Kane Strang - Blue Cheese

Kane Strang's Blue Cheese is not a new album to us at WYMA.  We featured it last year when it was released in the artist's native New Zealand.  But despite the high cost of digital ink, and our dire financial straits due to the failure to get off our asses and engage in any activity -- such as advertising for dating sites (and some of you might benefit from that, if you know what I mean) -- that would result in the site making money, we are happy to showcase it again now that it is getting a proper release (with two additional songs) in the US via Ba Da Bing.

Strang is a Dunedin, New Zealand product, and the initial impression of his music matches expectations of the sort of guitar pop associated with Dunedin that has thrilled indie fans for decades.  But Strang's arrangements are more expansive, with increased dynamic range and adept use of synthesizers.  He layers the guitars and synths to create a full sound that encompasses the listener like a warm, melodic breeze.  In ticking the genre boxes dream pop and psychedelia have to be considered.  Vocally, Strang's baritone has an breezy, expressive, no-strain quality that makes the songs accessible and familiar.

The lasting impression is of consistent and high quality songs with bright melodies.  We think it is the sound of Spring, and we recommend it.





In addition to Kane, the credits list Ben, Pete, and Rass.  Strang will tour the US this year in support of the release of Blue Cheese.

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Future Elevators - Future Elevators

The debut self-titled album from Future Elevators makes a strong case for keeping your eyes open for new bands from, perhaps, unlikely places.  Birmingham, Alabama probably does not come quickly to mind when thinking of places to find good indie pop bands.  You more likely think of it as a place for southern rock, Americana, Gothic folk, and country rock.  And of course you will find quality music in each of those channels in Birmingham.  But multi-instrumentalist and creative engine for the project Michael Shackelford improves the city's rich musical tapestry with a brand of indie pop that takes new wave, Krautrock, folk and chart pop and gives it a futuristic but eminently ear-friendly gloss.  This album goes down easily and deserves repeats.  And if you make playlists of your music, "Modern World" will be on it.  But "Losing Sleep" and "Alabama Song" may end up being challenging for favorite status for different reasons.




In addition to Shackelford, Future Elevators are Ramy Noureddini, Robert Wason, Matt Devine, and John-Mark Dorough.  The album is out now on Communicating Vessels in CD, vinyl and digital formats.

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"Do Rite With Me Tonite" by Babaganouj

Brisbane power pop trio Babagnouj is proudly DIY and independent.  And we can only assume that they want it that way, because when you have three talented songwriters, an infectious guitar pop sound and are this easy on the eyes, I'd expect that even in these austere times in the music industry there could be a good fistfight among A&R types to earn the chance to sign this band up.  Their plans for this year include three EPs and a number of live shows (check out their Facebook for dates and venues).  Their big-hearted, big-voiced pop sound is showcased again on their latest single, "Do Rite With Me Tonight".  Love those drums!



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"Memory Man" by Juke Jaxon

A big dose of soul in a pop-rock wrapper -- to my ears "Memory Man" is a  warm breeze on a cold day, a shot and a half of whisky at the end of a long day, a hot kiss after a long absence.  The guitars have sharp edges and a big, swaggering roll at the shoulders.  The vocals tug at your heart like good soul should.

 Juke Jaxon is the provider, and based on this song the UK duo of Jack Moore and Ben Hawthorne worth keeping in mind.



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Doug Tuttle - It Calls On Me

I seems to me that there has been no shortage of hyphenated psychedelia lately.  You know, psychedelic garage, psychedelic electro-pop, psychedelic surf and so on.  And that is just fine, but then an album like It Calls On Me comes into your life, and you are reminded just what pure psychedelic music is.

A product of Doug Tuttle, formerly of Mmoss, in his second solo effort.  The record offers nine songs with folk-rock underpinnings, splashes of country, dreamy sun-baked atmospherics, hushed harmonies and the intricate layers of guitars that provide the core of psychedelic pop (yes, a hint of hyphen from me) in the '60s-'70s heyday of the genre.  You'll find a bit of Kurt Vile, CSN&Y, the Byrds, Laurel Canyon bliss, and Fairport Convention DNA here.  But the triumph here is that the overall effect isn't imitation of others, but a man telling stories in a well-mastered voice.  And for the gem of a record within the record, the three song sequence of "Falling To Believe", "On Your Way", and "Saturday-Sunday" is divine.  In fact, I've replayed it a few times writing this post.





In addition to Tuttle, the band is Justin DeArmitt, Jesse Gallagher, and for stage performances, Noah Bond.  It Calls On Me is out now via Trouble In Mind Records.

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Emotional - Ahh…The Name Is Emotional, Baby!

Brian Wakefield has been releasing albums as Emotional for a few years now.  All too quietly, in my opinion.  The dude has a way with stitching together a song that hits my musical and, well, emotional buttons in a manner that leaves me happy and satisfied.  Wakefield has been part of San Francisco's underground music scene for over fifteen years.  He is the head honcho of Death Records, and was a member of Melted Toys, as well as contributing to other projects.  But it is as Emotional that his unique and appealing brand of dream pop is best expressed.

Emotional's debut LP is Ahh ... The Name Is Emotional, Baby.  It is dream pop that begins with a nostalgic melodic base and then builds an aural collage with retro and jangling guitars, bright synths, woozy soundscapes and touches of '80s new wave, folk and California country, soul, and psychedelia.  The hooks are as smart as any to be found on the mainstream pop charts, but are surrounded by textural layers that the hired gun songwriters can't be bothered to craft and their listeners don't appreciate anyway.  It is warm, eminently accessible and relateable, and stands up well to repeated listens.  A couple of representative tracks are below, but I encourage you to visit one of the Bandcamp pages offering the album to listen to the entire album.  It might be the most consistently joy-producing set of songs you've heard this year.  If you only have time for one, I recommend "Lies".

The distribution of Ahh ... The Name Is Emotional, Baby is somewhat unusual.  Eight labels have joined together to release the album.  So you have your choice of Burger Records, Danger Collective, Death Records, Empty Cellar, Gnar Tapes, Grabbing Clouds, Little L, and Plastic Response.  We have linked several below.





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Burger Records' page for Ahh ... The Name Is Emotional Baby
Empty Cellar Records' Bandcamp page for Ahh … The Name Is Emotional Baby
Gnar Tapes' page for Ahh ... The Name Is Emotional Baby
Plastic Response Records' Bandcamp page for Ahh … The Name Is Emotional Baby

No Monster Club - I Feel Magic

Do you feel magic?  Bobby Aherne of Dublin's No Monster Club feels magic.  So much so that his new album proclaims I Feel Magic.  And how is this magic manifested?  Upbeat melodies, delightfully off kilter touches, show tune flourishes, wacky stories, good humor, and all of it packed with sonic details and colored in bright, tropical-pop tones.  Trying to isolate elements is like walking into a child's playroom filled with toy chests, drawers, and cabinets.  You open the containers finding one interesting artifact after another, showing the multifaceted interests of the (obviously wealthy and completely spoiled, but I digress) child.  But the genius of Mr. Aherne is that he puts it all together so adroitly that the finished songs virtually defy genre classification.

On "Sion" Aherne sings "I hadn't thought I'd be having so much fun...", and while it is modified by "that night" and relates to a performance at a sparsely attended gig, it is a wholly believable summation of the entire album.  Because the sense I get listening to I Feel Magic is that perhaps no one in indie pop music had more fun than Bobby in making his album.  And the result is that it is hard to imagine having more fun listening to an album.

I Feel Magic is out today via Popical Island in digital and CD formats and Already Dead Tapes & Records as a cassette.






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"Won't Go Crazy" by Kyle Forester

I was disappointed when New York's Crystal Stilts faded from the scene a couple of years ago.  But there is new hope for us fans, as member Kyle Forester has a solo album scheduled for release on Flying Moonlight Records on May 20.  Kyle also is a member of Ladybug Transistor.

Check out album track "Won't Go Crazy" below.  Acoustic guitar and synths provide a more pop feel than the denser sound of the Stilts, but it is a very engaging tune and I look forward to the album.



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Tangerine - Sugar Teeth EP

As the press has noted quite a bit lately, citrus has bountiful health benefits.  Daily doses are recommended for all who care about being healthy.  We're here to note an alternative way to bring extra citrus in your life - Tangerine.  A modest investment (as noted at the Bandcamp link below) will bring you an endlessly refilled supply of Tangerine's latest product, the four-song Sugar Teeth EP.  The record kicks off with the crunchy rocker "Tender".  Next is standout "Sunset", which artfully meshes the abandon of slacker pop with the sharp hooks of chart pop.  "Wild Heart" swaggers down the narrow path between the two in a fashion that would do The Strokes proud.  After three stylishly up-tempo songs, the EP closes with the title track, a delicate, shimmering gem that underscores the trio's depth and vision.  Citrusy Tangerine -- it will make you happy, and happy makes you healthy.  And not to offend, but a bit of dancing wouldn't hurt you in the least.

Consisting of sisters Marika (vocals/guitar/keys) and Miro Justad (drums) and Toby Kuhn (lead guitar), veterans of other bands, Tangerine was formed in 2013.  Sugar Teeth EP is out February 19, but can be pre-ordered now.





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Flowers - Everybody's Dying To Meet You

I've been among the fans of Flowers since I first heard and featured some of their demos a few years ago.  For their part, the London trio has rewarded us by getting even better on each outing.  And the proof is their new LP Everybody's Dying To Meet You.  Replete with soaring pop songs adorned with arrangements that are full, but not weighty, and deliver the perfect amount of reverb, fuzz and crunch to complement the jangle and hooks.  I expected a good album, but I think we got much more than that.

The combination of guitar, bass and drums evokes, without imitating, such worthies as Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Galaxie 500, Shop Assistants, Black Tambourine, and Cocteau Twins.  The songwriting has caught up with the promise of earlier recordings, and all the performances show increased confidence.  But what takes Flowers from "good band, isn't it?" to "shut up and listen to this" is Rachel's voice.  Impossibly high and clear as a bell, it is arresting, captivating, soothing and, to my ears, seductive.  Whether riding the uptempo noise pop or filling in the colors on a slow song, Rachel's vocal are memorable and affecting.  This is noise pop the way it should be played -- the Flowers are blooming early for Spring.

Everybody's Dying To Meet You is out now via Fortuna POP! in the UK and Kanine Records in the US.  Flowers are Rachel Kenedy (vocals/bass), Sam Ayres (guitar), and Jordan Hockley (drums).








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Under the Covers (volume 2), from Fuzzkill Records

What a great idea for the international day of love! Glasgow's Fuzzkill Records is offering Under the Covers, the second edition of covers of love/lust songs with all proceeds going to one of two charities: The Greater Maryhill Foodband; and Refugee Action.  This is an undeniably great way to freshen up some beloved love songs, with enough familiarity to tickle your memory and enough new to delight you.  Emerging young bands from Scotland (and a wanderer or two from Northern England contributed tracks.  The collection is available as a digital download or limited edition cassette.  See the Bandcamp link below for detail and a stream of the entire record.  A few of my favorites are below.









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"Faraway Island" by 23:23

Rami Vierula has appeared here as a member of indie band Delay Trees, and for his solo work as 23:23.  While the band paints in dream pop and shoegaze tones, 23:23 is a bedroom pop project Rami felt compelled to initiate to reflect his nocturnal musings.  After releasing a trilogy in 2015, Rami is back with the four-song EP To Die On A Faraway Island, which is out now via Soliti Music.  Today, we are sharing with you the stream and video for the closing track, the piano ballad "Faraway Island".  The song is available to download, and the EP can be found at the Soliti link below.







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"Something About Your Love" by Ali Robertson

"Something About Your Love" is the debut single from Glasgow-based singer-songwriter Ali Robertson.  The arrangement features piano and electronic beats underlying Ali's emotive vocals.  I think this is a talent to watch.



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Plastic Animals - Pictures From The Blackout

Pictures From The Blackout by Edinburgh's Plastic Animals kicks off with the ringing post punk guitars and aggressive bass notes of "Ghost".  And by the time the last note of the stately and grandly swelling "Holy Daze" fades, you've heard the racing Krautrock of "Colophon", the spacey dream pop of "Sigh-Fi", the moody shoegaze of "Yellowcraig", the dense post-punk guitar romp of "Portal" the wonderful, glistening grunge-pop of "Diane", the surf/Kraut/dream blend of "Demmin", and the lovely dream pop of "Burial Party".  The band labels their music 'atmospheric sludge rock', but I consider it delicious indie rock ice cream sundaes with nuts, whipped cream and a cherry.  The range, versatility and skill displayed by the band is breathtaking, and the attention to little details rewards repeated listens.  If you like your post punk a bit more on the pop side, you may find the album backloaded, but no slight to the earlier songs is intended or deserved.  For a modest price, Pictures From The Blackout delivers a lot of pleasure.

Plastic Animals are Mario Cruzado, James Lynch, Dave Wark, Ben Slade, and Jean Michel Morin.  Pictures From The Blackout is out now via Song By Toad Records on vinyl and as a digital download.







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"Someone Who'll Get It" by Highasakite

For your late night pleasure, here is "Someone Who Will Get It" -- one of those slightly dark earworms that, once heard, nestles in the folds in your brain.  You'll find yourself humming it.  It will pop into your consciousness while walking, driving, working out.  And none of that will bother you, because earworms are a very welcome invasive species.  The creators are the talented quintet Highasakite from Oslo, Norway.  The song is from their forthcoming sophomore LP, so expect to hear more from them in the near future.



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"Very Good Lock" (video) by Peter Astor

One of my favorite albums of the new year so far is Peter Astor's Spilt Milk (our feature here).  And one of my favorite songs on the record is "Very Good Lock", in which the narrator discusses the emotional walls constructed to protect himself from others.  The song now has a video, so enjoy it below.  Spilt Milk is out now via Slumberland Records and Fortuna POP!




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Dan Stuart with the Twin Tones - Marlowe's Revenge

Cutting the back story to the essentials, this is music born of hard-earned experience in alleys, foreign cities, drug hazes, the last drip of the bottle, lost love and guiltily fulfilled lust.  Hearts and minds have been broken and repaired with duct tape, spit, false hope and pretend bravado.  Sliced to the bone, Marlowe's Revenge is rock and roll, bare and bloody but showing the will to go on.  And quite honestly, we love musical moments like this.

Dan Stuart's past includes Green On Red with Chuck Prophet and Danny & Dusty with Steve Wynn, and a long hiatus from music in which the goal was writing novels (the has been published; the second may be published soon).  His current residence is Mexico where he began writing music again and hooked up with Mexico City's Twin Tones.  The result is Marlowe's Revenge, on which Stuart and the Twin Tones bring the new songs to life, in all of their ragged glory.  Guitars twang, snarl and chug.  The vocals illustrate the twisted tales with world-weary resignation.  The Twin Tones play with the assurance, verve and respect that the material demands.  Ten songs - ten musical short stories with tears and a beating heart.  At the end of 2016 there will be lists of excellent albums that may have fallen under the radar.  If you jump on this one, there will be one less regretful surprise when you read those lists.

Dan Stuart sang and played acoustic guitar.  The Twin Tones are Gabriel Lopez (guitars/bass/keys/percussion/vocals), Dario Maldonado (guitars/vocals), Enrique Casasola (drums/percussion/vocals), Julian Huerta (keys/vocals), Israel Martinez (bass/vocals), and Alex Villa (trumpet).

Marlowe's Revenge is out now via Fluff and Gravy Records in the US and Cadiz Music in the UK.





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"Good Girls" by Bad Wave

 A new tune from Tucker Tota and Patrick Hart of Bad Wave always captures our attention.  These guys have a knack for writing a chorus that makes you want to sing along and press replay a few times.  We featured "Runaway" in early January (here).  Now they are back with "Good Girls", which like the preceding song is released by 10K Islands as part of its singles series.  Listen below, and if it moves you you can capture the good vibes at your usual digital retailer.



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"L.U.V." by Catholic Action

Not to get all religious on everyone, but it seems to me that it is time for some Catholic Action.  There are no mandatory rites involved, although some may be prompted to dance, or at least bob the old noggin, to the somewhat garagey glam rock this Glasgow four-piece creates.  Their latest creation is "L.U.V.", which will be released on vinyl and as a digital download on March 18 via Luv Luv Luv Records.  This is a band that will go places -- get in on the action.



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Porches - Pool

Porches isn't a band that sits still.  Past albums have mined lo-fi guitar pop and Americana.  For their new LP, Pool, they offer accessible synth pop tunes with easily digestible melodies and sparkling hooks.  The straightforward and generally sweet arrangements are counterbalanced by somewhat denser, more complicated, and darker lyrical content, providing a multi-textured set of songs that are intellectually satisfying as well as aurally pleasing.  The vocals are sensitively delivered and bring the lyrics to life.  The overall effect is pop music that is both sensuous and cinematic.







Porches are Aaron Maine and Greta Kline.  Pool is released via Domino Record Company on February 5.

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NO ZU - Afterlife

If you've ever seen old clips of Dick Clark's American Bandstand from the '60s, you'll recall that Clark would briefly interview some of the teenagers in attendance after spinning a new song, and asking them what they thought of it.  The most typical response was something equivalent to "I like it - it has a good beat and I can dance to it".  One wonders what those interviewees, probably in their 70s at this point, would make of Melbourne's NO ZU, because NO ZU is all about the beat.  And NO ZU's beat music is earthy, exotic, sexy, inventive -- they call it 'heat beat' -- and not very much like the music Dick Clark played.

How different? I'm glad you asked, because it is time to find out for yourself.  This Friday, February 5, Chapter Music will release Afterlife, containing eight tracks of NO ZU's polyrhythmic global music, emphasizing percussion and completely club-ready.  And riding the percussion are distinctive male/female vocals, jazzy frills and funk horns.  It most probably is like nothing you've heard before, but chances are it will end up on your permanent playlist.

Of course, we wouldn't suggest you buy without trying the goods, so we've included some clips below.  And we strongly suggest the wonderfully bizarre video for standout song "Ui Yia Uia".  You may decide to buy this album just to have that song and a couple of others available for your party mix.  You won't be the only one.

NO ZU are Nicolaaas Oogjes, Andrew Noble, Adrian Vecino, Mitch McGregor, Daphne Camf, Kieran O'Shea, Cayn Borthwick, and Becky Sui Zhen.  Additional credits go to Nao Anzai, Adrian Tregonning, Sal Principato, Maria Minerva, Margarita Strateas, and Luke Hodgson, presumably because you can never have too many people contributing to your heat beat.  And given the results, who can argue?






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"Ran Out Of Love" by Paltsa-Kai Salama (free download)

We've been happy to feature the recordings of Finnish band Black Lizard on several occasions (features for Solarize, and self-titled debut), as we are fans of their brand of psychedelic shoegaze.  But today's post is to introduce the solo work of one of Black Lizard's members, Paltsa-Kai Salama.  As is the case with Black Lizard, Salama is signed to Helsinki label Soliti Music.  His first single is "Ran Out Of Love", and it reveals a very different approach than Black Lizard.  A sunny, upbeat acoustic tune with a '70s country-influenced approach that may remind the listener of The Grateful Dead, it has been one of my most pleasant discoveries of the week.  And it is available as a free download.  Life is good!




And for those of you who are hungry, here is a link to a video of Salama demonstrating how to cook a vegan "ham" with "Ran Out Of Love" as the soundtrack.  Of course, you could cook the dish without the song, but why would you want to do that?

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Soliti Music page for Paltsa Kai Salama