With "Echoes", the second single from their upcoming album Fairweather Friend, The Umbrellas thrill us with melancholy shaded guitar pop reminiscent of The Sundays and The Popguns. But amid the jangle and regret, we note some new nuances in the songwriting and execution that has us eagerly awaiting the album.
Fairweather Friend is out January 26 via Slumberland Records and Tough Love Records.
CONO will be out December 1 via Bobo Integral, Osborne Again and Spunk Records.
Spoiler alert: The Giant's Lawn is one of our favorite albums of the year. So, on to other things.
Just kidding about the "other things", but we are quite serious about the rich musical tapestry that New Zealand's Wurld Series has dropped for our pleasure. Dipping into the well of New Zealand indie pop but expanding the palette with progressive folk, psychedelia and folk rock that will recall sounds from the UK in the '60s and '70s, the band offers spry compositions that balance light and dark, drone and twinkle, fuzz/jangle and pastoral calm. With 17 songs, Wurld Series has given themselves plenty of room to develop their ideas and cover multiple facets of their art, but nothing is redundant or overstays its welcome. The guitars are a joy throughout and the arrangements are fantastic and often fantastical.
We think this album deserves to be on the turntable of every indie fan, and it is already in our 10 ten of 2023 list.
Wurld Series are Luke Towart, Brian Feary, Ben Woods, and Ben Dodd. The Giant's Lawn is out now via Meritorio Records and Melted Ice Cream.
Tracy Wilson and Kenny Close are not strangers to the world of indie music. Tracy was in Dahlia Seed and Ringfinger and Tracy and Kenny were in Positive No. But what has captivated us this morning is the first single from their current project, Outer World. The song is "Forms of Knowing", a dreamy and insistent slice of psychedelic pop. It is taken from Who Does The Music Love, which will be out in March 2024 via HHBTM Records. We hope there are some additional singles before the album drops. We think it will be a winner!
Model Shop is Ethan Jones (vocals/guitar), Jen Fox (bass/vocals), and Kevin Emerson (vocals/drums). Check The Forecast EP is out now in vinyl and digital formats via Meritorio Records.
Proclaiming progress on self improvement, and expressing hope that the fruits will bring back a former lover, "Self Help" is the title track from the upcoming third album by Brisbane's Dumb Things. It is a terrific slice of mellow jangle that hits us just right.
Dumb Things are Adam Vincent (guitar/vocals), Madeleine Keinonen (guitar/vocals), James Southey (guitar/vocals), Andrew Robinson (bass), and Patrick Hill (drums). The album will be out in the new year via Brisbane label Coolin' By Sound.
The Band is Gemma Fleet (vocals), Chris Taylor (guitar/keytar), Andrew Doig (bass), and Gavin Murdoch (drums). As Well is out now in digital and cassette formats via Gold Mold Records.
Does Mope City make music to which you can mope? Well, we suppose you could do that. But we find their art intriguing and entertaining even when we are in a good mood. Their latest effort is Population: 4, ten tracks of jangling, twanging downcast rock that may call to mind Low, Polvo, or a somewhat deconstructed Jesus and Mary Chain. Perhaps it is the aftermath of Halloween, but more likely it is just us, but we find jangling guitars, thundering bass and gloomy vocals to be right up our alley these days. We began the day with the album as the soundtrack for our morning coffee, and we'll end it with one more spin before bed. Three of our favorites are below, and we think we reflect the range of the songs on the album. Enjoy!
Mope City are Amaya Lang, Matt Neville Shaun Donovan, and Nick Johnson. Population: 4 is out now via Tenth Court Records.
For this record Vanishing Twin is Cathy Lucas, Valentina Magaletti and Susumu Mukai. Afternoon X is out now via Fire Records.
Postal Blue is Brazilian artist Adriano do Couto. Adriano intends to release a series of singles in the upcoming months, the first of which is the two-track Chance Occurrence. The title track is a jangling gem that hits our sweet spot oh so very nicely. The second track is a sincere acoustic ballad that ably shows Adriano's versatility. If the following singles are up to this standard, consider our ears to be captured.
Readers interest in other releases from Postal Blue can check out his Of Love & Other Affections which we covered in 2015 (link).
