STAFF PICKS

kimber – hamilton leithauser & rostam
lindsay – handsome family, woven hand
dario – hamilton leithauser & rostam, wreckmeister harmonies
jeff – preoccupations

THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
Against Me!Shape Shift With Me CD/2xLP+MP3 (Total Treble)
Seventh full-length studio album from punk rock band, dropping right before lead singer Laura Jane Grace’s memoir titled Tranny: Confessions Of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout (due mid-November.) [Limited white color vinyl edition also available.]


Alex G DSU CD/LP+MP3/Cassette (Run For Cover)
Two years after its initial release on boutique Brooklyn label Orchid Tapes, Alex G’s fourth LP DSU is back in print across all formats. Considered by many to be the record that shone a spotlight onto the longtime lo-fi Bandcamp-favorite, DSU is an indie rock record empowered and enlightened by Alex Giannascoli’s bedroom-pop sensibilities.


Bad SunsDisappear Here CD/LP+MP3 (Vagrant)
Sophomore record from Los Angeles’ Bad Suns. “The band’s first new music in over two years does not disappoint, picking up right where they left off with a stadium-sized chorus tucked neatly into a song that screams Bad Suns. From lead singer Christo Bowman’s booming tenor to Gavin Bennett’s resilient bass, ‘Disappear Here’ marks a resounding return. Bad Suns’ arrangements tend to be a warm and equal blend of instruments that work together as a whole, rather than individually. “Disappear Here” is exactly such an arrangement: A strong bass line coupled with a frisky drum beat drives the rhythm forward as Bad Suns go about reintroducing themselves. Lead guitar and a light keyboard support Bowman’s voice as he carries the melody through short, sinusoidal phrasings. Bowman goes for the jugular when he jumps into a melting falsetto in the chorus, but the stunning impact of such a move would be lost without the instrumental backup around him.” – Atwood Magazine


CoilThe Ape Of Naples [Reissue/2005] CD/2xLP (Important)
CoilThe New Backwards [Reissue/2008] CD/LP (Important)
The Ape Of Naples is Coil’s highly celebrated final album completed by Peter Christopherson following the tragic death of John Balance in 2004. Often noted for being a fan favorite, The Ape Of Naples uses Balance’s final recordings and material recorded at Trent Reznor’s studio in New Orleans to create a deep, heavy masterpiece.The New Backwards, created in 2007, was originally included in The Ape Of Naples box set released on Important in 2008 and was constructed by Peter Christopherson using material from the Backwards sessions, recorded in the early ’90s for a planned release on Trent Reznor’s Nothing Records label. The New Backwards, like The Ape Of Naples, is an intense fan favorite and an essential part of the Coil catalog.


Cymbals Eat Guitars Pretty Years CD/LP+MP3 (Captured Tracks)
On their fourth album, Pretty Years, Cymbals Eat Guitars’ trademark cacophony guitar rock and innate propulsion are still abundant, now buttressed by raucous synth and keyboard lines and an extemporaneous saxophone performance, which enrich when they could easily clutter these songs. The band also worked more quickly and efficiently than they had in the past, facilitated by years on the road in which they’ve played close to a thousand shows, which rendered them a tight, fully-oiled machine in the studio


DawesWe’re All Gonna Die CD/LP+MP3 (HUB Records II LLC)
L.A. band Dawes return with their fifth album. We’re All Gonna Die was produced by Grammy nominated producer Blake Mills (Alabama Shakes) and includes backing vocals from Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Brittany Howard of The Alabama Shakes, Mandy Moore, Will Oldham, and Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius. Of the album, Taylor Goldsmith (guitar, vocals) explains, “Pretty much every song on this record explores a difficult situation and tries to find a way to find the good in it, or at least remind yourself that it’s not always that big of a deal. After all, as scary as it is, we are all gonna die.” “If last year’s All Your Favorite Bands was a sweet source of comfort-rock, We’re All Gonna Die is something of a wake-up call, with sharper sounds and harsher vibes, straight from the jarringly fuzzy note that opens its title track” – The Fader. [Limited yellow marble color vinyl pressing also available.]


Deap VallyFemejism CD (Nevado Music)
New album from the female duo produced by Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner. NME aptly described them as a “hippie Karen O fronting Black Sabbath.”


The Devil Makes ThreeRedemption & Ruin CD/LP+MP3 (New West)
Redemption & Ruin is a 12-song covers record with two distinct, but intertwined personalities. The first side focuses on the faults and vices that can drive the creative forces within music while the second side focuses on the absolution of life, the soul and forgiveness. Within Redemption & Ruin The Devil Makes Three exhibit their wide range of influences including nods to the blues (Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters), gospel (Down in The Valley), country (Townes Van Zandt, Hank Williams Sr.), bluegrass (Ralph Stanley), and the obscure (Tom Waits). The energy of The Devil Makes Three’s live show is translates in all of their recordings and Redemption & Ruin pays homage to where that energy was created and shaped.


Die AntwoordMount Ninji And Da Nice Time Kid CD (Zef/Kobalt)
Mount Ninji And Da Nice Time Kid is the fourth studio album by South African rap-rave group Die Antwoord (duo of Ninja and ¥o-landi Vi$$er).


El Perro Del MarKoKoro CD/LP (The Control Group)
Written and produced by El Perro Del Mar and Jacob Haage, the 10 original songs of KoKoro are her most ambitious and musically adventurous to date, yet no less emotionally direct, covering themes that speak to both big and small matters of the heart.With soundscapes that echo of Thailand, Sumatra, India, Ethiopia, and China, the orchestration of KoKoro is unlike any of El Perro Del Mar’s previous releases, a direction only hinted briefly on the Pale Fire LP highlight “I Was A Boy.” It features the Chinese string instrument Guzheng, the Japanese Shakuhachi flute, various other Asian flutes, Arabic strings, Dulcimer, and rhythms influenced by Ethiopian music.


Robert GlasperArtScience CD/2xLP (Blue Note)
The first album in three years from Robert Glasper and his Robert Glasper Experiment cohorts. The band features saxophonist Casey Benjamin, bassist Derrick Hodge, and drummer Mark Colenburg. ArtScience includes the first single “Find You.”


Grumbling FurFurfour CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Grumbling Fur is the joint manifestation of Alexander Tucker and Daniel O’Sullivan which, since 2011, has birthed a series of increasingly focused albums of psychedelic pop. Furfour is the fourth album by the British duo, and features performances by This Heat’s Charles Bullen and Isobel Sollenberger from Bardo Pond. Tucker and O’Sullivan create simple, hypnotically engaging songs from paradoxically freeform beginnings. Shaping the lot are their long-standing shared musical affections, a polyglot music encompassing orchestrated poptones, collage, dub and beatmaking as well as experimental and drone elements.


The Handsome FamilyUnseen CD/LP (Milk & Scissors Music)
Husband and wife duo The Handsome Family release their 10th studio album. With its unique mix of country instrumentation and intriguing surrealist lyricism, Unseen explores the unseen stories, people, and places of the American West, where members Brett and Rennie Sparks live (Albuquerque, NM) and shines a light on the obscure and forgotten. Unseen continues The Handsome Family’s embrace of things beyond easy view: the slow dive of the sun, enormous bugs awakening in thorny yards, sirens, and coyotes that cry out to the purple sky. An epic western gothic masterpiece, the album draws from real life events. “Gold” first began when a bunch of twenty-dollar bills blew in Brett’s face in a parking lot dust storm and “Gentlemen” is a tribute to William Crookes who built the first vacuum tube in 1875, hoping to detect spirits from alternate dimensions. Many tracks fix around the idea that light emanates from things we can’t see, including behind “The Red Door,” in the empty hands of blackjack losers (“The Silver Light”), and amidst desert bones bleaching in the sun (“King of Dust”).


Keaton HensonKindly Now CD/LP+MP3 (PIAS America)
Kindly Now is the third official studio album from acclaimed London-based musician and visual artist Keaton Henson. It features the first single “Alright,” a wonderfully emotive song that showcases Keaton’s trademark fragile vocals accompanied by a sparse piano performance and a lush string arrangement. Struggling with the apparent trade-off of having to put himself on display in order to make the music he loved, “Alright” describes a very English way of grinning through pain (and also the sense that despite your world shifting so quickly, maybe you haven’t changed very much at all). It’s a stunning introduction to the album, a record that simultaneously broadens Keaton’s canvas – more electronic in places, more classical in others – yet also reflects a life-long love of Randy Newman. Kindly Now is ultimately Keaton Henson’s most emotionally stripped-back album thus far, an unheroic and unsettling examination of past loves, the role of the artist, and owning up to your own destruction.


Kishi BashiSonderlust CD/LP+MP3 (Joyful Noise)
Sonderlust is an album forged through heartbreak. After his two previous studio albums and his String Quartet Live! release, Kishi Bashi was at a musical impasse. “As I sat down to write songs last summer, I went to all my usual conduits of creation: violin loops, guitar, piano, and I came up with the musical equivalent of fumes,” says Kishi Bashi. “I tried to create orchestral pop recordings that I assumed were my forte, and in turn I found myself standing in front of a creative wall of frightening heights.” At this very same moment of musical uncertainty, K’s personal life was falling apart… He and his wife of 13 years had briefly separated and were struggling to keep their marriage together. In his own words, “Touring and its accompanying lifestyle took a heavy toll on my soul and my family.” As an outlet, K submerged himself in a new musical direction. Sonderlust emerged as a direct result of this personal struggle that took place at an artistic crossroads. With the help of producer Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear), engineer Pat Dillet (Angelique Kidjo, David Byrne), and drummer Matt Chamberlain (Morrissey, Fiona Apple, of Montreal), Kishi Bashi has created a personal and artistically adventurous work. [Limited gold and black color vinyl edition also available.]


Kool KeithFeature Magnetic CD (Mello Music)
“In a world filled with cheesecake rappers, one man Kool Keith, has assembled a phenomenal team to bring you madness. Critics are calling it sensational. So stop what you’re doing and get ready for a journey you’ve never taken before. The ultimate adventure into Feature Magnetic. You will never be the same. Free association, sci-fi, sextastic, horrorcore, Kool Keith invented it all. His newest excursion into rhyme finds a who’s who of rappers holding it down alongside Keith. From Dirty Nasty to Slug, MF Doom to Bumpy Knuckles, Mac Mall to Rass Kass–the best to have ever done it spit hotter fire than even Dylan. Like butterscotch ice cream on your crotch or eating dead bok choy with Soldier Boy, you’ve got to think about it. Get cozy and sit inside the paragraph. This is Feature Magnetic, Kool Keith’s newest reality breaker.”[Vinyl edition due September 27.]


Helen MoneyBecome Zero CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Cellist Helen Money joins forces with Jason Roeder (Sleep, Neurosis) and Rachel Grimes (Rachel’s) to deliver an album that is incredibly personal, visceral, and delicately ethereal.


The Monochrome Set – Cosmonaut CD/LP+CD (Tapete)
Cosmonautis the third new Monochrome Set album since 2012, following on from last year’s Spaces Everywhere, and while it retains the band’s trademark combination of jangling guitars and wryly-worded lyricism, it’s a lighter, less claustrophobic collection than its predecessor, being the sound of several indie veterans enjoying themselves tremendously. After very nearly forty years of bewildering audiences with their musical invention and seemingly endless supply of rhyming couplets, that The Monochrome Set can produce an album as raw, visceral and relentlessly entertaining asCosmonaut is an impressive feat by any ’70s punk veteran standards. Two parts rock ‘n’ roll excess to one part nonsensical poetics, The Monochrome Set are at least as relevant today as they have ever been.” — Adequacy


Natural ChildOkey Dokey CD/LP (Natural Child)
New album from the Nashville riff rockers – “’70s-style summer jams.” – Brooklyn Vegan


PreoccupationsPreoccupations CD/LP (Jagjaguwar)
Preoccupations is the band formerly known as Viet Cong. Preoccupations bears the visceral, personal sound of holding onto some steadiness in the midst of changing everything. Frontman Matt Flegel is quick to point out how little mystery is in the titles of these songs: “Anxiety,”“Monotony,”“Degraded,”“Stimulation,”“Fever.” “‘Monotony’ is a dead end job; ‘Anxiety’ is changing as a band,” he says. “‘Memory’ is watching someone lose their mind; ‘Fever’ is comforting someone. It’s all drawing from very specific things.” These things — bigger ones like breakups, smaller ones like simply trying to calm someone down — are ultimately the things that explode our brains, that keep us up at night. And so where their previous album Viet Cong was built in some ways on the abstract cycles of creation and destruction, Preoccupations explores how that sometimes-suffocating, sometimes-revelatory trap affects our lives. It is a singular, bracing collection that proves what’s punishing can also be soothing, everything can change without disrupting your compass. Your best year can be your worst year at the same time. Whatever sends you flying can also help you land. [Limited color vinyl edition also available.]


Tim Presley The WiNK CD/LP/Cassette (Drag City)
The dark force behind White Fence steps into the solo light. “The man inside White Fence’s psych-punk dirigible is shown to be just that — a man, unwashed and yeah, somewhat slightly dazed. Tim’s sharp-hooked tunes, produced by Cate Le Bon in a shattered fashion implying calamitous twists of fate, pull at us addictively, pull us narcotically inward. Dark, compelling listens on repeat!”


P.S. Elliot 2007-2011 2xCD (Don Giovanni)
P.S. Eliot was a pop punk band formed in 2007 in Birmingham, Alabama by twin sisters Katie (guitars, vocals) and Allison Crutchfield (drums). They released two albums: Introverted Romance In Our Troubled Minds (2009) and Sadie (2011). After the band broke up in 2011, both members pursued their own musical projects–Katie started Waxahatchee and Allison started Swearin’. 2007-2011 collects the complete recorded work of P.S. Eliot as a 50-track double-CD set which also includes unreleased home demos, the impossible to find Living In Squalor EP, and more.


Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet – Savvy Show Stoppers [Reissue/1988] CD/LP (Yep Roc)
Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet – Dim The Lights, Chill The Ham [Reissue/1991] CD/LP (Yep Roc)
Shadowy Men On A Shadowy PlanetSport Fishin’: The Lure Of The Bait, The Luck Of The Hook [Reissue/1993] CD/LP (Yep Roc)
Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet is the seminal Canadian instrumental combo formed in Toronto, in 1984. They released three albums before disbanding in 1996, reconstituting once again in 2013. Yep Roc Records is proud to be re-releasing all three original studio albums on CD and vinyl (in deluxe gatefold sleeves with expanded artwork and liner notes).


Amanda ShiresMy Pieces Of Land CD/LP+MP3 (BMG Rights Management)
My Piece Of Land is Amanda’s third record and follows up 2013’s Down Fell The Doves and was primarily written while pregnant with her and husband Jason Isbell’s first child. “Shires is a virtuoso, and anyone who’s seen her front her own band or play in Isbell’s knows she can cultivate musical drama. A few tracks on My Piece Of Land (which was produced by Dave Cobb, who loves nuance and rocking out in equal measure) build to big climaxes: ‘My Love – The Storm’ is the classic Garth Brooks-style stomper its title implies, while ‘You Are My Home’ builds to a grand finale that recalls the mid-1970s sound of Warren Zevon. Amanda Shires can command a spotlight. But My Piece Of Land really shines in subtle gradations, in the natural environment where the voice warbles and catches, and the mind adjusts, opens up and leans toward love.” – NPR


Sin FangSpaceland CD/LP+MP3 (Morr Music)
Leaving the rooted flora behind, Sin Fang, project of Sindri Már Sigfússon, glides into uncharted territory with his fourth full-length entitled Spaceland – a collection of electrified tunes that pack a soft punch. It’s his idiosyncratic take on future R&B, one that doesn’t mince matters and features various guests including Jónsi, Sóley, Pascal Pinon’s Jófríður Ákadóttir and Farao.


Southern Culture On The SkidsThe Electric Pinecones CD (Kudzu)
Southern Culture On The Skids’ newest album is the band’s fifth album on their own label, Kudzu Records.The Electric Pinecones is a bit of a departure for the band conceptually and sonically. The inspiration for the record was born in an alter-ego side project from the early years of the band. “The Pinecones was folk-a-hill-a-billy garage band we used to put together just for kicks,” Miller relates. “We loved the sound of ’60s west coast folk rock and psych bands. The Pinecones was our outlet for material that was not in the SCOTS vein. We even opened for ourselves occasionally. The Pinecones set list was the jumping off point for this latest collection of songs.”


Touché Amoré Stage Four CD/LP+MP3 (Epitaph)
“Touche Amore set the standard for modern melodic hardcore. Their new albumStage Four combines furious energy with earnestness, curiosity, and introspection” – Chicago Reader. [Limited white vinyl edition also available.]


TrentemøllerFixion CD/2xLP+MP3 (In My Room)
The fourth full-length offering from Danish artist Anders Trentemøller. Fixion succeeds in traversing a swathe of influences and unassuming genres — yet all the while holding true to Trentemøller’s unique and sometimes challenging vernacular. From cascading minimalist synth-scapes to driving electro-punk, each track is bound together with a contemplative melodic complexity.


Various ArtistsAfterschool Special: The 123s Of Kid Soul CD/2xLP (Numero)
The formula was simple: marry bubblegum and soul to the absolute sincerity of an enthusiastic child, cross your fingers and pray for airplay. But while the youthful sums of that formula may have grown up and walked away from their illusions of stardom, their permanent records remain. With enterprising parents, neighbors, and teachers turning play dates into recording dates, groups like Magical Connection, Little Man And The Inquires, and Five Ounces Of Soul emulated the Jacksons, who’d made grade-school stardom appear easy as ABC. Afterschool Special: The 123s Of Kid Soul contains 19 tiny tunes ranging from a bilingual D.A.R.E. anthem, to James Brown bio, to young love and life beyond the playground.


Various Artists Nigeria Soul Fever 2xCD/3xLP+MP3 (Soul Jazz)
Soul Jazz Records’ new Nigeria Soul Fever is their first release to explore the vast wealth of Nigerian music recorded in the 1970s. Packed-full with Afro-funk, disco and boogie all from Nigeria, this triple-LP/double-CD set brings together a stunning collection of diverse West African sounds. Whilst a small handful of the artists featured (Joni Haastrup, Tee Mac, Christy Essien) have seen the light of day outside Africa, this is essentially a collection of killer tracks by an array of artists completely unknown outside of Nigeria.


Steven WilsonTransience CD (Kscope)
Featuring songs recorded between 2002 – 2015, Transience is a personally curated introduction to the more accessible side of Steven Wilson’s (Porcupine Tree) solo output. [Vinyl edition due October 9.]


Woven HandStar Treatment CD/2xLP+MP3 (Sargent House/Glitt)
“[Woven Hand’s] David Eugene Edwards has been treading some of the same territory as Cave for a long time now. His music deals in the same darkness, the same obsessiveness. His songs are steeped in the history of American music, of folk and country and blues, and yet they owe as much to some of the clanging, confrontational forms that followed: punk, metal, hardcore, noise-rock. His songs sound like incantations, like prayers bubbling up from below. He’s not Cave, but he’s cut from the same cloth.” — Stereogum


Wrekmeister HarmoniesLight Falls CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
On Light Falls, the core of Wrekmeister, JR Robinson (vocals, guitar) and Esther Shaw (keyboards, piano, violin, vocals), is joined by Godspeed You! Black Emperor musicians Thierry Amar on bass and contrabass; Sophie Trudeau on piano, violin and vocals; and Timothy Herzog on drums. Chicago musicians Ryley Walker and Cooper Crain (Cave, Bitchin Bajas) make guest appearances on the album as well.


Clutch Full Fathom Five [2008] 2xLP (Weathermaker Music)
A collection of groove-laden live performances compiled from four locations on the band’s 2007/2008 sold-out headlining world tour (Boulder, Sayerville, Pittsburgh and Melbourne). First-time vinyl edition includes bonus tracks.


Entrance Promises 12”+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Guy Blakeslee has resurrected his pioneering solo project Entrance for a new four-song EP, Promises, in advance of a full-length studio album coming in early 2017.His newest creations add up to a set of rich, cinematic songs featuring expansive orchestration and imaginative storytelling, as unique to himself as they are, at times, evocative of Townes Van Zandt, Scott Walker andGene Clark.


Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam I Had A Dream That You Were Mine LP (Glassnote)
New collaboration between Hamilton Leithauser (formerly of The Walkmen) and Rostam Batmanglij (formerly of Vampire Weekend). In the spirit of collaborative albums, not unlike those of David Byrne and Brian Eno, each musician’s individuality remains intact while both Hamilton’s identity as a singer and Rostam’s as a producer reach new heights.  [CD version due September 23.]


SilkwormLifestyle [Reissue/2000] LP (Touch & Go)
Originally released in 2000, Lifestyle is Silkworm’s seventh album (and third for Touch & Go). These songs show Silkworm presenting their clearest and most polished visions. To the beat of Michael Dalquist’s drums, Andy Cohen’s razor-wire guitar and Tim Midgett’s baritone guitar snake around one another like twin brothers with a common soul. And, when the last strains of Lifestyle fall away, there is hope — hope that reasonably well-adjusted adult guys can turn the boredom and disappointment of the everyday into glorious art-rock.

 

NEXT WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
DEVENDRA BANHART – Ape in Pink Marble CD/LP
CROBOT – Welcome To Fat City CD/LP
HAMILTON LEITHAUSER / ROSTAM – I Had A Dream CD
SWORD – Low Country CD/LP
BEACH SLANG – Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings CD/LP
BOXED IN – Melt CD/LP
FLOCK OF DIMES – If You See Me Say Yes CD/LP
GAME THEORY – Big Shot Chronicles CD/LP
HOW TO DRESS WELL – Care CD/LP
LVL UP – Return To Love CD/LP
MERCHANDISE – Corpse Wired For Sound CD/LP
TRUE WIDOW – Avvolgere CD/LP
WARPAINT – Heads Up CD/LP
RACHAEL YAMAGATA – Tightrope Walker CD?LP
BILLY BRAGG / JOE HENRY – Shine A Light CD/LP
EX-CULT – Negative Growth CD/LP
NEUROSIS – Fires Within Fires CD/LP
JACK ROSE LP Reissues
ARCHY MARSHALL (King Krule) – A New Place 2 Drown CD/LP
CRYSTAL CASTLES – Amnesty LP
SELECTOR DUB NARCOTIC CD/LP
KRONOS QUARTET – Pieces Of Africa CD/LP