#mylingar

April 17

Mylingar — Út (Amor Fati)

Mylingar refuses to circulate any public info about band members or their locales, claiming that its version of black/death is a variety of highly occulted abstraction. This reviewer can’t speak for the music’s ability to transcend the material plane (indeed, it sounds more interested in reducing all matter to a smoking, stinking heap), but new LP Út will emerge as a material phenomenon on April 17th on Irish label Amor Fati.

JS

April 24

Lighting Bolt/OOIOO—The Horizon Spirals / The Horizon Viral (Thrill Jockey) 

Audio here.

Fans of chaotic, ecstatic, exuberant percussion will want to check out this titanic collaboration.  Yoshimio from the Boredoms hammers and croons through two cuts, spinning technological reveries in percussion, voice and synth-y keyboards, while Lightning Bolt’s Brians—Chippendale and Gibson—refract noise, punk and rock through squalling onslaughts of entropy.  Can you say “made for each other?”  Sure you can.   

JK

April 24

Tacoma Park — Baltimore (Centripetal Force)

North Carolina duo Tacoma Park have already released some conceptually and sonically interesting records (several covered on Dusted!), and here John Harrison and Ben Felton continue to blend Americana and the slightly less domestic atmospheres of the kosmiche into a brew all their own. The background on their album page suggests that this is their most focused, pared down statement yet, but sample song “Untied” confirms that this isn’t coming at the cost of the shaggy beauty of their past work.

IM

May 1

Black Cilice — Votive Fire (Iron Bonehead)

Iron Bonehead is an aptly named label, given its ongoing, boneheaded game of peekaboo with National Socialist black metal bands and listenerships. In spite of that cynical bullshit, the Germany-based label puts out some good music, and the new LP from Portuguese project Black Cilice will be bumming us out as Spring attempts to conjure life and warmth. Look for Votive Fire on May Day.

JS

Excepter — Displacer (Excepter Records)

Longtime NY noise ritualists Excepter have taken a bit of a break from the whole “studio LP” thing (the last one, Familiar, is now over a decade old!), but they’re back and time hasn’t faded their charms one bit. Just like 2019’s The Debussy EP, here they’re stripped down to just the duo of Lala Harrison Ryan and John Fell Ryan, but you’d never guess from the thick, blurry layers of sound here. Even the opening Bob Marley cover winds up sounding like nothing but Excepter.

IM

Glissandro 70 — G70 2: Bones of Dundasa (Constellation)

These tracks that Toronto daredevils Sandro Perri and Craig Dunsmuir thought were lost have finally resurfaced and are ready for exploration, 20 years after the duo dropped the original G70 record.  Prepare for off-kilter grooves and a global reflection on dance from a pair of duellists that leave no rhythm untrodden.  

BH

May 8

Sleeves — S-T (12XU) 

Audio here.

Jack Davis brought in guitarist Tara Cunningham for the last Modern Nature album, spinning out intricate dual guitar extrapolations from pulsing, droning grooves.  Sleeves is the duo project from the pair, as delicate as spider web, with whispered verses and quiet tangles of guitar sound.  

JK

Lupo Citta — Inverno (12XU) 

Chris Brokaw’s trash punk collaboration with two Minnesota lifers— Sarah Black and Jen Gori—was a 2024 favorite and this second go is even better.  Peer through the feedback and scree of “Can’t See” or pitch and roll with the dreamy corrosions of “Wandering Eyes.”  Brokaw’s never been in a bad band, and he’s not starting now.  

JK

Croz Boyce — S-T (Domino) 

Half of Animal Collective — that’s Avey Tare and Geologist — join forces in a lysergic blend of organic and electric sounds.  It’s more contemplative than recent AC releases (which at this point are not especially recent) but has a buoyant euphoria just right for the first warm days of spring.  

JK

May 15

Kelley Stoltz — If You Don’t Know Me Buy Now (Dandy Boy)

West coast garage pop’s best, most underrated songwriter is back with another set of songs, including “Competitive Bastard” with its bounding bassline and swelling choral choruses.  Stoltz will follow quickly with Fleur in June, so buckle up.  

JK

May 22

Marisa Anderson–The Anthology of Unamerican Folk Music (Thrill Jockey)  

Audio here.

Guitarist Marisa Anderson goes deep on her upcoming LP, The Anthology of Unamerican Folk Music (Thrill Jockey). After learning that Harry Smith’s final record collection was rich in music from around the world, she spent a year researching and learning the nine tunes on this LP. 

BM

June 5

Tara Clerkin Trio — Somewhere Good (World of Echo)

Sui generis Bristol act returns with only their second full-length LP (the first being their self-titled one in 2020), having kept busy with a couple of EPs. 2023’s On the Turning Ground was stellar, a ramshackle and delightfully idiosyncratic collection bringing in any number of influences, such that one could describe them in outlandish terms like “late-era Talk Talk meets baggy.” They’re also stellar live, and the title track of this one shows that they’re still relentlessly their own thing.

IM 

June 12

BIG|BRAVE — In Grief or in Hope (Thrill Jockey)

Montreal’s BIG|BRAVE are still a trio on their upcoming tenth album, but the composition of the group has shifted a bit; longtime touring bassist Liam Andrews joins them in the studio, but drummer Tasy Hudson isn’t in the credits (and nobody else is playing percussion, either). Meanwhile, Andrews, singer/guitarist Robin Wattie, and guitarist Mat Ball are all also credited with “amplifiers,” and based on early track “the ineptitude for mutual discernment” all of this adds up to the kind of beatless, heavily atmospheric waves of feedback you might expect. Staying consistent, though, is Wattie’s voice and songwriting, suggesting an intriguing new shift in their sound.

IM

June 19

Styrofoam Winos — Any River (Dear Life)

Nashville favorites Lou Turner, Trevor Nikrant, and Joe Kenkel are real good pals, and their music shows off this camaraderie.  Solid touring time in various bands and combos has solidified their sound, and these new songs demonstrate the trio’s heightened craft.  The music is robust and tight-knit, even more than on past outings.  These winos forego intoxication: they’re a get-along gang pumped full of musicianship.

Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE & SURF GANG — POMPEII // UTILITY (10k / Tan Cressida / Surf Gang)

Who picked it? Ray Garraty

Did we review it? No.

Tim Clarke’s take:

I was bracing myself for the possibility of receiving hip-hop again in the Mid-Year Exchange — and boy is this a big ol’ dose of the stuff! Running to 33 tracks and over an hour, POMPEII // UTILITY is a grimly lit hall of mirrors, every surface cracked and smeared, with MIKE as our mumbling guide for the first half and Earl Sweatshirt for the second. Production from Surf Gang is minimal and repetitive, comprising trap beats, window-rattling bass, slurred bars, interjections of “Surf Gang, bitch!” and “Surf Gang, baby!” plus lo-res sound effects such as police sirens and breaking glass. Sometimes you can catch phrases in the lyrics that cast some light on the persistently dejected tone, such as “Come from violence, nothing pure” (“Shutter Island”) and “All I remember is pain” (“Kirkland”). There are sporadic moments of brightness amid the gloom, such as Amysia Kym’s guest vocal on “NOT 4TW,” comparable to the way Martina Topley-Bird counterbalances Tricky on Maxinquaye. In its own way it’s kind of mesmerizing, like staggering through an endless cityscape at night, under the influence.

Lyke Rayne — The Time Will Sort Ye Out (Slow Spell)

Who Picked it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? No

Bryon’s take:

Sean Conrad typically channels his energy into ambient-leaning zones, so this record that he’s released as Lyke Rayne is quite a surprise. Conrad runs the Oakland, California-based Inner Islands label and has released devotional outpourings under the names Ashan, Gkfoes Vjgoaf and Channelers for over a decade. This new direction leans heavily into British acid folk territory, with a dose of the lysergic radiance of Elephant Six. In fact, the title track gave this writer a flashback to Olivia Tremor Control’s “I Can Smell the Leaves.” Across the rest of the album, Conrad’s vibe drifts closer to the steely grey skies of the British Isles, in that it’s wistful and slightly melancholic. He plays everything on this record, save for drums, flute, and tambourine, and fills out his songs with gentle solos, understated drones, and evocative harmonies. That Conrad has shifted gears to explore more earthy territory is a good thing, and given his ambient pedigree, The Time Will Sort Ye Out is a delightfully surprising first step for him in this new direction.  

Magic Tuber Stringband — Heavy Water (Thrill Jockey)

Who nominated it? Bill Meyer

Did we review it? Yep. Jim Marks wrote, “Heavy Water is…a spring and summer record with a powerful message about the inexorability of both natural processes and the forces unleashed by the human drive to dominate nature and other people.”

Jonathan Shaw’s take:

For a record the concept of which is such a complete bummer (see the extensive background essay at the Bandcamp page, too much to unpack here), Heavy Water is often quite gorgeous to listen to. A related bit of complicating context — for me, at least — is Magic Tuber Stringband’s active identification with freak folk, a subgenre I have almost always found portentously self-stroking or irritatingly precious. Either of those qualities could have defeated this record, but neither applies. The music is serious, but not didactic; frequently pretty, but always somehow raw. Check out “Scintillation,” which keens and moans for about a minute and a half before turning to brightly plucked movements that sound the way eddies in a stream look. That song empties into “Blooms in the Rapids,” which evokes Fahey’s emotive and downbeat playing but also retains signs of the brightness and liveliness implied by its title. Heavy water, indeed; still, the music flows. My favorite song here is “Tribute to the Angels,” which toggles between bowing and plucking that flirt with dissonance and moments of near weightless beauty. They buoy you up.

Mylingar — Út (Amor Fati)

Who nominated it? Jonathan Shaw

Did we review it? Yes, Jonathan said, “The seven tracks are cataracts of sound: the guitars and the voice are horrid, howling rushes and runnels, shaped rather than played.”

Ian Mathers’ take:

Metal is a form that accepts everything from stuff one tiny step away from basic hard rock to some of the most extreme music out there. And Út is the kind of record that can make those on its wavelength want to scream “death to false metal” upon hearing anything less relentlessly, monolithically scouring than it is (so... the vast majority of the genre, then). I am not typically much of a black/death metal listener (doom is often, literally and figuratively, more my speed) but when a band like Mylingar pushes their sound so far into the red it feels this perversely good, I wonder why that is. Even as you do hear the traditional blast beats, intense riffing, “cookie monster” growl screaming etc., the result still edges over closer to something like harsh noise wall at times, give or take an occasional discernible riff. It’s basically a 45-minute tone piece, and I can’t imagine being able to pick out one song versus another, but it’s also tremendously bracing and cathartic. I have not yet listened to much 2026 metal, but I agree with Jonathan’s review: I will be surprised if there’s another new release I wind up liking more.

Ratboys — Singin’ to an Empty Chair (New West)

Who nominated it? Alex Johnson

Did we review it? Nope.

Ian Mathers’ take:

Chicago’s Ratboys have been doing this for a while now, but with their sixth record they manage a couple of impressive balancing acts. Part of it is in their sound, which at various points flirts with alt-country, power pop, indie rock, even a bit of jam band-style sprawl, without ever losing the plot or feeling disjointed. Part of it is the subject matter, directed at and about a family member frontwoman Julia Steiner is currently estranged from. It would be easy, when writing from the middle of that situation, to either not have anything to express but distress, or to succumb to the temptation of inventing some conclusion. Singin’ to an Empty Chair resists all that, though, and wears its sincere emotions lightly even when things are getting darker. It’s nuanced and resonant instead of heavy or overly dramatic.

R.E. Seraphin — Tiny Shapes / A Room Forever (Take a Turn)

Who Picked it? Alex Johnson

Did we review it? No, but Alex said of Seraphin’s 2024 release Fool’s Mate that “for all the robust buzz of music around him, here Seraphin’s lightly-fuzzed words always stand out.”

Bryon’s take:

Ray Seraphin is a mainstay of the Bay Area’s lo-fi jangle pop scene, which orbits around the prolific Paisley Shirt Records label. Here, Oakland imprint Take a Turn has collected two Seraphin-helmed gems and draped them across a single slab of vinyl. The Tiny Shapes mini-album and A Room Forever EP are dynamic vehicles on which the musician flexes his power pop chops. The former focuses on jangle and chug, while the latter introduces a dreaminess that wraps around Seraphin’s Jim Reid-like voice.

There’s a variety on offer that highlights the elastic boundaries of the genre. Across the two releases, Seraphin deftly navigates a spectrum that spans the urgent, rhythm-centric jangle of The Feelies, the abrasive textures of The Dream Syndicate, and the melancholic romance of The Smiths. Contributions from a full band line-up of Bay Area rockers fill out the songs, especially the tight timekeeping of drummer Phillip Lantz. For those enamored with the new resurgence of power pop vibes emanating from the likes of Sharp Pins, this record makes the West Coast’s efforts known.

Setting — S-T (Thrill Jockey)

Who picked it? Christian Carey

Did we review it? Yes; Christian said it “feels like a super group meeting… engaging from start to finish.”

Tim Clarke’s take:

There’s a wonderfully rolling, glowing quality to Setting’s self-titled, which brings to mind Totality, last year’s excellent collaboration between Natural Information Society and Bitchin Bajas. The combination of banjo (Nathan Bowles), synths (Jaime Fennelly), and drums (Joe Westerlund) doesn’t necessarily come to mind as a natural instrumental fit, but it all ebbs and flows beautifully. The acoustic sounds create a three-dimensional space that’s expanded and populated by other layers, such as metallophone, zither, percussion, and tape loops. The five tracks stretch out to seven, eight, even eleven minutes at a time, sequenced smartly to make the journey as smooth and immersive as possible. There’s even some moments when the trio gets surprisingly funky, such as the synth bass and organ blasts on “Gum Bump.” I’m delighted I was allocated this album in the draw — it’s definitely among the best instrumental records I’ve heard so far this year.

Kelley Stoltz — If You Don’t Know Me, Buy Now! (Dandy Boy)

Who Picked It? Jennifer Kelly

Did We Review It? Yes. Jennifer Kelly said: “His songs bounce and groove with garage band light-hearted-ness…It’s a good one, maybe a great one, which is no surprise at all.”

Alex’s take:

It really is no surprise to find that Stoltz’s latest is poignant, buoyant, and crammed with ecstatic jams. “Compeitive Bastard” sets the tone with a bumping rhythm and chiming, dissonant flourishes. It’s a funky, rueful and telling look back from a lifer who “don’t work for exposure anymore.” What a thrill to hear Stoltz embrace that he’s both “too old for competition” and, per the Paul Westerberg-ish “Come on Spirit,” “just a leaf on a river called destiny,”and wear it lightly, triumphantly even. The delights are many. For instance, the whistling on “Repercussions” that’s as jaunty as it oughta be over vibrant drums and a rubbery, woodpecker bass, or the almost tossed off “shala-lala-lalala” complimenting “Daughter of the Golden West”’s bright, crystal guitar bursts. Stoltz isn’t lying on “Look Again” to “guarantee you a real good time.” I hear Semisonic and The Cure on that track’s devouring, sprightly jingle. I also hear the latter on my favorite song here, “Not Gone,” where Stoltz leaps into a joyful, romantic momentum on crumpled bass and escalating guitar. It’s a jangling, sky-high gem that Stoltz keeps stirringly human with his understated, multitracked vocals. “One family to hold me/one muse that still controls me/ten friends who really know me/keep pushing me on.” Who could ask for more?

Winged Wheel — Desert So Green (12XU)

Who nominated it? Bryon Hayes

Did we review it? Yes, Bryon wrote, “The swirling juggernaut is now balanced by steamy jet streams and vaporous vortices. The textures are still thick, but not overly dense; you can discern shapes in the mist. The daydream nation is still thriving, but it’s embraced ambient drift and a variety of sonic signifiers.”

Bill Meyer’s take:

Winged Wheel got its start as a COVID-era remote collaboration, but Desert So Green, their third album, follows episodes of touring, writing and recording together. Presumably consensus has been achieved, as this album feels like a medley of Whitney Johnson, Steve Shelley, Matt Rolin, Lonnie Slack, Fred Thomas and Cory Plump’s shared affections. One hears a Joy Division bass line here, a Wire guitar lick there, some 4 AD shimmer and of course signature sounds from the participants’ constituent projects. It’s so easy on the ears that this writer would never ask you to turn it off, but nothing sticks; this music feels destined to fill out playlists named after other bands.