Shauli Bracha, QA Engineer

Heartsick

Our Hollow, Our Home

OHOH calls themselves “melodic metalcore.” From Hampshire, UK, their Estuary Accents can be heard if you listen carefully, which adds to the flavor. Especially on tuneful tracks like “Web Weaver,” the band’s voice flows seamlessly between Hallisey’s growls and Tobias Young’s sweet pop punk-influenced sweetness. With such talent flowing, you wonder if there’s anything this band can’t do.

Matt Robinson, AVP Product

Shake Off Your Troubles

The Little Kicks

Scotland’s The Little Kicks got their name (one assumes) from the Seinfeld episode of the same name: Season 8, Episode 4, “The Little Kicks.” After George attends an office party with Elaine, she whips out a dance that, once George sees it, makes him lose all respect for her. As George tells Jerry later:

JERRY: Elaine danced?

GEORGE: It was more like a full bodied dry heave set to music.

JERRY: Did she do the little kicks and the thumbs?

GEORGE: What, you mean you know about this?

The characters on Seinfeld are shallow, but that’s part of the comedy. Similarly, when pop music is shallow, we forgive it for its flaws and danceability. Their lyrics seem to dig deep into the social struggles of contemporary friend circles: “Tell my friends to come / To a place unknown. / I’ll be sitting in the backseat / Like a wanted man.” The Little Kicks, however, refuse to be shallow.

Now That’s What I Call Prats Music

The Prats

Cheeky, innit? Guided by youth and early punk, Edinburgh’s The Prats were formed when the oldest member was only 15 years old. Growing in cult status thanks to John Peel’s BBC 1 program, they continued to record music throughout their high school experience, splitting up in 1981 to get on with their lives. Their complete works were never available in one place until One Little Indian released this album in 2005, featuring such fun punk anthems as “Disco Pope” and “Party Girl.” Album also includes two demos and a complete live set.

Amphetamine Ballads

The Amazing Snakeheads

It’s a shame they only made one album before disbanding. Is there any band that uses as many sounds as The Amazing Snakeheads? On their first and last album, they use synths, harmonicas, and saxophones to add flavor, never to overload the stew. Lead singer Dale Barclay plays multiple characters from start to finish. As a result, this album comes in hearty and digests with some encouragement. If it’s true what William Coombe said about the band — “We didn’t have a fucking clue,” he told the Skinny — then it doesn’t show.

Eliza Dunaway, Front End Developer

EVVY

EVVY

As pop music continues to progress, it’s common to hear a pop musician refer to their music as an entirely different type of music. Ethereal Swag is what Evvy calls her music, and you’d have to listen to know why. She plays with beats ranging from Carly Rae Jepsen dreaminess to a Paul Simon-influenced American afrobeat. Totally danceable.

Teddy Bradsher, QA

Fênix

Azymuth

Jazz funk might not have caught on the States as much as other genres, so perhaps it’s better putting Azymuth in the context of world music. From their 2016 album Fênix you can expect the same lively jams they’ve been releasing since 1973, if maybe a little smoother and synthesizer. Music makers, take note: some of these tracks are ripe for sampling, especially in a world when a large share of rap has started to sound like a post-apocalyptic nightmare. (Not a bad thing, by the way.) “Papa Samba” is like a dancing haunted house in one of those cartoons that used to creep out the kids.

The Acoustic Verses

Green Carnation

Hard rock was once criticized for unclear lyrics, but on Green Carnation’s The Acoustic Verses, you can hear every single word. The former death metal band from Norway took a big risk in releasing this entirely acoustic album in 2006. Stein Roger Sordal becomes lead vocalist for the first time on “The Burden is Mine…Alone” and he has a lot of feelings.

Adrian Younge Presents Something About April

Adrian Younge

Fans of the 2009 Blaxploitation parody Black Dynamite (and everyone should be a fan of this movie, it’s hilarious) will know Adrian Younge for providing the equally hilarious score. For more of that gritty soul groove, check out Adrian Younge Presents Venice Dawn: Something About April. It’s the soulful side of Ennio Morricone paying reverse tribute to the RZA.

Things We Lost in the Fire

Low

In Norway, they watch slow TV. In Minnesota, they listen to slowcore. Is there something about the weather? They’re only thirteen degrees apart longitudinally. Should I even try to make this connection? The larger point is, if you want to get into well-crafted chill music that rolls more than it rocks, Low is where you’d start. As Treble Magazine put it, “Slowcore doesn’t really have any massive stars, so to speak, but its closest thing would definitely be Low.”