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Strange Pilgrim is the self-titled debut album from singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Josh Barnhart. Drawing on themes of dislocation and featuring dreamlike imagery, Strange Pilgrim is an exploration of life in an increasingly unfamiliar world.

Much of the lyrical content focuses on the social and political uncertainty of these times; on connecting with nature and yearning for some form of freedom from the often monotonous grind of modern life.

Equally inspired by the bucolic folk-rock of Fleetwood Mac’s Future Games, the hazy psychedelia of Dungen, and the soundscapes of Brian Eno, their harmony-drenched psych-pop sound is centered on the experience of venturing toward some unknown horizon, come what may. Highly anticipated debut album from Strange Pilgrim.

“Rich in West Coast psych-pop vibes and lush harmonies, while Strange Pilgrim may have its roots in existential angst, a product of unsettled times, ultimately, it seeks to fly on wings of hope.” - Folk Radio UK.

Tracklisting:
1. More Than I Did
2. Staring at the Sky
3. Brighter Horizon
4. Salt and Seagulls
5. Embers
6. Blue Light
7. Survive the Summer
8. Dance With Me
9. The Mirror
10. No Relief

Originally released in 2016, Champions has become something of a fan favorite and developed an enduring legacy as one of the band’s finest works.

Nearly 7 years later we’re back with a special deluxe edition version of the album, just in time to coincide with the original lineup that recorded the album performing together again and label Royal Oakie celebrating their 10th Anniversary.

The Deluxe Edition features 3 unreleased songs from the original sessions that serve to round out the band’s vision for the album, making an already epic double album into a masterpiece of sprawling ambition and scope. Highly anticipated deluxe edition of Whiskerman’s epic double album.

“Over the last eight years the Oakland band Whiskerman has developed an underground reputation for tackling the sublime with their ambitious songwriting, thunderous stage show, and acute lyricism.” - Glide Magazine.

Tracklisting:
1. Louie
2. Jackie & Delilah
3. Saturday
4. Troublemaker
5. Only One of Us Can See What the Universe Thinks of Beer
6. Buddy
7. It’s Easy Now
8. Law of the Hemisphere
9. Waking up in Providence
10. Everything Is Small
11. Champions
12. The Kingdom
13. Gold (I Don’t Mind It)
14. Wonder
15. The Kid (Bonus Track)
16. My Motor (Bonus Track)
17. Riot of Indolence (Bonus Track)

Outer Highway Realms is the debut solo instrumental album from Lauren Helene Green, a multi-instrumentalist musician, artist, and woodworker from Texas, now based in Northern New Mexico. Currently half of dream-pop duo Tan Cologne, Green is a shaper of music, wood, and various creative projects inspired by both Earthly and otherworldly landscapes.

In the frosted Winter to early Spring cross-fade of 2022, Green recorded 8 songs over the course of a week in Ranchos de Taos, NM.

The album “Outer Highway Realms" is a collection of observations on New Mexico's slow desert, echoes of time and space, morning reflections, sunset drives, guitar meanderings through hot springs, canyon loop walks, and visions floating between woodworking and gardening. Nature sounds and ambient snippets were woven into songs, creating a blend of all seasons and overlapping time.

“…a kind of 21st century, synthesized version of Bruce Langhorne’s The Hired Hand soundtrack, fragments, vignettes, contemplative moments of desert solitude captured in all their shimmering beauty…” Caught By the River.

“The record continues her exploration of desert living through a rich blend of folk, ambient and drone. A sound capable of evoking the nuanced and often contradictory moods of the environment, managing to be expansive and detailed all at once.” - Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:
1. Canyon Loop
2. Cactus Bloom
3. Peak Morning Reflections
4. Horses At Fire Water Lodge
5. Slow Spring
6. Wind Full of Spring
7. Walk At Dusk
8. Dim Sunset Drive

“out of love in the face of a shadow” is the new album from Credit Electric. Exploring the human unconscious through impressionistic pop vignettes, the album represents a significant evolution of the band’s sound that originally stemmed from limitations put in place by the global pandemic, before blossoming into something altogether new and unexpected.

What started to emerge was a body of work that drew upon lo-fi jazz, dub, post-rock, ambient music, 70’s studio experimentation, and 90’s indie rock as much as the rustic folk of their past releases.

The resulting album “out of love in face of a shadow” calls to mind influences as disparate as Hiroshi Yoshimura, American Football, Scientist, and Magnolia Electric Co, all the while inhabiting a world completely of their own design.

“…the band crafts American hymns that peer through fogged glass, tracing the lines of lament in hazy relief…” - Raven Sings the Blues

Albums of the Year - New Commute

Tracklisting:
1. Out Of Love In The Face Of A Shadow
2. Carrot
3. St. Francis’s Child
4. Immunity
5. Heights
6. Selfs
7. Silver Line
8. Summit Sipper
9. Winner
10. Mocking Bird

Singer-songwriter Daniel Rice and bandmate Hayden Doyel originally formed Brim as a rootsy side project to their main gig in psychedelic hard-rock band Slow Season, now known as Westing.

Written and recorded in their hometown of Visalia, CA, the band's debut album "California Gold" is a paean to the dirt-road-back-streets and down to earth humanity of rural California's small towns and agricultural valleys. 

The album recalls the lonesome pedal steel of Bakersfield country, Gram Parson's stories of sin & salvation, and Neil Young's loose and dusty years on the beach. Inspired by the humble humanity of the farm towns in California’s San Joaquin Valley that the band calls home, Daniel returned to his roots and wrote about the overlooked nooks and crannies of California flyover territories as a sort of metaphor for finding beauty in the simple things of everyday life.

Not the postcard views of Malibu sunsets and sandy beaches, but the California landscape of walnut orchards, rolling hills, and tule fog. No surprise they call it California Gold. Highly anticipated debut album from Brim.

4 stars - Shindig!

“California Gold is an infectiously catchy set of songs…it’s a humble but huge hearted debut album best heard as the sun sets” - Duncan Fletcher (Shindig!)

“California Gold, is glorious, – all Byrdsy three-part harmonies, lonesome pedal steel, fuzzy guitar and a chorus that’s bigger than a canyon.” - Sean Hannam (Americana UK)

Tracklisting:
1. California Gold
2. In A Smile
3. Mudpie Kings
4. Oleander
5. Nothing Gold
6. When the Evening Comes
7. There’s More to This World
8. Won’t Do It Again
9. Shadowland

Out Passed Nowhere is the debut solo album from Oliver Ray. Unfurling like a long stretch of road leading out past the edge of town, the album takes the listener to uncharted destinations beyond the edges of the map. Centered around Ray’s songwriting, the album finds him backed by a kaleidoscopic array of guest performers from the Bay Area, Tucson, and the NYC music communities.

Ray’s transcendent tunes are brought to life in stunning wide screen detail by members of Patti Smith, Howe Gelb, and members of Sugar Candy Mountain, Giant Sand, and The Myrrors. Working in collaboration with producer David Glasebrook, the two created a unique sonic landscape for each song; throwing genre conventions out the window, they focused on capturing distinctive, emotionally resonant sounds.

Each song has a distinctive flavor, but like the pieces to a puzzle they add up to more than the sum of their parts. The guitar explorations of Ol’ Coyote sit side by side with the dusty folk of Setting Sun, the psychedelic swirl of Best Game in Town, the darkly orchestral Tower and the Star, and the ambient tone poem  Edge City.

The resulting album is a songwriting tour de force set amidst a swirling sonic landscape that recalls Bob Dylan or Cass McCombs as much as Brian Eno and Mark Hollis. Out Passed Nowhere is a captivating statement from an artist in his prime.

Although it may be his solo debut, Ray has been playing music and writing songs for decades, and this album stands as a testament to all those miles of road traveled; all those hours spent with pen to paper; all those songs sung and yet to be sung.

Tracklisting:
1. Ol’ Coyote
2. Ready
3. Best Game in Town
4. Setting Sun
5. Bye Beautiful
6. Tower and the Star
7. Queen of Never
8. Wise Blood
9. Edge City

Release Date: 24/05/2024

No Guitar (Deluxe Edition) combines the original album with two instrumental bonus tracks from the sessions, “Cavalry” and “C2”, a lush and intricate collection that covers a ton of ground—from the bittersweet jangle of power-pop, to indie-folk, Midwestern emo, and much more.

You can hear shades of shoegaze in “Hi-Elixir”, where a massive wall of fuzzy guitars recalls My Bloody Valentine; “Patience” has a sweet-and-sour bite that recalls acts like Archers of Loaf and Shudder to Think; while “URDoM” swings and sways with a tapestry of guitars reminiscent of American Football and Mineral.

The album marks the latest evolution for cross-continental duo Bernie Gelman and Joseph Brandel, who first met in high school and have been fusing their own unique musical sensibilities ever since, with Gelman operating out of the San Francisco Bay Area while Brandel currently resides in Japan.

“…this is the sound of the days before smartphones and the Internet got in the way of seeking adventure, of not knowing what the band sounded like before going to watch them, of taking a punt on an album that you actually had to buy to hear.” - Monolith Cocktail

“No Guitar squares all the previous works, making the songs much more impressionistic and imposing, at the same time moving away from the lo-fi trace that is common in their last two works, making the story really unpredictable and exciting” - Northern Transmissions

“...a remarkable sonic pastiche of many genres and eras.” - American Pancake

“...drives a sound that is effortless, cloaking the heavy thematic undertones such as isolation, romantic heartbreak, and the loss of a loved one. The lush and intricate songs cover a myriad of stylistic grounds, from power-pop’s punchy bittersweetness and rustling indie folk to the openhearted intricacy of Midwestern emo.” – Ghettoblaster

Tracklisting:
1. Shamble
2. Pastoral
3. Pop Song
4. URDoM
5. Reflector Mage
6. Dysfunction
7. Majesty
8. Hi-Elixir
9. Patience
10. Husk
11. Hotel
12. No Guitar
13. Cavalry (Bonus Track)
14. C2 (Bonus Track)

Serving up art-pop for the anthropocene, Springs Eternal is the Mercury-nominated, critically acclaimed artist William Doyle’s most ambitious and most playful creation to date. Taking a panoramic view of the ecstasies and agonies of life in the 2020s, the record asks how we exist as fragile flesh and blood – our hearts beating and our minds racing – in an unprecedented, almost unimaginable time of runaway climate destruction and technological expansion.

Springs Eternal presents a strange and thrilling cast of characters – from cowboys to castaways – who just might be Doyle, once or twice removed. “Most of the songs are in the first-person, but rather than being autobiographical, I was trying to imagine hyperreality versions of myself,” Doyle says. “What if decisions I made in my life had resulted in the self of each particular song? How many degrees of separation am I from those realities? It’s a frightening thought, and frightening thoughts often make for good songs.”

Across 11 tracks, we hear from narrators teetering on the precipice of global disaster, heartbreak, addiction, indoctrination and mental illness, until they pass into the great unknown. The lyrics, by turns earnest and ironic, upfront and allegorical, are paired with infectious melodies and often outright swagger. Co-produced by indie superproducer Mike Lindsay (Tunng, LUMP) at his MESS studio in Margate, we hear the siren song of the sea washing around pulsating electronics and stirring instrumentation, featuring contributions from musicians Alexander Painter, Genevieve Dawson and Brian Eno.

A recurring theme of water and flooding runs through the record, alluding simultaneously to the global climate crisis and the deluge of overwhelm these parallel-universe Williams are experiencing. “It wasn’t until we were mixing the record that I realised how many water references there are,” Doyle says. “I guess there’s a fluid border between our inner selves and the outside world that allows things to flood in, in unstoppable or perhaps irresistible ways.”

Springs Eternal is the next chapter in the William Doyle sonic odyssey that began with his incarnation as East India Youth (Total Strife Forever, 2014; Culture of Volume, 2015) and developed under his own name, producing the critically acclaimed records Your Wilderness Revisited (2019) and Great Spans of Muddy Time (2021). Alongside his own output, Doyle recently produced Anna B Savage’s celebrated debut album A Common Turn (2021) and plays in Orlando Weeks’ band both live and on his upcoming record.
“Springs Eternal” follows 2021’s critically acclaimed Great Spans of Muddy Time album (10/10 Loud & Quiet, 9/10 Line of Best Fit, 4/5 Mojo, 8/10 Uncut, 5th The Quietus 100 Albums of the Year).

Tracklisting:
1. Garden of the Morning
2. Now in Motion
3. Relentless Melt
4. Soft to the Touch
5. Eternal Spring
6. Cannot Unsee
7. Castawayed
8. Surrender Yourself
9. A Short Illness
10. A Long Life
11. Because of a Dream

This was the debut vinyl release of Leeds' Hookworms. The 12” featured 4 songs and clocked in at around 27 minutes. The release was previously only available on tape via Sun Araw's Sun Ark label and that sold out in a matter of weeks.

This CD issue comes with additional early and rare recordings - the drone heavy initial version of Form and Function, which would appear on a split 7" alongside Nottingham-based peers Kogumaza, plus the swaggering rumbles of The Correspondent – which appeared on 2012 Sonic Cathedral compilation Psych For Sore Eyes.

Most of Hookworms’ songs are around the six minute mark, which isn’t long at all, and each one is constantly doing something. The singer and keyboard player delivers his vocals like The Gun Club’s Jeffery Lee Pierce on Fire of Love - frantic and impassioned. The guitars colour in and around the lines, informed just as much by Flipper’s Ted Falconi as ‘Sister Ray’.

Bass grooves lead the way, sage in their wisdom over which path to take. This is tidy stuff, a purposeful and fully conscious journey into the realms of Zoss. It’s also a journey taking place on increasingly large stages, where they’re just as confident at filling the sonic space as at the small venues where they started out.

“Hookworms fling themselves headlong into classic 80’s/90’s psych-rock like they’re trying to break something. Hailing from Leeds and cramming themselves giddily within the well established formal properties of the genre, they walk the scorched road behind Loop, Spectrum, and any other titan of two-chord songs who’s ever slowly wah-ed a chord until they saw colors. Most excellent burners!” Cameron Stallones, Sun Ark / Sun Araw

“A relatively new five piece psychedelic rock group in the vein of Spacemen 3. Dense Wooden Shjips-esque grooves play repetitious host to echo drenched spiritual wailing and astral synth drone.” Jonathan Nash, Norman Records.

Tracklisting:
1. Medicine Cabinet
2. Teen Dreams
3. I Have Some Business Out West
4. Resolution
5. Form & Function
6. Deu 02:10,
7. The Correspondent

Portland based act Dancing Plague has been a steady presence in the dark/cold electronic music scene for quite a few years now. Since 2016 Conor Knowles’ solo project has been putting out one constant flow of independent releases on multiple formats such as vinyl LPs, EPs, tapes and CDs, creating one sonic palette rich with Ebm, goth, industrial and synth influences.

On their 5th studio album, Dancing Plague continues to flesh out and perfect their unique brand of crushing darkwave. Elogium explores themes of loss, regret, rebirth and growth coupled with throbbing basslines, rave synths, and pounding drums.

Knowles balances aggressive waves of electronics with enough pop sensibilities and catchy hooks to be inviting to those new to the genre. His skills can be clearly appreciated on tracks like the first single Fading Forms which explores the somber feeling of the years passing you by.

Knowles’ emotive baritone crooning paints a melancholic picture of the slow fading of time as you feel like you’re fading with it. The words fall like snow onto cold fields of pulsing 80s synths and pounding drum machine rhythms that bring forth nostalgic familiarity but feel fresh at the same time.

Fans of classic icons such as Depeche Mode, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails as well as contemporary torchbearers Cold Cave and Kontravoid do not sleep on this.

Plenty of disturbing beauty to be found in the depths of the underground.

Tracklisting:
1. Dreamless
2. Fading Forms
3. Shadow Self
4. Rot With Me
5. Elogium
6. Suffer the Senses
7. Cold Fire
8. Echoes of the Void

Release Date: 17/05/2024

THE BAND
It’s still: Steve Albini - Guitar. Todd Trainer - Drums. Bob Weston - Bass.

DATA
This is Shellac’s sixth studio LP. Recording & Mixing took place at Electrical Audio in Chicago over a bunch of long weekends in November, 2017; October, 2019; September, 2021; and March, 2022. The record was mas-tered by Bob & Steve at Chicago Mastering Service.

PACKAGING
LP and CD packaging and artwork are identical (the CD is just smaller). Bob took all the photos; some with a fancy camera and some with a telephone.

QC
Audio quality is paramount, as always, with Shellac. The LPs are being manufactured by Green Vinyl Records using an injection molding process. This new process uses 100% recyclable PET (like soda bottles) and is environmentally friendly, containing no PVC or Phthalates. The process also uses 79% less CO2 than conventional hydraulic PVC vinyl presses. The records weigh 180 grams.

Tracklisting:
Side A
1. WSOD
2. Girl From Outside
3. Chick New Wave
4. Tattoos
5. Wednesday

Side B
1. Scrappers
2. Days Are Dogs
3. How I Wrote How I Wrote Elastic Man (cock & bull)
4. Scabby the Rat
5. I Don’t Fear Hell

Release Date: 26/04/2024

London-based rock duo, Yur Mum, is set to release their highly anticipated album, "Duality," on April 30, 2024.

"Duality" serves as the sequel to their 2021 LP, "Tropical Fuzz," and encapsulates the band's essence as a fusion of contrasts – Female meets male, Europe meets South America, and rock meets Brazilian music.

Anelise, the bassist and vocalist, expresses, "It's a total yin and yang. We're embracing our differences and blending them together to create something unique." The album features recent singles 'Say Say' and 'New Beginnings,' which gained recognition on BBC's 6 Music and Radio 1, along with Spotify editorial playlists.

The duo's Brazilian roots are exposed in tracks like 'Hands To The Sky', 'Anhangá', ‘Café’, and ‘Snakes Don’t Fly’, featuring Myura Amara from PollyPikPocketz. In a bold move, Yur Mum has opted for an independent release, expressing pride in creating the album they envisioned.

Collaborating with producer Alex Gordon, known for his work with bands like Tigercub and CLT DRP. "Duality" promises a wild mix of beats and melodies, rocking out with fuzzed-up riffs. Yur Mum's iconic bass and drums have levelled up, bringing an even bigger sound. Beyond the high-energy tunes, the band explores themes like faith, guilt, existentialism, mental health, toxic people, classism, and immigrant catharsis.

The album cover, designed by Fabio Couto, portrays a fusion of the duo in an androgynous and striking composition. Fabio says it was captured “DIY style” with an old smartphone camera.

Yur Mum, consisting of Anelise Kunz and Fabio Couto, stands out in the two-piece band scene with their distinctive Fuzz Punk Rock sound and South American influences.

Tracklisting:
1. New Beginnings
2. Say It
3. Anhanga
4. Hands To The Sky
5. Snakes Don’t Fly
6. Guilty
7. Guilt
8. Obnoxious
9. Immigrant
10. Same Igual
11. Café
12. Go Back