Amoeba Music

Bad Suns deliver plenty of hooks and sunny melodies on their new album Apocalypse Whenever. The title track is an immediately infectious tune, seemingly crafted for driving around in summertime. “Maybe You Saved Me," a collaboration with PVRIS, is a catchy dance track that highlights Lyndsey Gunnulfsen’s and Christo Bowman’s complementary vocals. Then there’s the effervescent "Life Was Easier When I Only Cared About Me." These are well-produced pop songs designed to create good times all around.

Soccer Mommy returns with another softly powerful collection, the poignant and pensive Sometimes, Forever. As always, the songs showcase Sophie Allison’s ability to create deceptively simple, unforgettable melodies steeped in hope and longing, with lyrics guaranteed to lodge in your heart. This time around, though, Allison has recruited producer Daniel Lopatin, known for the dark sheen of his work on the Uncut Gems score and The Weeknd’s Dawn FM. This partnership adds texture, intrigue, and at times, a moody, gauzy atmosphere to Soccer Mommy’s usual raw downbeat authenticity. Together, Lopatin and Allison amp up the exact qualities that have made Soccer Mommy such an indie world success while adding interesting new sonic directions that push the songwriter’s work forward in compelling ways.

She & Him’s seventh studio album is a covers collection that pulls off the rare feat of adding something fresh, distinctive, and delightful to the conversation about an artist’s work. On their newest album, Melt Away: A Tribute To Brian Wilson, Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward turn their talents toward the revered Beach Boys singer and solo artist, tackling songs from the obscure to the omnipresent. The duo stays true to the original spirit of the tracks while adding their own spin, with throwback layered vocals, dreamy harmonies, and retro-referencing instrumentations. Melt Away is a total charmer of an album and a pure delight to hear.

Written during quarantine and with a title inspired by an auto-corrected text message about Sublime (classic auto-correct), Joyce Manor’s 40 Oz. To Fresno is rife with boundless energy. There’s a real desire for freedom underlying these tightly-constructed, short-but-sweet punk tracks and that lust for life is infectious. So are the choruses. Whether Joyce Manor’s getting gritty or reveling in hook-laden, propulsive punk, these tracks were meant to be turned up loud, meant to be your new anthem. This is the good stuff—pure punk rock with roots in power pop, college rock, and real deal DIY ethos.

On All of Us Flames, singer-songwriter Ezra Furman unpacks her own experience with religion, gender, and life in a voice reminiscent of Television’s Tom Verlaine, her passion and storytelling creating a sincere intimacy with the listener. Whether it’s finding a connection with an ‘80s film star (“Ally Sheedy in the Breakfast Club”) or a rousing anthem to her trans community (“Lilac And Black”), Furman cements her heart to her sleeve and blazes ahead.

El Mirador is the evocative, imaginative new album from cross-cultural indie rockers Calexico. The band conjures the beauty and romance of the desert through their usual blend of Americana, rock, cumbia, and Tejano genres, this time throwing in a bit of a mid-century lounge vibe at times. The album feels both celebratory and searching—a fitting mix for a collection of songs the band has described as a response to the way the pandemic highlighted our human need for connection. The music of El Mirador feels vibrant and alive, richly textured with the small beauties and heartaches of life, each made more beautiful through their relationship to one another.

Allison Russell’s Outside Child is so assured it’s hard to believe this is the Montreal singer-songwriter’s debut album. Russell fuses Americana, blues, and soul to create a sometimes haunting, sometimes joyful sound uniquely her own. In this way, the melodies mirror her lyrical concerns as well as the overarching themes of the album—namely transcendence, healing, and hope, all springing from a place of deep-rooted trauma. Powerful, moving, and devastatingly beautiful, Outside Child marks Allison Russell as one to watch.

UK metalcore titans Architects are back with a monstrous new album. Mixing in industrial, electronic and post-rock elements with insanely catchy Rammstein-like machine gun riffs, they have leveled up on tracks like lead single “when we were young” and “tear gas.”

Architects performed their 2021 album For Those That Wish to Exist live at Abbey Road Studios, adding a healthy gravitas to their metalcore sound. The orchestral elements on the live tracks lend a dramatic airiness to the crushing choruses on “Animals” and “Impermanence.” “Little Wonder” maintains its urgency but takes on a haunting atmosphere. Fans of the British band should enjoy comparing these heightened live tracks with the album versions.

Cass McCombs’ Heartmind is a warm, intimate album that displays some of his best lyrical storytelling yet. These are the types of songs that sneak up on you and haunt the mind long after the last note has rung out; although the melodies are seemingly easy-going and gentle, the lyrics have teeth, and when combined, these folk-tinged numbers pack a punch. “Unproud Warrior” chronicles a veteran’s return from war and the emotions he grapples with as he tries to make sense of his own actions and how they fit into great societal narratives. “Karaoke” is a clever, moving look at whether a connection is real or just the facsimile of a connection. Heartmind is a slow burner with great emotional depth and lovely melodies.

City and Colour's new album, The Love Still Held Me Dear, features some of Dallas Green's most intimate, electrifying songwriting to date. Written as a way of processing the loss of his best friend, Green shares his journey through heartbreak, grief, and eventually finding comfort and hope. Elements of blues and country add sweeping emotion, grit, and fierceness to these well-crafted tracks. The songs feel like old friends, even on first listen, which is a testament both to Green's musicianship and to the real inspiration behind these songs. Fans will treasure this one.

When punk rock needed a new hero, Fake Names answered the call. Expendables is the latest album from the supergroup, comprised of Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Bad Religion, Dag Nasty), Dennis Lyxzén (Refused, INVSN, The [International] Noise Conspiracy), Michael Hampton (S.O.A., Embrace), Johnny Temple (Girls Against Boys, Soulside) and new member Brendan Canty (Fugazi, Rites of Spring). With a crew like that, you'd expect this to be good, but even so, you wouldn't be prepared for how instantly likable this album is, how instantly the songs get under your skin. Expendables has the energy and ethos of classic punk with the genre heritage of hardcore, post-hardcore, and post-punk to keep things fresh, urgent, and impactful.

Shalom’s Sublimation is one of the most enjoyable, most assured debuts in recent memory. The Brooklyn-based, South Africa-raised artist creates urgent yet catchy-as-hell music that combines elements of power pop, punk, garage, indie, and even ‘90s alterna-pop. Shalom and producer Ryan Hemsworth (Quarter-Life Crisis) have crafted a super tight album that chronicles the ultra-loose and messy experiences of self-medicating, watching creative opportunities fall apart, and getting sick of being yourself. The joy of Sublimation, though, is the journey listeners go on as Shalom finds herself and her will to fight once again. Shalom is one to watch, to be sure, and this album will likely be on many year-end “best of” lists.

A Very Lonely Solstice is the album version of Fleet Foxes’ December 20th, 2021 concert film of the same name. For fans of the band, it’s pure loveliness. Featuring Robin Pecknold (largely) alone with his acoustic guitar performing within the soaring interiors of Brooklyn’s St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, the songs convey a sense of both the solemn and the sacred. The Resistance Revival Chorus opens and closes the performance, the ethereal voices of the women and non-binary singers lending a timeless, ethereal contrast to Pecknold’s plaintive vocals. There’s a cover of The Bee Gees’ “In the Morning” and the traditional ballad “Silver Dagger” that add moments of sunshine-y pop and haunting English folkloric atmosphere. It’s a rare thing when a band’s live album is one of their finest recordings; A Very Lonely Solstice definitely deserves such a high ranking

Back in 2018, Arctic Monkeys performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London and admirably donated the proceeds to War Child, which supports children in conflict areas. Now the audio recording of that concert is available as a double album, also in support of the foundation, featuring a fun setlist that includes tracks from each of their six studio albums. The evolution over the years of this beloved British band's sound is encapsulated here with full rock-star energy, making this a must-have for fans, especially those that haven't made it to a show.

As Long As You Are, Future Island’s brand of New Wave Synth-Pop is as euphoric and uninhibitedly joyful as anything the band has done in their 14-year career. Full of bright melodies and heavenly choruses, the album looks to the past as well as the future, confronting old ghosts and embracing new hope. It’s an album about trust, honesty, redemption, and release, and also about allowing old wounds to heal and bringing painful chapters to a close.