Hotline TNT : "Cartwheel"

 This album just came out in November so you are not behind the times if you do not know who these kids are, even though this is their fourth album. Here is a band that leans into the noise side of shoegaze that owes equal amounts to My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth. Stone Roses is also a fair reference point regarding how the more prominent vocal melodies are handled. In many cases bands replicating this era of music focus more on capturing this sound and less on the song itself, which is not the case here,. "I Thought You'd Change"  is more upbeat and poppy for what they do. The Stone Roses Brit Pop I referenced earlier is shown in a big way on "Beauty Filter" which sounds like a more straightforward Brit-pop song given the surreal sheen of dream pop ambiance. 

"History Channel" begins to make me think they sat down and wrote these songs with acoustics and then plugged into their effect after the face, which seems like a pretty solid songwriting formula that paying off here. Maybe there is even a My Bloody Valentine effects pedal you can step on these days that gives a normal song this woozy feeling. "Son In Law" makes you think it is going to be more upbeat before falling into the dreamy malaise that coats most of this album in the best way possible.  There are subtle dynamics that hide the fact they are rocking out. 

The loose jangle of "Out of Town" is the first song that does not connect with me as being perfect. It just feels like filler and less thoughtful. It doesn't suck they have just raised the bar for themselves on this album already. The distorted filter gives "Maxine" more of a muffled sound. This is when the lo-fi production begins to play against them. "That Was My Life" leans more into the Sonic Youth side of creating landscapes of sound. "Spot Me 100" finds them returning to more song-oriented waters. The vocal melody drifts more than what we have heard earlier in the album making the drums hold it together. 

"BMX" splits the difference at the intersection of where shoe-gaze and Brit-pop meet. The vocals are more deliberate which seems to be the key for what plays to their strength as a band. "StumP" closes the album with more of a pop feel. I will give this album a 9.5, as it has solidified them as one of the major players in the current shoe-gaze revival today. Just cause they are hipsters from the Brooklyn scene doesn't mean there is no substance here.