motel void

The best tracks that have come my way in the past week or so and that I highly recommend listening to…

Golden Toad – Time

A lot of krautrock doesn’t show up here, which is a shame – I really like this genre (especially live, it’s phenomenal), and I’m glad to see the genre is still alive and relevant. If I had to choose between krautrock and post-punk, I’d definitely go with the former…

Golden Toad is a British band with only two singles to their name – Time is the second one. There’s not much background information available about them online from what I could find at first glance, but that’s fine. What matters is the music, and in their case, it’s truly excellent. The track is dominated by a repetitive krautrock instrumental base, subtle build-ups, gritty production, and a captivating vocal that reminds me of Ought… it’s a really fun track (I especially love that slightly understated guitar riff that runs through it). I’d love to see this live so much!

feeling it fearing it – leg tat

The second track comes from the US, by an artist called feeling it fearing it. The song called leg tat is basically a showcase of American lo-fi. What caught my attention is that the project is based in Northwest Arkansas – most of the time, music like this tends to come out of New York or California, so this is a refreshing change, and maybe that’s part of what gives the track its uniqueness. The production reminds me of one of my favorites, Fog Lake; the vocals are similarly emotional and also catchy. It’s going straight into my playlist of favorite songs, and I’ll have it on repeat as summer begins.

This is only the second release by feeling it fearing it, and I’m already looking forward to a full album.

Myriads – Call It Quits

I’m closing my recommendations with a trip to Oregon, with probably the most accessible track of the three, from Maria DeHart‘s solo project Myriads, who released a five-song EP Find Ourselves Again in April. I’m a simple person – a photo of beautiful (but not cliché) nature on an album cover always grabs my attention, and that’s exactly what happened here. The music radiates the same energy – it reminds me of early Soccer Mommy. DeHart has a great sense for melodies, the production is simple, natural, and pleasant, the track is beautifully structured, and there’s a lovely little solo at the end to top it all off.