After rewarding singer songwriter Cindy Lou Gooden's lo-fi project Very Fresh with our Record of the Month back in 2010, we kinda lost touch with them. We are glad to see them they are still at it, with a bunch of releases under their belt. Now a quartet, the group put out a two song single in November 2015 featuring Cindy Lou's signature quirky lyrics and '90s influenced melodies. Check them out live at Palisades on April 21st and check out single 'Clean Touch' below.

Grubby Little Hands' new record, Garden Party, will be released via Lefse Records on April 29. "No Such Thing," the second single from the album, opens with a haunting stir, before catapulting into a jangly, snap-and-pop psych vibe. It’s the kind of joyful tune that ushers in the warmer temperatures with enough of a twist to keep you on your toes. Grubby Little Hands will be at Johnny Brenda’s on April 30 with Shelf Life and Cold Foamers.

With Hovvdy’s newest release Taster, set to come out tomorrow April 15 through Merdurhaus and Sports Days Records, we think it’s safe to say that the current upsurge of on-point slacker rock in Austin has its figurehead act. So far we’ve only got three tracks from the album, but they are strong in the slack, as oxymoronic as that might sound.

Taster is Hovvdy building upon their recent work with last year’s Stay Warm split with Loafer (which we loved), adding to the already-present 90s slacker indie sound, a la Pavement and the like, a further depth to their work that puts us more in mind of the softer 2000s suburban indie pop of bands like Pinback. It’s good, introspective, happy-in-its-melancholy music, full of prettily muted vocals and quiet thoughts on relationships like good slack should be.

Personally, it makes me think of a time when the world you could reach out to was smaller, so you dicked around in the space available in your own town, very often listening to music with a feel just like this and thinking about how weird everything felt all the time. That there are bands making a sound that feels as much of that time as it does of now makes me happy, and thoughtful. Maybe we aren’t that far from that kind of life when the world we could interact with was smaller and so each of our relationships was more complex. Or maybe we just wish we were still there.

Whichever it is, Hovvdy is here to talk about it. Check out track “Try Hard” from Taster below, and be sure that we’ll be giving the full album a look here soon.

The lady and gents of Thin Lips just shared their second offering from the band's forthcoming LP Riff Hard. "My Mouth Is Skinned Like An Apple" is filled with natural pop vocal melodies, which have always seemed to come effortlessly to Chrissy Tashjian (Dangerous Ponies, The Bee Team); however, the track eventually gets to the business of staying true to the group's album title. Riff Hard comes out May 20 via Lame-O Records, and Thin Lips will be celebrating its arrival that evening at Everybody Hits.

Rock and Folk mingle on stage tonight at O’brien’s Pub with Boston bands All Talk and Babydriver. All Talk, whose new album upstairs/downstairs is set to come out in May, sits at the bluesier folk end of the spectrum with a few songs here and there clearly influenced by heavier guitar rock. Their gem “Locomotive” (streaming below) off their album Juno is one of those songs. It’s a slow burner, searing longing and heartbreak carefully into our minds with every deliberate strum of the guitar, with every wistful stray chord. The song builds up until the end when the guitar erupts into a reverbed solo before fading off. Babydriver on the other hand is more upbeat, with songs shifting from heavier rock to frazzled pop pieces. “I Don’t Want To Be Your Dad” (streaming below) kicks off with franticly melodious guitars and rhythmic shakers in the background. Palmer’s vocals float effortlessly over the track, lending an air of nonchalance to it. It’s a song that would have fit in perfectly in any indie film soundtrack. Catch them tonight at O’Brien’s Pub alongside Painted Zeros and Izzy True. -Adriana S Ballester