1) Holy Fuck, “Event Beat” / The Toronto collective delivers power surges, moments of electric cool, as well as beats for the current apocalypse on this seemingly comprehensive musical document.
2) Gladie, “No Need to Be Lonely” / Piping in their sound from Philadelphia, Gladie’s indie rock touches the warm center between irony and sincerity, pop nostalgia and forward-thinking songcraft.
3) Sluice, “Companion” / From the musical mind of Justin Morris, this North Carolina outfit stretches and condenses itself, creating textured alt-country jams and sonic battering rams a la peak Wilco.
4) Patricia Smith, “The Intentions of Thunder” / This new and selected volume proves that if we never get around to naming Smith our poet laureate, it will be to our shame.
5) John Chrostek, “Feast of the Pale Leviathan” / Part Jonah and his whale, part “Gulliver’s Travels,” part a freakish hero’s journey all its own, Chrostek’s novel nimbly and tensely ponders what it would look like to create community in the belly of the beast.