United By Images; NGHTCRWLRS, The Subculture, Roswell Debacle and Lunch Ladies

This past Saturday I spent the night at Montclair's cavernous, home away from homes, The Meatlocker. Below are some images from what was a pretty stellar night.

Lunch Ladies
Bandcamp

 Roswell Debacle
Bandcamp

The Subculture

Bandcamp

 NGHTCRWLRS
Bandcamp

New Jersey's NGHTCRWLRS Debut Official Video for the song "Smiling"

New Jersey's eclectic indie rockers NGHTCRWLRS have posted a video for the song Smiling. from their 2015 self titled debut LP on Sniffling Indie Kids.  

The band is currently working on a follow up that should surface later this year. 

Be sure to keep an eye out for it. James Damion

NGHTCRWLRS

Sniffling Indie Kids

A Juicy Night at the Pussy Pad.

Sometimes I wish there were some sort of telaporter to get me from the couch to the show. For with all the inspiration and passion for music I have. There is an equal if not greater combination of anxiety, indecision appreciation for what I have right here at home.
Lucky for me, the draw of live music is often stronger than most other feeling.

As I parked my car. My windshield was graced with the friendly mug of NGHTCRWLRS guitarist Frank DeFranco. Not a bad way to start the night. Without haste, we made our way through the small corridor that separated the semi attached homes, past the oddly placed antique piano and towards the backyard where we were greeted by our host and those already in attendance. As the bands arrived along with other show goers. I couldn't help but notice the overly friendly and welcome atmosphere the Pussy Pad provided. Before long, we headed down the stairs towards the basement where the first band was already setting up and tuning in.

As much as I enjoyed the opening band. I found myself spending most of their set trying to figure out my camera settings. I had been using it earlier that day in the studio and completely forgot to reset the damn thing. (I tell ya'. It's always something with me. I have a chance to see Toy Cars next week and promise to be on my most attentive behavior.
Toy Cars

Next up were Lancaster Pennsylvania's Spill. This was my first exposure to the band and to say they left a lasting impression would be an understatement. A nice mix of garage meets melody friendly Punk rock with an all inclusive stage presence and banter.
The small, yet intimate crowd in attendance seemed to vibe off each note. Great stuff worth seeking out.
SPILL

NGHTCRWLRS followed
(Or did they?) This was my third time seeing them live.
The band, though hard to describe, are somewhat of a local super group.
(Featuring present and former members of
Holy City Zoo, Nico Blues,
All Sensory Void, Lake Effect and Man on Fire.
(Just to name a few.)
Their sound is as musical as it is eclectic.  Their set was part Punk Rock, part experimental  and part off Broadway production of Silence of the Lambs. Since my first taste of this band I've been second guessing myself on what I should be hearing and what I'm actually hearing. Thoroughly impressive. I like that they keep me guessing.
NGHTCRWLRS

Closing the night was the band I put gas in the car to see. Truth be told. I've been hearing about Lake Effect for some time. So long and so often, that seeing the band perform live seemed to climb higher and higher on my "Must Do" list from one day to the next.
Getting out to finally put the voices in my head to rest was just what this out patient needed. Fronted by singer guitarist Max Rauch. (Who also happens to play the drums for NGHTCRWLRS.)  

The bands set was an impressive mix of musically diverse sounds and child like, wild abandon. There came a point where where Lake Effect and those in attendance became one sweaty mess. From there I doubt anyone could tell who was who. I can only hope that the band were able to make it home with all their pieces in tact. Lake Effect have a show coming up at Jersey City's The Dopeness on September 10th. Be sure to scoop up a copy of their debut album/CD thing
American Sarcasm before, during or after. You wont be sorry.
Lake Effect
Special thanks go out to Frank ( NGHTCRWLRS / Sniffling Indie Kids ) and out host.
If it weren't for basement shows and the people kind enough to open their homes to strangers. We would not have half the music scene we have today. Respect.
James Damion

NGHTCRWLRS - Self Titled Debut

There's a scene in the movie Goodfellas where Tommy DeSimone comes to visit Stacks Edwards. As Tommy puts his pistol to the back of Stacks head he says "You're always late. You're gonna be late to your own fucking funeral." However violent, that statement sums up my history with reviewing new releases. Regardless of opinions, good, bad or indifferent. There's always a bit of room needed between my catch and release moments.

So with a recent record release show at Jersey City's latest venue The Dopeness still ringing in my years. I began to double down on NGHTCRWLRS self titled debut album.

Though somehwhat new to New Jersey's music landscape. The bands personnel have been making noise for years in acts such as All Sensory Void, Holy City Zoo, Lake Effect,
Nico Blues, Man on Fire and Washington Square Park.

On there 8 song debut the band does an excellent job distinguishing themselves with a variety of styles and approaches that allow them to escape the trappings that many bands seam to be falling into these days. Upon first listen you get a feeling that NGHTCRWLRS were hell bent on creating songs that each had a unique feeling and personality. And while the name NGHTCRWLRS might illicit thoughts of axe wielding serial killers or knuckle scraping Hardcore bands of the past. The bands sound and approach is more harmonious than such imagery could ever accomplish.

The album opens with "Smiling". A song that is spacious, spacey and all together spaced out. It's "Turn on, Tune in, Drop out" vibe feels as if it were born out of a 60's inspired LSD trip. Lasting side effects aside. It introduces the band properly. A mission that lets the listener know they're in for something different from what they might expect. "You're Living the Life" follows with it's repetitive, yet addictive chorus. Upbeat and uplifting to the point where I found myself singing the chorus long after the song and album were done. And while there are several other favorites Red "Beans and Rice", "The Amish Don't Wear Jordans" and the flat out weird "Homies".  It's the overall product that sticks out most. In order to surrender to the trip. You have to be up for the entire ride. In closing, NGHTCRWLRS debut was nothing
I ever expected. Yet, everything this listener could ever hope for. Get weird. Stay weird. James Damion

NGHTCRWLRS Bandcamp
NGHTCRWLRS Facebook

NGHTCRWLRS Debut Album!!!

New Jersey's NGHTCRWLRS are giving us all a sneak peak at their upcoming debut album on Sniffling Indie Kids. The band comprising of present and former members of
Holy City Zoo, Man on Fire, All Sensory Void, the Nico Blues and Washington Square Park. The band will have their record release party this Saturday February 28th at Jersey City's The Dopeness. Dentist (The Band), Cicada Radio and France ( The Band) will be joining the celebration.  For more information, as well as the address. Check the link Here. In the meantime. Listen, learn, love. James Damion

NGHTCRWLRS Bandcamp

Holy City Zoo's Frank DeFranco Gets the Low Down on New Brunswick's The Dollys

Hi again. This is Frank DeFranco of Holy City Zoo and NGHTCRWLRS. I’ve done this once before for this blog and I’ve been given the opportunity once again to blabber away with a kick ass band who fortunately also happen to be buddies of mine. Dollys (New Brunswick, NJ) are a four piece vintage pop band with a breath of fresh air. They’ve currently finished recording their first full length album and have some fundraising going on to press it on vinyl. Below you’ll hear some jibber jabber on this and a fair share of other things. Enjoy or send me hate mail, either works.

Interview with Jeff Lane and Natalie Newbold of Dollys (8/10/14)

Frank: So lets start with…so you guys want to say the name of the new record?

Jeff: It’s called “Oh Please.”

Frank: Okay, so “Oh Please,” where’d you guys get the name for that? Like what was uhhh, howd’ you go about that?

Natalie: Interesting question.

Jeff: Well, it was an interesting thing for me because I realized that it’s one of those weird phrases that people say all the time, kind of like sarcastically, but you know, you could also take it seriously. Just thought it was an interesting concept because it could be taken more than one way.

Natalie: Yeah, it can kind of be like, ya know “ohhh pleeeasse” or like “oh please buy this record.”
(Lots of room laughter)

Natalie: It’s like, it can be taken either way.

Frank: Oh please keep me alive!

Jeff: I mean, it pretty much always comes down to Paul McCartney.  I watched an interview with him and he was talking about how all the early Beatles songs came about, like
“Please Please Me,” “Help,” and stuff like that…he said a lot of that stuff was directly to the fans and I thought that was really interesting.  “Please Please Me” is the first Beatles record or whatever, so it’s a little reference to that, but we just thought it was a nice thought.

Frank: That’s cool. No, no, that’s really cool. Mind if I snag another one of these
(pointing to beers).

Jeff & Natalie: Take as many as you want!

Frank: Thank you.

Natalie: That’s what we got them for!

Frank: Well muchas gracious. Okay, so with this record, you did everything to tape, right?  I’m curious to hear about that experience, I know you have a lot of affiliation with
Lake House (Recording Studio), so kind of just go off with it, what’s the run down on that one?

(Frank cracks open beer)

Photo Credit; Andrew Holtz

Jeff: We really like the Beach Boys and the Beatles and all the records from the 60s and 70s and it always kind of fascinated me how much pop music has changed, and rock music too because back then it was like go in the studio and be a fuckin’ band. And that’s awesome.

Frank: And you had to be good.

Jeff: And you had to be good, because if you sucked everyone knew it and no one bought your record.  Or they bought it and then they burned it in hot fire.

(More room laughter)

Jeff: Because it sucked. And we were like “well, lets see how good we are. Ya know?
Lets see if we can do something that is important to us that sounds good but doesn’t make us want to puke.

Natalie: And I think that Lake House was kind of this perfect fit for us because
John, the owner, loves vintage gear. Like so much. He has incredible stuff that is all super old and they wanted to get a tape machine and we just wanted to record to tape really bad, so it just made sense that we went there to record to tape.

Jeff: And Eric (bass player) working there and always saying “yo, you should buy this thing, the Beatles liked it.”  And so John would buy it.  So we were like, well we like that too, so lets record there.

Natalie: It just was obvious that we were going to do it there.

Jeff: I don’t know where we’ll really end up in the future, but right now it seems like the logical place for us.  We’re super comfortable there.

Natalie: We all work there for the most part.

(Chuckles)

Photo Courtesy of Cool Dad Music

Frank: Well it’s always nice to feel comfortable in the recording process.
I’m sure you both know that there’s sometimes when you’re recording and you feel like this strenuous pressure and other times you’re just there just being yourself and feeling it, ya know?  So do you have that added pressure, even though you’re in a comfortable place, knowing that you’re doing it to tape, because you have to play it good?  Or was it comfortable enough at Lake House that you could kind of let loose and be yourselves?

Natalie: I think that when we first started recording, we did this one song, like seven or eight takes of it.  It was getting up there.

Jeff: It was shameful, but it was also one of the more complicated ones.

Natalie: Yeah, and I think we would listen back to it and would be like “no, no, no, no, no, that’s not it.” And then something happened, we just clicked that no matter how many times we do it, it’s going to sound like us and that’s why we’re doing this to tape, ya know?
That’s why we’re doing this, because all the records that we love from the 60s and 70s have those weird George Harrison guitar mistakes.

Jeff: It’s always George.

Natalie: (continuing) that we love! (More chuckles)

Frank: Yeah, I think it’s those things that add character to the record that have kind of been lost or are flaws in the digital era.  Like sometimes you hear one of those. (makes fart noise)

Jeff: Like that guitar hero noise.

Frank: Exactly.

Jeff: That’s exactly what it is.

Frank: But like all the weird little hums and guitar hisses.

Natalie: And not so perfect vocals, those vocal takes that give you chills but aren’t exactly like computerized, on point. Ya know?

Jeff: I mean, anyone who knows anything about music wants to hear real.

Frank: The human element.

Jeff: Yeah, not like the bullshit computer synthesized crap. Because it’s just weird.
It doesn’t sound real.

Frank: Totally. So with this album, you have pursued this Indiegogo campaign. So I’d like to hear about how your experience has been with that, how you feel about Indiegogo, and any advice for bands who plan to go about it the way that you have.

Jeff: Don’t just start one. Plan.
(Those faithful room chuckles return)

Jeff: And tell people beforehand and then hope for the best.  Keep pushing it, keep telling people, keep working.  But don’t let it control you’re wanting to be a musician or artist or however you see yourself, because worrying about money sucks.  It can really suck away a lot of your creativity. So I’ve tried to do a good balance of like saying on facebook,
“why hasn’t my mom bought anything yet?”  Just kidding, she put money in yesterday.

(I’m not sure if we’re laughing more or talking at this point)

Jeff: She waited long enough to give me the sweats but yeah, I don’t know, it’s hard, you have to do a lot of work.

Natalie: I would say just in terms of advice.  If you think you’re going to do it, tell everyone about it before you do it.  Like all your friends and family and get them on board with it.
That was something we didn’t realize we needed to do. We kind of decided in the band this was something we were going to do.  We made it and made a video and within two weeks of it being up, my mom didn’t even know it was.  She was like “what is that, I don’t know what that is!?! You keep posting about it, what is it?”

(Mom quote in Staten Island accent)

Natalie: So its something you kind of have to explain to people. It’s been a very interesting process and the fact that we’ve raised $2000 astounds me, that people

Frank: That’s pretty amazing.

Natalie: Yeah, it makes you feel good about what you do and gives you hope that you can do it.

Jeff: And to answer your first question, Indiegogo is great because they take the least percentage of what you earned.  I’d say the only problem with it is that it is not as immediately recognizable as Kickstarter.

Frank: Well I think that’s because Kickstarter was the first of that kind of thing, unless I’m totally wrong about that.

Natalie: No I think they were the first ones.

Jeff: They were the first one to go ya know.

Frank: Viral?

Jeff: Yeah, whatever that means.  It’s like Kickstarter is like Starbucks…you could see a store that says coffee and if it’s next to a Starbucks, it’s like Coffee whatever, Starbucks,
I know they coffee.

Frank: And I know what their coffee tastes like.

Jeff: Exactly.  But yeah Indiegogo is cool. Everything makes sense on their site.

Natalie: I think one thing that we did differently than a lot of the bands and people we’ve seen use it is that we set it up so that it’s more of a pre-order. It’s not so much of a
“oh donate to us.”

Frank: So we can do this

Jeff: Or else it won’t happen.  Because it’s going to happen anyway, we just figured, it would help us get a jump start on it if people can help put money down on it.

Natalie: Yeah, because it’s done. We’ve already put in all the money to record it. A lot of bands will have an Indiegogo to fund the entire project. We already did that.

Frank: We just want that wax baby.

Natalie: Yeah, we set a really high precedent getting our first EP done to Vinyl.

Jeff: And know we’re broke.

Natalie: We probably should do that again for the record. It probably deserves that.

Frank: Cool, cool.  I personally know some roots about this band, but for the people who will be hearing about you for the first time, just throw me a little bit about the background of how Dollys came to be and what has guided you to where you are now.

Jeff: Oh man. That’s all you dawg.

Natalie: So we were recording a record as Green Paper and things weren’t really panning out the way that we wanted them to.

Jeff: There were a lot of differences creatively.

Natalie: A lot of creative differences, arguing about where the record should have gone. When you’re in a band and not everyone has the same goals, obviously at some point you’re going to have some differences that aren’t going to be fixed. So, Eric, who was engineering the record, and was our close friend at the time.

Jeff: He’s a sick bass player.

Natalie: He’s a sick bass player and an awesome musician.

Jeff: He gets along with us really well, and it seemed like the logical choice.

Natalie: And it was the right thing to do. We were like “hey do you want to start a band?”  We really wanted to take this band in a different direction than Green Paper. Green Paper was a lot more Garage Rock, kind of psychedelic elements and we kind of wanted to do this very poppy but still a little modern interpretation of the Beatles and the Beach Boys.

Jeff: I think the Garagy kind of feel to it was mostly just inexperience, ya know?  I had never recorded actually, and then when we started doing Water I was like “I kind of get like a good feel for this, I want to work with someone who can translate my terrible ideas.”

(More good time hang laughs)

Frank: I don’t know if I’d call them terrible.

Jeff: Well, like weird like “I want it to sound like trees shaving” ya know what I mean?  I want that to actually make sense to someone and Eric for some reason seemed like the logical person, probably because he’d be like “whatever dude, I’m just going to make it sound good, okay?” But yeah, it was a long weird trip in Green Paper. We didn’t try to do anything too poppy, we just wanted to write a really good record that felt right and made people happy instead of sad, that’s kind of what we shot for.
Frank: I mean I loved “Fire” (Green Paper full length) and I enjoyed the singles and stuff, and then I heard the Dollys EP and when I heard it, it had this chilling feeling because it was something that felt familiar, but there was also this kind of fire (whoops) behind it, like this is born out of the ashes of something else and we need to do this.  It had that sense of urgency to it, and it was really cool.  You can feel the emotion that was put into that record.

Jeff: It was a bummer.

Natalie: Having Green Paper break up was probably one of the worst things that ever happened to me.

Jeff: It was one of those things where the band falling apart was pretty sour…it was one of those things that you have to be devastated and not let anybody know.

Natalie: But because of that happening, now I am a much happier person.  I love the music that we are making and I’m so excited for the future.

Frank: That’s where it’s at.

Natalie: Yeah.  For us to get to this point, that had to happen.

Jeff: I don’t even like music.

(Insert you know what goes in the parenthesis here)

Natalie: Just end the interview with that.

Jeff: My boss says that all the time and he owns a music store.

Frank: Soooo you kind of covered this partially in what we were just talking about, but is there a general message you are trying to send as Dollys, or with this record…

Jeff: 4:20 weed everyday. Just kidding. I don’t know. What message did the Beatles send?

Natalie: Peace, love, understanding?

Jeff: Not even, because like John Lennon beat wives.

Frank: I love John Lennon as a songwriter.

Jeff: Oh hell yeah.

Frank: But everyone is always like John Lennon, Hair Peace, this hippie man…back in his Liverpool days, you cross him the wrong way, that guy would fuck you up.

Jeff: Yeah.  But, umm, I don’t think we particularly have a message yet?

Natalie: I think that one thing we’re trying to bring back is

Jeff: Is write good music?

Natalie: Is getting back to this idea of great songwriting or just always trying to write the best songs that you can and this idea of real musicianship again. Having pop music not be the thing that people think about and be like “pop music sucks” because it’s bad or because it’s easy or because it’s not technically difficult because those things don’t equate. Like we’ve all heard “I Want You Back” and that is CRAZY! From start to finish I’m like “what’s happening?!?” ya know?

Jeff: One time I was working at a place and this guy came up to me and was like “I really like Lady Gaga” because this one song she used a diminished chord.  And I was like you could use a diminished chord any fucking time you want, you just got to do it right. And fuck you because you’re stupid.

(Beer belly laughter)

Jeff: I mean, I think that being in the right band and having the right attitude and being cool is important and is something you should work on.  And ya know, playing your instrument well and being able to shred the gnar is important and you should practice that, but I think the most important thing, and this is time tested and proven, is just writing songs that are good.  And are approachable but not fucking lame, like Monkees or something. Even though the Monkees are cool now, back in the day they were not because they were so bubble gum.

Frank: Okay, I’m almost done here. Have you figured out where/when you will be doing the listening party and release show or anything like that yet?

Jeff:  I think Eric did, but we have no idea. We were actually doing interview questions the other day and Eric was saying that we should probably do some of this stuff early 2015.

Natalie: Uh, yeah, we’re timing how it’s going to take it to get mastered and pressed so we’re either thinking early 2015 or towards the end of 2014.

Jeff: And really the most important thing is making sure that everyone who is invited to the listening party can make it.  Because that would be really stupid if they couldn’t.

Natalie: Listening party is at Lake House. Release show is probably going to be at the
Court Tavern.

Jeff: It makes the most sense for us because that’s where I feel like people know us from since the Beach Boys cover set.

Frank: Which by the way that was fantastic. Actually, lets talk about that a sec. What was it like paying tribute to a band that you love so much?

Jeff: It was great.  It was really hard.

Frank: Now I love my fair share of the Beach Boys. I’m definitely not on your level but...

Jeff: We’re stupid about it. I’ve read stupid books on Amazon, like this book is stupid, but I should read it anyway.  I’m sure there’s some information in it that’s important.

Natalie: We had a really great time.

Jeff: It had it’s ups and downs practicing it.

Natalie: For me personally, at that point in time, I was still a little unsure of myself vocally. The transition between Green Paper and Dollys was partly me becoming more of a lead singer and there was still a lot of confidence issues I was tackling in doing so, but that Beach Boys set made me practice, practice, practice on vocals, so much that it made me so much more confident in our own material, singing backups, singing leads, whatever it may be, and playing the drums.  So it really helped me personally.

Jeff: I had more fun fucking up those songs, than fucking up any other thing.  It was like really fun just being like I practiced this for three months which is waaayyy more than I’d spend writing everything.  And then you know I just go on playing “Good Vibrations” and I’m like a whole step off and everyone’s like “Hello” and I’m like “Yeaaaahhhhh” and then all of a sudden I snap into it and I’m like, oh I can actually hear my guitar now, the cymbals have died out, oh I’m totally wrong, cool, this is the last part of the set and I blew it.  And I just found it hilarious instead of like panicking and being like “god you’re awful.”  It was a fun show.

Frank: Jeff, Natalie, thank you for your time.  It’s been excellent to catch up with ya.

Dollys  Band Site
IndieGoGo  Donate Here

Holy City Zoo's Frank De Franco Reflects on his Personal Favorites of the Year 2013

After a few years of posting our annual personal "best of" lists. We decided to do something a little different by enlisting some of our favorite artists. Asking them about what moved them in 2013. The releases, the bands, the shows? There were no real boundaries set. 
"Got a ten best list for us? That's fine. Thirteen? Go for it." At the time, I honestly wasn't expecting many returns. Let alone, detailed lists with personal stories and well searched links. The overall diversity was overwhelming yet welcomed. In order to refrain from overwhelming anyone with an endless list of lists. I decided to break them up a bit and filter the posts. Thanks to Frank and everyone who took the time to put together and ultimately share their favorites. Happy New Year. James Damion

Holy City Zoo  Bandcamp

Hi. I’m Frank DeFranco. "I dig music."For the past several years I’ve played guitar and sang in a band with some of the best friends I’ve ever had called Holy City Zoo. I now also play guitar and sing in a another band called NGHTCRWLRS,

comprised of people I’ve became friends with through playing shows together with Holy City Zoo and their existing/previously existing bands.  Below is a list of my top 9 (nine is my favorite single digit number) releases of 2013.  No specific order.  
All excellent listens (I’d say “scout’s honor” but I was never a boy scout).  I don’t know everything there is to know about music (no one does), but I do spend a large amount of time every year exploring the realm of “new releases.”  
I’ve been fortunate enough to have played, or at least seen live a number of the bands in this list, all experiences I will never forget.  Enjoy (or don’t and hate my guts for wasting your time)!

AM by Ovlov (Exploding in Sound Records)

Ovlov’s debut full length AM has no weak points.  Period.  Although they are commonly bucketed with many bands that are playing a “90’s revival” type sound, they are so much more than that.  Every song on this record is a well-crafted alternative rock track.  It’s a lo-fi, noisey, catchy, emotional, power-packed record made by a band of three biological brothers – and that’s not the only way in which this record is a “family” effort.  Featured on this record are multiple members of the Exploding in Sound family including Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz), Andy Chervenak (Grass is Green),
Devin McKnight (Grass is Green, Badknight), and Michael John Thomas III (Grass is Green, SuperVolcano).  The record was also produced, engineered & mixed by M.J.T. III.

http://ovlov.bandcamp.com/album/am

m b v by My Bloody Valentine (Self Released)

22 years after releasing the legendary album Loveless, one night sitting in my house, my facebook newsfeed blew the fuck up about the new My Bloody Valentine record being released. There was no press hype or any of that…they just kind of dropped it on the public out of nowhere. The surprise turned out to be one of the best of the year. The songs flow and drift as spacey moving passages, creating melodic walls of noise that are undeniably beautiful. 
 This record caught so much hype and has had a bagillion reviews written by a lot better writers than myself, so it’s really hard to say something that hasn’t been said about this album. All I can say is that you are doing yourself a complete disservice if you don’t check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBKjhgHGVZs&list=PLV5Dj2xlNnONJWlHRLnxoEDHp89rKoNpO

Days Are Gone by Haim (Polydor Records)

One day I was walking around Hoboken on my lunch break and was chatting on the phone with my band mate Joe about random HCZ things we needed to do and mid conversation he asked me if I had ever heard of a band called “Haim.” 
 I told him no. His immediate response was “DUDE! Okay picture this…80’s styled pop music with 90’s R&B styled vocals with 2000’s production…and they play their own instruments.” Obviously I had to go and listen to this immediately when our call ended. Joe’s description = spot on. Three sisters from Cali, totally killing it. Every song is so damn catchy, I’m constantly flip flopping on what my favorite song on the album is. Easily my favorite pop record of 2013.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh_CcrUQiDU

New Colors by ex wife (Evil Weevil Records)

This New Brunswick, NJ based band is one I’ve been following for some years now. After evolving from a two-piece band to a three-piece band, releasing several EPs and exploring their sound stylistically, New Colors is ex wife’s most mature release to date. This record in specific, shows a much stronger 80’s indie alternative influence that was not shown as much in their past releases. Also what is interesting about this record is that the bass riffs shred quite thoroughly throughout the record, carrying many of the songs, while the baritone guitar and vocals create a spacious wall of sound, all while locking into driving, perfectly fitting drum beats. These things, along with the way the bass and baritone guitar harmonize with one another, 
ex wife have surely found their sound with this record. The record was also recorded by the band’s own Nick Bolton. Can’t wait to see what they got up their sleeves with their next release.

http://exwife.bandcamp.com/album/new-colors

Sunbather by Deafheaven (Deathwish Inc.)

Without question this is the most brutal record on this list. Typically I’m not really into the whole death metal thing (I tend to prefer old school thrash metal), however this record blew my fucking lid off. Sunbather takes metal to a place that I’ve never heard it been taken to before. The only way I can really describe them is that you should imagine that Explosions in the Sky took a bunch of acid, had a bad trip and decided to become a death metal band. 
 They thrash suuuupppeerr hard, but while doing so, they are playing some of the most beautiful melodic alternative/post-rock esque progressions. I’m still convinced their drummer is either a robot or from another planet, because no human should be able to physically play that fast. If you want to listen to a metal record that will be unlike anything you’ve ever heard…go listen to this record now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfbLWHT7vUU

X’ed Out by Tera Melos (Sargent House Records)

Well I got to say that it is always wonderful news when I hear that Tera Melos is making a new record. Watching them evolve from a 4 piece instrumental math rock band into a 3 piece whacktastic, psychedelic, mathish, alterna-punk band with surfer-pop styled vocals has been a complete listening adventure. This record continues the journey of 
Tera Melos seeing where they can push the limit to. Of all their releases, X’ed Out definitely contains the most traditionally structured songs they have ever released. That being said…nothing about this record is typical or traditional sounding. Although many parts in these songs may be a bit simpler instrumentally than in past releases, the band they’ve become could never have written the songs they are writing now in their past years. With this record they have truly created a unique sound of their own that has never been explored before 
(and I would love to see someone attempt to get close to sounding like it…it’s not going to happen).

http://teramelos.bandcamp.com/album/xed-out

Remember Kids, Your Pigeon is Sacred by France (Self Released)

So this is the only release in this list that is not a full length album. At the same time, I have listened to the two songs on this release more times than possibly any other songs in the past year. France, a 2-piece band from New Jersey, is everything that the Black Keys wish they could be (yes I’m going there, yes this band is that good). The first track “Big Kids” is a straight forward rock n’ roll song, pure driving, pure awesomeness. And though traditional sounding rock n’ roll songs have existed for decades, France is a breath of fresh air, purely authentic, filled with genuine angst. The second track “Honey” is a ballad. But not just any damn ballad. It has one of the most bad ass rock riffs that’s been written since the heavy rock n’ roll heydays of the 1970’s. Completely badass. Completely authentic. If you love rock music and want something that sounds familiar but totally its own, filled with passionate lyrics and an overall emotional rush, France is for you.

http://francetheband.bandcamp.com/album/remember-kids-your-pigeon-is-sacred

In Utero (2013 Albini Mixes) – Nirvana (DGC Records)

So In Utero is far from a new album. In fact, this year was its 20^th Anniversary

and is a record that dramatically shaped many things about the way I look at music.
 Nirvana is the reason I dropped the Saxophone and picked up a guitar in the 8^th grade.

Nirvana is also the only band that I have lyrics of permanently drawn into my skin (also the only ink I have in general). So when I heard this was coming out and that Albini was sitting in with the living members of the band to do a remix for 2013, I got a little bit excited. Do I like the new mixes as much as the original? Definitely not. As a Nirvana fanboy, am I totally stoked that different sounding versions of these recordings exist? YOU BET YOUR ASS I AM! Little things such as the use of an alternate take of a guitar solo on “Serve the Servants” or the originally excluded additional acoustic guitar in “All Apologies” or the extra feedback in the beginning of “Very Ape” were all things that allowed me to have a new listening experience of an album that I know better than most. Happy this made me very much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeUNepLGWaM

Dollys – EP1 (Self Released)

Okay, so I lied. There’s another EP in this list, but deservingly so. Out of the ashes of Green Paper, a band I used to love (and loved playing with) is Dollys. All I can say about Dollys is WOW.The harmonies. The melodies. Every instrument on every song. Just WOW. Melodic, psychedelic, alternative pop-rock that is sensational. Closing your eyes and listening to this EP is like traveling through a psychedelic dream. The alternating of lead vocals and their choice of melodies are near magical. The guitar solos are a journey through intergalactic space. There definitely is some kind of a throwback feel to the record, but like other records on this list with a throwback feel, it does not sound like they are trying to be another band. Instead they totally their own thing, and their own thing is pretty damn awesome. Not to mention they self-recorded, mixed and produced the record too. Dollys. 
Do it.

http://dollys.bandcamp.com/album/ep1