René (left) and Manny (right) of Citrus City Records. Photo by Erik Phillips It began with a compliment. Outside of a cafeteria at NoVA Community College in Woodbridge, Virginia, Manny Lemus approached René Franco who was sporting a WAVVES shirt at the time. “Hey, cool shirt,” Manny said to René. This opened a dialogue between the two and they soon found out that they were both at the same WAVVES show only days prior to meeting. As the conversation continued, Manny and René s

San Francisco based artist Max Gardener recently released his latest EP Stirrings, which is the follow up response to Gardener's two previous albums Memory Lounge and Fear of Mirrors. I had all intentions of first listening to this EP within the sanctity of my four bedroom walls as this was, as Max Gardener describes it, “bedroom theme music.” So why not take it in an ironically literal sense for the listening experience as well? I hit play and closed my eyes, feeling the wal

Several well combined musical ingredients create the dreamy concoction that is Arbes’ newest EP, Psalms. Based out of Melbourne, Australia-- this trio consisting of band members Anita Agathangelou, Sam Pannifex, and Jess Zanoni set out to create their atmospheric follow up record to their 2015 release Swimmer. Arbes' sound on this EP is layered in a simple complexity comprised of mild psychedelic elements with mellow lo-fi components over a solid alternative and dream-pop fou

Hailing from Richmond, the formerly known Collin Thibdoeauxx, now Lance Bangs, have released their latest EP Lance Mountain. There are five tracks on this EP, each riddled with jangly guitar harmonies and great punk-y vocals from Colin himself. One thing I really enjoy about this EP is how upbeat it is. Often times I’ll find myself attuning punk or the like with melancholy, but with Lance Mountain I kept tapping my feet and bobbing my head to the syncopated drum beats. While

"I had a monster / it was growing in me." Joey Vannucchi delivers haunting poetic lyrics with his infamously flawless, mellow vocals on From Indian Lakes' latest release "The Monster". A retro undercurrent reminiscent of the 80's weaves itself through the dreamy disco-like melody on the track. This song also masterfully plays with tension between dense instances of layered melodies and quieter moments where the vocals are the focal point. This is an ideal song to accompany la