1) Guster, “Ooh La La” / One of my very favorite bands over the past 25 years, Guster continues to prove a worthy companion for every stage of life (and deliver some of the more underrated songcraft of our age). These songs swirl around the listener, touch something elemental inside, offering peculiar pop uplift for peculiar burdens.
2) Rapsody, “Please Don’t Cry” / On her first record in five years, the North Carolina-forged MC looses some of the most humane (and occasionally hilarious) verses about mental health, gender equality and the artistic spirit in anything resembling recent memory. “Please Don’t Cry” lands at the perfect intersection between self-assurance and vulnerability, offering listeners songs worth living in.
3) Blitzen Trapper, “100s of 1000s, Millions of Billions” / A new Blitzen Trapper record always is a welcome thing; the Pacific Northwest mainstays create with the relaxed resonance of folk music while never surrendering the jagged edge of rock and roll.
4) Gulfer, “Third Wind” / The latest and, it seems, last record from this Montreal band is a pitch-perfect indie-rock set, marrying attitude and atmosphere as guitars plane, momentum carries and melodies poke and peek out from the glorious noise to create connection. A fitting swan song, if indeed the nearly-finished band never reforms.
5) The music of Elliott Green / Fans of artists like Julien Baker, Haley Heynderickx and Elliott Smith will gravitate toward the tender flame of this Seattle songwriter’s work. Green’s songs linger, each note expanding upon hitting the atmosphere.