Look, we know we throw a lot of new music at you. We also know that not everyone who comes to this site has the time to be as involved with or informed about the local scene as maybe they’d like to be. So for those casual readers who either can’t or have no interest in keeping up with the parade of artists we try to cover, who may not know the difference between Bitter and Biters, we have created our TRIPLE THREAT feature. The premise is simple: Every Friday our writers will put their heads together and come up with three tracks that grabbed our attention over that week. Then we tell you why the songs are great and worth listening to. That’s it. Maybe some weeks we’ll have a guest commentator come in and share their favorites, but the format will always remain the same: three songs, some words, and we out. Enjoy.
Orchid Mantis – “Porch Song”
From the forthcoming LP, Yellow House
When a memory ages enough, the faded remains become foreign. New stories impose themselves over the landscape, as the mind shines like a projector bulb underneath. So the story goes with Thomas Howard’s work as Orchid Mantis, the hypnagogic bedroom pop archive now encamped in the beloved ranks of Slovakia’s Z Tapes. The woozy bloom of “Porch Song” might breeze by gently, like the rhythm of the rocking chair, carefree, but you’re listening to layers warped by time, years of tape hiss stacked into solid forms. Howard tells us that his upcoming album, Yellow House, came to him in a euphoric rush after Kulla Sunset, the three-year retrospective from back in March. “Effective music (and art) has an unparalleled capability to elevate our engagement with reality,” he says, and while Orchid Mantis has always encompassed that higher plane, something about “Porch Song” sends us to an even more tangible bliss. And it’s precisely that implacable light that gives off such warmth, like the smiles from so many old friends, or words that affirm their affection, not quite remembered but with an imprint that outlasts even the cruelty of the present day. – Lee Adcock
Yellow House is out Nov. 11 via Z Tapes. Pre-orders are available here.
More Info
Bandcamp: orchid-mantis.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @latesummersun
SoundCloud: @orchid_mantis
Twitter: @latesummersun
Tumblr: late-summersun.tumblr.com
Credit: Jean Langkau
Pamela_ and hers sons – “Wind Open Freak”
From the LP, Golden Paradise
It’s been five years since the first hints of Golden Paradise fused to the internet consciousness, but the new LP from Pamela_and her sons is finally here, and it’s loaded with gems. “Wind Open Freak,” one of the album’s de facto Bandcamp singles, is a compact exhibit of producer Alessandra Hoshor’s nimble form of techno. Much like their first LP Hurt Plaza, it displays an ever growing palette of sounds, from dissonant outbursts to flighty synth lines that chirp like spastic flocks of birds. I don’t know of any other producer so capable of smooshing bright, sunny melodies with dark, powerful beats without losing any gravitas, but Pamela_and her sons has done it again. – Russell Rockwell
More Info
Web: pamelaandhersons.com
Bandcamp: pamelaandhersons.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @pamelaandhersons
SoundCloud: @pamela_andhersons
Credit: Cameron Flaisch Photography
Microwave – “Keeping Up”
From the standalone single
As much as I love Microwave’s more emphatic and energetic tracks, they really do the slow burn well. Frontman Nathan Hardy has an enveloping voice with a wide emotional range, and here he puts it to good use, shifting subtly from confessional croon to poignant whisper and back again. As arrangements go, it’s one of the group’s more simple and threadbare songs, but every shuffling beat and moody chord rings with clarity and purpose. I can’t remember the last time I thought a song really needed and deserved a guitar solo, but Hardy’s gentle riffing feels indispensable. Overall, it’s an arresting effort, another impressive cut from a band that continues to surprise and enthrall at every turn. – Guillermo Castro
More Info
Web: mcrwv.com
Bandcamp: microwavetheband.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @microwavetheband
Instagram: @microwaveatl
SoundCloud: @microwaveatl
Twitter: @microwaveatl
YouTube: @microwaveatl