Just the other day I was thinking what a shame it was that Music Band had released an album a few years ago and then seemed to have vanished into the ether. Wake Up Laughing was released via Infinity Cat back in 2016 and continues to be a rather enjoyable dose of rock music that manages to be both upbeat and languid at the same time. So, it was with great surprise and delight that the band has announced a brand new single in the form of “Superstition” and a forthcoming album entitled Celebration, due out April 3rd via Dine Alone Records.

Aside from the delight that the track even exists at all, it sounds like the band isn’t interesting in repeating themselves. The track blasts off with pounding drums and crunchy guitars that give way to a joyous and wide open layer of soaring guitars and dance-y tambourine. While it’s certainly not adhering to the tenants of krautrock, there’s a wall of sound through building and repetitive elements that feels like a healthy nod towards the genre. All that’s to say, it’s a surprising new approach from the band that, personally, sets up quite a bit of anticipation for the full-length.

The official press release for the record provides some pleasant insight into the creation of the record:

Celebration stands as Music Band’s most fully-realized project to date. Where Can I Live and Wake Up Laughing were compilations of songs written over a series of years, Celebration was written in 2017 as a cohesive collection, self-produced and recorded by the band’s own Duncan Shea at his home in Nashville. The record was mixed by Grammy Award winning engineer Collin Dupuis (Angel Olsen, JEFF The Brotherhood, Ex Hex) and was mastered by John Baldwin (The Rolling Stones, Deer Tick, Jessica Lea Mayfield) at his studio in Nashville. “This album is a very clear snapshot of one year in my life,” says vocalist/guitarist Harry Kagan. “Thematically, we tend to write songs about relationships, relatable stuff, but this record is specific to my thoughts on those topics when I was turning 27. It’s interesting to see this album as encapsulating that time.”

If album release cycles are as reliable as I think they are, we should have at least one more single released ahead of the full album. So keep you ears peeled for that and the forthcoming full-length on April 3rd. In the meantime, go listen on Youtube or Spotify and follow the band on Twitter and Instagram.

Noah Kittinger has been releasing music under the name Bedroom since 2012. The recordings have always embraced a decidedly DIY bedroom recording vibe (hence, the name) but slowly grown over time to become more layered, more textured and nuanced. Starting in May of 2019, Kittinger began to collaborate with Paul Kintzing of German Error Message; another solo outfit with a deceivingly sparse approach.

“Gulf” is the third release from this collaboration (with Two and Count to Five preceding it) and serves as a wonderful confirmation that the two work extremely well together. The song itself is a natural growth in style and instrumentation for Bedroom; stretching it out to include touches of saxophone, samplers and drums – none of which would be out of place without the collaboration but presumably stemmed from working together to push the boundaries of what is normally produced.

Generally, the work of Bedroom would be firmly placed in the “Winter Music” category; as it is withdrawn, introspective and a bit quiet. With “Gulf”, not only is the instrumentation stretched into new territories but the general feeling of the music is as well, pushing the listener into more of a Spring feeling; as the introspection turns to an optimistic realm. It’s fleeting but it’s certainly there. Without more behind-the-scenes straight talk from the two of them it’s pure speculation to know what nurtured this change but it’s a welcome respite during sub-freezing days.

There’s a tricky balance to achieve when wearing your influences on your sleeve. Lean too far one way and you’ll find yourself cast as an unoriginal take on well tred territory but too far the other way may result in being shrugged off as not-as-good-as when the originator did the thing you love. The latest from Palm Ghosts finds the band walking that razor wire and finding just the right balance of instantly familiar yet notably original.

Just a few moments into “Wide Awake And Waiting” and you’ll be reminded of the likes of Joy Division, Bauhaus or The Jesus and Mary Chain (of which they have a highly enjoyable cover). While plenty of music has space-y guitars, melodic bass lines and forelorn baritone vocals, it’s hard not to instantly make the comparison when all three are presented at once. Fortunately, there’s not a lot of music being made in 2020 within this genre, so it’s instantly a highly repeatable treat to have new music incubated from a period some 30-years old.

The accompanying video is an appropriately black-and-white affair filled with glitching static transitions between a mind-numbing variety of scenes that include stop motion nature, people and places from another time, artistic squibbles, cells and even the occasional haunting specter. If you encountered this being projected at a high class art gallery, you’d sit and stare for a spell, no doubt. There’s a very subtle transition near the end that begins to incorporate color footage, hinting either at a future sequel to this piece or simply a metaphorical emergence from the darkness. Either way, we’re in.

Palm Ghosts have been crafting post-punk, shoegaze, quasi-goth style tracks since as far back as 2014 and it’s quite evident that they’ve refined their techniques quite sharply here in 2020.

Back in November 2019, Jonie reset all his social accounts and started promoting a new EP on the horizon for January 2020. The producer / alt-pop musician has made good on that promise by releasing the first of the three tracks in the form of “All the Time,” now streaming on all the obvious platforms with the second two songs coming at the end of the month.

There’s plenty to say about the blossoming Nashville Pop Scene (much of which is far better articulated by several articles over at The Scene) but I’d surmise that Jonie sits on the fringes of that scene. As exemplified by this newest track, he composes highly infectious tracks filled with joyous samples and danceable beats in a manner that you would completely expect from a “Pop” artist but he subverts that backdrop with a vocal track cut with sincere melancholy, both lyrically and melodically. Surprisingly, this functions as a means of empowering the tracks emotional impact, rather than detracting from the feel good feeling.

Jonie has had a steady stream of singles trickling out since 2017 but a more cohesive grouping of them has been rare; if not non-existent. “All the Time” is just the first peek at a more cohesive whole to be released before the end of the month and I, for one, couldn’t be more excited to hear how they all work together.

The EP release will be celebrated over at Tempo Coffee on Nolensville Road on January 18th with Patzy. Tickets are available now.