Newer Music:
Beach House : Once Twice Melody
In the last installment of WILTTW, I effusively praised the new double album by Big Thief entitled Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You and stated that it was likely that the inevitable Album Of The Year had been released in February. Perhaps the greatest challenger to Big Thief for that AOTY honor will end up being another February release album–the equally impressive double album Once Twice Melody by consistently excellent indie institution Beach House.
Released on streaming services the past few months as four “chapters”, the final installment arrived in time for physical copies of the album to hit the record shops last month. Now eight proper albums into their celebrated catalog, Maryland duo Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have somewhat surprisingly managed to reach a likely career peak with Once Twice Melody—surprising mainly because they have been so good for so long already! At 18 tracks long, the double LP is an objectively impressive and substantive composition and accomplishment. What leaves the biggest impression, however, is just the overwhelming number of near perfect indie dream pop songs overflowing from this masterpiece. Highlight advance single New Romance will almost certainly end up as one of my favorite tracks of the year.
Standout Tracks: New Romance; Once Twice Melody; Superstar; ESP; The Bells; Over and Over
Spoon : Lucifer on the Sofa
Britt Daniel and his Spoon bandmates have been churning out first-rate rock and roll music for over 25 years now and are arguably the best American indie rock band during that timeframe. Lucifer on the Sofa is the 10th full LP by the Austin, Texas group and is somehow surprisingly strong. In a time when it especially easy to begin to tune out legacy guitar bands like Spoon, it was genuinely refreshing to find this latest Spoon LP to be as energizing and revelatory as their earlier breakout albums from the 00s. One of my favorite live music experiences was enjoying a Spoon hometown show from backstage at the Stubbs BBQ outdoor amphitheater soon after the release of their 2014 record They Want My Soul. Let us all adequately appreciate that this consistently awesome band keeps doing their thing at such a high level.
Standout Tracks: The Hardest Cut; Wild; Held; The Devil and Mister Jones; Astral Jacket
Nilufer Yanya : Painless
The young, exciting London artist Nilufer Yanya continues her ascent to the highest echelons of indie music stardom with her second full LP Painless released this month. Spotify describes Yanya’s music as “continuing to merge yearning indie pop/rock with soul, jazz, psychedelia, and more.”
After a series of well-received early EPs, Yanya broke through with her 2019 debut record Miss Universe. Excellent 2020 EP Feeling Lucky? kept her relevant through the pandemic as an appetizer to this latest album. Highlight track midnight sun is a perfect example of Yanya’s charm and appeal—intoxicating vocals, inviting production and instrumentation, a moody vibe that leaves the listener wanting more of whatever she’s putting out there.
Standout Tracks: midnight sun; stabilize; the dealer; L/R; anotherlife
Khruangbin and Leon Bridges : Texas Moon
Fellow Texas music acts Khruangbin and Leon Bridges follow up their fantastic 2020 EP Texas Sun with a darker, sexier companion EP Texas Moon. It continues to be a rewarding listening experience to hear the melding of both artists’ strengths, Khruangbin’s funky instrumentation and Bridges’ soulful vocals, into a result that is even more than the sum of their quality standalone parts. Texas Moon takes a listen or two to full reveal itself, but quickly turns out to be every bit as good as its predecessor.
Standout Tracks: B-side; Mariella; Doris; Chocolate Hills; Father Father
Widowspeak : The Jacket
The Brooklyn-based indie duo Widowspeak has been putting out underrated, understated indie rock albums for over a decade now. Spearheaded by Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas, the project is one of the primary acts recording on the quality Brooklyn indie label Captured Tracks. Hamilton’s dreamy vocals and inviting songwriting combine with Thomas’ warm guitar work to create accessible, appealing acoustic rock to soothe in these turbulent times. I dare the reader to listen to lead single Everything is Simple and not be charmed immediately.
Standout Tracks: Everything is Simple; The Jacket; While You Wait; Salt; The Drive
Shout Out Louds : House
I’ve been enjoying the genuine, uplifting indie rock of the Swedish band Shout Out Louds for almost two decades now. Merge Records just put out their latest record House with more of the same well-meaning, quality music from these unassuming underdogs. They are so consistently good and continue to fly so far below the radar that they risk lulling the indie music scene (and even their fans!) to sleep, or to complacency at a minimum. Neither scenario does justice to this great band.
Standout Tracks: Sometimes Sometimes; As Far Away As Possible; Sky And I (Himlen); High As A Kite; My Companion
Band of Horses : Things are Great
After the considerable success of their first two albums, their 2006 debut Everything All The Time and the follow-up Cease To Begin released the next year, Band of Horses seemed to struggle to maintain the same level of career progression and momentum. Their latest album Things are Great is a strong collection of songs that seem likely to propel the band back into the indie music spotlight. I will always hold a soft spot for the band due to their song “The Great Salt Lake”, so it is nice to see them have a bit of a late career revival with this new record.
Standout Tracks: Crutch; In Need of Repair; Lights; Warning Signs; Coalinga
More Recent New Music Worth Checking Out: Modern Studies : We Are There; Metronomy : Small World; Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio : Cold as Weiss; Gang of Youths : angels in realtime.; Cate Le Bon : Pompeii
Throwback Selection:
Grimes : Visions
I am a member of the vinyl subscription service Vinyl Me Please and last month’s “Essentials” record was a reissue of Grimes’ debut record Visions to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its 2012 release. Highlight singles Oblivion and Genesis remain equal measures mesmerizing and powerful a decade later. The rest of the album only holds up moderately well, but the whole record was clearly extremely influential and groundbreaking in terms of how the pop and indie music scenes would evolve in the years to follow. Grimes continues to be a fascinating, must-watch artist—and bonus points to her for having children with arguably the smartest person on earth, Elon Musk. I got to see Grimes back in 2012 as part of the only S. S. Coachella Music Festival Cruise. Strangely enough, I attended a gathering of festival attendees for a game of bingo hosted by a shy, and still largely unknown at the time, Grimes on the pool deck. Yes, that actually happened…
Standout Tracks: Oblivion; Genesis; Be A Body; Vowels = space and time; Nightmusic
To listen to the standout tracks from these recommended albums, please check out the most recently added songs in the spotify playlist found below:
