To Listen 5

All right, I dove into the releases and will semi-regularly pop on with a quick list of 5 albums that you should give a whirl this week. Let's hit it.

Ari Roar, Calm Down - He has that current psych indie rock voice like Tame Impala but I hear undertones of Beach Boys and Elliot Smith in there too, with Dr. Dog as a random modern comparison as well. Anyway. For some reason, this kind of music feels like I'm snuggling a teddy bear. I have no idea what he is singing about so I don't know if that's a weird thing to say or not but the instrumentation and the melodic lines calm my brain waves.

Silva, Brasileiro - because we all know that I can't walk away from an album in Portuguese it seems. The opening track immediately had me hooked with its smooth samba hook. And it's been hot this week, hotter times call for music from hotter climes.

Midnattsol, The Aftermath - I'm going to change it up with some folk metal. They hit just the right sounds for me, which is a tough thing to do because I'm probably most picky about metal. That's beside the point - the simplicity of the music is deceptive as the songs develop and grow. Not too showy, not too light, it's just right.

Invisibie System, Bamako Sessions - this is just a pleasant instrumental album to have on. The groove is great and it swirls nicely in the ears.

And for my final pick... I can't decide. Is it the more upper atmosphere gauzy sound of Bernice's album Puff: In The Air Without A Shape or is it the harder edged Retirement Party's Somewhat Literate or is it the stripped down simplicity of Natalie Evans' Better At Night? Like I said, I can't decide so maybe you have to and I love bending the rules anyway, so let's just consider this the To Listen 7.