With an absolute lunatic on the mic and two dedicated noisemakers complementing on guitar and drums, Endon is a band whose extremity goes without saying. Three LPs, several EPs and a collaborative album with Boris speak for themselves. The Japanese quintet’s newest album foreshadows an unsettling experience just with its title. Noise…

Australia’s Methyl Ethel brings a coming of age theme to Triage; the newest project by Jake Webb. Webb once again takes artistic control in writing, producing and performing, just as he did with 2017‘s Everything Is Forgotten and 2016’s Oh Inhuman Spectacle. With a nod of MGMT and atmospheric dream pop…

The fourth album from Oakland’s SWMRS, Berkeley’s on Fire, has a clear intent to avoid categorization. Compared to previous albums like 2016’s Drive North—an album characterized by sugary pop-punk vocals and formulaic lyrical narratives—Berkeley’s on Fire is a welcomed departure. While Drive North strove to synthesize the band’s sound with a…

Listening to Bob Mould‘s latest solo album, Sunshine Rock, during a rainstorm is a strange experience. Sunshine Rock Bob Mould Merge Records, Feb. 8 It’s very much what the title says it is—a rock soundtrack to a warm summer evening. The guitar riffs and the vocals evoke early ’60s beach…

Echo Park’s HEALTH stands out in L.A.’s noisy underbelly thanks to a remarkable balance of mind-numbing chaos and lulling vocal melodies. Building from the digital hardcore of 2007’s self-titled debut and the hypnotic grooves of 2009’s Get Color, 2015 album Death Magic realized the band’s brand of “racket music.” Elements…

In 1968, American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry recorded her sophomore album, The Delta Sweete. It dropped a year after her no. 1 single, “Ode to Billy Joe,” but never took off. The album became a hard-to-find talisman for the few lucky musicians and music lovers who happened upon it in obscure…

Xiu Xiu’s 14th album, Girl with Basket of Fruit, expands on the experimental band’s thought-provoking spoken word lyricism with aggressive, often disorienting instrumental soundscapes. Girl with Basket of Fruit Xiu Xiu Polyvinyl, Feb. 8 The album begins with its title track, which thrusts listeners into a complex and  abstract sonic…

San Francisco singer-songwriter Jessica Pratt has a way with simplistic arrangements, bringing a tranquil feeling along with her uniquely folky voice. On her previous records, 2015’s On Your Own Love Again and 2012’s self-titled record, she sang gorgeously poetic lyrics over the top of calming guitar strumming. Pratt doesn’t deviate…

There’s a reason everyone from Bad Brains to Operation Ivy lauds The Specials. The Coventry collective helped start the British 2 Tone ska revival during the late ‘70s, a cross-cultural amalgamation of Jamaican protest music and U.K. punk rock. It’s been 40 years since the band’s inception during England’s…

Though siblings Caleb and Georgia Nott have played music together since childhood, the past five years have seen them make waves in the synth-pop scene as Broods. With two LPs and an EP, choice cuts like “Bridges” and “Heartlines” have driven the duo to the top of the charts…