Illustration by Alice Leach

Hello y’all, I hope you are staying happy and healthy! Things are pretty crazy right now, but we’ll make it through. It’s always darkest before the sunrise. I hope these new listens help ease your mind or help you focus on something else.

Claypool Lennon Delirium (psychedelic rock)

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if Primus and the Beatles had a baby… This is it.

Lennon Claypool Delirium features John Lennon’s son, Sean Lennon, and Primus’ bass guitarist and main vocalist, Les Claypool.

For this listen, check out their newest album, “South of Reality.” For this album, I recommend that you listen to it from the beginning to the end. While you’re starting this album, you’ll hear one of my favorite tracks, “Little Fishes.” It will be the first song you hear because, well, it’s the first song on the album.

The Buttertones (indie surf)

If you’re already listening to Nick Cave, Timber Timbre and/or Tom Waits, you’ll love The Buttertones. You will find a range in sound from album to album. It is fair to say that if you didn’t care much for one album, you should give another album of theirs a try.

While you’re trying out The Buttertones, give “Eros” a listen. You will find this song on their album “Midnight in a Moonless Dream.” This whole album is great from start to finish.

Trampled by Turtles (folk)

If you’re super into folk already, you might have heard of this group. If you’re new to the folk thing, get ready to make folk a staple in your music taste.

You can start by listening to Trampled by Turtles. Trampled by Turtles gives you harmonies, softly sawing violins and a fast yet precise mandolin.

Since you’re now a folk kind of person, listen to Trampled by Turtles’ album “The Blue Sky and the Devil.” You can pick up the needle and drop it anywhere on this album and you’re going to be happy. While you’re dropping the needle, drop it on “Codeine” for me.

This Will Destroy You (post rock)

Let’s say, for the sake of conversation, you don’t know what post rock is. Post rock is a genre of rock that usually features droning guitars, hypnotic splash cymbals and a lack of a vocalist. These are mainly instrumental bands.

If you’re new to post rock, get hip with This Will Destroy You. They go above and beyond what one might expect (or not) from a post rock band.

For this specific listen, I’m only going to recommend an album rather than an album and a song. “Young Mountain” is ear candy from start to finish.

Well, that will do it for this edition of Speakeasy Sounds! I hope you enjoy your new favorite bands. I’ll be giving you more next time!