This week’s new music recommendations have been lovingly selected by a man with severe toothache…so if the tracks appear a bit melancholy, please just imagine the sheer agony of being jabbed in the gums by a thousand red hot pokers whilst your jawbone gets crushed in an industrial vice and you will understand why.

Actually they are a bunch of surprisingly chipper selections that appear to scoff at my imminent death…such is my life.

Don’t worry about me…please enjoy and support these great bands by whatever means is at your disposal financially or with social media love, Let’s keep them around for as long as possible.

Von Hayes

Track:  Babysitting From:  Moderate Rock (album) Label:  Self released  Out:  Now

That tinny, anxious Archers of Loaf style jangle meets Daniel Johnston idiosyncracies, in an aesthetic you wish you had thought up but probably never could.

 

The Oilies

Track:  Throwaways From:  Throwaways (single) Label:  Self released  Out:  Now

Carly Putnam (The Mantles / Art Museums) and Michael O (Red Pinks and Purples) have released four singles in 2019. This is undoubtedly the best in my humble but ultimately correct opinion, adding an extra jangle quotient and a bit of the more melancholy side of Sarah Records to the mix.

 

Teen Idle

Track:  Dreaming  From:  Dreaming (single) Label:  Self released  Out:  Now

Beautiful on every level, from the lyrical promise of a relationship growing apart to the laconic dominant riff that adds background emotion. It seems difficult to believe this is the debut track from New Jersey’s Sara Barry and her solo Teen Idle moniker.

 

Soft Shelter

Track:  Ashes  From:  Ashes (single) Label:  Self released  Out:  Now

This visits so many places, hazy psych pop, Foliage/High Sunn jangle gaze and the muted echoed atmospherics of mid 2000’s band like Band of Horses. A truly great single.

 

Pure Moods

Track:  Backwards World  From:  Upwards Spiral Label:  Tear Jerk Records  Out:  Now

With the warm jangling immediacy that the best of lo-fi omits, Adam Madric‘s second single from the now released ‘Upwards Spiral’ (album) caresses Nap Eyes lethargy through the best of the current Melbourne scene.

 

The Uplifting Bell Ends

Track:  Heart of Stone  From:  Super Giant III (album) Label:  Third Eye Stimuli Records Out: Album out 10 January 2020

Off kilter guitars like The Bats consumed The Feelies, meets barely bothered equally off-kilter vocals…to create the coolest and unlikeliest current lo-fi around.

 

Nutrients

Track:  Always in Bloom  From:  Nutrients (album) Label:  Earth Libraries Out: Now

There are a million bands doing De Marco-isms at the present and most just slide past me in a sea of absolute ‘meh’. However, this Toronto based 5-piece make the sort of genuine lo-fi tunes that have the warm immediacy that 70’s pop used to suck you in with.

 

Danny McDonald

Track:  Cordyline  From:  Danny McDonald: Modern Architecture (EP) Label:  Popboomerang

I have felt myself moving away from power pop on intermittent occasions during the last 10 years…Danny McDonald always manages to drag me back in!

 

Dead Horse One

Track:  Echo Street  From:  The West is Best (album) Label: Requiem Pour Un Twister

French gaze act adding the unrelenting kiss of melodic jangle to the MBV reverb…my fave ‘gaze album of the year so far.

 

Yellow Dudes

Track:  Twitter Makes Me Sad From:  Parking Spot (EP) Label:  Self released

When I first heard this track I presumed it was a Japanese band, all dreamy, sacharrine sweet vocals and slightly melancholic shadowy textures. An absolute beautiful track from a Mexican band that deserves critical acclaim.

 

Peel Dream Magazine

Track:  Stare into the Void  From:  Up and UP (EP) Label:  Tough Love Out: Now

You know a band must have a certain something when both Slumberland Records and Tough Love Records have released their works…As much Rocketship as as off-set guitars The Velvet Underground, this EP never lets the listener settle for anything less than original.

 

Flty Brgr Grl

Track:  Be My Boy  From:  Be My Boy (Single) Label:  Self Released Out: Now

Very strange but ultimately alluring mix from this Norwegian duo who mix the twee of Death By Chocolate, the experimental of The Go Team and add some precious jangle…let this grow on you!