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Talkhouse

The group that ignited an electro-pop-punk movement is back with an 11-track deep-dive into themes on modern society, the internet, and ego — specifically social media and its dark effects. It’s been four years since the Saddle Creek flagship act The Faint dropped a proper studio album, and more than two decades since they first tore onto the Midwest scene, alongside area staples Cursive and Bright Eyes, with anxious electro-pop-punk anthems that meshed doomsday themes with thudding dance-floor hooks. The band made a unanimous decision to self-produce the entire record, making it unique and far more involved than any of their past work.
(Photo Credit: Bill Sitzmann)

The Faint

Music

Hear First: The Faint’s Egowerk

In 2017, Natasha Jacobs—a Brooklynite who performs as Thelma—released her self-titled debut. In the months that followed, she found herself in and out of doctors’ offices while her future as a musician hung in the balance—twice. Her first scare came with mysteriously painful &amp; dislocating joints and the conclusion of surgery, where she lost most of her ability to play guitar. The second, the discovery of thyroid cancer threatened her voice. In time, it was finally discovered she has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic disorder affecting joint form and function. With her primary instruments in jeopardy and ableist attitudes in the music industry thinning her patience while in recovery, Jacobs retooled the process for her second album while trying to reclaim her life and learning to live with chronic pain and physical limitations.
The Only Thing is more liberated, upbeat, and adventurous than its predecessor. Nine tracks are primarily constructed around burbling synthesizers, and Jacobs’ expressive vocals which find themselves vaulting for new territory. While still retaining her haunting vocal quality, there is a newfound playfulness even as she sings about trying times: a last ditch effort to find humor &amp; lightness in a painful situation. The Only Thing is her first claim at marking her identity in the wake of critical change, and it’s fully on display: it’s fearless, mobile, and active. And that might be the bravest thing she can be.

Thelma

Hear First: Thelma’s The Only Thing

Morgan Enos is a musician, essayist and music journalist specializing in classic rock. He records and performs as <a href="https://finalhouse.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://finalhouse.bandcamp.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1567703426703000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE969PQS5H6jwcQaH3Zb_8LZ4WVew">Other Houses</a> and has bylines in Billboard, HuffPost, the Recording Academy, Vinyl Me, Please, TIDAL and more. He is also the co-founder and editor of <a href="https://northoftheinternet.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://northoftheinternet.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1567703426703000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGi0xmSRKyGPRseoPZ41v4L7WkbQw">North of the Internet</a>, a series of conversations with creative people. He can be found at <a href="https://www.morganenos.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.morganenos.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1567703426703000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG79-8vfghEO9sl4msNRI9Ts-3rdQ">his website</a>.
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Morgan Enos

Hear First: Other Houses’ Funny Papers

Sadie Dupuis is the guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter of rock band Speedy Ortiz. She&#8217;s also the producer &amp; multi-instrumentalist behind pop project Sad13. Sadie heads the record label Wax Nine, has written for outlets including Spin, Nylon, and Playboy, and holds an MFA in poetry from UMass Amherst. Mouthguard, her first book, was published in 2018.
(Photo Credit: Jordan Edwards)

Sadie Dupuis

Sam Goblin currently lives in Tallahassee, FL and plays music with Mister Goblin and Deady. He hopes to never, ever, ever become a music writer.

Sam Goblin

Hear First: Mister Goblin’s Final Boy

Sloucher began with Jay Clancy (Makeup Monsters, Cayucas, Hibou), a drummer looking to try his chops at writing his own songs. After trying his hand as a solo act, Clancy sought a more familiar format—he started a band. Clancy wrote the material that would become Sloucher’s 2016 debut EP, Certainty, and recruited a couple friends to help flesh out recordings—drummer Jack Hamrick and former The Globes guitarist Kyle Musselwhite. Two years later, the band’s reputation and sound have only grown—the band itself has quite literally grown, adding bassist Lance Umble (Telekinesis, Cumulus, Bod). They’ve landed opening slots for acts like Angel Olsen and Guided By Voices and opened the main stage at the 2017 Sasquatch! Music Festival. Those two years later, they’re releasing what they’re heralding as their first truly collaborative record, Be True, on November 16 via Swoon Records.

Sloucher

Hear First: Sloucher’s Be True

Hayley Livingston (guitar/vocals), Marisa Gershenhorn (guitar/vocals), Vicki Guillem (drums), and Abby Austin (bass) met in 2014 amongst NYU and the city&#8217;s indie rock scene. They bonded over a shared love of classic punk, and soon after joined forces to create Human People. In 2016, they released two EPs—Sleep Year and Veronica—that blended the primal energy of early New York punk, the off-kilter tunefulness of ‘90s alternative, and the unbridled eccentricity shared by their community of fellow Northeastern musicians (bands like Washer, Stove, and Remember Sports). The band carved out a unique space with their wide range of influences (everything from post-punk to riot grrrl to power-pop), sharp lyrics, and energetic live shows, all the while navigating the existential messiness of college, interpersonal relationships, and one’s own inner dialogue.

Human People

Hear First: Human People’s Butterflies Drink Turtle Tears

Night Shop is the songwriting project of Justin Sullivan. Sullivan has worked as a touring drummer for the past twenty years, much of which was spent playing house shows, warehouses and art spaces with a half dozen DIY punk bands, including Ringers and an early incarnation of Worriers. In 2009, he joined the Babies alongside Kevin Morby and Cassie Ramone. When the band went on hiatus in 2013, Sullivan moved to Los Angeles with Morby and continued working with him as a staple of the live band and playing on all of Morby&rsquo;s studio albums. In the meantime, Sullivan also formed the fuzz punk outfit Flat Worms, with Tim Hellman of Oh Sees and Will Ivy.&nbsp;In the Break is Night Shop&#8217;s first full length album, following a self-titled EP released in 2017 by 1234 Go! Records.&nbsp;The album was engineered by Jarvis Taveniere of Woods, a longtime collaborator from Sullivan&rsquo;s time in Brooklyn and mixed by Drew Fischer.

Night Shop

Hear First: Night Shop’s In The Break

Reverent as it is prophetic and stark, King Dude has previously shared his spiritual visions with releases on Dais, Avant!, Bathetic, Clan Destine, and Ván records. Pulling together the biblical sound and isolation of the bygone days of revelation with an atmosphere filled with hope and salvation, King Dude has woven his own brand of American music.
He brandishes many varied influences in his songwriting. Everything from British Folk, Americana, Country and Blues can be heard in his songs. Even the heavier sounds of Heavy Metal tend to sneak and slither it&#8217;s way into the King Dude canon. The resulting songs are much more of a modern day hymn then your average pop song.
King Dude&#8217;s music begs the soul to lift itself up from the darkness of ignorance, towards the ever shining glorious &#8220;Light&#8221; that exists outside of all of us yet that which we are eternally connected to and at once connects everyone on Earth.

King Dude

Hear First: King Dude’s Music To Make War To

Cornelia Murr was born in London and resides in California as a dual citizen, but spent much of her childhood moving through the United States, from Colorado to Massachusetts, California to New York City and upstate New York. Working with producer Jim James of My Morning Jacket on her debut album Lake Tear of the Clouds, Murr conjures a hazy blend of folk and cosmic soul music, and taps into the bucolic spirit of the Hudson Valley.

Cornelia Murr

Hear First: Cornelia Murr’s Lake Tear of the Clouds

Shannon Shaw, the daughter of a fire-fighting father and a mother who worked nearly half of her life as a nurse at Napa State, grew up out in the country, avoiding jocks and cops who had nothing better to do than harass local misfits. In high school, Shaw got a bass guitar, the glittery Danelectro she still plays today, as a gift from a boyfriend. Not able to envision herself as a “real” musician at the time, Shaw didn’t actually start playing her bass until about ten years later in response to a particularly rough break up that left her alone in the East Bay and desperate for an outlet. She has since become an expert at examining the detritus of love gone wrong with vocal stylings rivaling the ‘60s girl groups and Dion getting his teeth kicked out.

Shannon Shaw

Hear First: Shannon Shaw’s Shannon in Nashville

In their thirteen years of existence, Atlanta’s tireless garage punks The Coathangers have cranked out five full-lengths and well over a dozen singles, splits, and EPs. Their latest is The Coathangers LIVE. (Photo Credit: Jeff Forney)

The Coathangers

Hear First: The Coathangers LIVE

<a href="https://peachkellipop.bandcamp.com/">Peach Kelli Pop </a>are back with Gentle Leader, the band’s fourth full-length album and first in three years, following close on the tails of the band’s recent EP, Which Witch, their first with renowned Canadian indie pop label Mint Records. Peach Kelli Pop will be touring extensively in support of Gentle Leader and the Which Witch EP, including time in Japan in May, followed by a full tour of North America in the summer and Europe later in the year.
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