ICYMI is a series featuring new and notable releases you (and we) may have missed
“Thy Mission” – The Garden feat. Mac DeMarco
First off, I’ve never seen a more beautiful photo and would have been happy if we were given that and nothing else. I was hesitant seeing a Mac DeMarco collaboration from our favorite twins — I don’t know if there’s a more well-known indie artist that I care less about. I never in my wildest dreams thought surf and synth would coexist on a Garden track, yet here we are. There’s is a little whistle action a la Parquet Court’s “Wide Awake” and some spastic screaming at the end for that signature duck sauce Garden flavor, though. I could go without the DeMarco interjections and woodwind interludes, but I will accept the gift we’ve been given regardless.
Morbid Stuff – PUP
Morbid Stuff is a collection of declarations sitting deep within us, Canadian rockers PUP just providing the soundtrack to let them rip. Most notably is the cathartic repeated line in “Free At Last,” “just cause you’re sad again, it doesn’t make you special at all.” The album is full of humanizing moments, their brand of rock serving as a needed wake-up call to the jaded and confused. On their third album, the band pulls back the curtain of rough, hard rock they maintained on previous releases. This time around, they remind us, that they are just like us– trying to figure out self care, trying to figure out relationships, and trying to figure out their lives in 2019.
– Virginia Croft
Dogrel – FONTAINES D.C.
Maybe a bit presumptuous, but I’m almost positive Dogrel has secured its spot as one of the best albums of the year. It only took one time seeing them live to get me hooked on Fontaines D.C. While their earlier releases were slightly more varied in genre and feel (the garage-y surf of “Rocket to Russia”, how Winter in the Sun almost sounds like an Oasis song) they have focused in and found themselves rooted prominently amongst the heavy-hitters of post punk. They have the same sort of drive and underpinned ferocity as Shame, but are more romantic and poetic in their articulation. The new recordings of “Hurricane Laughter”, “Liberty Belle”, “Chequeless Reckless” and “Boys in the Better Land” amplify the intensity of the songs by propelling them forward or stripping them back instrumentally. This careful level of restraint that’s been added in the editing process allows the songs to speak for themselves without hitting you over the head with self-indulgence.
“Keep the Change” – Mattiel
Mattiel’s voice could move mountains. Paired with the orange/green retro industrial aesthetic and the stunning way in which this video was shot, I’m ready for her total world domination. “Keep The Change” is like a Jack White adjacent country-rock ballad, but it sounds much better than that description does.