The High Water Marks Announce Consult the Oracle
At this point in the indie sphere, it seems (to me at least) that The High Water Marks should be required listening. They consistently churned out a brand of power-pop, envied by their peers and relished by fanatics who trace the band’s musical construction back to its early Elephant 6 roots. Sure, those days are long in the past, but you can certainly hear the way that vocal melodies are layered atop one another, carefully, so as to subtly encourage you to dig beneath the surface. And of course, they’re never straying from pop pieces, as that’s their bread and butter, and they do so with just enough attitude to make the cool kids swoon. Their new album Consult the Oracle is out May 16th via Meritorio Records.
Well folks, I’m back in the game full time, teaching, coaching and all that jazz. So, I didn’t hit my previous mark of nearly 30 songs in a week. But, we still had some really great stuff on the site, so it’s organized below in its usual playlist fashion. One of the best group’s in the game, Feeling Figures, bounced out with a rad new single, plus our old pal Caroline Says also announced her first LP in some years. We gave a shout out to some great records by Fake Fruit, Chime School, Hits and more (and yes, I missed Wut and the Softies). Oh, and new jams from UV-TV and High Water Marks closed out the week, so I guess you could say, it was a pretty good time!
Honestly, I thought about foregoing a year-end list this year. I mean, if you read our site, you know what we love. But, list making can be fun, especially if you really really love music. My criteria was simple, and not based on what I think is “best,” but rather looking at the stuff I listened to the most, and eventually bought (or was gifted). Popular locals for my Nathan Wrapped have me living on an island in between San Francisco and Australia; label of the year would be Trouble in Mind (congrats to Bill and family!); genre would be: most awesome. Again, this is one man’s personal tastes, take it for what its worth.
We covered a whole lot of ground last week, as there’s always tons of music spilling out into the world. I was really high upon the new track from Daisies, which is why its leading our playlist. There were also tons of ATH regulars like the Reds Pinks and Purples, Lachlan Denton, Jana Horn, Dippers and the High Water Marks. Plus, with SXSW on the horizon, we did tons of little meet and greet posts with the bands: Blondeshell, Meernaa, Foamboy and more. So find a song you love, and go check out what we hit up last week!
After working on this site for the better part of 15 years, there are some things that ultimately supersede trends and cool points: pop execution. Admittedly, there’s a lot of up-and-comers bringing in new brands of pop that are equally as interesting as they are challenging, but when it comes to the