New Music Reviews (6/22)

Each week, Music Director Chris Sanley and Associate Music Director Alex Ruder share brief insights on new and upcoming releases for KEXP's rotation. These reviews help our DJs decide on what they want to play. See what we added this week below (and on our Charts page), including new releases from Bb trickz, Coals, Huarinami, and more. 

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Bb trickz - sugarhiii EP (Columbia)
Barcelona’s Bb trickz transcends genre on her explosive new EP, sugarhiii, featuring production from Hudson Mohawke and Outlaw. These seven tracks pack quite a punch in under thirteen minutes, traversing through alt-pop, house, hip-hop, and club soundscapes to craft an utterly infectious collection of absolute bangers.  –CS

Coals - magia (Sony Music Entertainment Poland)
Named in reference to the Silesia region they hail from that’s famous for its coal mines, Coals are a Polish duo composed of Katarzyna Kowalczyk and Łukasz Rozmysłowski. Their fourth album is a strong set of dreamy alt-pop and hazy synth-pop with a folky, nocturnal, hypnagogic allure. Over consistently lavish electro-acoustic backdrops and lush hypnotic beats, Katarzyna sings largely in Polish to enhance the album’s mesmerizing aesthetic, which carries a kinship with Copenhagen’s current cutting-edge underground pop movement while also bringing to mind contemporaries like Chanel Beads and kiss facility. –AR

Huarinami - nothing happens EP (self-released)
The second EP from this London-based French four-piece band fronted by Pauline Janier is a strong, explosive, skip-free set of stormy indie rock with a gritty, arty post-punk edge that “serves as the soundtrack of a young woman in the big city, furious, lost, and alive, embracing desire, sass, and unapologetic power.” –AR

Jordan Patterson - Songs From A Valley Girl EP (Secretly Canadian)
For her Secretly Canadian debut, LA-based singer, songwriter, and producer Jordan Patterson unveils her new EP, Songs From A Valley Girl. Featuring her distinct, expressive vocals, vulnerable lyricism, and playful arrangements built from acoustic guitar, piano, and delicate percussion, this collection confidently expands upon her infectious folk-tinged indie pop sound. Marked by EP standout “Just My Friend,” Patterson continues to forge a singular, breathtaking path all her own. –CS

MONO - Snowdrop (MONO/Temporary Residence Ltd.)
Tokyo-based instrumental four-piece MONO enlisted a 10-piece orchestra, 8-piece choir, producer Brad Wood, and conductor Chad McCullough to deliver their 13th studio album, their first release since the passing of longtime collaborator Steve Albini. What unfolds over the course of eight spellbinding tracks is a breathtaking display of their cinematic, orchestral post-rock glory. With gripping peaks and valleys, each piece on Snowdrop represents a different flower, sequenced in the order in which it blooms. While born out of a profound period of grief and mourning, the album ultimately embodies acceptance, appreciation, and hope. What an absolutely stunning body of work. –CS

Pond - Terrestrials (Mangovision)
The eleventh studio album from Perth rock outfit Pond is an ‘80s-inflected set of psych, glam, and alt-rock goodness. Guided by the concept of “goths at the pub,” Terrestrials boasts sinister synths, pulsing drum machines, bouncy bass lines, melodic guitars, and absolutely no fuzz pedals. This surprising left turn from the five-piece rewards listeners with a fresh, new-wave inspired sonic shift.  –CS

casi - CASI (Carpark Records)
The debut album from childhood friends Eli Edwards (of Enumclaw) and Xayvien “Xay” Young is an adventurous fusion of hardcore and hip-hop. With jagged sonics and angsty lyricism, their innovative, left-of-center sound finds the young duo flexing radical honesty with equal parts humor and intensity. More than a decade in the making, casi has officially arrived. –CS

CorMae - Everything Is SO GREAT! EP (self-released)
The new EP from Austin-based five-piece CorMae is a stellar set of punk rippers. Featuring clever lyricism, fierce vocals, killer guitar licks, and gnarly basslines, Everything Is SO GREAT! is a fast, furious, and categorically FUN listen, even as it grapples with weighty subject matter.  –CS

Gabriele Poso - Maraviglia (AG Records)
The sixth studio album from Italian producer and percussionist Gabriele Poso is a lively blend of ’70s Italian disco, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and jazz. With his explosive percussion front and center, Poso incorporates piano, Rhodes, Hammond, bass, horns, flute, and guitars to craft a rich sonic tapestry bursting with rhythm, warmth, and groove.

Lee Lewis - HOWL EP (self-released)
The latest EP from this Los Angeles-based Black queer artist is a solid set of classic R&B and timeless soul songs with a raw, honest, heartfelt magnetism that lyrically “depicts the beginning of an emotional journey to regain self worth and independence” following the loss of a full-time job (at Spotify), being dropped by his record label, and the dissolution of a romantic relationship. –AR

Osees - OFF COURSE (DEATHGOD CORP)
The latest offering from this uber-prolific project led by LA-based musician John Dwyer is a return to their epic, scuzzy, motorik psych jams. Brigid Dawson adds her dreamy harmonies to a few songs here, “The Trick” is a standout instrumental freak-out propelled by organ and synths, while release closer “The Brute On His Knees” notably slows things down for a fun and somewhat spooky joint. –AR

Seu Jorge - The Other Side (Phonomotor)
The latest album from renowned Brazilian musician Seu Jorge (real name Jorge Mário da Silva) finds him applying a calmer and more reflective touch to his classic, soulful Brazilian/MPB sound and it yields a consistently breezy, gorgeous, timeless record. First conceived back in 2009 and patiently recorded by veteran Brazilian producer Mario Caldato Jr. (who produced his 2001 solo debut release), The Other Side is the work of an artist taking his time to find a new shade within his distinctive palette. The album also features orchestral arrangements by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and guest appearances from Zap Mama and Beck, the latter on a lovely cover of Nick Drake’s “River Man.” –AR

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Shewita - Canvas (Music In Exile)
The debut EP from Eritrea-born, Melbourne-based musician and actress Shewit Belay (aka Shewita)  is a promising set of expansive R&B that taps into disco, funk, pop, and club lanes while intermittently showcasing a strong reverence for R&B of the late 1990s and early 2000s. –AR

Soft Palms - In Echo (Everloving) 
The sophomore album from Long Beach duo Soft Palms, composed of spouses Julia Kugel and Scott Montoya, is a hazy set of beach-goth-inflected post-punk. With dreamy vocals, reverb-soaked guitars, and trance-inducing melodies, In Echo, is an immersive, bittersweet listen.   –CS

Styrofoam Winos - Any River (Dear Life)
The third album from Nashville trio Styrofoam Winos is a compelling set of alt-country and folk-rock. With lively, intricate arrangements featuring alternating lead vocalists, memorable guitar riffs, dynamic percussion, catchy melodies, and flourishes of keys, horns, and flute, Any River is an inviting listen that highlights the band’s outstanding musicianship. –CS

Trabants - Mirage (International Fuzz Society)
Portland, OR’s Trabants culminate their psych trilogy with this final installment, Mirage. Led by composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Eric Penna, the outfit craft an infectious, nostalgic blend of surf, psych, and garage, offering a perfectly groovy collection for the summer.  –CS

Zoon - Happy Thought School (Paper Bag)
The third album from this solo project of queer Anishinaabe-Canadian musician and OMBIIGIZI member Daniel Monkman is a strong set of dreamy shoegaze, kaleidoscopic psych-pop, and celestial fuzz-rock. Burrowed into these enveloping, immersive, and blown-out songs are lyrics steeped in the heartbreak, racial trauma, and spiritual recalibration that Daniel encountered while attending the album’s titular namesake in East Selkirk, Manitoba. They’ve channeled those difficult adolescent emotions into a transportive, freewheeling, and deceptively pop-influenced journey that’s their most expansive and personally revealing album to date. –AR