Outside Smash! Records. Photo by Ryan Holloway

Hailu Mergia & The Walias, “Tche Belew”
Full-length. Awesome Tapes From Africa

Recently rediscovered and reissued, 1970’s Ethiopian pop star Hailu Mergia has been living and working in Washington, DC since the 1980’s. The 1977 album Tche Belew was reissued in late 2014 and is as relevant as ever with a unique East-meets-West sound that combines Ethiopian music with Western instruments. Mergia was the keyboardist of The Walias, and his talents make a big impact on the track “Eti Gual Blenai”, a funky tune with hints of Ethio-pop, jazz and soul, creating a distinctive sound which is both retro and modern. —Andy Cerutti

The North Country, “The Cross We Bear”
Single.

In a culture where irony has sadly become an end in itself instead of a useful tool for societal reflection and personal introspection, The North Country is a band you can shake off those jaded blues to. Catchy melodies might hook you in, but it’s the simple-yet-clever arrangements, thoughtful lyrics, and especially the passion and energy in the performance that make this song worthy of repeated listens. Universal lyrics deliver a heavy dose of earnestness with thoughts about loneliness and finding our place in the world. The tune is refreshing; this is a band that is very thoughtful about the state of mind of the current youthful generation, hoping use to their music to give people a sense that they aren’t alone. Put this against the mostly disposable crop of so-called indie bands, and this track has some serious weight and certainly some unusual maturity. —Alex Tebeleff

Foehammer, “Stormcrow”
Single. Gimoire Records.

Foehammer, a three-piece out of Annandale, Va., stormed into the D.C. doom metal scene early last year. After a year of honing their live chops, both locally and on a short East coast run, they hit the studio to lay down a new, self-titled debut album dropping April 7th on Baltimore’s Grimoire Records. When we say dropping, it is comparable it to dropping a steam locomotive off of a 20-story trestle. It’s that damn heavy.

Foehammer have released the first single off of the album, a ten-plus-minute opus called “Stormcrow.” “Stormcrow” is so punishingly slow, you’d swear someone turned a 45-rpm record down to 33 1/3 rpm. Maybe even 16. The song is a slow and menacing beast, with macabre, guttural vocals that sound like they are summoning the Old Gods from the deep. The doom-laden guitar sounds like it was down-tuned so far, the strings must have been hanging down past the fingerboard. The new album will only have three songs, but it will contain over 33 minutes of guaranteed pure damnation. —Jon Pacella

Spoonboy, “Great Mistake Maker”
Single. Silver Sprocket Records.

Okay, so this isn’t exactly a brand-spankin’ new tune. “Great Mistake Maker” was released last year as part of a split with Philly’s The Goodbye Party. But, two recent incidents demand we highlight this celebration of lyricism: A) the song has an adorable new music video, featuring the bop-in-place skills of David Combs’ buddies; B) Combs announced yesterday on Facebook that the next few months would be Spoonboy’s last. After this spring, we won’t hear him play Spoonboy songs anymore. But, as he assures fans, “I’m still writing a ton of music and am almost finished with new records from the Max Levine Ensemble and Somnia, and I’ve got plans to start a couple new projects, so new songs will be in no short supply.” No doubt the new songs, from wherever they come, will be just as catchy and empowering as ever before. For now, watch as Spoonboy takes a glory lap around the globe, only to end up back in D.C. under the Washington Monument (how reassuringly symbolic). —Tori Kerr

Jack on Fire, “Abortion Hooray!”
Self-released

Today, throngs of pro-lifers (many of them, tourists) will take to the National Mall for this year’s March For Life while the city’s pro-choice population will probably either counter-protest or (and this one is more likely) stay far, far, FAR away from Independence Avenue. However, Jack on Fire has chosen a more incendiary path of resistance by releasing a three-song EP entitled Abortion Hooray! The title track is a bouncy 80-second dance song that pairs a glam zinger of a guitar riff over a taut drum machine. The sassy vocals have been adjusted to sound almost feminine as the protagonist takes the listener through her trip to the clinic after a night of protected sex (spoiler alert: the protection failed).The cutesy oversimplification of this complex and emotionally charged issue was clearly written with the express purpose of pissing off the right wing.

That said, Jack on Fire’s complete refusal to take themselves seriously might even annoy some pro-choice listeners who could see the song as a flippant take on a serious topic. But while the band essentially flips the bird at the March For Life supporters, they also manage take the high road on the issue: All proceeds from the sale of this EP will go to the D.C. Abortion Fund. (Full disclosure: DCist Editor-in-Chief Matt Cohen is now a member of Jack on Fire.) —Valerie Paschall