Sunday, October 29, 2017

New Music Friday - August 18, 2017

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases



The Duke Spirit - Sky Is Mine

I hear woefully little about The Duke Spirit from music publications. Anymore, I know they're releasing new music because I'm on their mailing list. They may have reached the peak of their popularity, stateside at least, around 2009, but they're still releasing spectacular music. Their fifth album is more ballad-focused than prior releases, but still a spectacular showcase for frontwoman Leila Moss' vocals and the band's range of alternative rock influences.

Watch: "Magenta"
Watch: "Houses"




Grizzly Bear - Painted Ruins

It's been five years since Grizzly Bear's last record, 2012's spectacular Shields. Around that time, many were lauding the band as the quintessential indie band of the late 2000s/early 2010s. A lot has changed since, though. Formerly "indie" acts have enjoyed some crossover success and there's been a rise of bedroom acts and the software to support that type of creation. The new album feels more rooted in the existing sounds the band have developed, a move that offers a bit of familiarity in the ever-changing music landscape.

Watch: "Neighbors"
Watch: "Mourning Sound"


Other Full-Length Releases



Cloakroom - Time Well

Watch: "The Sun Won’t Let Us Go"
Watch: "Concrete Gallery"


Dent May - Across the Multiverse

Watch: "Picture on a Screen"
Watch: "Across the Multiverse" (featuring Frankie Cosmos)


Everything Everything - A Fever Dream

Watch: "Desire"
Watch: "Can’t Do"


King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Sketches of Brunswick East

Listen: "The Book"
Listen: "Sketches of Brunswick East I"

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.



A$AP Ferg - Still Striving

Listen: "Olympian" (featuring Dave East)
Listen: "Trap and a Dream" (featuring Meek Mill)


Alice Glass - Alice Glass

Watch: "Without Love"
Listen: "Forgiveness"


inc. no world - Living

Watch: "Living"
Listen: "Complete"


Interpol - Our Love to Admire Reissue

Watch: "The Heinrich Maneuver"
Watch: "Mammoth"


Samantha Urbani - Policies of Power EP

Watch: "Go Deeper"
Listen: "1 2 3 4"

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Upcoming Album of the Week (Ending October 28)

I've been so busy the past couple of weeks that my blog hasn't been getting much love from its creator. Hopefully, I can get back into the swing of regular posting going forward. I missed last week's Upcoming Album post, so the list below represents the past couple of weeks.

This week, tUnE-yArDs announced their fourth album, I Can Feel You Creep into My Private Life.

consequenceofsound.net

tUnE-yArDs is fronted by the incredible Merrill Garbus and specialize in looping and layering her voice in a way that it becomes its own instrument in their music. I got on board with their second album, 2011's w h o k i l l, and tracks like "Gangsta" and "Es-So" which perfectly showed off that instrument.

They followed that album up in 2014 with Nikki Nack, another spectacular release, and announced this latest record on Tuesday. They also released a new song to tide us over until the album, "Look at Your Hands".



I Can Feel You Creep into My Private Life will be released next year on January 19.

Also announced this week:

Charles Hayward & Thurston Moore - Improvisations (December 8)
FAN - “Fire”/“Disappear” (November 3)
Fever Ray - Plunge (out now)
First Aid Kit - Ruins (January 19)
Franz Ferdinand - Always Ascending (February 9)
Future & Young Thug - Super Slimey (out now)
Jack Antonoff - MTV Unplugged (November 10)
Jonny Greenwood - Water Vinyl Release (November 10)
The Juan MacLean - The Bright the Light (December 1)
Kevin Morby - “Baltimore (Sky at Night)”/“Baltimore (County Line)” (out now)
MØ - When I Was Young (out now)
NxWorries - Yes Lawd! Remix (November 17)
Porches - The House (January 19)
Screaming Females - All at Once (February 23)
Sia - Everyday Is Christmas (November 17)
Sleater-Kinney - “Here We Come” (out now)
The Soft Moon - Criminal (February 2)
Superchunk - “Break the Glass”/“Mad World” (out now)
Tom Waits - Alice Reissue (November 24)
Tom Waits - Blood Money Reissue (November 24)
Tom Waits - Bad as Me Reissue (November 10)
Tom Waits - Glitter and Doom Live Reissue (December 1)
Tom Waits - Mule Variations Reissue (December 15)
Tom Waits - Real Gone Reissue (November 24)

Sunday, October 22, 2017

New Music Friday - August 11, 2017

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases



Frankie Rose - Cage Tropical

Cage Tropical is the fourth album from this former member of so many great female bands (Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls). Recorded with Jorge Elbrecht as producer, the album represents a stylistic shift for the artist. The shift coincides with Rose moving from Los Angeles back to New York. She's moved away from the fuzzy guitars that have defined much of her work in favor of '80s-influenced synths.

Watch: "Red Museum"
Watch: "Trouble"




Jen Cloher - Jen Cloher

Jen Cloher is an Australian musician, and as I recently discovered, the wife of fellow Australian musician Courtney Barnett. Barnett features on the album, and Cloher bears a stylistic similarity to her SO's music (I supposed it would be more accurate to say that Barnett's style is similar to Cloher, as she began performing several years earlier). The self-titled record is her fifth.

Watch: "Forget Myself"
Watch: "Regional Echo"


Other Full-Length Releases



5 Billion in Diamonds - 5 Billion in Diamonds

Watch: "I’m Becoming You"
Watch: "Gravity Rules"


The Cribs - 24-7 Rock Star Shit

Watch: "Rainbow Ridge"
Listen: "Sticks Not Twigs"


Guided By Voices - How Do You Spell Heaven

Listen: "Just to Show You"
Listen: "Diver Dan"


Ice Balloons - Fiesta

Listen: "Calypso Heartworm"
Listen: "Fiesta"

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.



Good Time: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Watch: Oneohtrix Point Never - "The Pure and the Damned" (featuring Iggy Pop)


House of Feelings - Last Chance EP

Listen: "Falling" (featuring Shamir)
Listen: "Last Chance"


Lambchop - "The Hustle Unlimited"/"When You Were Mine"

Listen: "The Hustle Unlimited"

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Upcoming Album of the Week (Ending October 14)

To be honest, it seemed like only crappy news came from the entertainment world this week, nothing I really want to talk about here. But hey, we got a new album from St. Vincent, and a collaborative song between two of my faves, Hamilton Leithauser and Angel Olsen, "Heartstruck (Wild Hunger)", so a couple of bright points!

That Leithauser-Olsen song has me wishing for a full album between the two; if that happens, check it out over at my Upcoming Releases page!

This week, the final album from Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Soul of a Woman, was announced.

pitchfork.com

The frontwoman of the band, Ms. Sharon Jones, got a late start to her music career, releasing her first single at the age of 40. It wouldn't be another six years until she released her first album with The Dap-Kings, but the group made the most of their time together, releasing five albums over 12 years.

Jones passed away late last year following a battle with cancer and stroke. She had been hard at work on this last album, which was announced on Tuesday, along with a new track, "Matter of Time".



Soul of a Woman is set for release on November 17.

Also announced this week:

Belle and Sebastian - How to Solve Our Human Problems, Part 1 (December 8)
Belle and Sebastian - How to Solve Our Human Problems, Part 2 (January 19)
Belle and Sebastian - How to Solve Our Human Problems, Part 3 (February 16)
Calexico - The Thread That Keeps Us (January 26)
Django Django - Marble Skies (January 26)
Hamilton Leithauser - “Heartstruck (Wild Hunger)” (out now)
Nick Murphy - “Medication” (out now)
No Age - Snares Like a Haircut (January 26)
Prurient - Rainbow Mirror (December 1)
Sleigh Bells - Kid Kruschev (November 10)
Son Lux - Brighter Wounds (February 9)
Tears for Fears - Tears for Fears Rule the World (November 10)
Tove Lo - Blue Lips [lady wood phase II] (November)
Wilco - A.M. Reissue (December 1)
Wilco - Being There Reissue (December 1)

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Upcoming Album of the Week (Ending October 7)

I got my pre-ordered copy of the new Wolf Parade's new album, Cry Cry Cry, on Wednesday this week, I listened to it almost immediately and it is a most welcome return for the band. Bands returning from hiatus are always a mixed bag in terms of the quality of that reunion album, but records like this give me hope. If any other currently split-up bands decide to announce their returns, check it out over at my Upcoming Releases page!

This week, Walk the Moon announced their third studio album (fourth if you count the self released i want!, i want!), What If Nothing.


WtM is one of those Cincinnati bands that could (in good company with Foxy Shazam, Afghan Whigs, and The National. among others). They garnered some success and buzz with early singles "Anna Sun" and "Tightrope", before getting their first top ten single with "Shut Up and Dance" in 2014.

Besides a few singles, they've laid fairly low over the past couple of years, including canceling a tour due to a family illness, but came back recently with a new single, "One Foot" and the album announcement.



What If Nothing is set for release on November 10.

Also announced this week:

Burial - “Pre Daw”/“Indoors” (October 26)
Caribou - Joli Mai (out now)
Johnny Cash - Unearthed Box Set (November 3)
The Mountain Goats - Marsh Witch Visions EP (out now)
My Bloody Valentine - Isn’t Anything Reissue (January 18)
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless Reissue (January 18)
Nots - “Anxious Trend”/“In Glass” (November 10)
Rolling Stones - On Air (December 1)
Sam Smith - The Thrill of It All (November 3)
Sharon van Etten - because i was in love Reissue (November 17)
Tennis - We Can Die Happy (November 10)
Thom Yorke - Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes Reissue (December 8)

New Music Friday - July 28, 2017

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases



Arcade Fire - Everything Now

Arcade Fire had a very interesting roll-out for their fifth album. Song titles were announced as anagrams on Twitter in June, they launched a Stereogum-spoof site, Stereoyum (which probably had more to do with the site's less-than-glowing reviews of their new songs), and released a pop-up video style video with clearly fake facts about the band for the track "Creature Comfort". It even involved fake news articles about the band. It all overshadowed the album itself, which would have benefitted from greater focus.

Watch: "Electric Blue"
Watch: "Signs of Life"




Vic Mensa - The Autobiography

Despite having a career spanning eight years, The Autobiography is the first LP from this talented Chicago-based rapper. He does have a number of mixtapes and EPs under his belt; most recently, The Manuscript. As is the case with most hip hop records, there are number of featured artists on the record, including Pusha T, Pharrell Williams, and even Weezer.

Watch: "Rage"
Watch: "OMG" (featuring Pusha T)


Other Full-Length Releases



Manchester Orchestra - A Black Mile to the Surface

Watch: "The Alien"
Watch: "The Gold"


Mappe Of - A Northern Star, a Perfect Stone

Listen: "Cavern’s Dark"
Listen: "Nimbin"


Sweet Apple - Sing the Night in Sorrow

Watch: "World I’m Gonna Leave You" (featuring Mark Lanegan & Robert Pollard)

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.



Afghan Whigs - "You Want Love"

Listen: "You Want Love" (featuring James Hall)


Ben Frost - Threshold of Faith EP

Watch: "Threshold of Faith"
Listen: "The Beat Don’t Die in Bingo Town"


Ben Gibbard - Bandwagonesque

Watch: "The Concept"
Watch: "Metal Baby"


Cage the Elephant - Unpeeled

Watch: "Trouble"
Watch: "Punchin’ Bag"


Detroit: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Listen: The Roots - "It Ain’t Fair" (featuring Bilal)


Elvis Presley - A Boy from Tupelo

Listen: "Harbor Lights" (Takes 5 -  8)


Margo Price - Weakness EP

Watch: "Weakness"
Listen: "Just Like Love"


Sylvan Esso - Echo Mountain Sessions

Watch: "Radio"
Watch: "The Glow"


Ty Segall - Fried Shallots

Listen: "Is It Real"
Listen: "Big Man"