Ro’s Roundup welcomes a new writer this month! Julia Lambert critiqued music in college and is excited to get back to “giving unsolicited opinions.” Her first reviews cover releases by Villager and Kitchen Dwellers. Thanks to her, I had time to write at least a couple sentences on every other new album. The newsletter opens with new music reviews before moving on to Chicago live show recommendations and North America tour listings.
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In the music world this month, SXSW has spurred controversy for its ties to the U.S. military. Squirrel Flower (Ella Williams) dropped out of her showcase and started a boycott, citing the festival’s partnership with the Army and with RTX Corporation, a defense contractor formerly known as Raytheon.
Live shows are picking up in other forms, with lots of artists starting spring tours. A couple of weeks ago, I caught Squid performing at Thalia Hall in Chicago with Water From Your Eyes. Both bands delivered high-energy, captivating performances. Check out my photos below, and consider watching Squid’s mind-blowing, multi-genre DJ set on the Lot Radio a week prior.
New Music
Out Today
HOMESHAKE, CD Wallet (Dine Alone), shoegaze/slowcore
It’s hard to fathom that CD Wallet comes from the same artist who played with Mac Demarco until 2014 and spent the following decade putting out R&B-fused bedroom pop albums of his own. Peter Sagar’s latest release suggests influences like Duster and contemporaries like They Are Gutting a Body of Water.
Sagar’s sharp departure from his typical sound stemmed from a desire to channel his hometown of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, according to a recent interview with Range. He does so through gloomy, cloudy day tracks with adolescence-evoking lyrics.
CD Wallet opens with a glistening, hypnotic guitar line on “Frayed.” The track builds to a flute-like sound over a thick layer of shoegaze guitars, establishing a pattern that Sagar repeats throughout the album: soft opening, noisy middle, subdued finish.
“Kitty,” the fourth track, is slow, almost plodding with just five lines of lyrics directed playfully at a lover. The whole song seems to beckon this person back to bed on a sleepy, Sunday morning.
Sagar has said he wanted to conjure up a home basement on CD Wallet, a feat he accomplishes most bluntly on a track fittingly titled “Basement.” The song, resting halfway through the album, weaves a hazy guitar melody and vocals with more shoegaze elements and the nostalgic, adolescent escapism of lines such as “under it all in the basement” and “neighbors can’t tell where we are.”
CD Wallet’s self-titled track is its grittiest, compressed and gravelly-deep guitar twangs underpinning the chorus. Listeners can envision themself at a DIY show, head banging in a brief burst of energy before returning to an awkward sway at the next verse.
Adding to the adventurousness of CD Wallet, Sagar ends the album with a ten-minute-long track. “Listerine” kicks off with shimmering, low-pitched guitar chords over a crawling drum line. Sagar murmurs vocals like a meditation, delivering what seems like a eulogy to his younger self. A droning guitar solo and bridge with prolonged, near-silent, amplifier feedback seem to capture Sagar’s descent into distant memory before he returns and brings the track to a close.
If CD Wallet exists, stylistically, “to impress my childhood self” as Sagar has said, it does so without the usual pretense of a concept album. Many contemporaries have sought to capture the morose fuzz of late 90s and early 2000s indie rock. Sagar’s attempt draws from a direct experience that imbues it with a haunting earnestness.
– Ro
Kim Gordon, The Collective (Matador), noise rock
At 70, Gordon is still crafting weird-as-hell masterpieces. Her second solo album pulls from noise, trap and dub, landing her in the proximity of Death Grips. The LP, like all of Gordon’s music, however, is not quite like anything preexisting. She infuses it with a psychedelia that elicits an entrancing and alien feeling of demonic possession.
Moor Mother, The Great Bailout (ANTI-), experimental / free jazz / Afrofuturism
Camae Ayewa showcases a poetic mastery not only of her lyrics but of the music to which she sets them. The artist weaves a tapestry of synths and strings at once ethereal and ominous.
Last week
Kitchen Dwellers, Seven Dwellers (Limbo) (No Coincidence), bluegrass / psych rock
In the same way that your dad’s staple jacket from the 70s hits in 2024, nostalgic bluegrass red-dirt rock is feels novel on Kitchen Dwellers’s conceptual album Seven Devils. The Bozeman-based quartet of Shawn Swain (mandolin), Torrin Daniels (banjo), Joe Funk (upright bass), and Max Davies (acoustic guitar) bring us back to true twang on a venture from the mountains of Appalachia to the pits of Hell. Each track is vastly different from the last, allowing listeners to indulge in energizing strings—”The Crow and the Raven (III)”—and wrung-out memories that may not belong to us but feel like they should—“Seven Devils (Limbo)”. Inspired by Dante’s voyage through the Nine Circles of Hell, each track is assigned a deadly sin, sending the listener deeper into a frenzied, psychedelic trance.
The opening track Prelude’s Harrison-esque sitar sets the tone for the ride Seven Devils is designed to take you on. The journey continues with tracks like “Drop Tine,” “Meagher’s Reel,” and “Waterford Son (II),” which guide listeners through forests and across rivers, leaving maps behind to follow heart and soul, flute and fiddle. What makes this album so unique and outwardly fun is the incredible breadth it packs into 57 minutes.
The album features vocals from Lindsay Lou, whose Nashville roots ground the bluegrass album as it edges closer and closer to another dimension. Some tracks glow orange and crackle like a fireplace while others evoke dance halls and country bars. Some of the more intense, psychedelic moments might seem extravagant and out of place, but they are the products of the life-changing ego death that inspired songs like “Unwind (Paradise)”. The overall feel lies somewhere between Western wanderlust, southern comfort, and galaxial uncertainty.
The raw emotion of Seven Devils is palpable from start to finish. Even with lyricless stretches, the band gets its point across. Per Daniels, “The reality is, we’re only truly happy when happiness comes from within.”
The album gets real, using the descent into the Underworld as a more palatable guise for a descent inward. Kitchen Dwellers delivers exactly what was ordered: a twisted, alt-Americana voyage away from what we know and love into something new and enticing—and yet strangely familiar—all at once.
– Julia
Pissed Jeans, Half Divorced (Sub Pop), hardcore
The hardcore band’s explosive new album is its sixth. From plodding sludge metal to classic punk, the project offers just enough variety to keep listeners on their toes.
Coco, 2, First City (pop/rock)
The trio’s second album gently intertwines generous layers of instrumentation. The result is distinct yet easy to digest, a perfect album for a lazy afternoon outdoors.
Upcoming Releases
March 15
Boeckner, Boeckner! (Sub Pop), indietronica
The singer-songwriter and guitarist has co-fronted Wolf Parade and other bands for more than more than two decades, but this is his first solo album. The synth-forward LP will feel familiar to listeners who steeped themselves in bands like Bleachers circa 2010, but it contains just enough novelty to hold a contemporary audience.
The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis, The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis (Impulse!), experimental jazz/punk
Fugazi fans may or may not be familiar with former bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty’s genre-defying project the Messthetics. The group’s most recent release is another of several collaborations with jazz composer and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, a collection of delightfully dynamic and unpredictable tracks.
Tierra Whack, World Wide Whack (Interscope), hip-hop
Tierra Whack set herself apart from the crowd in 2018 with Whack World, a colorful album with strikingly short songs. The rapper and singer’s first LP since then seems to feature a similar playfulness, perhaps offset by the nuance of greater artistic maturity.
March 22
Villager, Tear Your Heart Out (Darling), folk rock / Midwest emo
Mark Allen Scott as villagerrr answers the question, “What if Whitney was sadder?”
The elegant and intimate 11-track LP Tear Your Heart Out grapples with relationships, friendships, heartbreak, and how we internalize the conflicts and pain that’s happening in our lives.
Scott is proudly Midwestern, and this home-recorded project makes no effort to hide this. Between wispy drums and droning riffs, there is the unmistakable twang of genuine Midwest emo, and it’s what makes this album heavy and complex. While the content fits the mold (missing your ex on winding roads in towns we never left), there is a certain personal nostalgia that is contagious and comforting.
Scott pulls influence from growing up in rural Ohio, where cookie-cutter, cornfield country songs are inescapable on school bus speakers and grocery store intercom systems. “Barn Burnerrr” and “Come Right Back” pull on this indie twang, transporting listeners to Scott’s roots. Tear Your Heart Out is Scott claiming this part of himself rather than running from it, telling the world, “This is me, this is the stuff I am made of.”
Scott’s fourth album is his first to venture beyond solo recordings, utilizing a full-bodied five-piece live band and delicate features from artists that have inspired Scott from the beginning. The opening track and single “Neverrr Everrr” features singer-songwriter Merce Lemon, adding a striking femininity to the tracklist reminiscent of Clairo or Soccer Mommy. The undeniable delicacy of the album carries through into the dreamy piano of “River Ain’t Safe” and “See” which feels familiar, like we’re hearing snippets from a scrapbook of Scott’s life.
The LP is deliberate and entertaining, with each track adding beauty to the mundane. Midwest emo drones by nature, but Scott’s purposeful songwriting varies just enough to keep you thoroughly invested from start to finish. His attention to detail is impressive, from mesmerizing instrumental solos and harmonies to his signature triple-R that connects track listings to the band’s identity, proving that this project really means something.
In Scott’s own words, Tear Your Heart Out “is for long drives where the light shines through the sunroof, small-town get-togethers, and the times when you realize more about yourself and who you want in your life.” It’s the ultimate of experiencing all 4 seasons, flat drives through golden fields, and embracing the things we won’t leave so they don’t change.
– Julia
Trash Fiasco, Exit as Instructed (Earmilk), Chicago garage punk
Unpredictable guitar lines, resonant bass backing and screeching vocals set Trash Fiasco apart from its punk contemporaries. The bizarre singing evokes the Germs’ Darby Crash, but the richly layered instrumentals make Exit as Instructed a definitiviely original, modern release.
Pan•American & Kramer, Reverberations of Non-Stop Traffic on Redding Road (Shimmy Disc), Chicago ambient
Labradford’s Mark K. Nelson has quietly released ambient music alone under the name Pan•American for more than twenty years. For his latest release, he teamed up with Shimmy-Disc founder Kramer. The pair have crafted a meditative album awash with lush textures and drawn-out drone tones.
Kaleah Lee, Birdwatcher EP, folk
Not your average folk album, Birdwatcher opens with a rich, droning melody (both vocal and string) and ambient field noise. Lee stylizes each track with lush instrumentals and feathery vocals.
Adrianne Lenker, Bright Future (4AD), folk
The Big Thief frontwoman went fully analog for her new solo album, recording vocals, guitar and fiddle. Contributions from Nick Hakim and others enrich the caramel folkiness that defines Lenker’s music.
The Jesus and Mary Chain, Glasgow Eyes (Fuzz Club), noise pop
The Scottish outfit might be known for their stage-setting contributions to psych rock and shoegaze in the 80s, but they still have much to offer forty years after their founding. Glasgow Eyes showcases much of the same hazy grit that first made the band popular, refined by practice and the advancement of recording technology.
Waxahatchee, Tigers Blood (ANTI-), folk
The singer-songwriter turned heads earlier this year with the release of “Right Back At It,” a poignant collaboration with rising contemporary MJ Lenderman. Her full album features the same sentimental, salt-of-the-earth feel in a range of energy levels.
Chastity Belt, Live Laugh Love (Suicide Squeeze), rock/pop
Live Laugh Love’s lead single, “Hollow,” opens with the lines “There’s a lie that we all tell / I don’t mind trading comfort for a change.”
Chastity Belt frontwoman Julia Shapiro has attributed these lyrics to a realization that she might never stop feeling lost or stuck–and a resolution to accept that feeling. Existential floundering underpins Live Laugh Love as a whole, even as a three-year recording process and the band’s decade of experience together make it musically cohesive and complex.
Following “Hollow,” “Funny” is a rhythmic and melodic second track that invites listeners on a road trip through the desert. The energy shifts on “Clumsy,” a more toned-down song that grapples with heartbreak through amusing lyrics like “I don’t want to be a bitch but / I think you need to grow up” before tapering off into a rumbling drum and guitar duet.
The moodiness continues with “It’s Cool” and “Kool-Aid.” The latter features two striking guitar lines–one shoegaze-esque, another airy and meandering. Chastity Belt showcases an adept ability to layer instruments throughout the album, regularly placing guitars in dynamic conversation with each other and with Shapiro’s vocals.
The EP edges into gritty moments of distortion toward the middle, but it clears near the end, nearing the band’s classic sound on the track “I-90.” Lyrically, the song is beautiful and heartbreaking, a cinematic look at unrequited love and mental illness.
“I don’t share your feelings about me,” Shapiro sings. “I’m sorry, I just don’t have the capacity.”
The dark subject matter offers a striking contrast to the disarmingly cheerful music. This juxtaposition underpins Chastity Belt’s album as a whole, and it is this unexpected patchwork of intricate instrumentals and dense subject matter that really makes it worth hearing.
Shabazz Palaces, Exotic Birds of Prey (Sub Pop), experimental hip-hop
The group’s new mini-album weaves dissonant vocal melodies and abstract lyrics together with outlandish beats and samples.
Chicago shows
March 8 — Dark Heaven presents Sacred and Obscene (women’s History Month event)
March 9
Mama’s House: Derrick Carter, Jaggy and DJ Wolfy at Podlasie Club
RP Boo with Alejandro Marenco at the California Clipper
March 10 — Urine Hell with Day Job, Heet Death and Dust Muscle at Sleeping Village
March 14
Desolation Jacks presents Jackmaster Hater with Axel and Conflict Bureau at the California Clipper
Sick Day with Precocious Neophyte, Carter Ward and Morgan Powers at Beat Kitchen
March 15
Harvey waters with Ira glass and INPO at Cole’s (rock)
The Kooks at Riviera Theatre
Buen Viaje at the Whistler
Ryan Hadarah at Empty Bottle
March 16 — Glenn Underground and Black Terry at Podlasie Club
March 18 — Tanner Dane at Dorians
March 22
DJ Seinfeld with Deepsmith and Josh Aaron at Smartbar
TRUST: Health afterparty (AK Sports & Victoria, Johnny Health DJ set, Club Drippy from Pixel Grip, Patrixia, Echodroides DJ set, Greg Corner) at Smoke & Mirrors
March 24 — Lee Fields with Y La Bamba and Rudy de Anda at Metro
March 28 — Strange Skin live debut with Iron Years and Grave Love at live wire
March 29 — Daniel Villareal (of Valebol) at Schuba’s
March 30 — Laurel Halo with Madeline and Girly at Smartbar
North America Tours
Cherry Glazerr with Wombo and Ex-Pilots — Now - March 16
Health with Pixel Grip and King Yosef — Now - April 4
Hurray for the Riff Raff (with Namdi or Sen Morimoto) — Now - April 14
Teen Mortgage (punk) — Now - April 7
Dry Cleaning — March 10-26
Sir Chloe — March 10 - April 27
Danny Brown — March 12 - April 1
Hotline TNT — March 13 - April 18
Sun June — March 19 - June 14
San Fermin — March 20 - April 4
CMAT (kitschy country pop) — March 20 - April 10
Thanks for reading! See ya next month.
