It's Friday, it's 9am, it's time for episode eleven of Adventures In New Music!*
And have we have got a couple of intriguingly brilliant albums for you this week dear listeners! First up it's Hit To Hit by 2nd Grade (Chris's choice) and The Fallen Crimson by Envy (Andy's choice).
2nd Grade are a power pop surf rock outfit from Philadelphia and are fronted by multi-instrumentalist Peter Gill. Think Beach Boys/Weezer/Big Star and you won't be too far off. The first thing to note about Hit To Hit is that it clocks in at 41 minutes, but has 24 songs on it - that's under 2 minutes a song! Madness!! And there is so much to enjoy here. Check out the video for Velodrome/My Bike and get yourself onboard with this wonderful album, it's one of the best we've featured on the pod (spoiler alert!).
Envy have been going for a long old time forming in Tokyo in 1992. After a few line-up changes over the years, this is the screamo groups seventh studio album and boy, is it a good un! Fans include Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite who even released a couple of the bands records on his Rock Action label, and Charles from the Wrens. The vocals and lyrics are the real stand out on this album, delivered completely in Japanese and flitting from spoken word to full on hardcore rock growl. It really is worth 54 minutes of your time.
As well as our featured albums can we nudge you in the direction of the new Future Islands track 'For Sure'. It's a good un and a real return to form for the Baltimore four piece. Get it downloaded and do the little Future Islands dance round your living room to it.
Andy has had a bit of a bluesy week and been checking out videos on instagram for a bit of guitar inspiration. RL Burnside, BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, tha knows. Chris has treated himself to a new drum kit (Gretsch Brooklyn in grey oyster if you're interested...)