Kid Yellow
"Time Before Time" album
self-released
It may be a brief 7-song, 20-minute album, but Evansville-born songwriter Louie Stumpf's charming indie-pop songs resonate with warmth and a keen attention to mood and texture. The title track is my favorite, with some cool shoegazey elements (I am reminded a wee bit of Sigur Ros), but other cuts, like "Time Travelers", also drift away nicely.
Abigail Williams
"Becoming" album
Candlelight Records
With their third album, veteran American metal act Abigail Williams bring symphonic elements to their otherwise primal black metal attack. "Ascension Sickness" is a masterful work of transcendent darkness,with scathing metallic lashings tempered by some well-developed melodies and strings amongst the blastbeats and demonic howls.
Morkobot
"Morbo" CD
Supernatural Cat
Featuring solely 2 bass guitars and drums, this Italian act's raw sonic melee is surprisingly heavy and intricate. With hints of grimy noise, punk, and prog-style math rock, Morkobot's weird tunings and thick, pulsing riffs and rumbling rhythms are both frenetic and tense, reminding me somehow of an instrumental Jesus Lizard meets the Melvins.
— Todd Zachritz
