7/31 New Music Roundup
Three new albums (that all stubbornly released themselves on Tuesday instead of the new International New Music Friday), plus a whole bunch of singles from some of the best bands going today.
Albums
Okay, if I’m being honest, I expected to absolutely hate this album. I gave The Monitor a listen or two when it came out, but I thought it was horribly pretentious, unnecessarily long, and somewhat boring. I didn’t even hear about Local Business being released (or maybe I just ignored it), and now they’re out with a new album that is even more pretentious and way longer, but is also actually pretty awesome. Granted, I’ve only had time to listen to it once (the 1 hour, 32 minute runtime is pretty hard to fit into anyone’s schedule), but I was fairly blown away by it.
It’s definitely a weird album, and it’s pretty exhausting to listen to the whole thing at once (thank god for that merciful break in the middle), but there is some seriously incredible energy to this album that is undeniably great. I couldn’t tell you much about individual songs I liked, but that’s not the point of this album anyway. This album is meant to be listened to as a whole, and as a whole, it’s a fantastic, extremely ambitious album that somehow works despite its ridiculous scope. Gotta love that cover art, too.
Listen: Full album (Spotify), “Dimed Out”
This album randomly popped up on my radar somehow, and the single sounded alright. Due to it being released on the phenomenal Tiny Engines label, I gave it a shot. The songs are honest and heartfelt, but the sound just isn’t really for me. I’ll honestly probably never listen to this again, but you might love it! (Sorry for that half-assed review.)
Listen: Full album (non-Spotify), “Survival”
This is the new EP released by Steady Hands, who is fronted by Sean Huber, the drummer of Modern Baseball. Fans of that band will recognize his voice from his verse in “Your Graduation,” but here he’s the lead singer in the band. Tropical Depression navigates similar territory as Modern Baseball, although it skews a tad angrier and a bit folkier than most of MB’s work. A solid release, and interesting to see how Huber’s tastes might influence MB’s sound. Definitely a band to keep an eye on in case they ever decide to release a full-length.
Listen: Full album (Spotify, non-Spotify), “Tropical Depression”
Singles
Frank Turner’s new album is going to be great. That’s just a fair assumption at this point any time he releases something, but the first three singles released from PS4NP provide confirmation that he hasn’t lost his touch at all. Sticking with the poppier sound that showed up on Tape Deck Heart, Frank seems to have embraced the piano into his sound even more, and it totally works. This song is more somber and contemplative than either of the first two singles and features some clever wordplay. A great song to get you through the next week until the new album comes out!
Northcote is great. His songs are great, his voice is great, his lyrics are great, the thematic album covers are great. He expanded his sound on 2013’s Northcote, and it was an amazing progression. He continues to work with a bit of a fuller sound here, and based on how it sounds, the new album should be great.
I’m not really sure what this song is, but it appears to be just a one-off single not attached to any album. Sonically, it is much closer to their work on the Pioneer of Nothing EP released earlier this year than it is to 2014's Keep Doing What You’re Doing, indicating that they are probably going all in on their quieter, less aggressive sound. Cool song.
So, due to Medium’s poor formatting limitations with embedded material, I cannot insert text between the Direct Hit! video and the Flatliners link. Luckily, these two singles come from very similar origins for their respective bands. Direct Hit! is releasing an album of re-recorded versions of the highlights from the band’s earlier work. While the band has evolved for the better in the past few years, the fact that these songs have been re-recorded is very intriguing. Plus, their earliest work was highly entertaining, so this album should be a whole lot of fun.
The Flatliners are releasing a B-sides collection (along with a few new tracks), mostly of songs from singles and EPs already released. However, the strength of all their B-sides since Cavalcade is pretty remarkable, and this album will be nearly as strong as any of their official releases. While we’ve already heard most of these songs, the fact that they still have more great, previously unheard tracks (like the one above) that get cut from their albums proves how very talented this band is.
So, this is a bit of a surprise. Three members from the legendary Latterman have gotten back together to form a new band, though this is clearly not meant to be interpreted as a Latterman reunion. Still, the sound is obviously reminiscent of that band’s work, plus the influence of the members’ new bands, specifically RVIVR and Iron Chic. The song’s five minutes fly by, and whatever new release emerges from this project should be exhilarating and amazing.
Nobody listens to The Wonder Years because of their groundbreaking sound or radical transformation between releases. People listen to them because of their energy and emotion, both of which are just as present here as they are in the rest of the band’s work. Their new album will probably sound a whole lot like their last album. It is what it is.
Here, however, we see a fairly substantial growth in The Front Bottoms’ sound. The shift is not as evident on this track, other than the heavy synth influence, but the other two singles from their forthcoming Back On Top indicate that their new album will be substantially different from their last album and even last year’s Rose EP. Nonetheless, this track is really, really great and is my favorite of the new songs. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up being one of my favorite TFB songs overall either.
