$5 Review
Vaz – Dying to Meet You – Gold Standard Laboratories
This record’s cold as ice, this record’s hot. This record defies expectations, this record does not. If you want to throw Vaz against the ropes with a handful of other bands that play aggressive distorted smacks of indie rock, include them with Arab on Radar, descendents of Joy Division, and certainly, other artists on the relentless Gold Standard Laboratories label. When the boys of Vaz play with fire, they burn and scorch up the room; when they crawl, so does our attention. More hits than misses on this record, though.

Young People – War Prayers – Dim Mak
Brooklyn, NY’s Young People play art-pop in a free-form creation of gracefulness and precise structural experimenation. War Prayers, the trio’s first record for Dim Mak and second overall, is a push in several directions, with its stretching tempo, rhythm, and harmony but it’s an exercise in craft and control as well. They bop around and twist like a muddier Deerhoof, but control this aesthetic so well that the comparison is no disappointment. Of note is the wildly unpredictable “Night of the Hunter,” a piece from the film scored by William Schumann. This record is a jewel.

Ecos de Borinquen – Jibaro Hasta el Hueso: Mountain Music of Puerto Rico – Smithsonian Folkways
Another spectacular release by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings documents the Puerto Rican musica jibara movement of the 1960s and 70s. Led by former national trovador of the nation of Puerto Rico, Miguel Santiago Diaz, this album features the band Ecos de Borinquen playing original trovas, or improvised song texts, over traditional song structures. Here is a fine example of one of Puerto Rico’s national and cultural treasures, and a tremendous source of pride for puertoriqueños everywhere. A jewel.