With summer just around the corner, May always brings a special influx of new music that will decidedly be anthems of the solstice; music to cook out, run, swim, play frisbee, and wake up hung over to. 
Post-Chillwavers Small Black have finally given us a fresh studio record with Limits of Desire, due out May 13 via Jagjaguwar. The latest single “Free At Dawn” lends itself to poppier melodies, as lead singer Ryan Heyner's vocals seem a lot crisper, but maintains its poise, setting itself up for moonlit replays. The album artwork is especially striking as a nude woman and man are depicted hugging on opposite sides of a ladder, which a press release says represents “a moving depiction of connectivity and interaction in the 21st century and it serves as a sort of source code for the record”. Listen to “Free At Dawn” below:



9. Baths - Obsidian
Will Wiesenfeld aka Baths will follow-up his much adored 2010 LP Cerulean with Obsidian, due out May 28 via Anticon. The 24-year-old producer/songwriter continues in his smooth and bubbly fashion of beatmaking on the latest track “Miasma Sky,” which is equal parts low-end bass and ethereal vocals from Wiesenfeld. Listen to the track below:


Garage rocker Mikal Cronin is back with his superb sophomore record MCII, which is out now via Merge. The Ty Segall bandmate and recent BFA graduate has expanded his outreach a bit on the new record, adding a few instrumental bells and whistles while maintaining his jangle-rock roots. “Weight” is an especially cheery tune with plunky piano lines and a fresh chorus with guitars ablaze. Listen below:


5. Savages - Silence Yourself
“Your head is spinning faster on the end of your spine until you have no face at all, and yet if the world would shut up even for a while perhaps we would start hearing the distant revue of an angry young tune, and recompose ourselves.” This adrenaline-inducing line is how frontwoman of London outfit Savages Jehnny Beth intros “Shut Up”, a reeling blend of distorted guitar riffs and enticingly vivid bass lines. Their debut album Silence Yourself is impressively expansive, and wields a ‘tude straight out of the 70s NYC punk scene. Silence Yourself is available here. Watch the video for “Shut Up” below:

4. Majical Cloudz - Impersonator
Fact: Bradford Cox cannot make a bad record. Whether he’s releasing his ever-fluctuating works with his Deerhunter pals, or blowing minds under his Atlas Sound moniker (I highly recommend 2011’s Parallax), the man is nothing but prolific. Not only is Cox stretching his stylistic boundaries into harsher punk territory on Monomania (out now via 4AD), he continues to fuck shit up in an increasingly self-aware and ingenuous indie culture that he claims is bastardizing its daring punk ancestors. Yeah, the man might be a tad insane, but he bleeds genius, and Monomania is something magical. Listen to the title track below:

1. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

Another week, another round of "dancing about architecture" with your friend, the Listener. To counter Frank Zappa's jab at writing about music, I once performed an interpretative dance to express my feelings about the work of Frank Gehry. Needless to say, it did not go well...This week, we have some great new music by Usher, Haim, Kurt Vile, Youth Lagoon, and another guy from Real Estate with a separate band of his own. So, at this point, who in Real Estate does not have their own thing going on? I bet that guy is really bored right now.


Usher & Diplo - "Go Missin:" Last year Usher teamed up with Diplo and released the incredible single, "Climax," with Diplo adding excellent and foward thinking production to Usher's vocals. This year, the pair have returned with a new single. "Go Missin," is less dramatic than "Climax," trading that song's emotional bombast for something much more subdued and tense. Built around a simple droning synth and light beat, the work is left to Usher and his vocals to drive the track. Unfortunately, these singles seem to be a once a year deal at this point ("Climax" was released last Valentines' Day), so we might have to wait another year to see what they do next.



Haim - "Falling:" Haim's soaring songs all sound vaguely familiar even if you have never heard them before. Personally, their music reminds me of the music you would hear in one of those montages you saw in movies from the 1980's. Midway through "Falling," you can easily picture Ralph Macchio making some sort of breakthrough in his training while simultaneously taking a girl on a date at the local arcade (they appear to be having a great time, later the girl is shot looking in the bathroom mirror while talking to her friends about the fun she had). The ending chant of "never look back/never give up" certainly helps my case here. Be sure to put this on while training for your upcoming karate tournament.



Kurt Vile - "Waking on a Pretty Day:" Remember nice weather? Personally, I do not, but Kurt Vile seems to and the result is this sunny 9 minute jam. The first single off of his upcoming album, set to be released in April, sees Vile on familiar territory, creating easy going, spacey folk rock. Vile's gentle vocals drift in and around a catchy guitar line that drones through until it becomes a pleasant part of your headspace. Even with the song's duration, you grow so comfortable in it that you are a little bit sad to see it end.



Youth Lagoon - "Mute:" Having not really paid attention to Youth Lagoon last year, I am rather impressed by what I have seen to date of his forthcoming album. "Mute" shifts the gentle melancholy of "Dropla" into something much more over the top, continually changing with Trevor Powers adding new elements each minute. While seeming like it will fall apart under the weight of everything going on, Powers keeps control of the song and the result is fantastic.


Alex Bleeker & The Freaks - "Don't Look Down," Bleeker is the bassist for Real Estate and his vocals appeared on "Wonder Years" during their last album. Similar to his song on that Days, albeit a little less restrained,"Don't Look Down," is a simple, easy going, romp. Alex Bleeker & the Freaks will be releasing an album through Woodsist in May.

New Jersey surf-rockers Real Estate were spotted numerous times on the buffaBLOG radar last year. Released in October, the group's sophomore record, Days, received Album of the Week accolades, and tracks like "Green Aisles" and "It's Real" became some of the catchiest and most talked-about tracks of the fall. And while some might argue that Real Estate better fits the wistful melancholia of Indian summer, it isn't until now that we've been able to experience the quartet's amiable, squeaky-clean-reverb-lilted guitars at the apex of the solstice. At Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago last weekend, we did exactly that. Real Estate's serene set was so effortlessly fitting for the sunniest day of the gathering and became one of the most talked about performances of the 3-day rally at Union Park. But before they went on, we had the privilege of sitting down with Real Estate member Alex Bleeker at the festival, where we chatted with him about his side project--Alex Bleeker and the Freaks, touring, and the plight of the Buffalo Bills.