Our inbox is over flowing again so we are letting you good people know exactly what is new and available out there in the music world. Weird mix of music today from guttural noises to polished indie rock. We're here for it, all of it. If it's independent and original we want to cover it. So hopefully you enjoy todays choices. If you want to see your band on one of these lists, send us streaming music and as short bio.
Band Name: MÄRVEL
BMN Score: 7.5 /10
What the band says they sound like: Sometimes, no matter how hard you try you end up with your beard in the mailbox or pants down to your ankles with a school-bus full of idiots laughing at you. You just can’t win. And even more sometimes, you’re in a relationship where you can’t stand each other but still can’t exist without each other.
What we say they sound like: Grizzled bar band is my first thoughts on this. Like 5 or 6 beers in and at my local watering hole and this is the greatest band on Earth. It's very Kiss-centric, I mean if you told me this is a Kiss song and Gene Simmons singing I would not doubt you for a second. It has a very 70's aesthetic quality not just sound quality wise but songwriting wise. The chorus is something that could have been showcased in 'Dazed And Confused' (For you millennials & the gen z crowd that is a 90's movie about the 70's)
Song to add to your playlist: Catch 22
Band Name: Darren Ryan
BMN Score: 8.9 / 10
What the band says they sound like: Big Bob's OK by Darren Ryan is an experimental album that defies genre classification. The title and title track pay tribute to a feral cat named Big Bob, whose mysterious comings and goings inspired the music on the album. The album features avant-garde sampling and an array of unusual instruments, including electronics that have a saturated, vintage sound, as well as other sounds that are almost three-dimensional in their depth and complexity. The music incorporates polymetric rhythms and has a ponderous, ethereal quality, with a strong Eastern influence in its repetition of raga-like melodies. Despite its experimental nature, the album is also lighthearted and fun, making it an engaging and unique listening experience.
What we say they sound like: A very cool mix of trip hop, hip hop, instrumental, cinematic soundscape and any other words that describe instrumental music with a good groove to it. It's a very chill vibe, I would say nothing on the album gets buzzy or loud, it remains all in a pop realm. Whether you are into Radiohead, Portishead, Massive Attack, or The Orb, Tortoise, Hot Chip, and stuff like that, I think you'll find something to like about the sonic palette of sounds used on this record.
Song to add to your playlist: Big Bob's Ok, Leather Flex, Where's Big Bob
Band Name: Guts Club
BMN Score: 5.8 / 10
What the band says they sound like: CLIFFS/WALLS is a meditation on grief and how we navigate a world overflowing with extreme loss and devastation. Some of us let it pass through us, some leap directly into it, others fight it, violently, until we’ve surrounded ourselves with walls too brutal to overcome. There is no resiliency; it is just knot after knot of trauma that we can only attempt to loosen or avert.
What we say they sound like: I listen to everything from Avant Garde jazz to radio pop and I see value in everything that is created by an artist. Teenage me probably would be so into this as I pined in my room and wondered about all sorts of existential issues. What's a hard sell here is the lack of songwriting and the "music" being more of an emotional response captured in one session then a traditional band album. The band uses the word "primitive intensity" to describe it and that is a great description for this style of music. Like to me this feels like something you'd hear at a goth show as an opening act for Diamanda Galas, and there are fans as well as a time and place for this art. Most avid fans of music however will not be on board and that is perfectly ok.
Song to add to your playlist: Beguiled, Horrifying Ghost Story
Band Name: Holdfast
BMN Score: 7.6 / 10
What the band says they sound like: Windsor, CO-based alt-rock band Holdfast. are excited to present the music video for their new single, “Everything Wrong.” A hopeful anthem, the song’s fast-paced verses describe a lonely character who struggles to lift themselves up. The band takes a 180 turn into the chorus, with a halftime pop groove anchored around the character revealing their true feelings: "I feel like I've done everything wrong, now I'm giving it all." The band's message can be summed up in the post-chorus line: "There's something in a song that helps me get along."
What we say they sound like: This has a feel like it's roots are in Motion City Soundtrack and All American Rejects but with more elements of mainstream pop thrown in. For instance the piano and strings bring it further away from feeling like a typical rock band and gives it an interesting bit of brit rock feel. But rhythmically it feels more modern because of the stompy half time portions. It's also a catchy chorus which is never a bad thing.
Song to add to your playlist: Everything Wrong
Band Name: Dave Hause
BMN Score: 9.5 /10
What the band says they sound like: Leading the collection is the breezy “Hazard Lights,” which ruminates on Hause’s sobriety and the temptation that exists when he’s around friends who still imbibe. Though there’s a specificity to those lyrics, they’re easily applicable to other situations as well. “That feeling of having the hazard lights on,” says Hause, “it’s just uncertainty. I’m kind of just pulled over here. I don’t know where I’m going, I know where I’ve been, the hazard lights are blinking, so please don’t hit me because I’ve got to figure out what to do next.”
What we say they sound like: This to me has a real Ryan Adams 'Rock N Roll' vibe but the Jersey influence shines through with hints of Springsteen-esque lyrical cadence and the high register piano note leads. It's no surprise Hause is from the Philly area as this has an East coast vibe to it. I had heard his name for years in the same circles as people who love Gaslight Anthem and it has a feel like that but on this latest release with a level of maturity in the song structure and production. It comes off slick like a 90's Gin Blossoms track and has less of a punky edge, which works really great for this. I approve.
Song to add to your playlist: Hazard Lights
Band Name: Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys
BMN Score: 9.3 / 10
What the band says they sound like: Now based in Berlin, frontwoman LUCY KRUGER is from South Africa, bringing her own brand of burning psychedelic art noise-pop that is both intimate and energetic. A spiky post-punk anthem for our time, this song is playful and intense with an opening groove that feels like a dark cheerleading anthem that is soon subsumed by a doom-like rumble, over which Lucy spits a stream of consciousness.
What we say they sound like: If you love bands like LCD Soundsystem or PJ Harvey this project has a similar vibe with a little more guitar and noise thrown in to add texture. This is a little bit more talky than I usually prefer but as we've seen with bands like Wet Leg and their hit "Chaise Lounge" it seems to go over pretty well in the indie pop world. This is so catchy and brief that this will do amazingly with playlist curators. It kind of grabs you right at the start and isn't as repetitive as some other stuff in the same genre which bodes well for it.
Song to add to your playlist: Hey Girl Let's Go