So I’ve been falling behind on my daily slew of email press releases. Every weekday there are at least a dozen new bands, tracks and album that get announced and shared, but I tend to limit myself to a maximum of one thing per day, and even then I don’t always have the time or energy to put something up every day. I do, after all, wish to hold on to whatever shred of sanity I have left.
As a result, a lot of stuff gets left behind — a lot of stuff that is actually fantastic and worth sharing — so every now and then, I’m going to put together some of the best of my backed-up inbox. Here’s what you might have missed over the last few days:
1. Modern Hut is a sparse, singer-songwriter affair comprised of New Jersey’s Joe Steinhardt. These are honest songs for those who enjoy freak folk but are hesitant to admit it. Generic Treasure is out on August 6 via Don Giovanni Records, and you can stream the full album on Pitchfork Advance.
2. TV Ghost debuted a video for another new track from their forthcoming LP Disconnect out September 3 on In The Red. “Five Color Blind” is another example of how the band has mellowed out from their screechier past releases — a fact that some will hate, but others, like me, will appreciate. Turning down the noise shows that they’ve actually got some songwriting chops and don’t need to rely on volume-based shock value.
3. I didn’t like Drew Price’s Bermuda Triangle at first, but “SSP” is a seriously good track that combines an early-90s drum sound with crunchy guitar low end — something for fans of the metronomic acid trip of My Bloody Valentine’s “Soon”. Friends and Family is out September 4 on Happenin Records.
4. Like many bands from Montreal, Braids has a certain feel to it that is hard to describe. This is music fashioned from fractured pop aesthetes, peppered with restrained, hollow tones and complicated rhythmic effects. “Hossak” is the latest track to be shared from the group’s sophomore LP Flourish // Perish, out August 20 on Arbutus.
5. Word association time: Heaven’s Gate. Cult. VHS propaganda. Alien transport. Hale-Bopp. Comet. Comet tail. Space ice. Celestial vacuum.
Listen to “Drone” below, which comes off of Transmuting, out September 24 on Inflated Records.
6. Thrashy, loud and tinny are the names of the game with New York City’s Raspberry Bulbs. Some call it old-school punk, others are quick to bring black metal influence into the equation. Whatever it is, it’s angry and sinister, and good for that old-fashioned art of unintentionally smashing people in the face in the middle of the pit.
“When A Lie Becomes A Truth” is streamed below, and Deformed Worship is out August 5 on Blackest Ever Black.
7. There is a moment of relative quiet at the beginning of Chicago-based RUNNING‘s “Wanna Weekend”, but it doesn’t last long. By the time one minute has passed, the tempo has changed twice and that wonderful broken effects pedal is squealing like an impaled robo-piglet. Their new album Vaguely Ethnic is out August 6 on Castle Face Records, and I’m guessing the “track-length-to-decibel-level” ratio will be astronomical.
8. Virginia doom aficionados Windhand have been on my radar for a while, mainly because I enjoy having my brains jolted by massive guitar tones. “Woodbine” is the single from the band’s upcoming sophomore release Soma, out September 17 on Relapse Records — and when I say “single,” I mean “9 1/2-minute swamp-wading delirium session.”
Black Porridge 