10 and 10, April in Review
A run through of 10 albums and 10 songs that I've been enjoying this past month. Comprised mainly of new music, this list also includes some older releases that I've just listened to.
10 Albums
The Iliad and the Odyssey and the Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick - The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (Count Your Lucky Stars)
April 25th, 2024; indie rock
Philadelphia based The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick return on their second album The Iliad and the Odyssey and the Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, where they embrace community, catharsis, and an early 2000s indie rock sound. Recorded with six different band members - including two main singers who graciously pass the mic to each other - the album is filled with emotive compositions and intimate lyrics that tackle existentialism and healing within the scope of relationships and friendships. With lush arrangements and DIY undertones, Goalie’s Anxiety (for short) has created a very personal album that’s both down to earth and able to soar at the same time, as it seeks to make sense of the mundane and the bad and lean on each other in the process.
Standout Songs: “April 25”, “Wild Rose”, “System of One”
pink balloons - Ekko Astral (Topshelf)
April 17th, 2024; punk/alternative
Straight from the Washington, D.C. DIY scene, Ekko Astral releases their debut album pink balloons, a self described bubblegum punk “mascara mosh” record that sheds all rose colored glasses and stares down the bleak realistic nature of life in America right now. Making hooks out of ironic internet slang, addressing the real life consequences of pandemic induced hyper isolation, dissecting the notion of mortality and how it’s changed through generations, and so much more, the record is a stunning, angry, and ultimately brilliant display of queer and trans conviction in a society where constant internet exposure is both rotting our brains and offering community in and distraction from a world on fire.
Standout Songs: “baethoven”, “on brand”, “uwu type beat”, “i90”
elvis, he was Schlager - Church Chords (Otherly Love)
February 23rd, 2024; experimental/rock/jazz/electronic
The most recent album by Stephen Buono approaches near music collective status as it incorporates an extraordinary amount of features with various artist bringing their own skills and expertise to create an experimental and dazzling record. The product elvis, he was Schlager is an eclectic collection of songs that doesn’t just move through different genres but completely blends them all, their differences, and the backgrounds of the artists into a boundary pushing piece of art that touches on electronic, ambient, jazz, rock, and so much more - it’s an invigorating and essential listen of the year so far.
Standout Songs: “Apophatic Melismatic”, “Warriors of Playtime”, “Man On A Wire”
Odetta Sings Ballads & Blues - Odetta (Tradition)
November 1956; folk/blues
One of the most influential records of mid 20th century that has inspired various folk and blues singers (Bob Dylan even said this is what formally solidified his venture into the folk genre), Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues is perhaps as classic as classic comes. Songs like “Easy Rider” of course have been heard all over, but a careful listen (or five) reveals a singular voice that could cut through the air of any room she’s played in, stopping people completely in their tracks and reinforcing her impact that’s been felt for the better part of the last 70 years.
Standout Songs: “Easy Rider”, “Jack O Diamonds”, “Glory, Glory”
Brothers in the Groove - Five and Tens (Vidal Recordings)
March 30th, 2024; jazz/rock/instrumental
The small four piece band Five and Tens returns with the captivating Brothers in the Groove, a gorgeous instrumental album that’s able to keep even the most casual listener intrigued and involved. Taking inspiration from the jazz influenced rock of the mid to late 70s and keeping a bit of this vintage sound, the record is a comforting and nostalgic listen that brings a melodic familiarity into the current times.
Standout Songs: “Quiet Steps”, “Spirit Dance”, “Last Groove”
swimming into you - Lilith the Virgin (ungirl)
April 26th, 2024; diy/singer songwriter/acoustic
With only 14 monthly listeners on Spotify and cryptic but artsy social media posts, little can really be known about Lilith the Virgin right off the bat; however, their third record swimming into you arrives in full force and takes up as much space as it could possibly ever want. It’s a piercingly honest display of diaristic songwriting and intimate performances, all grounded in a moody, dark, and isolated atmosphere that’s remnant of the alternative movement of the 90s. It’s easy to imagine them recording or at least editing this alone in their room, completely closed off from the rest of the world, where the most important thing that is happening is what they’re feeling and their desire to express it - something far too relatable and important in this modern age of isolation.
Standout Songs: “swimming into you”, “jesus finds a gay bar”, “playboy”
if I don’t make it, I love u - Still House Plants (Bison)
April 12th, 2024; experimental/alternative/rock
On their first record in nearly four years, Still House Plants returns with one of this year’s most unique and technically intriguing indie rock albums. if I don’t make it, I love u is a surprising listen filled with textured sonics, fragmented compositions, and unconventional structures that all come together to express a desire for connection and intimate understanding. According to their bandcamp, the trio used different techniques to edit the sounds in “attempt to bring one instrument closer to another,” and in the process, they have created an album that is both comforting and challenging at the same time, never giving up an ounce of one for the other.
Standout Songs: “M M M”, “MORE BOY”, “Headlight”
Kabutomushi - Mei Semones (Bayonett)
April 5th, 2024; jazz/rock
On her latest EP, the New York based Mei Semones finds herself once again carving out a niche but welcoming subsection of the genres she loves so much. With crisp vocal performances, involved arrangements, and a classic sound reminiscent of the latter part of 20th century, Kabutomushi is an unforgettable project that seamlessly oscillates between jazz and rock, Japanese and English, silence and full arrangement, all while finding Mei reflect on heartbreak, existence, and the self in nuanced and unique ways.
Standout Songs: “Tegami”, “Wakare No Kotoba”, “Inaka”
corpos de água - sonhos tomam conta (Longinus)
March 29th, 2024; shoegaze/rock/ambient
In the aftermath of losing a dear friend and living in the increasing hostile climate towards queer people in Brazil, Lua Viana, the artist behind the project that is sonhos tomam conta, found herself adrift and gravitating towards the element of water for healing, understanding, and any sort of epiphany. And so the prolific artist’s record arrives as majestic and captivating as any ocean out there, where its shoegaze distortions feel less and less like music than they do actual waves crashing over you. The forty five minute record finds her pushing through the hardest emotions of grief towards the ultimate embrace of nature and all it has to teach us, specifically accepting all that we can never know. corpos de água follows her 2022 record phosphenes and iridescent lights, her 2021 collaborative album with Parannoul and Asian Glow Downfall of the Neon Youth, and her various EPs released over the last 4 years for another gorgeous installment in what seems to her own imaginative and empathetic shoegaze world she’s so intent on building.
Standout Songs: “oração do mar”, “de areia e sal”, “a sétima onda”
Malegría - Reyna Tropical (Psychic Hotline)
March 29th, 2024; Afro-Latin pop/experimental/
After playing guitar for artists like Sleater-Kinney, Raveena, and others over the last decade or so, Fabiola “Fabi” Reyna, who cofounded Reyna Tropical along with the late Nectali Díaz, has released the band’s debut record Malegría. Fabi lost her close friend and collaborator just a few years ago, and much of this record contains material the two worked on together. And so the end result finds Fabi putting the pieces back together into a splendid, heartfelt, and memorable album that weaves between genres, rhythms, and cultures with everything bound by her own love for the earth, her community, and music itself.
Standout Songs: “Cartagena”, “Lo Siento”, “Conexión Ancestral”
10 Songs
Uma - Majesty Crush, Butterflies Don’t Go Away (Numero Group)
Only One - Cassandra Jenkins, My Light, My Destroyer (Dead Oceans)
You Got What I Need - Destino, single (Wide Eyed Entertainment)
Dead Dog - Tiny Tomboy, single (Mean World Records)
NO FALTA - Tei Shi, Valerie (Tei Shi LLC)
Alice in Orchidverse - Jane Paknia and Hagop Tchaparian, single (Everybodys)
So What If I’m A Freak -Snow Strippers, single (Surf Gang)
Right, Wrong or Ready - Kara Jackson, single (September)
Love Me JeJe- Tems, single (RCA)
Good Luck, Babe! - Chappell Roan, single (Island)