Here are some of my favorite albums and discoveries from April.
Paul Cauthen – Book Of Paul
[website // bandcamp // instagram]
My first introduction to Paul Cauthen was a wild reel on the instagram.com iPhone application posted years ago by media mashup artist Eggs Tyrone featuring someone dancing in the middle of an intersection to the song “Cocaine Country Dancing” dubbed in. It was one of those things where it shouldn’t work so well but it does. That is how I can best sum of Paul Cauthen. At first listen you’d be quick to lump Cauthen as another country artist, but I feel there’s so much more at hand. Paul Cauthen understands the lines where quote “country” outlines its picture, but not only does Book Of Paul color outside the lines, it uses every marker in the pack. They are also the markers from elementary school that smelled liked like fruit and you’d sniff them and get a wicked buzz.
Katie Alice Greer – Perfect Woman Sound Machine, Volume 1
[website // bandcamp // instagram]
Katie Alice Greer, formerly of the D.C. post-punk group Priests has dropped their latest album. Perfect Woman Sound Machine picks up where 2022’s Barbarism left off. However in this case, there was a wealth of room to grow and fill out. “West” is dreamy trip-hop track that bops along inside your head that shortly and suddenly plays into the album’s title track which is a sparse journey that demonstrates Greer’s command of building imaginative soundscapes. “Talk To Leslie” is my favorite song on the album after my first few spins. I got those fun space-like vibes from the late 90s. If this album came out then, I can just imagine laying on my bedroom floor disassociating and freaking myself out (in the best of ways).
Gretel – Squish
[website // bandcamp // instagram]
After many years and a few EPs, British singer-songwriter Madeleine Haenlei has finally released their debut album. Performing under the stage name Gretel, Squish is dark and confessional and it hit me like a gut punch when I first listened to it on my city’s public transportation. It quickly took my focus away from whatever I was planning on listening to for the rest of the day. Squish really shines for me where it sounds like PJ Harvey colliding with Wolf Alice, and you’ll get it in droves with songs like “Maybelline”, “Pick Your Heart Up”, and the absolutely killer “Unbloom”.
The Itch – It’s The Hope That Kills You
I’m a sucker for electro-dance punk that can get my body moving and It’s The Hope That Kills You delivered in myriad of ways. Full of distorted synths and guitars and the right about of pessimism , The Itch spend the album’s 48 minutes waxing about all things from the declining arts scene and the inability to afford to live, to Ursula K. LeGuin. Speaking of the latter, “Ursula” explores the topics expressed in the author’s book “The Dispossessed” as if you were downing pints at the pub with the band. Why, yes, we could bring down the government. While overthrowing the government might take a touch more planning, we could start with the DJs out there. “Aux Romanticiser” is a response to a viral Subway Takes clip about how the world is at full capacity with DJs and people who just play their playlists in crowded rooms, a romanticiser of the auxiliary cord, if you will. The Itch has what it takes to make you sway like you’re in a metal tube underground and will make you sing into your metro card. One Hundred Percent… Agreed.
Nine Inch Nails & Boys Noize – Nine Inch Noize
[website // bandcamp // instagram]
Fresh off of their Peel It Back tour, the collaboration of Nine Inch Nails and DJ Boys Noize were creating quite the buzz with their reimagining of several songs from the NIN catalog in addition to their work on the Tron Ares soundtrack. The wish of the fans was quickly granted with the official release of Nine Inch Noize. Released between the group’s only two live performances at Coachella 2026, Nine Inch Noize is part live album, part reinvention, and further proof of Trent Reznor’s ability to shift and create and never lose sight of the band vision or their edge. With the addition of Reznor’s How To Destroy Angels bandmate and wife, Mariqueen Maandig, the group gave an update and new spin on classics such as “Heresy” and “Closer”. There was also a brighter spotlight given to tracks such as How To Destroy Angels’ “Parasite” and the deep cut Soft Cell cover of “Memorabilia”. As of now there are no plan to extend this project, but as a die-hard fan I am now left with a list of songs I want to be given the Noize treatment.
Sweat – Tear It On Down
California punks Sweat return with their third album. On Tear It On Down the band explores the grief of a society in mid-collapse. However with that grief there is still hope and resilience, and above all there is integrity. “I’m worth more dead than alive” vocalist Tuna Tardago belts out on the incendiary “Citta Violenta”, “Tear it on down. Let it crumble”. There are times on this album where Tuna’s voice cracks ever so slightly and it brings chills. There’s so much passion and heartbreak within Tear It On Down that you’ll feel it course through your veins before the pummeling “Don’t Know Why I Bite” finishes its final descent.
Takaat – Is Noise Vol. 3
I had the pleasure of catching Takaat this April at a small venue on their extensive tour of the northeast and I was really glad I did. Takaat combines desert rock with heavy drone and blown out drum machines with the amps pinned to the right. The results are bone rattling and hypnotic. While not blowing out speakers, the band also serves as the rhythm section for Nigerian guitarist Mdou Moctar. Is Noise Vol. 3 contains only four tracks but contains a world of sonic expression.
Jessie Ware – Superbloom
The 2020s have proven to be very fruitful for Jessie Ware. The third album released this decade continues it’s disco-inspired sound that suits the singer so well. The lush instrumentation on Superbloom accent Ware’s voice to give the album a warm comfortable feeling. Song’s like “Automatic” and the title track are just so inviting and are a treat to listen to on a pair of quality headphones. “Sauna” is quite literally a steamy bop that invokes the cheeky fun of “It’s Raining Men” (hallelujah, am I right?!?) and it strikes that perfect balance where songs that have no right to be this damn good. If I had any skill in being a DJ I’d spend countless hours trying to figure out how to incorporate legendary disco voice Sylvester onto “Ride”, yet another sultry tune on Superbloom. I’d like to think there’s a world where Jessie Ware is dominating the charts and that is a place where I’d want to be.
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