For the sake of transparency, the following album will be released on yk Records which is the label that I operate, so my bias here is strong.

You Drive is a collaborative project between electronic artist Makeup and Vanity Set and sometimes-Birdcloud, sometimes-solo-songstress Jasmin Kaset. They’ve worked together in the past on various single tracks for Makeup and Vanity Set albums (see “Hand in Hand“) but this new undertaking is presented as an entirely new, unified, project.

The first track from the album, “New”, debuted on Vehlinggo, a synthwave blog known for showcasing albums that exist within the Outrun genre. The track couples the dark, often cold, electronics of Makeup and Vanity Set with the melancholy, often detached, vocals of Kaset. On the surface it would seem this would create a depressive vibe but there’s a hopeful melancholy to it. At least to my biased ears.

Judging a demo is a tricky art as you’re really listening for the potential of a song, rather than a final polished project. Sometimes they end up being better than the final product and sometimes they’re fascinating sketches of some masterpiece that follows.

Listening to the two track demo from Sunroom can yield neither of those results since we have no idea where these songs will go. What we can do is listen to them and hear a band with quite a bit of spunk and a uniquely enjoyable vocal delivery. If they can just manage to maintain that, they’ll be in a good place.

The impetus behind the four volumes of free music from Divora is both compelling and completely charming:

I am just a dude in Nashville who loves creating music. Most of the music on here was composed for the campaigns that I DM for my friends.

If you didn’t catch it, DM in this case means “Dungeon Master” – the all-seeing omnipotent narrator that directs the storyline during a game of Dungeons and Dragons. So, not only is this guy responsible for world building, character development and narrative arcs, he’s also providing a soundtrack for it.

Take your pick between storylines – Special Boy, Maternal Instincts, Born from Blood or just some General Battle Music. All of it has a nice fusion of modern electronic undertones mixed with the expected sweeping themes you’d associate with Knights, Orcs, Dragons and other medieval & fantasy elements.

It should also be noted that the music works quite well when just sitting at your desk traversing the tubes of the Internet, in search of the ever elusive Work Distraction.

“A Beautiful Noise” is the lead track taken off of the forthcoming Charlie Smyth album, The Way I Feel. It’s a collection of songs written and recorded with Smyth’s wife Kalee and produced by Andy Gibson (Hank III, Nashville Pussy) that waivers between a subdued old-school country record and upbeat Southwestern influences. During the former, there’s plenty of acoustic guitar, a bit of pedal steel, occasional fiddle and a focus on the lyrical storytelling.

“A Beautiful Noise” (and other tracks like “Shore” or “Don’t Let the Stars Get In Your Eyes“) turn up the energy a bit, showcase some horns and harken back to a time that feels more Old West than it does Front Porch strumming. Neither of those is meant to be preferential to the other, just a remark on the variety of styles contained with the record.

Smyth is also a visual artist with a body of work containing a smatter of smeared colors and indistinct shapes in a sea of textures. He’ll be celebrating the release of the record at The Local on Friday, July 13th. Let’s hope he brings the horns.

Sad Baxter’s upcoming full-length, So Happy, is due July 20th on Cold Lunch Recordings. Over the past few months, they’ve shared videos for Baby, Love Yew, Sick Outt, a 615 Sessions that includes a cover of Nirvana’s “On a Plain” and now they’ve released a video for Believe Me, another track off said upcoming album.

Stylistically, the video calls back to the bands goofier side as they act as judges for a talent show with various absurd (and legitimately funny) performances from a host of oddball characters. However, one of those characters is a vaguely out of place “beauty” queen with blue hair that just can’t seem to catch a break. It’s heartbreaking comic relief in the context of the video but, if you’ll allow me this indulgence, is also a nod to the forelorn and melancholy vibe of the band. On the whole, Sad Baxter is a Rock band (capital R) but there’s always something underneath the surface of their songs hinting towards a depressive or frustrated narrator. Maybe I’m projecting or maybe I’m reading too much into the nu-grunge style but it adds a weight to the songs that makes them much more relatable, as they seem to come from an authentic place.

I applaud the band for all the promo running up to this album and can’t help but wonder what they’ve got up their sleeve after it’s released. Four legit videos before an album release should be more than enough to have you take notice and mark your calendar for the 20th. I sure have.

When the pilot episode of Network 77 dropped last month, I was rather intrigued by the Muziekpop segment featuring the band Creamer and their performance of “Drugs No More.” The video is equal parts cheesy local broadcast and 70’s green screen effects but the song is a finely tuned gem heavily influenced by Queen. The only problem? The band seemed to be from Texas, so I couldn’t spread the gospel!

Fortunately, it turns out that the band moved here and recorded an entire album to be released… sometime. The first single is a dash melancholy, a dash earnest and entirely infectious. If they manage to put together 12 songs in this vein, we’ll have a helluva great album on our hands.