Even though we’re not yet in the full throes of inevitable Heat Death 2019, local artists are still raining fire in the form of new tunes like Drogon over King’s Landing. The sheer volume of work getting tossed around the Fort right now is enough to make heads spin, so let’s get caught up with what we’ve missed and see what else is coming.
Still likely riding high from their Warped Tour appearance last year, third wave ska/punkers Madaline managed to slip a new album past our attention last month. Think: Reel Big Fish/early No Doubt. A bit more recently, quirky indie songsmith Steve Gnash dropped Los Colinas. The Jordan Richardson-produced EP (Duell, Oil Boom) features six songs of Gnash’s Kinks-ian rock reverie in top form.
Just last week, to celebrate his birthday, Cloudland Recording Studios’ engineer extraordinaire Britt Robisheaux was the one giving the presents. To fans of the Fort Worth underground, he bestowed a new EP of eccentric noise rock under the banner Most Efficient Women. Several years in the making, the six songs feature contributions from upwards of 20 local players, including Daron Beck of Pinkish Black, Jeff Helland (White Drugs), late Denton artist Nevada Hill, and drummer Ricky Del Toro (Bulls).
Speaking of Pinkish Black, next month, the phantomic dirge-psych duo will release Concept Unification, their fourth full-length. A single from the upcoming release, “Dial Tone,” debuted earlier this month. Produced by Cloudland’s Robisheaux, the album promises to be the band’s most adventurous to date.
Another moody Fort Worth duo, Signals & Alibis, also have new music on the horizon. Keyboardist/vocalist Rebecca Jozwiak and guitarist Brian Carter promise a new single wrought by their signature dark and sensual song textures soon, with an album to follow later this summer.
The aforementioned Del Toro is another musician who will have his name associated with a number of releases this summer. The drummer/vocalist will follow up debut EPs from Most Efficient Women and his art-rock side project, O. Deletron (of which I am a member), with new music from his main gig as drummer-frontman of post-rock practitioners Bulls. Tracked at Dallas’ Elmwood Studios, the new album will be the trio’s second full-length.
Self-described “blue collar band making blue collar music for a blue collar world,” Grady Spencer & The Work add to their discog of calloused-handed roots-rock their third LP. A release show at Shipping & Receiving Bar with Frankie Leonie and Colby Culberson will be on June 17. You can get a taste via the new single “Celebrate,” which is out now.
For fans of tunes best enjoyed through, say, the door-mounted speakers of a peace sign-emblazoned Volkswagen bus, we have new music from Lion Eye and Katsük. Co-fronted by local hip-hop icon Dru B Shinin’, new rootsy reggae vibes from Lion Eye will help soothe some of the summer burn, while acoustic-slinging yogi Daniel Katsük’s upcoming Commissions & Recommisions VI gets you centered. Look for both next month.
Coffee Pot Productions cofounder Ian McKenyon found time between shooting new videos for the likes of Mean Motor Scooter and Phantomelo to shoot one for his own silly-on-a-serious-level “some kind of rock” band Garage Barrage. “Tippin’ on Meatballs” is the first single off an upcoming debut full-length, Enter the Negaverse.
Lo-fi electro-rocker Christian Mauch, under his pseudonym the Spiral Sound, has a new single in the can that should find its way to listeners shortly. Called “So, Julian,” the bouncy and danceable track features a glossier sheen production-wise than the material Mauch has released in recent years, but the tune still retains the nails-dug-in emotive grip his music is known for. The hermit-like Mauch has been busy as of late and not just with the Spiral Sound. His former band, the once-were-kind-of-maybe-a-biggish-deal ’90s synth-pop outfit Channel 69, have reformed are playing shows again –– and are about to release their first new music in a quarter century. A single, “Another Gotcha,” is coming soon.
July will see the release of soulful roots singer Josh Weathers’ next album. A new single called “Wild Ones” will tease the record before the release show at legendary Billy Bob’s Texas in the heart of the Stockyards on July 20.
When you consider we’re also waiting with the patience of a dog with a Milkbone balanced on his nose for a new Henry the Archer single, an EP from Americana four-piece Hightower, as-of-yet-released material from Mountain of Smoke, melodic metal dudes Mountain Kid, and the Clint Niosi-fronted Boozy Moods, there’s plenty to enjoy to help get us over the hump into fall’s welcome cool.
