Top 5 albums or bands making you happy right now!
5) Billboard Heart by Deep Sea Diver For a long time I've been kind of disillusioned about capital-I Indie Rock. It was what I was primarily into during that formative 10-14 age bracket, and I think in addition to burning myself out a little bit, it was hard to follow up that golden age of Canadian indie darlings - Stars, Metric, Broken Social Scene, Tegan and Sara, the fire that shall not be named, etc. - with anything that felt as good. Cut to now and I'd heard of Jessica Dobson and Deep Sea Diver several times within guitar communities, but never really give them a due listen and, well. In my personal opinion they're single-handedly saving indie rock. This was the first record that really hit for me this year and it's had surprising staying power.
4) Take Only What You Need to Survive by Somerset Thrower I just like when it feels like 2003. 3) It's summer! It's time to listen to Charly Bliss!
2) Tomorrow Comes Crashing by Smut I've loved Smut ever since their debut End of Sam-Soon, back when their handles were smutohio rather than smutonline and they were firmly in the shoegaze/dream-pop space. The follow-up was also super solid, emotionally powerful and not as rough around the edges. But this time they've spread out in all directions - simultaneously gone heavier and brought out more straight-up classic rock guitar solos - and I think it's really something special. It feels so refined and confident and cool. I've spent more time listening to this than any other new album this year.
1 ) Liquid Mike have bewitched me completely in the last year and a half or so. If you know anything about me you know that I like hooks, I like riffs, I like Relatable Lyrics, and I like fuzz. These guys keep churning out power pop hit after power pop hit, alarmingly prolifically, and it's earned them a spot in my personal canon of favourite bands alarmingly quickly! Check out "Mouse Trap," "Wedding in Drain County," and "Groucho Marx."
