STAFF PICKS

Kimber – Bonobo
Lindsay – David Rawlings
Dario – Oneohtrix Point Never

THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES

Bonobo – One Offs… Remixes & B-Sides [Reissue/2002] CD/2xLP (Tru Thoughts)
Successfully beating the bootleggers at their own game, 2002’s One Offs offered Bonobo fans the chance to get their mitts on rare 12” and 7” cuts, as well as some truly exceptional remixes.

 

The Cribs – 24-7 Rockstar Shit CD/LP (House Arrest)
Recorded to tape in just five days with legendary producer Steve Albini, the Jarman brothers’ new album is a “return to our roots and the raw approach we took on our first two records in 2004 and 2005.”

 

Will Hoge – Anchors CD/LP (Edlo)
Recorded with an all-star band comprised of drummer Jerry Roe (Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, Darius Rucker), bassist Dominic Davis (Jack White, Wanda Jackson), and guitarists Brad Rice (Son Volt, Ryan Adams) and Thom Donovan (Lapush, Ruby Amanfu), Anchors is a prime showcase for Hoge’s searing, gritty vocals, as well as his remarkable gift for crafting complex characters with real emotional depth and plainspoken profundity.

 

Ke$ha – Rainbow CD/LP (RCA)
Kesha’s first new album in five years features Eagles Of Death Metal, Dolly Parton, and more, including a track produced by Ben Folds and artwork designed by Robert Beatty.

 

Lapalux – Ruinism CD/2xLP (Brainfeeder)
Released on vinyl two weeks ago – now available on CD. Throughout Ruinism the British producer takes this exploration further, journeying onward to the more ominous limbo space between life and death. In this liminal space where the finite and infinite intermingle, Lapalux sounds more at home than ever. Much of Ruinism’s inspiration was born out of a theatrical score Lapalux (aka Stuart Howard) wrote for the performance art piece Depart which was performed in an East London cemetery. The aptly named project served as genesis for a direction wrought with doom and melancholia. Ruinism is all sonic wreckage and rubble created using only hardware and real instruments. The sound simultaneously destroys and redeems itself across a tight and formidable 48-minutes.

 

Oneohtrix Point Never – Good Time [OST] CD/2xLP (Warp)
Rapturously received by Cannes film critics, Good Time is directed by Josh and Benny Safdie and stars Robert Pattinson (in a widely regarded career best performance) and Jennifer Jason Leigh. The hypnotic crime thriller follows Pattinson’s Connie in a twisted odyssey through the New York underworld in a desperate attempt to get his brother out of jail. Oneohtrix Point Never received the prestigious Cannes Soundtrack Award at this year’s 70th anniversary edition of the festival for his visceral original score. OPN was in competition with the likes of Jonny Greenwood, Jed Kurzel and Ibrahim Maalouf and took home the celebrated prize.

 

David Rawlings – Poor David’s Almanack CD/LP+MP3 (Acony)
Guitar man David Rawlings leaves the Machine moniker behind for his third album, Poor David’s Almanack, a wry mixture of acoustic and electric performances rich in ageless American vernacular. Gloriously captured on analog tape by studio wizards Ken Scott and Matt Andrews, the ten new songs took shape in a rollicking weeklong session at Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee where Rawlings and longtime compatriot Gillian Welch (who also designed the cover art) joined together with Willie Watson, Paul Kowert, Brittany Haas, Ketch Secor, and Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith to produce an album for all seasons.

 

Frankie Rose – Cage Tropical CD/LP (Slumberland)
The result of an existential odyssey, Frankie Rose’s fourth album is awash with vintage synths, painterly effects pedals, upside down atmosphere and reverberating vocals. [Limited edition white vinyl pressing also available.]

 

Slits – Return Of The Giant Slits [Reissue/1981] CD (Real Gone Music)
Already far removed from the male-dominated, louder-faster ethos of punk rock, The Slits, with new drummer Bruce Smith of The Pop Group and multi-instrumentalist Steve Beresford in tow, added world music and free jazz to Ari Up’s Ono-esque ululations, Viv Albertine’s skittering guitar, and Tessa Pollitt’s dubwise bass riddims. Predictably, Sony dropped the record like a hot potato, not even bothering to release it in the U.S., and it has only been intermittently available on CD in the 35-plus years since. [Vinyl edition due September 1.]

 

Ben Sollee  Ben Sollee and Kentucky Native CD (Soundly Music, LLC)
Tracing the origins of a traditional American genre back to early immigrants, Sollee takes a nontraditional approach, blending the influences of early Irish and Scottish musicians with the rhythms of Mexico, Africa and India. Inspired by the interactions and collaborations of string musicians from all walks of life, Ben Sollee and Kentucky Native is Sollee’s most personally revealing work and a reflection of his native Kentucky, a place like many others, that’s still helping refine the ever-changing Bluegrass genre. Sollee and his bandmates recorded the album in a cabin at the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Clermont, KY with a mobile, analog studio and with just a few overdubs. [Vinyl edition due September 1.]

 

Trailer Trash Tracys – Althaea CD/LP+MP3 (Domino)
Spanning 10-tracks, Althaea sees Trailer Trash Tracys drift afield from traditional song structures and create a new aural lexicon of their own, one as influenced by Filipino carnival music and Latin rhythms as it is by Japanese tropical music from the ‘80s.

 

 
Foster The People – Sacred Hearts Club LP+MP3 (Columbia)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Los Angeles, CA dance-pop outfit Foster The People incorporate ’60s-inspired sounds and a psychedelic influence on their third studio effort Sacred Hearts Club. “One of my favorite things about music is that it’s unifying,” says frontman Mark Foster. “We wrote these songs to reflect joy in a time where people have needed it more than ever and we thought it was a good time to share them with you.”

 

The Kooks  Inside In/Inside Out [Reissue/2005] LP (Astralwerks)
The Kooks – Konk [Reissue/2008] LP (Astralwerks)
Vinyl reissues of the first two albums by the Brighton four-piece, both produced by Tony Hoffer (Beck, Air, Supergrass) and recorded at Ray Davies’ Konk Studios in North London.
 

 

Portugal. The Man – Woodstock LP (Atlantic)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. “It’s been a long time coming since 2013’s Evil Friends from Portugal. The Man, but a new album is on the way. Between 2006 and 2013, the Alaska-born psych-indie pop group released a whopping eight studio records, never leaving more than two years in between. As we approach four years since their last album, fans have begun to wonder what the wait is, — would a new album ever come? On a trip back home, frontman John Gourley was met by the same questioning by his father, who asked him ‘What’s taking so long to finish the album?’ according to a press release. ‘Isn’t that what bands do? Write songs and then put them out?’ It light a fire under PTM’s collective asses, leading them to throw out all previous material of what they were going to call Gloomin’ And Doomin’, enlisting the help of Beastie Boys’ Mike D, Danger Mouse, and John Hill on the production side. With a bit of inspiration from finding an old Woodstock ’69 ticket of his Gourley’s father, PTM went back to the drawing room table to produce an album that can inspire some good in this ‘avalanche of flaming biohazard material sliding down a mountain of used needles into a canyon full of rat feces’ that sums up 2017 so far.” — Indie88

 

Prince – I Wish You Heaven [Reissue/1988] 12” (WB)
Prince – Batdance/200 Balloons [Reissue/1989] 12” (WB)
Prince – Partyman [Reissue/1989] 12” (WB)
Vinyl reissues of one Lovesexy and two Batman singles.
 

 

Washed Out – Mister Mellow LP (Stones Throw)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Limited yellow colored pressing available.

 

 

NEXT WEEK’S NEW RELEASES

GRIZZLY BEAR – Painted Ruins CD/LP
SHELBY LYNNE / ALLISON MOORER – Not Dark Yet CD/LP
DENT MAY – Across The Multiverse CD/LP
UNKLE – Road: Part 1 CD/LP
KACY + CLAYTON – Siren’s Song CD/LP
AUDIOSLAVE – Self-Titled LP
JERRY GARCIA – Garcia LP
HAIM – Something To Tell You LP
IDA – Will You Find Me LP
INTERPOL – Our Love To Admire LP+DVD
MIKE KROL – Is Never Dead: The First 2 Records LP
RANDY NEWMAN – Dark Matter LP
QUICKSAND – Manic Compression LP
LIL YACHTY – Teenage Emotions LP
DJ SHADOW – Mountain Has Fallen 12″
KMFDM – Hell Yea LP