LA-based darkwave dance trio Sextile breaks a three-year hiatus to bring us Push, their first full-length album following the passing of founding member and synth player Eddie Wuebben in 2019. While the group’s prior work harbored 70s and 80s post-punk influences, their drum machine comes to the pounding forefront in this record, offering a head bobbing electronic sonic experience you’d be more likely to find buzzing the air of a 90s rave (think Devilman Crybaby.) They’ve cited Damon Albarn of Blur as an aspirational figure for his unrestrictive sound design and genre-blending, two values on full display in this record. Sacred Bones is their label.  
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In their sophomore record, Spike Field, we follow ambient-folk artist Maria BC’s classically trained mezzo-soprano voice through a haunting soundscape of buzzing guitar and echoey baby Steinway piano. It is tragically comforting, contrasting fuzzy instrumental compositions with spouts of mechanical chirps and chimes. The Oakland-based soloist appears to us in this melancholic atmosphere as the ghost of their own past, present, and future; a chunk of the album's lyrics being written as early as sixteen. This record peaks with disarming moments like in “Watcher” where their vocals are layered to eventually burst into a bright chorus of falsettos. Their label is Sacred Bones. 
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Tomorrow’s Fire is the latest release from Chicago-based indie-folk artist Squirrel Flower (a.k.a Ella Williams), but this is a rock album. The LPs title may sound bleak, but in the context of the novel its derived from, “Tomorrow’s hopes provide my dinner/Tomorrow’s fire must warm tonight” the phrase acts as a guiding star. Tonally, the heavier shoegaze-y sound of this one supports the dizzying ebb and flow of Ella repeatedly asserting her own strength only to let it falter soon after. She has the conviction to vocalize her desire for more control in her life, but, at least in this album, it still feels like something she’s desperately grasping at. This is all wrapped up in her innately Springsteen-esque storytelling for one of my favorite releases of hers so far. It’s out now via Polyvinyl. 
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Four-piece garage rock band Queen Serene is making their full-length debut with this self-titled album! The group is based in Austin, Texas despite frontman Sarah Ronan being a Tallahassee native. Her majesty sprung about when Ronan, pandemic-isolated and fresh off the breakup of her college band The Naked Tungs, took to recording solo in her room. Vestiges of the project’s bedroom-pop origins can still be found in the self-recorded nature of this release, but that’s where the resemblance begins and ends. It feels cohesive without ever letting you get too comfortable in one specific sound, phasing between post-punk, shoegaze, and krautrock. The band’s influences include acts like Wire and my bloody valentine. serenitynow inc. is their label.