Indierock | Alternative 367 Items

Released August 16th, 2024. 140 gram BLUE SMOKE vinyl with printed innersleeve lyric page. Maddy Kirgo writes songs that allude easy definition. Based in New Orleans, Kirgo weaves timeless tunes of warmth and longing, with lyrics that simultaneously feel carefully composed but not overthunk and a voice that will stop you in your tracks. Depending on the day, you may hear a little Gram Parsons or the Beatles, a little Dolly Parton or Weyes Blood, however what makes Maddy so compelling is her ability to rise above and chart her own path, forever adding new rooms to a sonic palace of her own design. 'Shadow on My Light', the her second full-length record, is synthy, New Orleans indie twang at it's finest, equally informed by both the sunken city's swampy americana and dreamy pop scenes. Produced by members of Video Age and constructed during the pandemic, "Shadow on My Light" thoughtfully renders tales of hard times, enduring the modern world, and grieving the loss of a friend into playful, yet sincere pop songs, warmed by catchiness and lush compositions and handled with care. In advance of new music from Chris coming out later this year, Gar Hole Records is proud to present this first pressing of 'Good Kid', an essential release for fans of modern alt-country and Americana. At the center of that sound are the entwined voices of Casey Jane and Camille, two longtime friends whose songs explore the uncharted territory between genres. There's rarely a melody on Meet The Lostines that the two don't sing together, stacking their lush harmonies against a backdrop of baritone guitar, spring reverb, orchestral strings, Cajun fiddle, upright piano, and Theremin. It's an immersive sound that bridges the gaps between genres, created by two songwriters (along with a revolving door of collaborators, coconspirators, and fellow Big Easy residents) who're happy to build their own world.

How???’s debut album is Americana Electronica created in Los Angeles, CA. Inspired by the art rock approaches of David Bowie and REM, the American songcraft of Townes Van Zandt and Bob Dylan, and the electronic explorations of Kraftwerk and Boards of Canada, the band uses the studio as an instrument to create the unexpected. Their sound feels familiar, while looking toward the future.

Pegg’s debut is the result of a reclusive savant uniting a group of like-minded musicians at the River Church, a laboratory/funhouse of his own invention. The skeleton of Pegg was based on a set of grooves Xander Duell created with quietly influential experimental R&B enigma Jon Bap. Produced by the acclaimed Bartees Strange, Pegg features key collaborator Fusilier and an extended cast familiar to fans of a cross-genre array of projects, including Van Dyke Parks, Buke and Gase, and Standing on the Corner.

Black Bile compiles some of Umberto"s most resplendent, sanguine music to date. The solo work of LA composer Matt Hill draws heavily from the world of cinema, spinning immersive narratives and rich atmospheres using sound alone. Hill, an active composer for film and television, recently scored the 2022 Jerry Pyle film Loveseat (soundtrack was released in 2023). Other recent scores include the 2020 thriller Archenemy, from the producers of cult classic Mandy.Inspired by the ancient Greek theory of the "four humors," an early medical theory linking the inner workings of the human body to the elements. "Black bile" specifically links the feelings of melancholy with autumn. Hill"s celestial compositions are an autumnal soundtrack conveying beauty, yearning, reflection and comfort.Many of the album"s phrases are constructed from just two notes or sounds, arranged by Hill into complex patterns that undulate with an organic pulse. The spare melodic structure holds a myriad of small and beautiful details. The songs began with Hill improvising on the piano, to find the notes and patterns that created the musical and emotional structure from which he could expand with textural detail. Hill then would often remove the initial structure leaving a sparer and more skeletal one which he could again expand upon to create a full piece. The careful attention to each detail gives his minimal compositions emotional heft. The album masterfully stakes Umberto"s claim among other avant-ambient boundary pushers such as Lawrence English or Laurel Halo.

Milky Clear Vinyl.Aprender a Ser: Extended is an EP by Mexico City band MintField. It was recorded in the same sessions as Mint Field'slatest album, Aprender A Ser. Mint Field decided to split thework into an album and an EP as they felt it was too dense fora double album and wanted these songs to co-exist in anotherspace and have its own time to shine. As with Aprender A Ser,the EP incorporates influences from shoegaze, trip-hop, dreampop and electronic music. The final track includes longtimefriend and cello player Mabe Fratti to play Cello.Time. It's something we tend to cherish. As a band, you'retypically thrown into more than usual stressful scenarios whenrecording albums and rushing decisions becomes the norm.Mexico City's Mint Field knows this all too well.Rewind to the spring of 2020 (yes, Covid). The band startedfleshing out their new album Aprender a Ser (meaning LearnTo Be in English), the follow up to 2020's minimalist psych/shoegaze album, Sentimiento Mundial. For the first time, theband was not under any time constraints in the recordingprocess. They wrote, recorded, produced and mixed the albumin isolation. They had time to slow things down and think moreobsessively about the sound, environment and vibe theywanted to create.Aprender a Ser became really intimate, every single detail wasmeticulously worked on. Mint Field recorded take after take, butat the same time tried to keep the soul of the demos intact.Some of the guitar and drums are first takes in the finalversions. The band would let a recording sit, leave it and comeback to it. The songs evolved a lot doing so, but at the sametime didn't lose the essence of its original intention.Thematically, Aprender a Ser talks about opening ourperspective of the reality that we live every day, acknowledgingeach moment that we witness in life. Learning to recognizewhat we are, what we live, what we see, what we feel. Whetherit's seeing ourselves in the past and observing how we have...

Good Friend Gold Vinyl.The ethereal third album from Texas'sslowcore first wavers. A lethargic,sparse, and autumnal album, TheGolden Band is where The AmericanAnalog Set developed the courage todrive 40 KPH on the autobahn. Issuedon Emperor Jones in 1999, this 25thanniversary Numero edition has beenremastered from the original tapes andflawlessly reproduced in a gorgeous tipon sleeve. When are you quitting thescene?

The ethereal third album from Texas'sslowcore first wavers. A lethargic,sparse, and autumnal album, TheGolden Band is where The AmericanAnalog Set developed the courage todrive 40 KPH on the autobahn. Issuedon Emperor Jones in 1999, this 25thanniversary Numero edition has beenremastered from the original tapes andflawlessly reproduced in a gorgeous tipon sleeve. When are you quitting thescene?

Singing black-lit liturgies of bog bodies caked in mud, entranced by nocturnal landscapes flickering in the moon-glow and powered by queer enchantment, Tristwch y Fenywod are a Welsh-language gothic avant-rock power-coven. Exhumed from the depths of Leeds’ experimental underground, the trio consist of Gwretsien Ferch Lisbeth (Guttersnipe, The Ephemeron Loop), Leila Lygad (Hawthonn) and Sidni Sarffwraig (Slaylor Moon, The Courtneys).

Stark, striking and bewitching, Tristwch y Fenywod’s self-titled album is their debut studio recording, following just 10 gigs and a live demo. Formed in 2022, Tristwch y Fenywod ("The Sadness of Women”) record exclusively in the Welsh language, conjuring an eldritch, subterranean, alien folk music played on dual zither, electronic drums and bass guitar. With towering, siren-like vocals curling around the Welsh consonants, accompanied by stark, martial rhythms and swirling claw-plucked strings, Tristwch y Fenywod feels like an early 4AD recording dredged from the waters of an Anglesey swamp. The effect is simultaneously chilling and stirring.

The eight tracks on the record constitute what feels like a recently rediscovered, unholy grail of edgy, atmospheric, occult feminist goth emissions. Gwretsien’s dual-zither playing scatters melodic fragments and spirals of harmony around the decimated space opened up by the lugubrious bass playing and pounding, brooding drum pads. Coupled with the Welsh vocal, Tristwch y Fenywod embody a new, unique Celtic darkwave sound, equal parts Pornography-era The Cure, Svitlana Nianio’s haunted hammered string-work and the dark beauty of Dead Can Dance or This Mortal Coil. Opener Blodyn Gwyrdd feels like the last ride of Princess Ukok, with lumbering bass and 6/8 rhythms in procession to the event horizon with an entreating, impassioned vocal and surprising lyrical theme. The doomed dancing of the zither provides the mysterious melodic bedrock throughout the album, particularly on Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du’s heavy funereal sway and the slowly building, paroxysmal banshee breakdown of Awen: an astonishing swell of thrilling chaos.

The album was recorded and produced by Ross Halden and the band at Hohm Studio, Bradford, Summer 2023.

On his new album Sun Glories, Oakland-based musician, composer, and producer Chuck Jo...