St. Vincent - "Digital Witness"

With two tracks being dropped from it thus far, St. Vincent's next record is shaping up to be her strangest. This latest cut titled "Digital Witness" delivers the kind of funky drum beats and peppy horns that graced numerous tracks on Ms. Clark's recent collaboration with David Byrne, Love This Giant. The production is a bit more cluttered, though--and enjoyably so.

The instrumentation is heavily layered here with brittle guitars, squelching synth sequences, and a danceable bass line. Clark's vocals are overdubbed to create some nice harmonies as well. I'd say her singing is a bit odder than usual on the verses, too.

The song's lyrics are worth paying attention to as well; delivering a pretty clear picture of today's social media-obsessed culture. Lines like "What's the point of even sleeping if I can't show it?" speak to the level of vanity held by people who share every waking moment on apps like Instagram.

MiSTOA pOLTSA- MiSTOA pOLTSA

MiSTOA pOLTSA is a noise and garage rock project, and above, you can stream its seven-track eponymous album.

I suppose the music of MiSTOA pOLTSA could be succinctly described as "unrestrained." "Noisy" doesn't quite cut it when describing the thick yet grimy wall of sound the project creates with its raucous guitars, trashy drums, and distorted bass, and "unsettling" doesn't completely do justice to the unintelligible yet powerful vocals that front it. The songs on this release are generally short, choosing to make their points in an efficiently digested manner. There is, however, a major exception in the form of the last track, "ABIT OFF BLOOD, for the love of god," which builds on a driving repetitive groove with screeching instrumentation and disorienting atmosphere for over nine minutes. It is an effective track not only for its hypnotically compelling effect, but also for showing that the project is capable of more than just brief, catchy songwriting.

Six Organs of Admittance- "Waswasa"

[audio:http://www.dragcity.com/system/tracks/downloads/5389/original/1-01_Waswasa.mp3] With over twenty albums and EPs under their belt, there's no possible way anyone would question Six Organs of Admittance's devotion to experimental folk and psychedelic rock. The group is gearing up for yet another album release on Drag City records, and they're making a slight turn in direction this time around: the band is going electric.

This isn't a first for Six Organs of Admittance, but it's been at least ten years since the Ben Chasny-spearheaded music project has recorded at a volume and energy as high as what's to be found on the track streaming above, "Waswasa." It's a serious jam, and it hits hard with a driving groove, noisy soloing, and a chaotic presentation.

The track comes from Admittance's forthcoming album, Ascent, which is set for an August 21st release date. Check out the cover art here, too.

Black Gum- "Surf" & "Sludge"

Hailing from Austin, Texas, Black Gum is a band that makes surf-influenced pop/rock that's a little rough around the edges. They recently put out their Surf/Sludge 7", which seems to be the followup to a self-titled cassette the group released in June of last year, via record label/multimedia organization Monofonus Press.

As indicated by their titles, each song represents two distinct moods. The first, "Surf," spotlights a set of vocal hooks sung in a manner that forgoes melody in favor of personality. With its use of a basic blues chord progression, the song acknowledges that writing with compositional simplicity can sometimes be the most effective choice for an artist. "Sludge," on the other hand, features a much deeper male vocal and an overall heavier disposition. Despite their differences in atmosphere, both songs share the same catchy, straightforward approach that defines the release.

Stream the single above by way of the band's Bandcamp.

Rats On Rafts- "The Moon Is Big"

Some energetic and reverb-heavy post-punk from Rotterdam right here with the band Rats On Rafts. They've got a new album out titled the Moon Is Big, and you can grab it on the band's website.

While the band isn't doing anything entirely new with this sound, they are doing a fantastic job of reliving this genre's heyday. "The Moon Is Big" features a drum and bass combo I could see Gang of Four rocking; "Lalalala" has a chorus that sounds a little like a song or two from the Slits; and "Sailor" takes a surprising detour with some saxophone accompaniment.

Definitely a fun listen for post-punk diehards.