Awful Records
Danger Reality
It was bound to happen. Danger boys Louie Duffelbags and Boothlord have grown so adept at conjuring massive atmospheric hooks that at some point you knew they’d go all in and virtually forgo all else. And, indeed, Danger Reality features few distractions and detours, just one skyscraping refrain after another as Danger Incorporated continue to prove themselves some of the murkiest, most majestic melody makers in town. – GC
HHBTM Records
Roadrunners
Indomitable Athens duo Eureka California barrel through their fourth album with an iron resolve. Both Jake Ward and Marie Uhler have seen enough of the road to know just how badly their generation has been fucked, and in the face of a new Cold War, they’ve got no time for lousy friends, soul-sucking jobs, or all-dude bands. So while Roadrunners might mark the pair’s most mature writing to date, neither member has lost any of the fire that spurned their growth in the first place. – Lee Adcock
2MR
Black Box No Cops
Since Ryan Parks, aka Fit of Body, started producing techno and house-influenced hip-hop, he’s relied on a unique concept of space which permeates Black Box No Cops and leaves the listener awash in reverie. Even in a crowded club, these tracks seem to float a few feet above the dance floor without losing their substance. Sensuality and desire still exist, but are trapped in a prism which separates their essence from the physical world. As a result, the intimate lyricisms of the record are distant yet pulse with an all-encompassing warmth. – RR
Irrelevant Music
Earth Music
Of course rock and roll isn’t dead. But Flamingo Shadow may be one of the select few who can inject enough tropical rhythm and Queen-sized bombast to make the whole charade fresh AND fun again. That Irrelevant could fit so much hip-shaking verve onto one cassette still baffles this writer’s imagination; Earth Music could fill stadiums with its sublime jams. And now that our Flamingo gang have swum inside Fishcenter, rocked Athens Popfest, and grooved with the dinosaurs at Fernbank, there’s no telling where they’ll rocket off to next. – LA
Read the full review.
Self-released
Quantum Memories
Although it was initially written in 2014, Gregorio Franco re-recorded Quantum Memories early this year and infused the record with both aggression and nuance. Unlike many recent synthwave releases, the album is more thematic than bombastic, and even the most jagged melodies rise and fall with a sense of grandeur. The gothic themes and violent synth lines of Franco’s previous releases have been replaced by cinematic movements and ambient tones that drift into far off galaxies and separate the listener from any sense of time or self. – RR
Self-released
For the Mentally Ill
Corrosive vocals and sledgehammer riffs abound on For the Mentally Ill, the debut EP from Atlanta hardcore punk foursome Harmacy. Consisting of five bruising anti-anthems, it’s a bitter, acerbic record that lunges and stabs at everything in its path, but not without exuding a scathing sense of black humor that keeps the record from sinking in its own sullen rage. Indeed, if this EP has a default setting, it’s semi-amused disgust. Amidst the stinging guitars and Brandon Reid’s barked exhortations, there’s a joke lurking in here somewhere, and it’s likely Harmacy is included as the butt. – Avery Shepherd
Read the full review.
Scavenger of Death
Hospice
Throughout the album, the pair capture no wave’s distrust of song structure, the brutal simplicity of early minimal synth, and the agitated clamor of Suicide. Though Hospice channel inward-focused angst rather than the shock rock confrontationalism of Alan Vega and Martin Rev, the duo still have a similar hot rails to hell take on DIY music. The band started as a one-off, but has grown into more than an experiment, although there are a few spots on the record that in their purest form are excuses for Graham Tavel to mess around on old keyboards and pedals, especially the county fair funhouse closer, “Moving Forward.” Still, Brannon Greene’s radiating snarl and plunging bass rattle the band’s lo-fi song structures, and provide a foil for Tavel’s pop-adjacent synth lines. – RR
Read the full review.
Self-released
Lucky Numbers
Though both imaginative engineers of sound, Garrett Burke and Terrence Chizyelhan handle two totally different toolkits. On paper, the jackhammer acoustic drums that Burke welds to electronic hellscapes for Isaak Pancake would tear holes into the hip-hop backdrops of Chizyelhan’s prismatic Murk Daddy Flex project. However, when the two joined forces last year to hash out new material, this document from the deep pulsed into existence with nary a seam or stitch. Some moments flash with more of one man’s flare than the other, but otherwise Lucky Numbers hypnotizes with its bewildering symbiosis of rhythmic shimmer and drum-and-bass grease. – LA
Read our feature with Isaak Pancake and Murk Daddy Flex.
Irrelevant Music
How to Make You Boil
It’s entirely possible the gauzy haze which pervades How to Make You Boil serves as its own metaphor. For a band that so often sounds distinct and singular, the debut EP from Karaoke is largely a blurring of familiar sonics and aesthetics—spectral pop, cryptic post-punk, arty goth rock—all of it shrouded in moody tones and undulating shadow. Yet, despite its haunting intonations, I’d hesitate to call this a dark record; there is an aura of foreboding that lurks throughout, but it’s balanced against a sense of ethereal splendor that pulls the listener deep within Karaoke’s dreamlike realm. – GC
Read the full review.
Banana Tapes/Scorpion Beach
Ana Echo and the Beauty of Indifference
Of all the albums on this list, AC Carter’s sultry shadowplay with Lambda Celsius might be the only one that passes the Bechdel test. Here, the Athens-based artist of many hats pits Ana Echo and DJ Alexa against the patriarchy,and with post-punk stealth and Grace Jones’ statuesque attitude, they spin the ongoing struggle into a mesmerizing drama. But don’t get too comfortable in Carter’s self-styled labyrinth—the whole stage might shift once they’ve crafted their next character. – LA
Read our feature on Lambda Celsius.