Opening with a super cool stomp beat and metallic percussion backing of the title track, we are off to some good danceable electronica on Captn K’s new Ep Salad Days. 

Quick picking and sailing slide lifts us into the instrumental opener, “Caledonia Mountain,” to land us then into the soft beat of the first real song here, “Dying Breed.” With simple harmonies on the choruses, clear-as-a-bell leading, it takes no time to realize we are deep in the blue-collar country of The Divorcees.

Sirens Go By marks Eric Anders and Mark O’Bitz’s second installment from their four-part series “Music in the time of coronavirus.” Written and produced remotely during the shutdown of last year, here we get eight tunes of a tight little vibe.

It’s a very interesting little world Mark Uygur brings us into on Electric Treatment Free.

As much I like the crazy, slightly stuttering beat caused by drummer Nathan Williams on the opener “Renegade,” I like the second tune, the tight little noisy “Caught the Raisin,” even getter. What gets me from the jump here is Brad Weynton’s voice. He manages to handle melody quite well, letting the music get as spooky as it needs to, not his voice. I hear too much of this genre of music prompting vocalists to put overt nasty character in their voice than needed. Wynton avoids this trope.

“Weather The Storm” smacks us headfirst into Kaleigh’s debut Predestined. A brash, big drum, guitar-driven strut-of-a-single sees actor/model/musician Kaleigh pushing hard with her cool vocal and statement lyric.

“Easy” opens and certainly is an easy-to-take rocker with a solid sing-able chorus (as most choruses here are) wailing guitar from Vladimir Kornienko, a minimalist verse vibe, and just solid rockin’. “Tiny Love” finds a strong thrumming bass pushing things along as once again Ilya Novokhatskiy teases and taunts with what turns out to be quite a unique voice that cuts through perfectly. And “Backdoor Man” is simply fantastic, from lyric, to commercial shouted lyric, to wailing break, this song is the best of the early tunes on Attention!

The title track once again sees Gunn using some shunky beats and arpeggiated backing keys, but he builds his high-flying single notes to full lead voiced effectiveness. And he really reaches his stride on the hesitant “Language.” Gunn’s single-note piano fighting to be heard and the urgency of the bed of sounds rushing to a startling lilting simple piano end makes for one of the best moments for me on all of Sound Condition.

Digging deep into their Iranian roots here, Farhood Nik and Anis Oveisi, known as the Delusive Relics duo, give us an 8-song concept album based on the 100-year-old classic novel Blind Owl by Sadeq Hedayat.

The girl-group meets 70’s pop “Shotgun,” opens…with a genuinely fantastic humorous lyric behind it. Will Malone’s leading over the top of the keys (his lead work throughout these eight is excellent) and layered vocals are just perfect. A stomping beat, some low back synth, and those great layered female vocal call out a warning on “Casting You Out.” Again, Will Malone lifts things beyond the synths and low roil.