Eye on Indie is a weekly column in which Emerald writer Alex Ruby provides his picks for the best indie albums to watch for in the coming week. This week’s selections include releases from STRFKR, CZARFACE, Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions and American Wrestlers.
STRFKR: Being No One, Going Nowhere (Polyvinyl Records)
If you’ve ever seen Portland’s own indie-pop band STRFKR live, then you know how crazy they can be. With astronauts performing wild dance moves, throwing out inflatable sex dolls and ‘80s pop covers, anyone who goes to one of their shows is in for a good time. This week marks the release of their fifth album Being No One, Going Nowhere, and hopefully it marks the start of another fantastic tour.
According to STRFKR’s label, founder Joshua Hodges exiled himself to the desert to create this album. In an age of social media selfishness, Hodges creates an album to portray our own insignificance in the vast scheme of things. This may seem like a dark concept — and it is — but STRFKR still manage to make the songs found within the album danceable and applicable to our experiences. They’re textured with heavy synths, airy vocals and just enough pop to make you move your feet. Interestingly, Hodges says the concept came to him at a BDSM club where he realized that pain is actually a gateway to freedom. It’s an album about realizing the pain — internal or external — and letting it go in order to destress. In light of midterm season, this could be a pretty comforting album.
Listen if you like: Neon Indian, Phoenix, Electric Guest, Broken Bells

CZARFACE: A Fistful of Peril (Brick Records)
If you have the need for some polished, bumping underground old-school hip-hop, give CZARFACE a try. Made up of Wu-Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck and underground hip hop duo 7L & Esoteric, the group based its debut album around CZARFACE, the supposed savior of hip-hop.
After collaborating with Marvel on its Black Panther web series, CZARFACE was juiced to begin work on a new album. Esoteric says, “The creative fuel we got from collaborating with one of Czarface’s biggest inspirations had us blasting tracks on a rampage.” This “rampage” is evident on A Fistful of Peril, with its lead single “Two in the Chest,” including a thumping baseline and Deck and Esoteric’s hard-hitting, fast-spitting rhymes and flows. The group makes rock-solid, cohesive, sample-heavy hip-hop, and we are incredibly lucky to have something to listen to that’s so enjoyable. Deck and Esoteric’s bars are as hungry as ever. 7L’s beats are heavy and hard. CZARFACE is the villain we need.
Listen if you like: MF DOOM, Cannibal Ox, Quasimoto, Killer Mike

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions: Until the Hunter (Tendril Tales)
And now for the exact opposite of CZARFACE: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions. Mazzy Star vocalist Hope Sandoval and My Bloody Valentine drummer Colm O’Ciosoig come together to make minimalistic, sweet, laid-back dream pop. It’s the kind of soothing music you can fall asleep to, especially with Sandoval’s dreamy vocals.
The Warm Intentions takes time with its songs, not only with its instrumentation but with Sandoval’s voice as well. They’re also delicately crafted to support that soothing voice and lyrics. The songs are slow and moving, making you want to jump into a bed full of cushy pillows and comfy blankets. In order to get that natural sound, Sandoval and O’Ciosoig recorded in the cylindrical Martello towers in Ireland where O’Ciosoig says, “The resonance in the towers suggested sounds that might not have been there. They brought out existing sounds more. If you have parallel walls, the reverb keeps on going, and we had a nice natural decay that let the music just breathe inside it.”
Letting the music breathe is an apt description for how this album sounds because it’s immediately clear how effortless their talent seems to the listener. Its warmth and clarity make Until the Hunter a perfect listen for the cold winter months ahead.
Listen if you like: Cat Power, Slowdive, Low, Sun Kil Moon

American Wrestlers: Goodbye Terrible Youth (Fat Possum Records)
American Wrestlers’ music is about as messy as its new album’s cover but this isn’t a bad thing. Goodbye Terrible Youth, indie rocker Gary McClure’s second album as frontman for American Wrestlers, is a colorful collage of musical influences, distorted riffs and catchy melodies. McClure used to be part of noise pop outfit Working for a Nuclear Free City in Manchester, but now he has a day job loading and unloading trucks in St. Louis while also working on music. In an interview with Paste, McClure said, “I get tortured just thinking, ‘I should be doing something right now! Don’t you want to do something?’”
In a way, Goodbye Terrible Youth is an album about finding a purpose in adult life. It’s a way of filling up time. Its songs fill up the space they take with every sound in the band’s arsenal, making it a treat to listen to while discovering new ideas within the songs.
Listen if you like: Guided by Voices, The Swirlies, Galaxie 500, Superchunk