Instant Playlist - May 23 2013

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      The Love Language
      Calm Down
      (Merge)
      And here’s a summer jam of an entirely different sort: reverb-smeared jangle pop set to a motorik pulse and geared toward those who spend the nicest days indoors for fear of encountering the sun.

      Sulk
      The Big Blue (Perfect Sound Forever)
      If this were 1991 and Creation Records were still around, Alan McGee would have a hard-on for Sulk. Either that, or he’d realize the band sounds like everything else on the label. Then he would call Kevin Shields and beg him to finish Loveless.

      Weed
      Set Me Back
      (Couple Skate)
      Aptly named for a band from these parts, Weed’s other drug of choice is loud, somewhat impenetrable guitar noise, like something Sonic Youth might have done before Thurston Moore’s lecherous eye started wandering.

      Crocodiles
      Cockroach
      (Frenchkiss)
      In which Brandon Welchez and Charles Rowell discover that the surest way to make a record that sounds exactly like the Jesus and Mary Chain is to hire the Raveonettes’ Sune Rose Wagner to produce it.

      Neaera
      My Night Is Starless
      (Metal Blade)
      You know what’s really bad about the night being starless? It makes it harder to see that basement-dwelling thing from the first season of American Horror Story, who seemingly handles vocals on this grinding metal meltdown.

      The Flaps
      The Site of Death (Kelp)
      The title suggests a Neaera song, but what you get is a gorgeous prog-folk instrumental built around acoustic guitars and spacey accordion. As a bonus, there’s no sign of that basement-dwelling thing from the first season of American Horror Story.

      Kobo Town
      The Trial of Henry Marshall (Stonetree)
      Based on past decades, it’s going to be a while before the sun starts shining in these parts—namely, the second week of August. Transport yourself to somewhere warm and exotic with Kobo Town’s mix of spliffed-out Jamaican reggae and woozy 2-Tone ska.

      A Tribe Called Red
      The Road

      Imagine Dead Can Dance, PiL, and Moby jamming things out in a completely rocking circa-1890 Coast Salish lodge, and you’ve got a vague starting point for A Tribe Called Red. 

      Goodie Mob feat. Janelle Monae
      Special Education

      Over a (probably) trap-inspired sound- scape of bass bombs and squelchy synths, Goodie Mob announces its comeback in fine style, with Janelle Monáe pouring a shot of melody into the potent cocktail.

      Pity Sex
      Wind-Up (Run for Cover)
      There’s no denying the charms of this tune’s shoegaze-y dream-pop goodness, but Pity Sex is right up there with Diarrhea Planet in the worst-band-name-of-2013 sweepstakes.

      The-Dream feat. Jay-Z
      High Art
      (Def Jam)
      Just when we thought we’d never find a not-quite-summer jam good enough to bump on Repeat while we cruise Robson in our 1993 Corolla, along comes this slick but biting bit of gangsta-fied R&B.

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