Yak - Pursuit of Momentary Happiness

8.0

The sophomore release from garage revivalists Yak astounds with its imperfect debauchery and innocent anger at and from the world, providing a trenching, exhilarating feeling that transcends comparisons and competence for its vibrance and ugly delicacy.

Highlights

- Oli's voice feels aggressive and tender, giving space for variability and layered sentiments.

- The instrumentals play a decisive role in communicating mood and energy.

- The tracks are catchy, well-executed and well-distributed all throughout.

Lowlights

- Some songs have an excessive pace and energy that might turn into saturated noise.

- There's a lot of Cage The Elephant influences here, as well as Lou Reed and Iggy Pop; maybe too much sometimes.

Standouts

- Pay Off vs. The Struggle

- Bellyache

- Pursuit Of Momentary Happiness

Country: UK

Released: February 8, 2019

Length: 41:35

Mike Krol - Power Chords

7.3

The longest record the artist has released so far also turns out to be his most concise and unified, as if we were talking about a single long song with different moods, colours and paces. Krol snatches again, and demonstrates how to canalize heartbreak and self-despair.

Highlights

- The guitars sound loud and angry, lo-fiy and sinister.

- Mike's voice translates feelings pretty accurately.

- There's a strong sense of union in motifs between the songs.

Lowlights

- There's lack of versatility or musical variety in the record, which might cause a bit of repetitiveness after the second half.

- Doesn't he seem a little too much like Cage The Elephant, at times?

Standouts

- Power Chords

- I Wonder

- Nothing To Yell About

Country: USA

Released: January 25, 2019

Length: 33:42

คณะ เบียร์บูด/Khana Bierbood - คนแปลกหน้าจากดินแดนบูรพา​/​Strangers From The Far East​

7.2

Far from the East this band comes to mix up surf, garage, noise, psychedelia and traditional Thai music (molam) to expand proof that there's more to the eye than Anglo-Saxon anger turned into musical blast.

Highlights

- The record feels raw and rusty, just as garage rock should sound like and more.

- Despite its unabashed turmoil, the guys leave room for playfulness and colour.

- There's a solid story running throughout the tracks that packs it all together really tightly.

Lowlights

- It's excessively short for an LP, and it still has holes and glitches.

- It sometimes gets too inconvenient to discriminate the individual sounds and voices.

Standouts

- แสงดาว/Starshine

- อัตคัด/Bad Trip

- ลูกรัง/Dusty Lane

Country: Thailand

Released: January 10, 2019

Length: 23:26