Ducktails' song 'Heaven's Room' has a masterful touch

Ducktails, "Heaven's Room" (Domino). Guitarist Matt Mondanile is perhaps best known for his workwith New Jersey guitar pop band Real Estate, but his solo project Ducktails has generated equallysublime tracks across four albums. The fifth, "St. Catherine," is filled with many languid, jangledguitar lines. Among the best is "Heaven's Room," which features Los Angeles musician Julia Holter.Mondanile, who relocated to Los Angeles, is a master of smooth, shimmering guitar tones, but"Heaven's Room" blossoms through masterful arrangements and a sonic depth courtesy of producerRob Schnapf.

Vinyl Williams, "Hall of Records" (Company). Lionel Williams, who makes music and visual art asVinyl Williams, crafts sparkly electronic beat music that exists in its own curious realm. "Hall ofRecords" is one of 14 tracks on his new album, "Into," and makes for a good portal. Tinted with thesonic tone of an overused Maxell cassette, rich with humming frequencies that recall GermanKrautrock and dense with muffle-tone beats suggestive of 1990s label Too Pure, the track swirls withsynthesizers and waves of untethered noise. Williams is less skilled as a vocalist, though. He quiversin pitchy falsetto throughout "Into." It hardly matters, though. The stuff is mesmerizing.

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