Monthly Roundup April 2018

What an excellent month for new music! Lots of varied stuff, some returns from old legends, some brand new sounds from newer bands. Check out below for the highlights of the highlights!

Highlights or the highlights:

Let's start this off by stating that my two favorite albums this month were Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog and Chill Parents. Both are completely different beasts but truly embody the punk spirit, one more literally than the other. Marc Ribot(of Lounge Lizards fame) released a crazy multifaceted album that touched on many genres and was so politically biting that when all was said and done it came out the other end a true punk record, more in spirit than in sound but the spirit is what carried this thing. 

Chill Parents on the other hand released a nice blast of true punk. They combined many different styles of punk to end up creating something with an individual voice within the punk community. Highly recommended! Also of note, you won't find this one on spotify but you can either get a download or pick up a copy of the cassette(which I recommend) right here https://chillparents.bandcamp.com/ it's super limited(100 copies) so get on that shit!

The Caretaker continued his series on Alzheimers and Dementia in the form of sound on part 4 of that series. This time you can audibly hear the disease really take over the music. You can feel the series starting to disintegrate and the series is all the better for it!

Dr. Octagon returned with a pretty solid actually legit follow up to his 1996 classic "Dr. Octagonycologist" Recommended for sure if you enjoyed the first one. While it's definitely not up to the high levels of the first album it is worth checking out. 

Goat Girl delivered an exceptionally twisted and tight debut record on Rough Trade. Highly recommended if you are into Riot Grrl and female fronted indie rock. 

Sarah Shook absolutely killed it the second time around. This is one kick ass alt-country record!

John Prine and Willie Nelson both gave us new albums this month. Both are up their usual high quality songwriting. Nothing new here but then again why in the hell would we want to change Willie Or John?

The legendary Sleep returned with their first new album since 2003's Dopesmoker. It was a long wait but it was pretty worth it. Not as amazing as Dopesmoker but still insanely great Sabbath worship. If you like Doom and Stoner metal you should definitely give this a listen. 

So now that you have read my thoughts, fire up that spotify playlist below and buckle up for a great ride through the month of April!

April 5th: 

Daniel Avery-Song For Alpha(Phantasy Sound)

Genre: Ambient Techno, Minimal Techno, Ambient, Tech House

The Caretaker-Everywhere At The End Of Time-Stage 4(History Always Favours The Winners)

Genre: Turntable Music, Sound Collage, Noise, Dark Ambient, Glitch, Drone, Ambient, British Dance Band

Paul De Jong-You Fuckin Sucker(Temporary Residence Limited)

Genre: Experimental, Folktronica, Ambient, Plunderphonics

Dr. Octagon-Moosebumps: An Exploration Into Modern Day Horripilation(Bulk)

Genre: Abstract Hip Hop, East Coast Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop, Turntablism, Horrorcore, Boom Bap

Eels-The Deconstruction(E Works)

Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Indie Pop, Chamber Pop

En Attendant Ana-Lost And Found(Trouble In Mind)

Genre: Indie Rock

Goat Girl-Self Titled(Rough Trade)

Genre: Punk Blues, Post-Punk

Hinds-I Don't Run(Lucky Number)

Genre: LO FI, Indie Pop, Twee Pop, Garage Rock Revival

Hop Along-Bark Your Head Off, Dog(Saddle Creek)

Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Folk, Chamber Pop, Art Rock

Makeness-Loud Patterns(Secretly Canadian)

Genre: Alternative Dance, Art Pop, Microhouse

Mind Over Mirrors-Bellowing Sun(Paradise Of Bachelors)

Genre: Neo Psychedelia

Sarah Shook And The Disarmers-Years(Bloodshot)

Genre: Alt-Country, Honky Tonk

Triptides-Visitors(Requiem Pour Un Twister)

Genre: Neo Psychedelia

Unknown Mortal Orchestra-Sex & Food(Jagjaguwar)

Genre: Neo Psychedelia, Psychedelic Pop, LO FI, Psychedelic Rock

April 13th:

A Place To Bury Strangers-Pinned(Dead Oceans)

Genre: Post-Punk, Noise Rock, Shoegaze

Brazilian Girls-Let's Make Love(Six Degrees)

Genre: Alternative Dance, Synthpop, Latin Alternative, Dance-Punk, New Wave

Chill Parents-Hail ACAB

Genre: Punk, Pop Punk, Hardcore

Confidence Man-Confident Music For Confident People

Genre: Alternative Dance

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard-Gumboot Soup(Flightless)

Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Psychedelic Pop, Jazz-Rock, Neo Psychedelia, Garage Rock, Heavy Psych

King Tuff-The Other(Sub Pop)

Genre: Neo Psychedelia, Indie Rock, LO-FI, Glam Rock

Josh T. Pearson-The Straight Hits!(Mute)

Genre: Indie Rock, Americana

John Prine-The Tree Of Forgiveness(Oh Boy!)

Genre: Americana, Contemporary Folk, Country, Singer/Songwriter

Rival Consoles-Persona(Erased Tapes)

Genre: Microhouse, IDM

Slug-Higgedly Piggedly

Genre: Indie Rock, Progressive Rock

U-Ziq-Challenge Me Foolish(Planet Mu)

Genre: IDM, Ambient, Drill And Bass, Atmospheric Drum And Bass

Laura Viers-The Lookout(Bella Union)

Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Indie Folk, Americana, Indie Pop

Wrekmeister Harmonies-The Alone Rush(Thrill Jockey)

Genre: Post-Rock, Ambient

Wrong-Feel Great(Relapse)

Genre: Noise Rock, Sludge Metal, Alternative Metal

April 20th: 

Drinks-Hippo Lite(Drag City)

Genre: Experimental Rock, Art Punk, Psychedelic Pop, No Wave

Francoise Hardy-Personne D'Autre(Parlophone)

Genre: French Pop, Chanson, Art Pop

Joshua Hedley-Mr. Jukebox(Third Man)

Genre: Traditional Country

Hearts Hearts-Goods/Gods(Tomlab)

Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock, Krautrock

Lord Huron-Vide Noir(Republic)

Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Pop

The National Jazz Trio Of Scotland-Standards Vol. IV(Karaoke Kalk)

Genre: Electronic, Synthpop, Indie Folk

Old Crow Medicine Show-Volunteer(Columbia Nashville)

Genre: Country, Americana, Bluegrass, Honky Tonk, Blues, Folk Rock

Post Animal-When I Think Of You In A Castle(Polyvinyl)

Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock, Power Pop, Pop Rock

Ras G-Stargate Music(Leaving)

Genre: Instrumental Hip Hop

Sleep-The Sciences(Third Man)

Genre: Stoner Metal, Doom Metal

April 27th: 

The Armed-Only Love(No Rest Until Ruin/Throatruiner)

Genre: Noise Rock, Post-Hardcore, Mathcore, Cybergrind

Dylan Carlson-Conquistador(Sargent House)

Genre: Drone, Drone Metal, Psychedelic Rock

Dr. Dog-Critical Equation(We Buy Gold)

Genre: Indie Folk, Indie Rock, Americana

Forth Wanderers-Self Titled(Sub Pop)

Genre: Indie Rock

Grouper-Grid Of Points(Kranky)

Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Ambient Pop, Ethereal Wave, Ambient

Willie Nelson-Last Man Standing(Legacy)

Genre: Country

Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog-YRU Still here?(Yellowbird/Enja)

Genre: Experimental Rock

Chris Richards And The Substractions-Peaks And Valleys(Futureman)

Genre: Power Pop

Tom Rush-Voices(Appleseed)

Genre: Contemporary Folk, Singer/Songwriter

Speedy Ortiz-Twerp Verse(Carpark)

Genre: Indie Rock, LO-FI, Noise Pop