Music Reviews: June 2015

Too Big World
Bumper Jacksons (self-released)

This D.C. sextet might officially belong to the District but they play here enough—as with their June 5 album-release show at the Creative Alliance—that we feel we can claim them. If you’re unfamiliar, the band fuses jazz, blues, and country swing into a hootin’, hollerin’ party, full of brass, strings, and backwoods instruments like washboard and kazoo. Their New Orleans-by-way-of-Appalachia sound is stronger than ever on this fourth record, stacking flirty ragtime; mountain ditties; and smoky, Southern soul into a rich revival soundtrack, perfect for a back-porch boogie on a hot June night.

Again Weekend
Super City (self-released)

Put on Super City’s debut album and you might do a double take: No, you’re not listening to Alt-J, Arctic Monkeys, or The Strokes, though lead singers Dan Ryan and Greg Wellham sound uncannily similar in their pretty minimalism. This young quintet, formed by recent Towson grads, is as good as any of those bands, but seems poised to blaze its own trail. Their tracks amble between hyphenated rock genres but remain confident and catchy throughout. Whether its shimmering pop-rock, sedated folk-rock, or rough-and-tumble alt-rock, they fully commit, and so do we.