Slipped Discs July 2019

Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd

Generationals play High Noon Sept 18th

Generationals play High Noon Sept 18th

Initial Thoughts

Strong wills fill July with obstinate albums. Witness deep-sea spell-caster CARMEN VILLIAN’s instrumental voyages, “Both Lines Will Be Blue,” lush ghosts THE SOFT CALVARY’s narco-romantic anthems, “The Soft Calvary,” and gallant captains JACO’s pop-rock joyrides, “You Know.” Also digging in their heels, incorrigible alt-rock explorer ADA LEA’s panoramic, “What We Say In Private” action-packed love-cats GENERATIONALS’ glossy tumble-pop, “Reader As Detective,” and socio-political live-wires NECKING’s intentional frenzy, “Cut Your Teeth.”


Disc Reviews


Moonsign - Okay You First

Moonsign - Okay You First

Moonsign

Album title: Okay You First
Record Label: Yes Rave

Idiosyncratic dispatches scattered among huggable house, organic shape-shifting refrains and optimistic bridges, Moonsign’s symphonic flocks dot percussive pre-dawn clusters enveloping soft synth-pop centers. Compassionate sci-fi ballads and epic odes to growth hold ecological and interpersonal implications, giving, “First,” a fistful of hopeful musical utopias cradled in faith, lined with calm ethereal choruses while placid interstellar harmonies announce vigilant wind-tossed prophecies.

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Bleached - Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough

Bleached - Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough

Bleached

Album title: Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough
Record Label: Dead Oceans

Defiant irony twisting old-school crate-digging into cheeky wordplay, bratty challenges and revved interrogations, “Enough,” stuffs sleek struts, switchblade raves and California daydreams inside curt verse, short-fuse grooves and shook hooks. Churning out fully formed ear-worms storming beat-seized brains, party-crashing Bleached seeks reckless connections between indie-rock assaults and punk-pop perfection with flirtatious verve and flashy bombast re-mastered into exquisite day-glo retro.

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Joanna Sternberg - Then I Try Some More

Joanna Sternberg - Then I Try Some More

Joanna Sternberg

Album title: Then I Try Some More
Record Label: Team Love Records

Wonder and innocence surrounds Sternberg’s deceptively simple wisdom. Articulate, level-headed folk holding honest hearts to a pure light, their rare clarity warmly embraces piano-parlor harmonies and front-porch choruses. Minimal instruments bring twinkling whimsy, devotional emotions and authentic tenderness to the precious, “More,” whose unadorned charms feeds sincere needs, encouraging fair human communication and providing fearless focus in a distracting world.

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Jesca Hoop - Stonechild

Jesca Hoop - Stonechild

Jesca Hoop

Album title: Stonechild
Record Label: Memphis Industires

Traipsing in thorny fields with lantern-lit lyrics peering into family histories, “Stonechild,” rides rustic percussion over choral swarms with dainty language framing prancing enchantments and Arcadian chamber-pop cascades trotting past fascinating pagan parades. Electro-acoustic dreaminess decorates spirited philosophical operas while Hoop swoops in bewitching chills and prog-folk thrills, cross-stitching tranquil fables from mischievous melodies bending sensitive menace around maternal concerns.

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Julio Nickels - Feeling Fickle

Julio Nickels - Feeling Fickle

Julio Nickels

Album title: Feeling Fickle
Record Label: Like Literally

Deadpan sanity laid over digital glitter, Nickels dips dystopian hopes into eclectic sound events; percolating havens harboring freedom-seeking frequencies alongside disembodied observations. Passive existential happenings suggesting fence-sitting lessons, the slow and steady, “Fickle,” builds post-rock whispers from timid wizardry into royal stories patched with faded twang and masterful crackle, centerless methods yielding tenuous collections infusing genuine tension with abandoned vengeance.

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Imperial Teen - Now We Are Timeless

Imperial Teen - Now We Are Timeless

Imperial Teen

Album title: Now We Are Timeless
Record Label: Merge

Concept-pop fraught in frosted power-chords, cautious providence and brokered commotion, “Timeless,” blinds with radiant New Wave cravings wound around sultry, sugar-coated irony; sinister minor-key majesty painted in aloof brooding and kaleidoscopic bop. Princely resistance weathering post-modern regrets, Imperial Teen’s smug rug-cutters reach near-boils to ratchet passions into seething teases cooled by smooth well-oiled grooves then reheated into steamy paperback dramatics.

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Final Thoughts

From celestial-rock beacon LISEL’s glistening mid-throb, “Angels on the Slope,” to prog-operator HERON’s glorious four-horsemen scorcher, “Sun Release,” and crafty rascal KYLE CRAFT’s glam-punk razzmatazz, “Showboat Honey,” July albums tell us it’s all good. Whether giving into swanky jive ambassadors DAVINA AND THE VAGABONDS’ blues-bruised finger-popping, “Sugar Drops,” or hanging with lovesick grifters CAAMP’s riverside roots-revival, “By and By,” just let go. Consider joining scuzzy funk-bombardiers MINI MANSION’s whip-smart trip, “A Guy Walks Into A Bar,” or finding your space with sky-soaked trance-folk poet FLORIST’s acoustic guitar-fed meditations, “Emily Alone.”