July seemed like a weaker month for new music than we’ve had in a while, but it’s possible that after my vacation and around some trips I missed some good new releases, too. If you can’t see the widget below, you can access the Spotify playlist here.
TVAM — These Are Not Your Memories. Joe Oxley, the producer/musician who records as TVAM, is new to me, although he’s released a few singles going back to 2015. This track, from his forthcoming debut album Psychic Data, is shoegazey and atmospheric, but with a clear, defined hook, and some bravado to it that’s generally absent in shoegaze music and its spiritual descendants.
Spirit Animal — The Truth. Another artist with whom I was unfamiliar before this song, Spirit Animal, a four-piece act from Brooklyn, produce guitar-driven rock that calls back to classic rock but with hints of funk and metal mixed in. This track has a wonderfully dark riff behind the verses, then shifts to a soaring and funk-tinged mode for the chorus.
Slash — Driving Rain (feat. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators). Slash has been churning out memorable, heavy guitar riffs for thirty years now, but because his style of music hasn’t been cool since the late ’80s, he’s never really gotten the respect of other similarly talented guitarists. He has a clearly defined sound, evident here even through the fairly generic vocals – if you like Slash’s work, you’d probably pick this out (no pun intended) as his doing right away. It’s not “Slither” or Appetite-level work, but it’s more than just a nostalgia trip.
Greta Van Fleet — When The Curtain Falls. GVF get lots of praise for their Led Zeppelin-derived sound, but I’ve found them more akin to Kingdom Come, imitators rather than spiritual descendants, especially with the lead singer’s falsetto sounding too much like Lenny Wolf. (I’ll admit to a strange fondness for Kingdom Come’s one hit single, “Get It On,” though.) This is the best track I’ve heard from GVF so far, powered by a memorable guitar riff.
The Twilight Sad — I/m Not Here [Missing Face]. I could have sworn I included a Twilight Sad song on a playlist a few years ago but can’t find it. This Scottish (as if you couldn’t tell) duo seem to have drunk deeply from the spirit of Joy Division, early Smiths, Editors, and others in the tradition of depressing new wave-inflected music … but with more energy than they’ve shown in previous singles.
Death Cab for Cutie — I Dreamt We Spoke Again. DCFC’s ninth album, Thank You for Today, drops on August 17th; it’s their first album without guitarist Chris Walla since 1997. This is the second single and lead track, not as immediate as “Gold Rush” but very much in line with their peak output from the first decade of the 2000s.
Maisie Peters — Best I’ll Ever Sing. The now 18-year-old singer/songwriter behind last year’s “The Place We Were Made” is back with another track, this one driven by piano rather than guitar, once again showcases her sense of melody and adorable voice.
Interpol — Number 10. That’s now two promising singles ahead of Interpol’s forthcoming album Marauder, due out August 24th.
The Golden Age of TV — Television. TGATV, a five-piece indie-rock act from Leeds, has released three singles so far, this the strongest (and most rock-tinged) to date. There’s an anthemic vibe that feels like it was written to open a concert, with the lights coming on just as Bea Fletcher’s vocals kick in.
Cut Chemist — Work My Mind. Cut Chemist, formerly one of the DJs in the rap collective Jurassic 5, reunites with Chali 2Na here for the best track of CC’s latest album.
The Internet — Roll (Burbank Funk). The Internet, who may win any competition for the least google-able band name on the planet, earned a Grammy nod for their 2015 album Ego Death in the ‘urban contemporary’ category; I’m not sure what that term encompasses or excludes, but this song sounds like a modern twist on P-Funk to me and I’m good with that.
Jungle — Heavy, California. This English soul music collective, who had a hit in 2014 with “Busy Earnin'” and made my May playlist with “Happy Man,” will drop their second album, For Ever, on September 14th. They’ve released two other tracks from the album, “Cherry” and “House in L.A.,” but both are more downtempo and not my speed.
St. Lucia – Walking Away. It seems like St. Lucia’s sound is evolving further, this time in a more positive direction than their disappointing last album (aside from its lead single, “Dancing on Glass”), between this and “A Brighter Love.” The B side to that latter song, “Paradise is Waiting,” isn’t bad either, although the faux-gospel chorus is a little hackneyed for me.
Alkaline Trio — Blackbird. The Chicago punk trio veered off into more alternative territory with some of their early 2000s releases – “Help Me” is probably my favorite song of theirs, off 2008’s Agony & Irony – but they returned to their roots with their 2013 album My Shame Is True. “Blackbird” is more of the same, the lead single from their upcoming album Is This Thing Cursed?, due out on August 31st.
Mudhoney — Paranoid Core. Never change, Mark Arm. Never change.
Horrendous — Soothsayer. This Philly-based quartet is producing by far the most interesting and sophisticated music of any American death metal band going – it’s technically proficient, musically progressive, and apparently the lyrics are pretty smart too, not that I can understand a word they’re screaming. Their 2015 album Anareta was Decibel‘s top LP of that year, and Ecdysis was the same magazine’s #3 album of 2014. Idol is due out on September 28th.
Omnium Gatherum — Gods Go First. Omnium Gatherum are Finnish but hew closely to the Gothenburg school of melodic death metal, with progressive and thrash elements along with strong musicianship. Their eighth album, The Burning Cold, comes out August 31st.