As the days get darker and colder–and as COVID-19 continues to weigh on everyone–let’s lose ourselves in some new tracks that should make things a little easier.
1. Left Field Messiah, Fuzz Machine
In Praise of Bombast (Riptide)
Recommended If You Like: Quirk
One of the interesting things about the pandemic is how individual members of different bands are reaching out online to collaborate on new projects. Technology means you don’t have to be in the same room anymore to be in a band. Witness Left Field Messiah, featuring Steve Bays (Hot Hot Heat), Jeremy Ruzumna (Fitz & the Tantrums), and Erik Jansen (ex-Wilding) with their new project. Love the 80s synth stabs.
2. Terra Lightfoot, Consider the Speed
Consider the Speed (Sonic Unyon)
RIYL: Solid Canadian rock
Three years on from her last album New Mistakes (which was nominated for a Juno and long-listed for the Polaris Prize), Terra is back with a record made in Memphis. This single is an upbeat rocker featuring a video that was shot in Hamilton’s Gage Park with most of her band. Her drummer, who’s American, couldn’t make it across the border, hence the dude in the mask in the video. That’s actually the video director.
3. LP, The One That You Love
The One That You Love (WMG)
RIYL: A different sort of vocal
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Don’t you love it when you find someone with a vocal styling that is different than just about everyone else out there? Laura Pergolizzi—professionally known as LP and who is huge in Mexico, France, Italy, Belgium, Greece, and Poland—sounds a little bit like No Doubt-era Gwen Stefani, but there’s something more. The guitar twang goes well with the Westworld-themed video. Fun fact: She’s written songs for Cher, the Backstreet Boys, and Celine Dion, among others.
4. Glass Animals, Heat Waves
Dreamland (Republic)
RIYL: English Psych
It’s taken this song a few months to rise up (the album was released back in August), but it seems to have caught fire in North America after doing seeing plenty of success in the UK. Coming from Oxford—a place that seems to lend itself to artsy indie rock (cf. Radiohead, of course)—the band has been together for a decade. They call this an “autobiographical album.” Must pay attention to the lyrics, then.
Rob Zombie, The Triumph of King Freak (A Crypt of Preservation and Superstition)
The Lunar Injection Kool-Aid Eclipse Conspiracy (Nuclear Blast)
RIYL: Horror film rock
It’s been four years since Rob Zombie has scared the crap out of us with an album. Now we have a tease of what to expect when his seventh “grindhouse hellbilly” record appears on March 12. I’m not sure who this King Freak fellow is, but he doesn’t sound like someone you want showing up at your house after dark. Cool.
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