A Few More New Releases!

Entering the final month of 2024, and the great new music just keeps coming--and damn, as we pivot into 2025, god knows we're gonna need a LOT of good music to survive.

Librarians With Hickeys, How To Make Friends...

The awkwardly-titled band is the enterprise of two middle-aged dudes from Akron, Ohio--so, yeah, I can relate. Their second full-lengther, How To Make Friends By Telephone, is a jangle-pop delight for people who keep the treble dial cranked all the way to the right. It's mostly bright, upbeat, power-pop-adjacent jangle which will draw the usual Teenage Fanclub comparisons, though a few tracks on the back-end add some moodier, more psychedelic shadings reminiscent of the old Paisley Underground scene.

Buy it at Bandcamp (or at the Big Stir Records online store).

Check out the outstanding opening track, "Hello Operator":

Or "No More Goodbyes":

Vanessa Peters, Flying With Instruments

I fell in love with Vanessa Peters' music with 2021's (wow, has it been that long?) Modern Age, which led me to do a deep dive into her body of work from the preceding decade. Yet somehow I overlooked her follow-up, released early this year, until just recently. Damn you, failing music press! Flying With Instruments is another round of sophisticated singer-songwriter pop, Peters adding her brutally honest, at times cynical spin to the classic women songwriters of the 70s informed by the more jaundiced eyes of 90s indie singers. The lovely guitar jangle and Peters' world-weary tone make for another collection of songs ripe for a weekend afternoon, the musical equivalent of curling up with a good book. 

Buy it on Bandcamp. 

"Pinball Heart":

"Beauty Or Grace":

Blue Zero, Colder Shade Blue

Another dose of retro-shoegaze for 2024. Colder Shade Blue is the debut from Oakland, CA's Blue Zero. Sure, you can crank it up and play spot the influences--is this a buzzsaw My Bloody Valentine riff I hear? A touch of Sonic Youth discordance? Some Ride-like psychedelic fizz?--but the songs are catchy and warmly familiar. A few break the mold, more straightforward alt.rockers, albeit still bearing a solid 90s reverence, keeping the spirit alive all these years later.

Buy it on Bandcamp.

"Broken By A Glance":

"Foot In The Grave":

And while you're here... Check out the 2024 playlist to date: