Snack Channel v.1 | The Stony Brook Press

It’s such a wild time for indie heads lately. This year, we’re expected to get new records from the likes of Vampire Weekend, Sleater Kinney and Tame Impala, among others. It’s easy to fall for the old guard, or to revert back into the familiar, though it’s also equally as easy (and, in my view, infinitely more interesting) to search for the new. Of course, this column (only in its day one infancy as of this post) is not meant to be a definitive list of “what’s hot” or “what’s new.” I can only hope that it serves as a very brief overview or guide of what’s worth listening to every week.

Okay, so if you’ve read this far (and haven’t already gotten as sick of reading my shit as I have), then continue on and check out some of the newest stuff this week:

New Snacks This Week:

Blood Cultures: Flowers for All Occasions

New Jersey based Bloodcultures modestly stepped onto the scene in 2017 with the release of Happy Birthday, a distinctly unique collection of smooth electro-pop elements and generally feel-good tracks. Brimming with colorful synth lines, carefree melodies and hazy landscapes, the mysterious group set the bar for themselves pretty high (they wear black bags over the heads – it’s part of their thing, man!). Happy Birthday was an impressive debut, one that I personally considered one the best releases of the year.

Yet, there’s very little that we know about them (other than their New Jerseyan roots and masked faces). Back in October, the group released a track that can only be described as carrie-like, but it’s been radio silence ever since. ~ SpOoKy ~

However! That silence was broken k with the release of their newest track Flowers for All Occasions. The newest track continues stylistically from their debut and isn’t too much of a departure. It isn’t too dissimilar from anything off Happy Birthday. But that’s not a bad thing. Flowers for All Occasions is still an incredibly catchy, beautifully textured track that offers spacious melodies and brightly layered synths all bouncing off of one another. Wherever Blood Cultures goes next, it might be worth your while to pay attention.

Listen to Flowers for All Occasions

Ty Segall: Deforming Lobes

Scuzzy fuzz garage rock tycoon Ty Segall is back with a live album, Deforming Lobes. The San Francisco based multi-instrumentalist and undercover swamp monster is one of the hardest working musicians within garage rock with a discography to show for it. Releasing 11 “studio” albums between 2008 and 2018, Segall has also played with other projects of his including The C.I.A, GOGGS and Fuzz. What, then, is a live album to toss onto the pile?

Deforming Lobes is rife with the live energy that Ty Segall is known for: balls-to-the-wall, unparalleled eccentrism from whatever well he’s pulling from. Deforming Lobes captures that ethos perfectly (er, Steve Albini captures that perfectly). Take They Told Me To: a thundering, unstoppable force incendiary musicianship that aims to blow out your ear drums like it’s no big deal (rip to those who were at this show, by the way). If you’re looking for an introduction to Ty Segall, or simply a chance to experience him live, consider this your front row ticket.

Listen to Deforming Lobes

Ghost Funk Orchestra: Skin I’m In

What started out as a one-piece, then turned into a nine-piece. Ghost Funk Orchestra is a musical project between friends and collaborators all in the name of soul, funk and Latin music. What was once the solo passion project of Queens-based multi-instrumentalist Seth Applebaum has morphed into something beautifully textured, multifaceted and endleselly soothing. Steadily releasing music over the past few years, Seth has been slowly growing the group and its creative output over time. 2016’s Night Walker was clouded with looming melodies and interludes (listen to Demon, Demon). In anticipation for their first release with Colemine Records, the group released Skin I’m In last week along with a music video. The track itself looms over you like an ominous cloud with beautifully sung melodies interwoven between the ghost notes of the drums and the blue notes of the guitars.

Listen to Skin I’m In

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: Boogieman Sam

Australia’s own psych-garage-punk-vegemite-rockin-dare-I-say-jam-band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are back once more with a third (!!!) single Boogieman Sam from their forthcoming album Fishing for Fishies. Consistent with their last single, Fishing for Fishes, the group seems to be taking their latest venture directly into b-l-u-e-s territory. A little goofy in its shuffling, stumbling rhythmic backbone and soulful with the tasteful inclusion of the harmonica every few measures, King Gizzard are treading in unknown waters. As their first record since 2017’s marathon string of five standalone albums, who’s to say that this is the only time we’ll hear from them this year?

Fishing for Fishies is out on April 26th via Flightless.

Listen to Boogieman Sam