Orville Bateman Neely III, Duncan Malashock, Soft Healer, Georgia Anne Muldrow & Dudley Perkins, and The Sideshow Tragedy

Get all warm and tingly thinking about the love child of Reigning Sound and the Velvet Underground? Orville Bateman Neeley III's namesake band is an approximate synthesis, the flip side to his Ramones trip with trio Bad Sports. Super Secret Records A-side "No Way To Rock 'n' Roll" and B-side "Got More Love" throw back to good ol' Memphis lo-fi death, and the local musician/producer's got that Greg Cartwright charm, on the mic and behind the boards. Monofonus Press' spring vinyl fling features ex-Pillow Queen Duncan Malashock's solo 7-inch of wanderlust synth, whose more aggressive splay on B-side "Girls Collide" works in a hypnotic spiral but ends abruptly. Another Monofonus release, Soft Healer's 10-inch one-sider, serves as teaser for the local quartet's upcoming LP. The sweeping "Grand Isle" and a cover of the Zero Boys' "Civilization's Dying" showcase the two ends of their velvety punk sound. Another dope release from Insect Records, Georgia Anne Muldrow's "A Friend" and Dudley Perkins' "Mama's Place" flip channels to a 1990s hip-hop vibe with skewed beats that pop speakers. Sideshow Tragedy's four-song Gasoline 45 on Nondescript Records is standard-issue backwoods blues-rock, which floats along until a closing B-side cover of Lefty Frizzell's "Long Black Veil" rallies.