This Month In Releases: January 2014

Welcome to our favorite local releases post for the month of January!! In this post we loving offer up the 11 EPs/LPs and 1 compilation that constituted our favorite local listens to emerge in the last month. As always, the rules are as follows: all records were released during the month of January by either a local artist or a local record company. They appear in no particular order and singles and 7" were not included (unless they were EP length). If I didn't include your release I either didn't like it, didn't hear it, or one or both of us has the wrong release date. Click the link in the album title for more from each artist. Enjoy!

EPs/LPs:

Julie Byrne, 'Rooms With Walls and Windows' (Orindal) -- folk

Julie Byrne's debut full-length is beautiful. Recorded live with only an acoustic guitar or keyboard as accompaniment, 'Rooms With Walls and Windows' is simple but never plain, engrossing but never needy. The most common comparison people have made is to the more folk-based recordings from Liz Harris' Grouper project, but I think Julie would find equally good company on a bill with Olympia's Eleanor Murray. Either way, her arrival is welcome news to us at NGD.

OCnotes, 'Rap Loops' (self-released) -- beats

107 mini, but not that mini, tracks of beats "for the cats that still freestyle with homies or all alone" from Otis Calvin III. They may have been intended as backing tracks, but 'Rap Loops' has a personality all its own. Airy, lo-key, funky beats that are perfect for a roaming mind.

VibraGun, 'VibraGun' (self-released) -- shoegaze, alt rock, dream pop

The perfect place to start that "best of 2014" list. VibraGun delivers on their long-anticipated masterpiece and the results are undeniable. Read our review here.

Kingdom of the Holy Sun, 'Pharmaco (revisited) EP' (self-released) -- psych, space rock 
More great psych goodness from Guido Anselmi and crew. This EP contains a selection of tracks culled from their 2012 full-length, 'Pharmacokinetics'. They seem to be the same recordings, but maybe with some of the levels tweaked? I don't know; whatever, these songs are great.

Bosnia, 'Bosnia' (Hanged Man) -- experimental hardcore punk, doom, noise 
The newest solo project from Ian Kurtis Crist (Health Problems, Bat). Take Reagan Youth and Black Flag, slow-em to an agonizing crawl and run em' through a blender and you have Bosnia. Really fucking good hardcore.

HOM, 'Bound/Somn' (MOTOR) -- mutant house, techno, kraut

The second release from the mutant house off-shoot of Debacle Records is a killer trance-inducing deep house single by Ashley P. Svn. MOTOR is one of the most exciting things brewing in the Seattle music scene at the moment; if you haven't been to one of their showcases yet you are missing out. Check out their next two events here and here.

Chung Antique, 'Sweater Weather' (20 Sided Records) -- post rock, math rock

'Sweater Weather' finds the Seattle-by-way-of-Olympia trio continuing their assault on the barriers that separate math rock and post rock. It's been a while since their last release, but they are stronger than they've ever been. Read our review here.

Deadkill, 'No, Never!' (Good To Die) -- punk, hard rock

Good to Die always brings their A game and the new Deadkill record is no exception. Two years on from the release of their debut 7" and this band is still razor sharp. 'No Never' is an unpretentious, 100% fat free, hardcore punk record. Period.

Wind Burial, 'Wind Burial' (self-released) -- prog rock, acid rock, ethereal pop

Easily our most anticipated album of 2013--so much so in fact that we put it on our best of 2013 list before learning that the official release date was actually January 1st of 2014. Read our review here. Check out our other best of 2013 releases here.

WIMPS, 'Party At The Wrong Time' (Help Yourself) -- punk? punk!

How can you not love WIMPS? No harder-core than thou, no real "look"; WIMPS write "asocial singalong anthems" that speak to the love/hate relationship we have with our obligations, and "Party At The Wrong Time" is every inch as therapeutic as its predecessor. Not for nothing, this is an amazingly fun band to support as well.

Sunn O))), 'La Reh 012' (self-released) -- ambient metal, noise, doom

Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson are a local institution and this disc contains all the smouldering, harsh static that you'd expect from one of the most venerated duos in ambient black metal. Also, don't forget to check out their new collaboration with Norway's Ulver here.

Compilations/Mixes:

Various Artists, 'Mixtape III: Airport Way', (CTPAK Records) -- ambient hip hop, beats

CTPAK's Richie Nelson (aka. Richie Dagger's Crime) and Madison Levine (aka Weapons of Mass Destruction) take on a series of remixes of songs from the CTPAK label including material by Moose Portrait and Death By Stars. Don't forget to check out the first two mix-tapes here and here.