To All The Ones That I Love by Press Club is one of my favorite albums of the year. They’re from Melbourne (lots of Aussie music in my rotation this year) and have been around for a while, with this being their fourth full length. It’s great, straight-ahead, approachable rock with catchy hooks and a lot of heart. Tightrope is one many good tracks on their lates, and, to me, it’s like a mashup of Pat Benatar, The Hold Steady, Cheap Trick and New Order. Something like that. It’s great.
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I’ve been a fan of Post Animal ever since I heard the awesomeness contained in “No More Sports”—and believe me, there is awesome in there, it’s fuckin’ fantastic and has the best guitar solo you’ve (n)ever heard. Iron, their latest, is great.
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bar italia is weird. In the best way, but still, they’re odd. I guess you’d likely classify them as indie rock, but they have an awkward quality about them that I don’t think eveyone would connect with. Pitchfork doesn’t like them, maybe you will.
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The Beths have been one of my favorite bands over the last few years. They're sweet, clever, and often surprise with their ferociousness. Their newest album, Straight Line is a Lie, is excellent, if not as up-my-alley as their previous, and “Metal” is my favorite from it.
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Dent, the latest effort from Cleveland’s Signals Midwest, feels, to me, like an urgent, hand-to-heart ode to easier days, and as a tribute to midwest emo and punk. The first LP by them in a surprising six years, Dent is earnest, full of heart and fire and catchy tunes. This is maybe best exemplified by this post’s Most Important: “Gold in The Grey” but there are plenty of tracks to choose from, should you want to take a little listen back to a simpler, more energetic time. (And, yes, I may be projecting a bit here, deal with it.)
