“Chill Ride,” the opening track on How’s It Goin’?, starts out as a jangly pop instrumental, bathed in the sepia tone haze of ‘90s college rock slackerdom. But with just over two minutes to go, it moves into more mysterious territory, like a good trip gone weird, paranoia setting in. It recalls the strange reptilian alien drawings on the rudimentary working cover for the album, dark and strange, a bit slithery. And that’s just the first six minutes. Throughout the record, Human Music glides through lazy, East Coast-inspired, anti-pop gems (“Mt. Climb”); sunshine-y and sweet kick-back anthems (“Cool Party”); blurry, low-key, reverb-drenched numbers (“Dark Zone”); and the poppy, late ‘60s swirl and spin of guitars on songs like “Jazz Kids,” where singer Cole Woods, in a Lou Reed-esque drawl, sings, “rollin’ with jazz kids/rollin’ up jazz cigs/we think it’s tragic/’cause we know you planned it.”
The album is peppered with instrumentals and in-studio soundbites of conversations. The production is simple and unpolished, which, when coupled with the nostalgia-inducing guitar riffs and an overall sonic aesthetic, with ties to early Yo La Tengo, makes How’s It Goin’? sound fresh and timeless at the same time, one of those albums that could’ve been recorded yesterday or 25 years ago. How’s It Goin’? is a confident debut that wholly displays a genuine love for just making music, and “who gives a fuck what else.” If you need a soundtrack for hitting the bong on a beautiful night for a walk in the summer (and pretty much everyone does) then get your hands on this record. (Independent, humanmusic.bandcamp.com) Matt Williams