Dunes are a band from Los Angeles who have absorbed both the ocean swells and the worn cement of their hometown to create a romantic, brooding strain of post punk. The trio of Stephanie Chan, Mark Greshowak, and Kate Hall (from Finally Punk, Talbot Tagora, and Mika Miko, respectively) released their debut LP, Noctiluca, in 2012 after three years of incubation through living room practices and performances in LA’s D.I.Y. community. The resulting songs—dark-hued, lush, and surprisingly bold at times—bear the evidence of their tightly-knit bond, resulting in a sound described by Pitchfork as “welcoming and beautiful.”
The terse, persuasive songs of Brooklyn band Household explore two seemingly contradictory gestures: the effect of empty space on the pop song and the architectural strength of intricately tangled melodies. The house-of-cards precision that balances guitar, bass, drums, and multiple voices against each other recalls underground legends such as Slant 6, yet the breathing room left between notes falls closer to the tension of Wire. For Household, this balance echoes a larger conceptual theme of restlessness—a process of allowing for possibility married to an armoring against disappointment