Record Shop is a weekly Tomorrow’s Verse column to help readers find the best new music out each Friday.
Here Lies Man – Ritual Divination
Founded by members of Anitbalas in 2016, Here Lies Man has spent the years since combining fuzzed-out, Black Sabbath-style rock with the percussive afrobeat textures their primary band in known for. It’s a dizzying yet satisfying combination, a twist on the often-redundant stoner-metal sound. The band’s newest album, Ritual Divination, continues to explore the possibilities of such a combination, and finds the group growing significantly. The grooves and rhythms are endless and exciting, the droning heaviness balancing successfully, sucking listeners in with a sound that has likely never been attempted, let alone pulled off, in the history of music.
The Head And The Heart – Rivers And Roads: Live From Pike Place Market
Having rose to fame over the first decade of their career, Seattle indie-folk band The Head And The Heart played a notorious hometown show on the roof of famed Pike Market to an estimated 30,000 people. An incredibly significant show in the band’s history, the sextet had the good judgement to film and record it professionally, leading to Rivers And Roads: Live From Pike Place Market. A full concert film available on Amazon Prime as well as a live album, the recording captures the undeniable energy and excitement of the day, giving fans the feeling of attending it themselves.
Moon Taxi – Silver Dream
Nashville indie band Moon Taxi have gained a huge following in recent years for their blend of catchy melodies, solid musicianship and fun live shows. The band returns with Silver Dream, their sixth full-length album, which finds them continuing to hone their distinct, pop-leaning sound. Driven by infectious singles “Hometown Heroes” and “One Step Away,” the record has a clear soul and rock influence without straying from the melodic pop sound that fans have come to expect. With Silver Dream, it’s safe to say that Moon Taxi’s climb to stardom was no fluke, and won’t stop anytime soon.
Justin Moses – Fall Like Rain
Multi-instrumentalist and acclaimed bluegrass songwriter Justin Moses released a new album featuring a slew of well-known guests, including Del McCoury, Jerry Douglas, and Moses’s wife, Sierra Hull. The album sticks to a traditional bluegrass sound, rich in harmonies and fast finger-picking on acoustic instrumentation. Moses rips through 10 songs in 33 minutes, all the while proving why he’s received such praise throughout his career.
Witch Egg – Witch Egg
Insanely prolific Oh Sees guitarist and songwriter John Dwyer has yet another project, following three releases as Osees in 2020. Witch Egg, Dwyer’s newest project, is a collaboration with White Fence’s Nick Murray, Fool’s Gold’s Brad Caulkins, fellow Oh Sees member Tom Dolas and Greg Coates. The album finds Dwyer and his band in a particularly experimental state, layering saxophones, flutes, synthesizers and more over a driving, krautrock-influenced percussion base. Constantly shifting and moving, Witch Egg is an overall creative and intensely interesting work.
Rhye – Home
Canadian R&B songwriter Mike Milosh, better known as stage-name Rhye, returns with a follow-up to 2019’s Spirit, this one simply titled Home. Drawing clear influences from 80s pop and R&B, disco and funk, the album finds strength in its arrangements, chugging beats and round bass lines maintaining a dance vibe as strings and more bounce through the songs. Milosh’s falsetto vocals ride smoothly on top of all this, adding melody throughout while purveying a sense of longing. Home is a terrific addition to Rhye’s catalog, the kind of album that really thrives in the studio.
Kiwi Jr. – Cooler Returns
Jangly Canadian indie band Kiwi Jr. released their sophomore album, Cooler Returns on Sub Pop. Fitting for the label, the record features a simplistic but energetic sound, not far from early Shins or Belle & Sebastian recordings, quirky and uplifting. Cooler Returns packs a ton of ideas into its 13 songs and 36-minute runtime. More mature and fully-realized than their debut, Kiwi Jr. are undoubtedly up-and-comers in the indie scene, and deserve your attention.
Speed Stick – Volume One
North Carolina’s Speed Stick, a collective project centered around Laura King of Bat Fangs and Flesh Wounds, have released their first studio album, aptly titled Volume One. The project, which also features The Breeders’ Kelley Deal and members of Polvo, The Love Language, Superchunk and more. A fully collaborative creative endeavour, Volume One maneuvers through genres and styles with ease, making for an overall enticing listening experience.