I always wanted my own vinyl, and for us to sign with Kiam Records and be able to do that was a super bucket list goal of mine. There’s nothing like it. People automatically think you’re official if you have your album on vinyl in 2019.

It’s probably about as slamming and hypnotically danceable as a murderous cautionary tale is liable to get.

The music of the Oakland band Bam!Bam! is the best definition of the word “scrappy.” The band are avowed fans of K Records (and have even opened for K honcho Calvin Johnson), and all of that label’s fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants charm comes across loud and clear throughout Nails.

Powerful and poignant as ever, Good In The Dark, made up of multi-instrumentalist Heather Perry, drummer Carlos J. Zapata, and guitarist Grant Goldsworthy, have been described as disco-punk in the past, so who better for them to permanently align themselves with than the almighty Talking Heads?

Filled with eclectic and compelling arrangements, their songs tell persuasive stories of characters and emotions bound together in a whirring atmosphere of pop and rock creativities. Memorable hooks and arena-sized melodies vie for your attention as the music submerges your senses in a wash of gauzy rhythms and early ‘90s rock movements. The band has released two albums – “Rituals to Make New” and “Perfume Brute” – and have recently shared a one-off single called “Flavor Packets,” which finds the band exploring a more dreamlike rock sound which brings to mind artists like Deerhunter and Grizzly Bear.

They’re a mixed-gender guitar/drums duo hemorrhaging enough fuzz to resemble a 1000-pound bumblebee sucking up mostly Sonics, Seeds, and Cramps reissues.

A band who are always happy to add a dance-beat to everything they do, If You Feel It is a particularly frenetic affair; as the band explain, “we wanted to explore noise and tempos and vocals that spike and plunge and work their way up to a fury again. And because it’s us, it had to be danceable”. It’s the sort of track that instantly transports back to us the dance-punk scene of the early 2000’s; scratchy Rapture-like guitar riffs, bouncing bass lines LCD System would be proud of and yelp along vocals the match of Le Tigre or early Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

‘Manhunt’ sees them re-teaming with labelmates Amy Bezunartea and Jennifer O’Connor on a couple tracks, while enlisting Deathbomb Arc rap experimentalist SB the Moor and pioneer of the other Def J, Redman. Its lead single, “Me Time,” is being shared today with a video treatment, announcing the pair’s arrival in all their verse- (and clothes-) swapping goodness.

“‘Otherside,’ at its root, was inspired by the book Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, but it is also a commentary on the current political climate. The book deals a lot with the concept of fate, most notably in its famous repeating line, ‘So it goes.’”

New York City–based trio A Deer A Horse sit musically somewhere between the Melvins, Helms Alee, Red Fang and Sleater-Kinney, combining guitar fireworks with striking melodic vocals in a way that’s spirited and muscular. Their latest single, “Smokejumper,” is a perfect example of the band’s approach — strong songwriting and hooky melodies never get in the way of the riff, which reigns supreme throughout.