Every Monday, Ghettoblaster is looking back to new albums released the previous week.  Below you’ll find a handful of albums released on Friday February 26th that we believe are definitely worth a listen.

Quilt – Plaza
Quilt’s new album Plaza may be one of my favorite iterations of the 60’s inspired psychedelic pop trend in music today.  Mainly because it seems so natural and built into their bloodstream and completely unforced.  This is what a band being comfortable in their own skin sounds like.  There is great use of horns and strings alongside varying vocals and harmonies, but what really sticks out to me are the bass and drum grooves Quilt gets into.  This is an album that is immediately enjoyable, yet has the intricacies to hold up for multiple listens.  This is definitely one of my favorites thus far this year.
out now via Mexican Summer

Yuck – Stranger Things
Yuck makes music that seems stuck in the 90’s, which is a strength as well as a weakness.  Their past albums have been filled with great moments, yet never have transcended as a whole.  Stranger Things may be the album that changes this streak for me.  There is far less space between the highs and the lows of the album, which makes for a much tighter album.  Of course, the references are all here (more Built to Spill and Teenage Fanclub this time around) and very much out in the open; yet, at they same time, they’ve never sounded so much like Yuck.
out now via Mame Records

Eerie Wanda – Hum
Eerie Wanda is the work of Amsterdam singer/songwriter Marina Tadic and a backing band made up of musicians who play with Jacco Gardner.  I was not familiar with any of the aforementioned people, but they combine in perfect fashion on the album Hum.  This is a very mellow very breezy, yet subtly off-kilter listen for fans of straightforward indie pop songwriting sung in unique harmonies by a lovely female voice.
out now via Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records

Witching Waves – Crystal Cafe
Witching Waves is a trio from London, and they consists of two things I love in a band: the main vocalist is their drummer and their drummer is a female.  This is a heavy and dissonant album, with only the occasional short instrumental passage to break the pounding momentum built throughout.  Crystal Cafe is equal parts catchy and difficult, which is just the way I like it.
out now via HHBTM Records