Axis: Sova + Upper Wilds

On their journey from blown-out solo bedroom project to full-blown band, Axis: Sova have been described as "prime movers of robo-boogie for the central United States" (NPR) and "like The Stooges riding shotgun on a Suicide track" (Pitchfork). Yet their mutant glam has truly crystallized on a different level with their latest, Blinded By Oblivion. The group - Brett Sova, Jeremy Freeze, and Josh Johannpeter - wrote their new album within the steel-grey confines of their hometown, Chicago, then flew out to Southern California and recorded it at Harmonizer Studios with Ty Segall producing.

Stargazing Brooklyn noise-rock cosmonauts Upper Wilds — the power-trio led by Parts & Labor co-founder Dan Friel — return with another set of lean anthems filtered through a flamethrower. Their speediest, most explosive album yet, Mercury, is a meditation on death, with Friel expounding on his brush with skin cancer, climate change, funerals, Henry Kissinger, and a world seemingly on fire. Buoyed by recent tours with acts like Pelican, Uniform, Psychic Graveyard and Savak, the trio’s increased speed is met with a precision that gives every hairpin turn more wallop.