Sonora Pine – II (Husky Pants/Quarterstick)

I first saw Tara Jane O’Neil play in Rodan, a now classic “Louisville sound” act that came in the wake of the massively influential Slint. Sonora Pine came a few years later and retained some of the same prog (“math” if you must) tendencies, but things mellowed out too. Samara Lubelski brought her violin artistry over from the psychedelic NYC collective Hall of Fame, adding a crucial counterpoint to Tara’s moody guitar riffs. There’s a folky element too, and the compositions occasionally drift like Fairport Convention’s masterpiece “A Sailor’s Life”, but this also has the tension and release you might associate with ‘90s post-rock or whatever they called it. Simply put, it’s a gorgeous, epic record, that strikes the perfect balance between dreamy and intense.

Spice World – There’s No I in Spice World (Meritorio)

First impressions: absurd band name, title, Joe Roberts-esque cover art, and I am already sold. I have to call this post-Dolewave, just no way around that. Dolewave is now vintage? Time flies, pay attention. Like the best Australian music of that era, Dick Diver & Scott & Charlene’s Wedding, we get unpretentious and rough indie pop songs about mundane things and maybe deep things. The cracked vocal delivery could also gel with the damaged rock/folk you might find on certain Scat Records or Richie Records. The whole band chimes in on the choruses which gives off the same kind of community music center feeling that also radiates from DIY pioneers The Cannanes. “Mountain Pony” has a lonely cowboy feeling with vocals as twangy as the guitar. “Dying to Go” is a bouncy slacker anthem that could almost rock if it wasn’t so wonderfully lazy. Once again we look to Spain’s labels to bring us interesting new pop music from around the globe with no signs of slowing down.

Milly – Eternal Ring (Dangerbird)

A bit of an impulse buy, based on 30 seconds of an Instagram post, I decided to take a chance with some random vinyl. Glad I did. I am predisposed to like fuzzy guitar music, and the guitar riffs on this are catchy, heavy, and I want to sit in them like a warm bath. I am like that exhausting old hippie talking about seeing Hendrix at this point, right? But this is a lot like the bands I used to see in the ‘90s, like Seam and Rodan, mentioned above. Still, this is fresh and fun to me and probably closer to that recent HUM double LP, which is a bit of a late masterpiece of post-90s by an original artist from that era. Mostly Milly’s songs are an excuse to rip some heavy jams, but the vocals make themselves known in a low-key Sooyoung Park-way. “Marcy” jumps out with the line “Marcy’s got a brand new brain”, which is so perfectly dorm-room stoner and alt-rock, I can’t help but smile. I hope they are named after the iconic Freaks & Geeks character.

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