Courtesy Photograph / Intercourse Mex
Intercourse Mex has solely been performing as a full band since March of this yr.
After the pandemic’s lean time for dwell reveals, it’s been refreshing to see San Antonio acts again on stage, gathering audiences and releasing new music at a frantic tempo. To make certain, 2023 was a banner yr for native releases. Let’s run down this yr’s 10 greatest albums, as chosen by the Present’s music writers.
Burn Ritual: Grave Watcher (Self-released)For all its alleged simplicity, doom metallic is a difficult style to tug off. If downtuning, taking part in gradual and smoking a bowl earlier than the present meant success, we’d be awash in wonderful releases by bearded longhairs with Marshalls cranked to 11. Fortuitously, one-man band Burn Ritual is slathered in a bong-scented particular sauce that permits it to rise above the rabble. The riffs aren’t simply bludgeoning however memorable and hypnotic, and eerie quiet passages deliver highly effective dynamics into play. — Sanford Nowlin
Buttercup: Grand Marais (Bedlam Data)Buttercup has been inviting audiences past their consolation zone for years. The band presents its well-crafted indie at fourth-wall-busting performances and with a joyous sense of inclusion. The newest album finds Buttercup’s members pushing themselves past their very own consolation zone as properly, eschewing the usual electrical guitar and drums for an intense, largely acoustic album. Do not be fooled by the “acoustic” tag, nevertheless — these songs rock. — Invoice Baird
Crawl: Damned (Profound Lore)San Antonio’s Crawl creates loads of disquieting noise for one man with a drum equipment embellished with human bones, a downtuned bass and a set of fried vocal cords. On Crawl’s ninth launch in 12 years, mastermind Michael A. Engle creates prolonged, suffocating compositions that reside someplace between the slowest, darkest excessive metallic and a soundtrack for an as-yet-unfilmed horror film about an inescapable medieval torture dungeon. Brutal, dispiriting and stylish on the similar time. — SN
Recreating Eden: Tome I: Awaken (Self-released) When a rock album encompasses a prologue, Roman numerals and cryptic trying sci-fi artwork, you recognize what you’re getting. Yep, Recreating Eden is prog however veers towards highly effective hard-rock riffing and high-register vocals that maintain issues full of life. The band additionally is aware of easy methods to sprinkle toppings equivalent to a saxophone and the nice tinkling of a piano throughout its maximalist 82 minutes. Take observe, Coheed and Cambria followers. — Mike McMahan
Jake Castillo Trio: Hush (Self-released)If you recognize San Antonio blues-rock guitarist Jake Castillo, you recognize bro can rip a lead. However on the appropriately titled Hush, he reels it in — properly, largely — for a extra subdued launch. The seven-song, 38-minute run time serves as a touch, as does opening observe “Girl,” that it is a extra songwriting-focused effort. No surprise. The album explores the demise of his father and his mom’s subsequent grief. The guitar fireworks are current, however they take a backseat to well-crafted tunes. — MMHoneybunny: Be Cool (Self-released)On its debut album, SA’s HoneyBunny mashes collectively ’90s ska parts, poignant and self-reflective lyricism, a little bit romantic melancholy and loads of rolling power. Whether or not it’s an upbeat riot grrrl observe like “Emancipator,” a softly swelling tune like “Additionally Me” or a cross of the 2 like “Gray Home,” the partnership of vocalist Bridgette Norris-Sanchez and guitarist Bobby Rivas has stitched collectively an album as sunny as it’s punk. — Dalia Gulca
Noisy Neighbors: Derailing the Hype Prepare (Self-released/Grand Vomit Productions)Think about the grimiest venue lavatory you’ve been in. That’s how soiled Noisy Neighbors’ second album will get throughout its quick 33 minutes. The band payments its ear-slaughtering music as “uncooked D-beat grindcore,” which principally means it’s designed to make you punch partitions. Derailing the Hype Prepare significantly shines on moments when the snare drum’s blast beats lock in air-tight with the sludgy guitar riffs. Although this launch dropped in January, it’s misplaced none of its energy to ship a intestine punch. — Brianna Espinoza
Courtesy Photograph / Powdered Wig Machine
It is What I’ve All the time Needed is Powdered Wiig Machine’s debut album.
Powdered Wig Machine: It’s What I’ve All the time Needed (Self-released)
The performance-art band’s debut album celebrates singer-guitarist Brandon Pittman’s ambition of pursuing the rock recreation on his personal unconventional phrases. Pittman first conceived of Powdered Wig Machine as an internet sequence, then transitioned it right into a musical group, which ought to present a touch of simply how far off the crushed path he’s gone. The album fuses noise rock with storage punk anthems, then throws jazzy parts into the combination for good measure. There’s even an interlude that echos the lyrics of Peggy Lee’s 1969 hit “Is That All There Is?” — DG
Intercourse Mex: Intercourse Mex ’23 (Self-released)The Alamo Metropolis’s greatest bubblegum punk band is all about trashed-out, thrashed-out enjoyable of the best order. There aren’t any elaborate ideas, no pretentious bullshit, no emo moaning to get in the best way. Loud guitars, scorching synths, singalong choruses, blown-out recordings and infectious pleasure rule the day. Fortunate for us completists, Intercourse Mex ’23 collects the three EPs the group launched this yr: Dubble Bubble Blowout, We’re a Comfortable Household and Chick Issues. — BB
Temachii: flora maniia (Self-released)Newcomer Temachii dropped her first album flora maniia this spring, the right season to match the album’s mild caress. Temachii’s ethereal vocals ship listeners into one other world the place woodland creatures float on a cloud and the melodies really feel as delicate because the butterflies featured on her album. These vocals are the star right here, getting minimal accompaniment from strummed guitars and frivolously tapped drum patterns. Nonetheless, the musicianship by no means feels muddled, particularly not on songs like “12:00pm,” which go for the ambient dreamscape method. Temachii has additionally launched a second full-length album out this yr, but when compelled to select between the 2, we’re sticking with the debut. — BE
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