Baroness
Yellow & Green
(Relapse)
★★★ (out of 5 stars)
Savannah, Ga., sludgesters Baroness may seem to be flirting with Mastodon-like levels of metallic ambition with their latest release, a legit double album (one is Yellow, the other is Green). But although the band has packed 18 songs onto their latest release, there's none of the tortured grandiosity here that often derails such massive efforts. Concision, ironically, is this set's strongest suit; most songs clock in at less than five minutes, with plenty of steamroller-sized riffs and enough textural variety to keep things interesting. – Jason Ferguson
Fang Island
Major
(Sargent House)
★★★★ (out of 5 stars)
Brooklyn, NYC-based bastions of positivity Fang Island are back with their second album, and this time, vocals feature prominently in their math-rock-meets-pop-punk instrumentation. It's just enough of a forward progression, with the operative words being "just enough." Major still relies on the big arena-rock sounds and guitar interplay that made their eponymous release so refreshing. Face-melting guitar tracks like "Asunder" perfectly complement Florida's face-melting heat and are great soundtracks for wholesome summer hedonism. – Allie Conti
Laetitia Sadier
Silencio
(Drag City)
★★★ (out of 5 stars)
It would be nice to say that Laetitia Sadier has been spending her post-Stereolab time charting bold new musical territory, but Silencio (her second solo album and fifth non-'Lab LP) is chock-full of the foamy, jangly pop her former band made. This is not terrible, especially since Sadier takes a stand here that manages to be more mellow, musically, with sparse and inventive arrangements, while also being more lyrically confrontational.
– Jason Ferguson
