Slipped Discs

Elephant Micah - Where in our Woods

Both solitary canary and tender defender, Joseph O’Connell’s faultless alter-ego Elephant Micah calmly underscores a modern, deeply personal folklore whose mythical blitz beneath tranquil bliss weave stirring sermons from woodland prayers. Methodical homilies wrapped around finger-picked guitar, free-floating flute and campfire drums, “Woods,” seeps into hurdy-gurdy consciousness with passive, pastoral choruses carved from kind benevolence, poised reflection and cautious modesty.

Elenowen - For the Taking

Pine-box rock softened by rose-covered lovers “Taking,” snakes through moon-kissed trysts while wagon-wheel waltzes turn into symphonic blossoms, star-crossed problems riding rhinestone ponies through jukebox parking-lots. Husband and wife honky-tonk angels, Elenowen’s hand-crafted mastery of pithy riffs, melancholy harmonies and glorious metaphors drenched in galloping gallantry from well-traveled peril, elevate each song into moving testaments, powerful tales and heartfelt truths.

Suburban Living - Suburban Living

Lavished in plastic-wrapped passions, rocketing robo-beats and space-age claustrophobia, Suburban Living’s frosted dream-pop winds neon vines through glazed veins to produce dance-away blues groomed for glamorous calamity. Gorgeous bourgeois facades present brave faces held in withering glances, gilded lilies carrying shy, romantic gestures inside shadowy scowls, wringing, “Living,” from livid to submissive through alley-cat bass, tunnel-vision synths and digitally-carved guitar.

Robin Bacior - Water Dreams

Unfathomable phantoms rush languid tangos teeming in viscous vitality, fluctuating cadence adrift in distant whispers; “Water,” restlessly mimics liquid’s shape-shifting abilities. Darting in dappled happiness and diving beneath churning turbulence, zigzagged chamber-jazz washes over soulful folk and sultry pop as singer-pianist Bacior’s well-played mermaid calls through supple cello-soaked emotions, subtly indulgent; swirling in luxurious bell-jar urges immersed in murky impermanence.

Mind Brains - Mind Brains

Zapped with a scavengers’ appetite, Mind’s grinding retro-hip collisions beam home-built futures from intergalactic travelers on pagan-sanctioned safaris. Dabbling in defrocked prog-rock complete with Greek choirs and Gregorian oracles, the ensemble’s hay-wired electronic apocalypse trips in 8-bit blips and psychedelic kinetics; sampling humanity between cryptic snippets from alien meandering, “Brain,” plants closed-circuit quirks and druid-maneuvered chaos among ribald tribal camaraderie.

Invisible Familiars - Disturbing Wildlife

Sprawling fall-out from left-brained strangers, “Disturbing,” subverts conventions with creepy sleepers caked in sinister chemistry and tangy bangers teasing art-rock stalkers; beat-heavy noir dancing to cuckoo boogaloo and low-down velvet-viper funk. Slinky tinker-toy techno-pop greased in sleazy freedoms, smirking anarchist’s glee and quick-change artist audacity, Invisible Familiar’s con-man genre tumbles and thunders with ominous comments, slippery sighs and sideshow charm.

Gang of Four - What Happens Next

Spackled in crackling percussive patterns, squealing-wheel guitar and flagrant pavement-bass, Gang of Four’s well-executed confrontational abrasions cultivate brash, cyber-briar patches inhabiting rock-bionic labyrinths. Founding-member Andy Gill and company enlists high-powered cameos to hurtle post-punk thunder past punchy funky pile-drivers as the intrepid, “Next,” treks slithering across industrial deserts in scavenger caravans. The formidable Four play Chicago’s Park West March 13th.

Twin River - Should The Light Go Out

Tough-chick blitzes decked out in barb-wired noise-pop, “Light” ignites thick, lipstick tiffs strangling mega-twang angles for reverb-drenched sentiments: secret-crush brush-offs from twisted pulp-fiction vixens. Initially a folk duo, the expanded Twin River retain their vocal-centric tendencies but add gnarly guitar-slinging armies to launch an avalanche of garage-rock power-ballads skilled in swooning Watusi maneuvers, booming tambourine-stacked hand-claps and hazy, shoe-gaze squalor.

Quiet Company - Transgressor

Tender hearts and dry wit mix with rollicking pop-rock fits dipped in double-barreled alt-country sizzle; charming carny barkers Quiet Company serenade cowboy romantics with synth-synched roller-rink wisdom and scorching back-porch payback. Rousing shouts, Velcro hooks and sharp, smart anecdotes wake courageous dreamers, restless toe-tappers and gentle thieves as, “Transgressor,” prowls incessantly; alert to love’s dangers, life’s ironies and music’s power.

Breakfast in Fur - Flyaway Garden

Lined in hallowed art-rock harmonics, jazz-jam sandwiches and indie-folk tectonics, “Garden,” plants lush, buzzing hives alive with ghost-layered dream-pop baptized in coddling nautical washes and perched alongside rootless coos and precious egg-shell melodies. Effervescent alchemists, Breakfast In Fur color and cuddle, coasting on golden odes hosted by silver tongues; erecting escape-plan fantasies while manufacturing platonic blossoms and forming stormy choruses.

The Black Ryder - The Door Behind the Door

Vivid psycho-tribal simmering washed in haunting folk-goth simplicity, The Black Ryder’s starlit spider-web tapestries glow, draped in swamp-gas visions born from tumble-weed fevers. Finger-picked gifts rippling in slow-boiled riffs and disembodied choirs, “Door,” unlocks celestial textures, unleashing bare-boned moans from drowsy, drowning rapture; delicate treasures whose screeching, skyscraper-blues smolder, console and seduce through diaphanous passions, woefully floating below shark-infested loneliness.

Schneider and Kacirek - Shadows Documents

Unflinching ninja transmissions from dial-tone twilight zones, pinball-alley galleries sprinkled in dark, sparse cosmic larks, “Shadows,” scurry, merging sonic-purrs stamped with animated equations, sautéed in electro-galvanized tidal-pools and roasted in velvety analogue. Scholars of Kenyan beats, Schneider and Kacirek’s deft touch works sly, subtle tactics into galactic magic establishing unexpected stretches within impulsive outbursts, coaxing trans-dimensional gremlins from deep-space radio.

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