Today's Hotness: Night Dew Call, Katie Dey, TV Wonder

>> We love encountering evidence of the universality of indie pop, identifying acts from around the world mining the sounds of Anglophilic '80s guitar pop. That the "cause" side of the equation has traveled far and wide perhaps shouldn't be surprising any longer in our Internet-connected age, but the "effects" thrill us nonetheless. The very location of a band can seep into its interpretation of the form, and in sometimes subtle and effervescent ways complement the timeless aspects of the little genre-that-could. Be it in sound, language, spirit or even general enthusiasm, when it is good it is icing on the cake. Which is why recent digital singles from young Ukrainians Night Dew Call have caught our collective ear. Straight outta Pobho, the dreamy and twee four-piece craft dancey, clean and crisp singalongs for late night bar crawls amidst the open-collared breeze, as in its tune "Someday." "You'll see me around someday" promises a pleasant mid-range singer (in perfect English, we suppose it is worth adding for our lyrically fixated readers). The bending "ohs" and the earworm guitar line that opens the tune recall touchstone acts like The Smiths to some degree, but the brisk pacing and relaxed but confident guitar solos suggest that this band needs no help understanding how to execute an effective entrance into a three-and-a-half minute sleeper anthem. And so bring on the Globalism, we say. Download "Someday" for any price right here; that number as well as two other digital singles from this year, "Citizen" and "Schedryk," can be streamed via the embed below. -- Edward Charlton, At Large



>> We were quite entranced by Melbourne, Australia-based electro-acoustic sound manipulator extraordinaire Katie Dey's 2015 full-length debut, asdfasdf, taking note of her stunning and original twists of melody and sound. The songs were fairly singular, offering modernist, post-pop tones and pitch-shifted vocals that sounded painstakingly crafted. Just about a year later we now have the first fruits from Ms. Dey's follow up, flood network. Due Aug. 12 via Texas-based Joy Void Recordings, the album is heralded by a brace of preview tracks: "Fear o The Light" and "Only to Trip and Fall Down Again." The tunes indicate a slightly more rockist approach when compared against last year's model, with steady drums grounding impressive and unique EQ artistry and fuzz. Still, dubbing the tunes conventional, however, stretches the definition of that word toward the breaking point. "Fear o The Light" -- seemingly a counterpoint to asdfasdf's "Fear o The Dark" -- marries white-noise beauty to a steady, acoustic guitar-led folk-rock structure before Ms. Dey sets to work shifting her lovely vocals into hyper oblivion. The tune "Only to Trip and Fall Down Again" aspires toward blooping electronica that pleasingly echoes Clicky Clicky-faves The Books at times (that's an extreme compliment from this publication, don't you know), although the rhythm tracks' organic feel is more exotica than futuristic. This reviewer is expecting the majority of music press to adore Dey's inventive release: if only the overground was routinely this exciting. Joy Void is releasing the set on Pink/Blue/Yellow/Clear, Blue/Pink or Blue/Yellow splatter vinyl, color combinations that perhaps come close to approximating the amazing and original talent cut into the grooves. Pre-order flood network right here. -- Edward Charlton, At Large



>> This writer was absolutely in love with TV Wonder's Bird Sounds EP, which was released last year by the routinely excellent Faux Discx. The short set was a highlight of a pretty cracking year, and the Dutch quartet appear to have made the most of it, garnering slots performing with American indie heavy-hitters such as Viet Cong (now Preoccupations), dream-pop delighters DIIV and the mighty Detroit four Protomartyr. On top of this, the band has recorded two new songs for a cassette Geertruida Records issued late last month. "Glazed" and "Fixed Aesthetic" continue in the vein of the Sonic Youth-inspired jams of the aforementioned EP, but incorporate a pinch of additional clarity and studio punch. "Glazed" opens with a surprisingly major-key garage shuffle before introducing the more dissonant guitar interplay characteristic of the band's music. At the eighty-second mark, the band reacquaints listeners with its post-punk gloom and tension, and it is a delight to hear once more. From there TV Wonder locks into a groove so sinister that when the song's care-free opening chords return, they're run over flat by detuned anti-solos that capture the youthful anxiety and explosiveness this band expresses so well. It's just a great steamroller of a song that makes the most of its few, simpler parts. "Fixed Aesthetic" sticks more to the gloom side of the TV Wonder coin, but, again, the combo switches gears midway to a new part that captures a dreaminess and dread reminiscent of the late, great Women, while also still having its own stark and minimalist European voice. TV Wonder are on a roll, let us all pray they don't stop. Boston fans familiar with the shoe-brand cross-marketing phenomenon Converse Rubber Tracks will be interested to know TV Wonder recorded these two tunes in a single day as part of Converse Rubber Tracks Amsterdam. Order "Glazed" / "Fixed Aesthetic" on cassette right here, or click through the embed below to acquire the digital files. -- Edward Charlton, At Large

Today's Hotness: National Park Service, Floral Print, Light Heat, Sun Gland

Ever since we turned on to the Lakewood, Ohio-based ambient/experimental concern National Park Service a couple years back, the anonymous, five-year-old act has kept us busy, releasing extensive, quality albums of atmospheric post-everything sounds that, frankly, have just stunned. The music asks more of listeners than pop music or even indie rock, so it might be more easy to take its brilliance for granted. But even so that brilliance -- indeed, we consider National Park Service the Aphex Twin of autumnal folk-drone and melodic ambience -- is underscored once more by Everyday Feelings, a recently issued, 14-track odds 'n' ends compilation of hard-drive rarities from the past year. The collection commences with "Disillusion," a bass-y synth exploration limned with a crisp live drum beat. The composition delivers listeners into optimistic head space, introduces samples of conversation, and then the piece is knocked aslant as it is run through a hi-pass filter before evaporating. The composition "I Have Not Forgotten" presents warped post-shoegaze chords that rumble in the distance while field recordings of chirping crickets and cicadas approach the top of the mix, which surprisingly approximates well the experience of standing in a muggy Southern field next to a highway overpass. "Light Up" is a fully formed post-rock masterpiece of looping guitars and percussion that vaguely resembles the start-up modem sounds of yesteryear. The song packs enough dynamics and continually evolving textures to believably show up on the next Mogwai album. It's that good. Everyday Feelings was self-released as a digital download to the wilds of the Internerds Oct. 11. Stream the entire compilation via the embed below, and click through to download Everyday Feelings for any price. While you're there, be sure to catch up on the other albums as well, especially the recently released '97 Tracer (which we wrote about here) and the undisputed 2013 classic I Was Flying (which we wrote about here). -- Edward Charlton



>> Special things continue to brew in the Atlanta indie rock scene. There a wave of bands proffering mathy, punky post-pop guitar music and bent on rewriting the compositional rules ply their trade via emotive lyrics and clean, disarming instrumental figures. Scene figureheads Red Sea and Warehouse both went big in 2015 with releases that deservedly drew national attention (albeit in the underground). Cresting presently is the trio Floral Print, whose recent two-song digital single more than delivers on the promise of its entirely terrific but undersung 2015 EP Woo [seriously]. The single's de facto A-side "Running Joke" presents dizzying, chipper-to-somber tempo changes within its first minute, but the tune stays anchored to strong vocals and the side-winding melodies of guitarist Nathan Springer. Fans of the masterful post-punk mods Each Other should certainly take note, as the tune contains a similar entrancing logic. Flipside "Alice Arm" at first operates on a lopping Pavement-esque verse (think "Grounded") before interrupting itself repeatedly with dreamy post-rock interludes saturated in heavy delay moves. Both tunes evidence an act with highly imaginative, forward thinking songwriting, firing our anticipation for the planned physical release of these two cuts and possibly more soon via Philly-based tape and vinyl label Bacon Beak Records. If you're lucky enough to be in Atlanta on Nov. 21st, be sure to catch Floral Print with the venerable Swings at the Mammal Gallery. "Running Joke" b/w "Alice Arm" was released to the wilds of the Internerds Oct. 8; stream both tunes via the embed below, and click through to download the set for any price. -- Edward Charlton



>> Perhaps one day erstwhile Philadelphia psych-pop act Mazarin, which released three sparkling and wistful albums between 1999 to 2005, will garner the totality of praise it so richly deserves. That band's towering final collection, We're Already There, adhered to its own singular logic, and in doing so superseded the group's masterful, skittering guitar pop to don an elegant, velveteen shoegaze shroud. The set not only featured a Kurt Heasley (of our beloved Lilys) cameo, but also gave the then-en vogue The Shins a run for their melodically pleasant money, while paving the way for similarly inspired scene contemporaries Dr. Dog. And that's all without even mentioning Mazarin's must-own 2002 "Memories Change In Patterns" single, released on the venerable Sub Pop label. Following this fully realized run? Silence, then an announcement that the Mazarin moniker was surrendered under legal threat to a lame bar band, then a brief name-change to Black Stoltzfus, then... nothing. Mastermind Quentin Stoltzfus thankfully -- and as chronicled here in these electronic pages in 2013 -- resurfaced at long last with Light Heat, a new group featuring key members of Mazarin. As quick as the act's self-titled debut arrived from seemingly nowhere, the band receded back to the shadows, and only the rare blog post provided hope that new music from Light Heat might be forthcoming. Then, just as the aforementioned Lilys was set to launch its short strand of shows in October with support from Light Heat, Stoltzus' act announced The Silver Light Of The Late Night, a new five-song collection. The EP retains Stoltzfus' trademark meandering verse melodies and steady vocals but marry them, at times, to a more neon-lit, club-going, dream-pop aesthetic. The title track opener sets forth a mission statement, layering billowing delay guitar lines atop a ceaseless, clean hi-hat disco beat without ever sounding at all like a follower of the many other post-2005 bands that have charted a similar course. "You Know About Me" interrupts itself with handfuls of bratty garage rock chords but its angular rhythmic gallop persists throughout. "Villains" perhaps best recalls the Mazarin of old, with opening backwards guitar effects and the sturdy, folksy acoustic strums that formed the bedrock of the early Mazarin sound. The gorgeous and gauzy closer "Under The Spell" surveys the events of the proverbial and perhaps titular night, pleased with the results, though no less wistful (get the feels from that guitar solo) than ever before. It's a beautiful ending to the EP, and a reminder of what makes Mr. Stoltzfus such a special songwriter. Let's hope it is also an auspicious teaser for similarly skilled and moving work that will hopefully follow. Listen to The Silver Light of The Late Night via the Soundcloud embed below. Philadelphia fans can see the act this coming Thursday at the Boot And Saddle, when it supports a bill top-lined by the similarly legendary HiSoft. Full show deets are right here. -- Edward Charlton



>> Glaswegian noise-pop goliaths The Cherry Wave are arguably one of the most six-string-centric acts around, as evidenced by its stinging feedback and twisted, distorted chords, so the idea of a solo project from its bass player Billy may seem a dubious proposition on its face. What's this surnameless bass player got to offer, anyway? The answer, it turns out, is quite a lot. Operating under the moniker du rock Sun Gland, Billy purveys refreshingly nuanced and frenetic post-punk. Sun Gland's debut offering is a five-song EP titled Songland (get it). The music switches out The Cherry Wave's devastating feedback swells for angular jabs of minor chords and guitar lines much more in line with experimental post-punkers like Women (and its offshoot soon to be formerly known as Viet Cong), TV Wonder, The Dories and other practitioners, most of whom hail from Calgary, Canada. There is, however, just enough of The Cherry Wave's shoegaze texture to appreciate a connection between Sun Gland and its proprietor's day job. Opener "Miracle of Hate" casts plaintive, far-off vocals against piercing, overdriven blasts of guitar to summon a stunning, funereal stomp. "Glinted" opens with delicately picked, moody guitar arpeggios, but surges with a strong "folding into a light" chorus refrain. EP highlight "Chime" expands on these blueprints, but packs it into a breath-taking, punky minute-and-a-quarter blast. Closer "Ochre" plots a somber, slow-dancing approach for much of its duration, sounding like a more discordant Ride, but one unafraid to steer recklessly toward a locked-groove churn. In all, Songland is a fabulous and promising collection, and one that not only establishes a very separate realm for Billy, but also is equally impressive as nearly all of the instruments are played by just the one dude. Stream Songland via the embed below, and click through to download it for any price. It is very well worth noting here The Cherry Wave's recently issued split single with like-minded noise-poppers Airs.The release includes a brace of tunes from each act, with The Cherry Wave offering two anthems notable for actually feeling, well, relatively -- relatively -- restrained, even conventional. Opener "Still Light" is surely a paint-peeling rocker, but with a more pronounced melodic sense than we've heard from the band before; the blissfully cacaphonous "Swedger" hews more closely to the classic Cherry Wave sound. Airs acquits itself wonderfully with its pair, which curiously includes a high-octane take on the Oasis classic "Supersonic," which somehow comes off even more cocaine-fueled than the original. Stream all of the The Cherry Wave/Airs split via the second embed below. -- Edward Charlton

Today's Hotness: Flout, TV Wonder, William Basinski

>> Our last Today's Hotness focused on Art Is Hard Records' terrific spring schedule, and it turns out this post just drives the point home even further. Much is said of the sound of lo-fi indie music, but often not enough about the philosophies underpinning the stylistic choices. It seems that out of all of the thoughtful articles praising a guitar fuzz or in-the-red cymbal sound, too few ever ask why. Enter Weymouth, New York home-recorder Flout (a/k/a John DeRosso) and his new Gims cassette, which hits shelves on May 15th via the aforementioned Art Is Hard. On the hook-saturated, 11-song set (which clocks in at a leisurely 22 minutes), Flout doesn't just wrap his concise, heartfelt miniatures in the warm glow of DIY, he wears them like a badge of honor and even tells you how he pulled it off. Just look at the label's bandcamp page, where Flout's simple explanation of his work illuminates the appeal of the realism of DIY. "I wouldn't change a thing," he says of the collection. "The constant clearing of my throat, my cat meowing after track 1, the footsteps of my roommates on the hardwood floors present on many tracks, the shouts of seamen on the Titanic attempting to avoid an iceberg at the end of track 7, and all of those other 'blemishes' encapsulate the cathartic days and nights recording this fledgling body of work." Gims, we would like to think, celebrates place and setting when it comes to home-recording. It also minimizes the time between that initial bolt of inspiration for a song idea and the moment that it gets bottled up in a recording. As a result, a fresh energy is manifested in tunes including highlight "filiale," which at times sounds like a contemporary folk tune, a delicate fuzz guitar lamentation and a rhythmic incidental piece before erupting into a celebratory chorus in the final seconds. "Salad Supper" makes use of DeRosso's spot-on shaker and tambourine percussion and occasional electric guitars to nearly sound like a full band. Opener "Poor Kid" not only expertly uses that aforementioned cat sound, but also delivers a jangly, strummed verse that foregrounds DeRosso's rich and smooth baritone -– perhaps the best part of the Flout sound. Indeed, his stretched, held vowels and dejected melodies bring to mind new Clicky faves Swings, especially in their "pleasantly downcast" affectation. This reviewer will go as far as to hope it's a new underground vocal trend that might eventually replace the hollow, post-Arcade Fire "whoas" which have clogged many speakers the past few years. It certainly all feels more real, and in this genre, that’s always been the point. Pre-order Gims right here. -- Edward Charlton



>> It's no secret that we’ve been longtime fans of Brighton, England's Faux Discx label. The enterprise's consistently tasteful roster of contemporary post-punk and indie pop regularly wows, and its signing of Dutch quartet TV Wonder indicates that 2015 looks to be another great year for the label. The foursome's debut EP Bird Songs proffers high-quality, spiky and at times discordant guitar-pop; it was released as a four-song cassette and digital download March 30. The band solidified while its members booked and presented shows in Amsterdam, and in all likelihood that environment influences TV Wonder's scrappy sound, which touts a warm, analogue haze and recalls both the hey and day of alternative guitar rock. Opener "Into The Deep," a highlight of the EP, commences with an angular guitar riff that beckons the rest of the band, which dives in with a slash-and-burn skronk that echoes Sister-era Sonic Youth. The vocals of Marijn Westerlaken and Tibor Bijl charm, and carry a more natural feel than most post-punkers purvey, while their mildly accented English provides a distinctive timbre. The influence of Canadian heavies Women looms over the proceedings -- and, this reviewer can think of no recent group more worth studying -- but the Dutch four never resorts to copying. Instead, we get great dynamics, as in the outro of closer "Prime Steps," which latches on to a deep, lockstep groove. Order Bird Sounds on limited-edition white cassette with clear case (100 copies) or as a digital download right here; we highly recommend checking out the entire thing via the Bandcamp embed below. -- Edward Charlton



>> Some artists are considered one-hit wonders, still others considered to have created a defining work. And while drone sculptor William Basinski is decidedly in that latter category, we can all imagine the possible frustrations and (at the very least mental) challenges an artist can face creating work in the wake of a so-called "defining work." Which is a long way of saying, for music fans who may not have Mr. Basinski's name at top of mind, where does one go when one has created what is perhaps the defining drone release of the last fifteen years, as Mr. Basinski did with his tragic, beautiful and solemn The Disintegration Loops albums (which were reissued for their 10th anniversary in 2012). Basinski released a set in 2013 called Nocturne that somehow evaded our critical attention, but we were very pleased to learn about his latest collection, which will be issued on 180g, white vinyl May 25 by Temporary Residence, Ltd. The new set is titled The Deluge, and it includes three compositions: a title track, "The Deluge (The Denouement)," and "Cascade." A companion CD and digital issue goes by the title Cascade, comes out a month earlier, and may or may not feature a different running order -- the notes from the label are a bit confusing on that point. But one of these tracks, or at least a portion of same, was released to the wilds of the Internerds recently, and it is phenomenal. The delicate, poignant, soul-touching "Cascade" twinkles and breathes and spreads in every direction, and sounds as if it is built up from layers of short, meandering piano key caresses and buttressed with delays, reverb and natural signal distortion. An excerpt of the tune can can be streamed via the Soundcloud embed below, and purchased on LP here and CD right here. Without the tragic context that surrounded The Disintegration Loops, perhaps The Deluge / Cascade will not find as large an audience. But it is nonetheless terrifically affecting, and we highly recommend it to your attention.