The Calm Blue Sea’s lushly textured sound is a study in contrast. The Austin, Texas band’s music, like its oceanic name, is at once beautiful and violent, transcendent and triumphant. With songs structured by minutes rather than measures, the foursome marries post-rock fugues with classically-inspired arrangements, the aggression and heaviness of metal, the artiness of indie rock and the widescreen expanse of a film score. The end result is stunning.

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Danish/American band Gliss makes a huge departure from their old sound on the new record Langsom Dans which is gathering comparisons to Beach House, Crystal Castles and Lower Dens. The LA based trio, consisting of Victoria Cecilia, Martin Klingman and David Reiss, pour their collective musical imaginations into recording timeless art pop with a precise Scandinavian texture that steps away from their previous work. The 12-track LP features heavy synths and electronic beats with Danish expatriate, Victoria Cecilia, stepping into the role as lead singer. The passionate vocal harmonies dictate the recordings with stories of coming out of the darkness into a new life, bringing to mind The XX, Portishead and Depeche Mode.

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“Nobody ever paid money to see Harry Houdini escape being buried alive” says My Jerusalem founder and singer Jeff Klein. “They wanted the small chance of seeing him killed by the weight of the earth on top of him.”

 

Behold the concept behind Preachers, the second full-length release from Austin's My Jerusalem. From the opening piano of the haunting title track, to the unexpected pummeling guitar and drums on closer “I Left My Conscience In You”, Preachers leads the listener on a cinematic journey through a reckless, jagged landscape of Raymond Carver-esque stories, fueled by Klein’s persuasive baritone, ominous guitars, dream-like keyboards and a deep rhythmic pulse.

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With My Rocks Are Dreams, the debut album by his new group Psychic Friend, Schwartz updates California chamber or piano pop, aided by drummers Patty Schemel and Tripp Beam and instrumentalist-coproducer Bo Boddie. The result is the freshest and most personal chapter in Will Schwartz's musical story, one that has ranged from the guitar pop of Imperial Teen to the D.I.Y. dance music of Hey Willpower. "Literally, my life is in those lyrics," he says of the propulsive "Quality Control." "It covers my experience of being praised or shot down critically, of making music with or without an audience."

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