First new music of 2015.

Time for the first reviews of 2015, and a couple of familiar names are back.

One Like Son-New American Gothic. This Alabama band made a splash in 2012 with its raucous debut Start the Show, notable because they recorded it on an iPhone. This time around, the boys took part in the 52 Weeks Songwriting Project, and each track was written and recorded within a week. Interesting back stories aside, they've served up another high-energy rocking collection of tunes with some lyrical punch. The opening title track tells the story of a lifelong love with a spin on the classic piece of American art, while "Little Valentine" is a Replacements-style rocker depicting an obsession that comes to a happy end. Elsewhere, we follow a "Punk Rock Prom Queen" while "Sister Mary (Got Her Gun)". And it's all capped off with "A Galaxy Far Away", a 7-minute track that recaps the original Star Wars trilogy, demonstrating that The Force is with them on this disc.

Bandcamp | iTunes



Baby Scream-Fan, Fan, Fan. Juan Pablo Mazolla, our favorite South American power popper, returns with an all-new collection of tunes that are a must if you've enjoyed his music before. This time around, he takes a more sardonic look at the world to accompany his always melodic sound. So we come to learn that "Everybody Sucks", he's "Back to Douche" and of course "Haters Will Hate". All three of these tracks are catchy of course, and he channels the spirit (if not the sound) of Beck in the raved-up "Loner". And the standout track here is the majestic "Human Being on Mars", a midtempo marvel that encapsulates his Lennon-esque sound. Oh and by the way, he also put out another album simultaneous to this, an odds-and-sods collection called the "The Worst of Baby Scream", with 22 more new tracks and five covers that frankly I haven't had a chance to dive into but I'll let you do so by embedding the player for it along with this one.

Bandcamp | iTunes