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Rad Max
Party McFly (self-released)
Local party punk-rockers Rad Max have been steadily growing their global fan base through their high-energy live performances and full-bodied embrace of ‘80s pop culture signifiers like shutter shades and “Is That Freedom Rock?” While their second album, the delightfully named Party McFly, doesn’t come close to capturing the uninhibited joy of their gigs, it does allow for more time to appreciate bassist Scott Cushman’s lyrics that reveal a strikingly nihilistic vein running alongside kitschy references to The Goonies, Twin Peaks and Tiger Beat.
Mount Eerie
Night Palace (P.W. Elverum & Sun)
The work of Phil Elverum, especially during this stretch in which he assumed the moniker Mount Eerie, carries within it a beautiful duality. You hear a startling intimacy as he recounts the little details of his life against the vast landscape of the natural world surrounding his home in Anacortes. As well, the music has a hushed, fireside quality even amid the grand sweeps and crushing volume Elverum employs. As heard on his new epic-length album Night Palace, the scope and singularity of his vision is as awe-inspiring and terrifying as life itself can be.
Patrick Cowley
From Behind (Dark Entries)
Reissue label Dark Entries continues its laudable work anthologizing and celebrating the career of late disco/hi-NRG producer Patrick Cowley with a new compilation that focuses on his interpretations of various ‘60s and ‘70s pop and rock tunes. In his capable hands and with his dance floor-centric aesthetic, T. Rex’s “20th Century Fox” becomes somehow even sleazier, The Guess Who’s “Shakin’ All Over” is given a glitzy, vocoder-driven makeover, and The Four Tops’ “Baby I Need Your Loving” is now the soundtrack to a montage of pastel-sporting teens moving joyously through life.