It’s the first Pressing Concerns of the week! We’re kicking June off with new albums from John Galm and Now and new EPs from Grant Pavol and The Lilas. Check them out below and find something great!
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John Galm – River of Blood
Release date: May 16th
Record label: Count Your Lucky Stars
Genre: Folk rock, singer-songwriter
Formats: Vinyl, digital
Pull Track: Imlu
Philadelphia’s John Galm has had a one-of-a-kind music career over the past decade and a half or so. He cemented his place in emo revival history as the frontperson of the band Snowing, who were one-album-in-2010-and-done (aside from some miscellaneous recordings and not-infrequent reunion shows), but the music Galm’s been involved with since then has tilted away from this starting point. I’ve written about a good deal of it on this blog before, specifically the hazy, dreamy bedroom pop of his quasi-solo project Bad Heaven Ltd. and the loud, shoegaze-y fuzz rock of Mt. Worry (also featuring Noah and Rowan Roth of Hell Trash). Galm’s only solo album before now was 2014’s Sky of No Stars, released on the defunct Broken World Media imprint, so it’s kind of curious that he decided to revert back to releasing music under his own name for River of Blood. Inspired by a much-needed new sobriety, the departure of half of Mt. Worry to Chicago and the subsequent icing of the band, and Galm spending more time at his mother’s house in Lehigh Valley (where he grew up), River of Blood is a rich and heavy folk album that certainly earns the “John Galm album” designation, and then some.
River of Blood came together piece by piece–some was recorded at Galm’s mother’s house, some of it at his apartment in Philadelphia, and he eventually traveled to Chicago to add more parts by Noah and Rowan Roth to the recordings. These slow, stark indie folk songs remind me a bit of the quieter sides of Noah Roth’s solo work, as well as a lot of notable “indie folk” names from the past few decades (of the ones that Count Your Lucky Stars mentions, Mount Eerie is probably the most accurate, but I also hear Galm’s stated goal of incorporating moves from “higher-produced indie rock records” like Phoebe Bridgers’ work, which works in spite of–or perhaps because of–the economical recording setup). This is a record that is best experienced as a single piece, I think, and it’s hard for me to single out specific tracks–yes, the eight-minute opening title track and the six-minute “Into the Fire” are breathtaking folk-art-rock canvasses, but I don’t think they’re any more complete than the quieter tracks that bridge the space in between them. The warbly “Darktown” reminds me a little bit of Bad Heaven Ltd., but on the whole River of Blood is a much more direct and cleaner-sounding album. The album ends with a quiet, hushed cover of “Stand by Me”–somewhat amusingly, the biography for the album says that “some of [Galm’s] close confidants balked at the idea” of closing River of Blood with it (Noah? Was that you?), but the song is there for him, much like River of Blood itself is for John Galm (and, now, us). (Bandcamp link)
Now – Now Does the Trick
Release date: May 16th
Record label: K/Perennial
Genre: Jangle pop, psychedelic pop, lo-fi pop, power pop
Formats: Vinyl, digital
Pull Track: 1 Way 2 Go
I remember when I first heard of San Francisco Bay Area guitar pop group Now–the end of 2023, when Andy Pastalaniec of Chime School (one of my favorite groups of the very large and incestuous Bay Area indie pop scene) listed their album And Blue Space Is Burning Noon as one of his favorites of that year. I loved And Blue Space Is Burning Noon immediately; I wrote that vocalist and guitarist Will Smith “sounds like a young Scott Miller” but that Now is “groovier, more psychedelic, and…more rubbery” than most of the vintage college rock bands they evoke. Smith (who has played in the band Cindy), drummer Oli Lipton (another Cindy contributor), and bassist Hannah Forrester (of Thunder Boys) got scooped up by Perennial and K Records not long after I found And Blue Space Is Burning Noon–the trio’s second album and debut for their new label is called Now Does the Trick, a different beast than their debut but no less strong of an LP. The psychedelic, kraut-y mud of And Blue Space Is Burning Noon is turned down and the jangle pop guitars and hooks are turned up–Now sound like they’re aiming for the little big-time here, hitting the same highs as their now-labelmates Sharp Pins and The Smashing Times.
Now are still a bunch of weirdos, though–lo-fi, sparkling jangle can’t paper over all of that. Even though the dozen songs of Now Does the Trick total just a bit over a half-hour, it feels like they encompass so much more than that; Now eat their craft-sharpening cake and get to keep some skeletons in their collective closet, too. Plenty of the hits are right up front–the lurching acoustic guitar and pop rock charms of “The Ballad of Joy Bang” are quite exuberant, “Careening” is a jangle pop version of the titular action, and if “A Hat to Match” has just a bit of melancholy to it by comparison, the rays are still shining through the clouds. Around the middle of Now Does the Trick is something called “Art Forger” that shifts the feel a little bit into dream pop and unhurried exploration, and while plenty of punchy power pop tunes follow it (check out “What Happened to Johnny?” and the penultimate track, “1 Way to Go”), it does feel like the second half has its third eye on occasional lookout. Not everything is as curious as the molasses-pop “Morning Trains Like Mirrors”, but the jangle of songs like “Join Our Treasure Hunt” and “M. Mather” have a bit of that increasingly-recognizable “Now mire” on them. I was pretty quick to proclaim Now as some of the best of the Bay after hearing And Blue Space Is Burning Noon, and Now Does the Trick keeps them right on track. (Bandcamp link)
Grant Pavol – Left That Party
Release date: May 9th
Record label: Sonder House
Genre: Power pop, fuzz rock, indie pop
Formats: Digital
Pull Track: Left That Party
We’re back for round two of the Grant Pavol EP experience! The New York-based musician (perhaps most well-known for his time playing with indie pop musician Shamir) declared an intent to release four four-song solo EPs over the course of 2025, and he’s on track to hit his benchmarks with two of them out in sixth months. January’s College was a foray into stripped-down, quiet folk music featuring viola from Sloppy Jane’s Isabella Bustanoby, but Left That Party switches gears towards power pop and the hooky side of guitar-driven indie rock. Recorded with the rhythm section of Bustanoby on bass and Anya Good (George Clanton, Grumpy) on drums, Left That Party is much more “in the Rosy Overdrive wheelhouse” than College was, so it’s not exactly surprising that I really enjoy the direction Pavol’s taken his music with these songs. It’s easy enough to cite Tony Molina, Weezer, and Elliott Smith as influences (which Pavol, who is notably also a music publicist, does), but Pavol drops into the world of guitar pop with an eager studiousness that feels quite distinct from any kind of genre tourism–this kind of stuff feels just as dear to Pavol as the folk music of College came off.
“Left That Party” is worth the price of admission alone–Pavol and his rhythm section announce their new sound with fuzzed-out guitars, surf-rock backing vocals, handclaps, and a tractor trailer truck of a melody and hook. Pavol’s tale of an unfortunate night out (with the song’s title referring to what he should’ve done, with you) is the one that really earns those Molina and Weezer namedrops, and Pavol does the power pop balancing act as a frontperson who’s in shit-eating-grin, out-of-his-depth mode thematically but suavely in command of the tight pop song at the same time. Left That Party reminds me more than a bit of 2nd Grade (a band pulling from the same influences as Pavol is here), and the wilting, wistful jangle of “He Ain’t Right” is probably the moment that hews closest to Peter Gill’s power pop project. The second half of Left That Party is a bit less immediate, but the hooks are still there–“Don Juan”, the shortest song on the album, is ninety seconds of bummer pop brilliance that’s up there with other modern underappreciated humble pop groups like Buddie and Brian Mietz, and “The World at My Feet” jettisons the rhythm section entirely for an acoustic track with a little rootsiness that’s the clearest link between College and this record. I still think “The World at My Feet” belongs on Left That Party, though–for an eight minute EP, Pavol really is able to stretch out his definition of power pop to surprising lengths. (Bandcamp link)
The Lilas – Vaquero Tropical
Release date: April 25th
Record label: Epicentro
Genre: Surf rock, psychedelic pop, dream pop
Formats: Digital
Pull Track: Marina
Hey, they’ve got surf rock in Guatemala now, that’s pretty cool! I’m not familiar at all with the current state of Central American indie rock (unless I’m forgetting something, I’m pretty sure this is the first act from somewhere between Mexico and Ecuador I’ve written about in Pressing Concerns), but I did have the good fortunate to hear The Lilas, a one-man-band led by Sebastián Villatoro, so I can tell you about one good indie rock act currently active down there. Vaquero Tropical (that’s “tropical cowboy”) appears to be the second EP from The Lilas, following a debut in 2020 called Motel Couleur. Things had been a bit quiet on the Lilas front ever since Motel Ceouleur, but last year’s non-album single “El Dorado” signaled a return from Villatoro, who linked up with a musician named Bumont who helped produce, mix, and master five new Lilas songs released as Vaquero Tropical. The latest entry into The Lilas’ discography is a fifteen-minute exploration of slow, languid guitar pop that’s a bit dreamy, a bit surfy, and a bit psychedelic. This kind of music can fade into the background, but Villatoro’s take on it is resistant to this for several reasons–his deep, clipped-crooner voice is front-and-center, the guitars are crisp and clear, and there’s no percussion anywhere on the record, forcing us to listen to the six-string interplay around which The Lilas build these songs.
The opening title track to Vaquero Tropical is an instrumental, starting things off with a creeping, noirish bassline that slinks and eventually struts over two and a half minutes. “Marina” continues the relaxed crawl and eventually adds Villatoro’s voice into the fray, singing in a casual, loping way to match the song’s infinitely patient energy. The slightly gothic balladry of “La Mala Sangre” is the most surprising thing on Vaquero Tropical (up until that point, at least), and while “Culebra Coral” isn’t as shocking, the dark, rushing surf rock instrumental keeps the momentum going strong into the EP’s home stretch. If there’s a “hit” to Vaquero Tropical, it’s probably closing track “Ojos Tristes”–whereas the rest of the EP is direct and clean, it’s the one track where The Lilas indulge in just a little bit of trebly, time-warped haziness in the production. The lo-fi, minimalist jazz-pop track (“a confessional bolero”, the bio calls it) is the one song on Vaquero Tropical that might be able to sneak itself onto a coffeeshop playlist somewhere, although Villatoro’s talk-singing confessions might lead to one’s mind drifting away from composing emails and drinking a caffeinated beverage should it make it there. (Bandcamp link)
Also notable:
- Daphne’s Demise – The Heart Is a Garden EP
- Captain Frederickson – Introverts Unite
- The Thirsty Giants – Southern Minnesota Discomfort: TG Live
- Erica Eso – Songs in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand
- Pry – Wrapped in Plastic
- Cheap City – Cheap City Forever
- Lampland – Get Serene
- Oh! Gunquit – Flex
- Frown Town – Dark Green Curtains
- Soot Sprite – Wield Your Hope Like a Weapon
- Stress Positions – Human Zoo
- Townie – Hunting Mice
- Mazozma – Bathing in the Stone
- Ghost World – Armadillo Café
- Scott Hirsch – Lost Padres
- Ultra Pulverize – Gorillas in the Fist
- Ma’aM – Out the Window
- Cuneiform Tabs – Age
- The Mayflies USA – Kickless Kids
- PURRSES – Reality Fantasy
- Hooveriii – Manhunter
- Charming Disaster – The Double
- Arm’s Length – There’s a Whole World Out There
- The Maggots – The (Early) Maggots
- Spark of Life – Plagued by the Human Condition
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