Taping Chastity Down

I only heard Tape on the weekend, the EP from Canada's Chastity, but it's an earworm that just won't quit. Taking living on the outside and feeding that unease with heady doses of  Cloud Nothings imploring aggression, the four "demos" here are incredibly accomplished. Starting out with the tempered anguish of 'You're Scary Now', things get incrementally more caustic - 'Manning Hill' takes the 90s guitar rock thrash route, while 'Saliva' blasts forth in a more frenetic fashion. This unleashing of anguished aggression subsides on closer 'Nevermind, Lucifer', a lo-fi ruminative echo, ghosting the tail end like an EVP, capturing the melancholic chagrin of a kid too tired to argue anymore. Tape is impressive in how deep each side of the melodic punk rock seam Chastity mines. I missed their shows back in December - I won't make the same mistake a second time.

Believe in the Leaper

Toronto duo Beliefs have crafted a buoyant dream pop winner in their LP Leaper. Starting with the typical yet nonetheless sunnily ebullient 'Tidal Wave', the band take some nicely carved tangentials - '1992' comes out like the calendar-similar Smashing Pumpkins track covered by mid-era Blonde Redhead; the soft-lens narcoleptic grind of 'Drown' ekes out a Dinosaur Jr vibe, albeit one in the Kurt Vile end of the noise pop pool; and the title track fully embraces the duo's penchant love for Sonic Youth angularity and spoken obliqueness. It is clear that Leaper revels in the 90s afterglow - its a steady stream of a dream. Pre-order Leaper through cool little label Hand Drawn Dracula (who also put out stuff from the likes of Fresh Snow and Vallens) here.