only on the third track.

Lucifer – Lucifer V ★★★ (Nuclear Blast) Old-school tinged death rock, less of an edge than in previous Lucifer outings but still a pretty good time.

Dead Poet Society – FISSION ★★★ (Spinefarm) Typical loud alt rock shenanigans, decent enough work in places but nothing surprising.

Fabiano do Nascimento and Sam Gendel – The Room ★★★☆ (Real World) Breezy little jazz record, nothing out of the ordinary but a great soundtrack for doing pretty much anything.

Willi Carlisle – Critterland ★★★☆ (Signature Sounds) The mid point between Dylan-esque folk and neoclassical country, a pretty good reason to hope for the future of country.

junodream – Pools of Colour ★★☆ (AWAL) Late-90s/Early-00s Brit rock that would have been seen as second tier even then.

Angry Blackmen – The Legend Of ABM ★★★☆ (Deathbomb Arc) Aggressive as hell and possessed of a production philosophy that is equal parts Death Grips and Injury Reserve, The Legend Of ABM is a good one to put on when you want to break things, but smartly.