Our Next Movement – 119 (2016)
Talk about variety! On their new record 119, Valencia’s Our Next Movement are jumping from style to style...
JAZZY AND WACKY
LITE – Cubic (2016)
In their 14 years of existence LITE have always been good at doing something new on each release; using different instruments, adding a sprinkle of other genres one wouldn’t normally associate with them and generally keeping things fresh. Yet they always seems to maintain a mix of clean guitar twiddle and filthy funk rhythms that is theirs alone.
Abelia – Inked (2016)
Inked is the first effort from Dallas band Abelia. A suite comprising eight high energy but soulful groovy math rock tracks, the debut parades an array of moods, from the upbeat vivacious 'RE:Gust' to the powerful and climactic closer 'Fruit Salad'.
Chung Antique – Artesian Swell/Norse Code (2016)
Chung Antique's new release Artesian Swell/Norse Code entices with rhythmic impulse and melodic permutations. On this follow-up to full-length Sweater Weather, they embodying the spirit of the west-coast math-punk underground, by way of Minneapolis-tinged '90s alt-riffs, weaving and swerving their way into a fresh take on a changing form.
Strobes – Brokespeak (2016)
A good jazz record is much like a David Lynch film, the complexity keeping you in a state of bewilderment but the substance compelling enough to retain your curiosity. It was clear from the outset that Strobes was to frequent the union inside the complex/compelling Venn diagram, as the band slowly released teaser tracks from what would be their debut.
Kjjjjjjjjj – Kjjjjjjjjj [2016]
For a band whose name appears to have come about as the result of an accident with a...
pfaff – p[retty] f[lippin] a[wesome] f[rickin] f[riends] (2016)
p[retty] f[lippin] a[wesome] f[rickin] f[riends] is the quirky debut from new EP new Manchester conjoined triplets
pfaff, recorded by Cleft expiree John Simm.
Nojikas – Disintegrations (2016)
Brexit. Auto-tuned vocals. Atheists who think they are God's gift to rationality. People have honk their horn for more than one second duration. People who always use superlatives to describe things or events. People that write 'your welcome' when they post something on Facebook, as an presumption that they need to be thanked for their revolutionary and zeitgeist-altering...
Doom Salad – Further, Unafraid, Into the Light (2016)
One would find it hard to argue that experimental-math-jazz oddballs Doom Salad aren't dedicated. Since 2013, the band has been birthing a progeny of (good) EPs dating back to 2013, about 1.5 per year by our count. As step up to the plate with their first full-length, Further, Unafraid, Into the Light, it would seem that their fecundity knows no limits.
Gridlock – The Cosmic Web (2016)
We have 15 seconds to takeoff, then Gridlock launch us into space. From the Moon we travel to a triple-star system almost 24 light years away, where we explore the sonic landscape of Planet Lush – which apparently is populated by intelligent MIDI-controlled synthesizers.