Over the course of May, 14 new releases totaling 103 tracks were submitted to Local Waves by local artists! Chief among them is the great new compilation by Kingston based Dromedary Records called Get Your Rond Out that features 17 tracks from Kingston-centric bands, including some new/unreleased material. Proceeds from CDs/Downloads via their bandcamp go entirely to support People’s Place, the largest foodbank in Ulster County.

Maine-based artist Ryan Blotnick connected with longtime Hudson Valley studio musicians Otto Hauser, Tyler Wood and others, coalescing with a improv heavy set at Hi-Lo in Catskill (RIP) in 2018. They have now released their first record, The Woods, a warm, dreamy slice of jazz-adjacent tunes that feel loose but inspired.

Released late last year on Disciple, Kingston based Ruth Mascelli (of band Special Interest) & Minneapolis saxophonist Mary Hanson Scott teamed up for a sultry left-field take on loungey trip-hop with Esoteric Lounge Music Now, and a fittingly lo-fi video. In a similar Lynchian vein, Athens based a place both wonderful and strange just dropped a noisey take on darkwave called Matter and Desire that is at times abstract and at others…danceable?

Local Waves fav Saapato, who tends to be on the slow, ambient side of things, put out a collaborative new project Saltpuppet with NYC based label Window SIll Records. Caravan is a sprawling, 33 track collection of short but impactful tunes, whose jagged and dynamic use of ambient acoustic guitars, weaving arpeggios, strums and trippy vocals cant help but recall the early releases of Animal Collective, Devendra Banhart et al. Ben Vida, who frequently experiments with spoken word and ambient sound, also just released a fantastic new album Oblivion Seekers on Shelter Press. Ben uses repetition to build walls around an idea or feeling, and like Glass and the minimalists, that tension eventually disorientates to the point where it unlocks and becomes something else entirely. Great headphone listen.

We also got Singles/EPs from Kingston indie-poppers Bird Week Jacknife (so good!), Hudson’s country-psych-tinged rock-n-rollers The Sock Cymbals debut EP, Kingston pop-punk-on-speed rippers The Snorts with first single “Fuck It Up” (and they just dropped some excellent Knicks style tees). From up north in the Capitol Region Troy’s Bear Grass has been dropping some beautiful indie-chamber-pop tracks (fans of mum, belle&sebastian etc pls check out) ahead of a new album, and Altamont’s The Parlor just released a 90s coded Brian Jonestown Massacre-esqe track “The Sacred is The Sweetest.”

Erica Dawn Lyle is a prolific, experimental guitarist based in the Hudson Valley, and she sent a few recent releases that highlight her noir-ish take on guitar noise, feedback and ambient passages. Lea Bertucci also released an incredible new piece The Days Pass Quickly… that experiments with medieval instrumentation, musique concrete, and dissonance.

-Mike Amari of Chosen Family Presents

Local Waves airs every Friday at 8PM. All local artists are encouraged to send your music into to be added to this ever growing library. Send to music@wgxc.org with ‘‘Local Waves’ in subject, mp3s (320kps) or Bandcamp download codes are preferred!