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“On the surface, TV Girl is a sunny, throwback splash of ‘60s French pop and southern California soul. Yet, under that shiny veneer lays a dark heart, beating with sharp wit and cynical alienation, and the music is all the more alluring for it.

TV Girl was formed in 2010 by Brad Petering as an outlet to blend the love of Spector-esque girl-group pop with an emerging interest in hip-hop. Featuring shimmering vocals and sampled beats, the self-titled debut EP of the same year turned heads online immediately; the group’s lush vintage rhythms and timeless pop hooks were even making waves on the BBC. Soon after, Jason Wyman joined the band and they continued to release increasingly popular EPs and mixtapes between tours. Last summer, TV Girl unveiled their first full-length, the critically acclaimed French Exit.
The album keeps true to the TV Girl charm with a bevy of electronic samplings infused throughout light and airy guitars, whirring organs, and ethereal vocals. However, this record is not all summer nostalgia, and there are plenty of times where French Exit reads like disaffected fiction. The moody characters in these songs are fueled by revenge as often as love, underpinned by desperation and a deep yearning to connect.

Newark Wilder’s debut album Vanessa Atalanta (The Cottage Recording Co.) is a diverse cornucopia of psychedelic punk that utilizes sneering guitars, punchy basslines, steadfast drums, and the swagger of frontman Benjamin Kinzer. Kinzer, a classically trained cellist, is the ringleader of the rambunctious outfit that includes Atlanta luminaries Nadir Baaset, Rebecca Flax (Young Sirens), and Gibby Ruby. Vanessa Atalanta was produced by Luciano Giarrano at the infamous East Atlanta hideaway The Cottage. The now 17-year-old Kinzer was specifically drawn to The Cottage because “I knew that Small Reactions and Gold Bears had recorded at The Cottage, and they’re two of my favorite Atlanta bands, so I thought I’d just try it. [ . . . ] it all just worked out really well.” It certainly did. From the opening 6/8 shimmer of “Tint/Shade” through the triumphant coda of “There is no blue without you,” Vanessa Atalanta is a record as bombastically rich as it is dynamically complex. Songs like “Stephen Loves My Eyes” and “Atalanta” hearken back to bands like Can and Joy Division. In “Stephen Loves My Eyes” Kinzer feverishly sings “I don’t have much time /you may need it and I don’t mind”. The song feels like a late night hook-up—intense, liberating, exhilarating. “Atalanta” kicks off with an explosion of guitars that culminates in an acrobatic instrumental section swarming with feedback, delayed guitar trills, and the pulse of Baaset’s kick and snare. However, tracks like “Pharma Girl” display the band’s versatility. “Pharma Girl” opens with an XX-style bass and drum machine groove underscoring Kinzer’s vocal “I want to leave a little light in my head / at all times / feel my arms racing down your spine / feel it like a knife.” Drawing on Kinzer’s classical roots, “Nemo,” in contrast, provides a brooding respite to the album. At its instrumental apex, “Nemo” moves like a submarine that’s looming over a shipwrecked oceanliner—exploring the marine underworld in the same way that post-rock outfits like Explosions in The Sky or Godspeed You! Black Emperor defined the limits of the galaxy. Vanessa Atalanta is a record that is deeply influenced by the city of Atlanta. Kinzer says “[Atlanta] has such an urban and cement aesthetic, but it’s also so full of trees and greenery. I think that’s really influenced the way I write. I always try to create a really strong technical basis, like the cement part of it; a groundwork that some would say, would be more technical and sharp, but then I try to flesh it out with broader brush strokes of deeper melodic color.”

Poppet is the bold alter-diva of California-raised musician Molly Raney. Before Poppet’s genesis in 2008, Raney spent many years training in a wide variety of musical felds from western classical to jazz to choral to Hindustani (Northern Indian classical tradition) to Gamelan (Indonesian classical ensemble music). She also has an extensive background in music theory, music history, and ethnomusicology, from both her childhood lessons and her education at the University of California in Davis. She spent 7 years studying with vocal coach Dr. Rebecca Plack of the San Francisco Conservatory–a major infuence on her vocal style and elasticity. This broad musical background, plus her involvement with community freeform radio station KDVS, accounts for Poppet’s own sonic diversity.

Poppet creates fully orchestrated electro/baroque pop, forged through dense layers of electronic and acoustic sounds and hinging on her etherial and extraordinarily expressive voice. In 2016, Mount Holyhoke graduate Nina Joly joined Poppet’s live set, integrating contemporary dance into an ominous and heartrending cycle of songs focusing on the human conscience. Joly has choreographed for the Saint Paul Ballet, and most recently for indie rock band Foxygen of Jagjaguwar Records.