Gonna jump back into the column after some weeks of well, you know. FOAP’s Covid19 policy consists of new music, weed and beans on toast. Hopefully you stockpiled these things and have someone to talk to occasionally.

Strange Passage – Shouldn’t Be Too Long (Synchro System Records)

Here’s an album from last year recommended to me by a member of SF’s THE UMBRELLAS, who have an EP coming soon on this same label. This Somerville, MA quartet plays the 80’s new wave Mitch Easter-y pop that is catnip for me. The deadpan yet sweet vocals could be from BIG DIPPER or THE EMBARRASSMENT and are somehow so New England college rock to me. The West Coast had NOTHING PAINTED BLUE, who did some excellent singles and are in the same ballpark. Strange Passage has hooks and personality for days, and I kept hitting play on this thing till Bandcamp shut me down. I’m gonna buy it, I swear.

Ian William Craig – Red Sun Through Smoke (Fat Cat)

Another heavy work from IWC, the man with the broken reel-to-reel tape machine and near-operatic voice. IWC is verging on ANHONI transcendent greatness. The soulful purity in what he does is like staring into the sun. Jim Jones had to wear dark glasses cuz the god rays in his eyes would have burned your face off, IWC is similar in that he needs tape hiss and noise detritus to filter the power of his voice. He sings with a loop pedal and uses tape decay as a compositional tool like WILLIAM BASINSKI, occasionally he adds synth drones or sings over elegiac piano chords. Apparently this record was made under tragic circumstances. I don’t recommend reading the press release in a fragile state of mind, but this is yet another in a string of soaring and gorgeous albums.