November 4, 2016 —

This Week’s New Releases & Staff Picks – 11/4/16

STAFF PICKS

kimber – lambchop
lindsay – lee fields, hope sandoval
dario – hope sandoval
jeff – strfkr, toro y moi

THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
American Wrestlers – Goodbye Terrible Youth CD/LP (Fat Possum)
“American Wrestlers’ self-titled debut was a true diamond in the rough, a lo-fi collection of timelessly hazy pop songs that practically glowed with homespun warmth. Since McClure’s anonymous 8-track recordings first surfaced online in late 2014, American Wrestlers have swelled from a solo bedroom project to a full honest-to-god band, now featuring his wife Bridgette Imperial on keys, Ian Reitz on bass, and Josh Van Hoorebeke on drums. That personnel upgrade comes with a corresponding sound upgrade, but if anything, the increased fidelity only adds to the sense that you’re listening to some lost FM classic.” – Stereogum
 
Czarface – A Fistful Of Peril CD/LP (Silver Age)
Your favorite antiheroes are back. Inspectah Deck, 7L, and Esoteric have entered the booth once more after their two, highly lauded albums for a new entry in their catalog. A Fistful Of Peril includes features from Conway The Machine, Meyhem Lauren, and graffiti legend Rast RFC.


Esben And The Witch – Older Terrors CD/2xLP (Season Of Mist)
“Hailing from Berlin-via-Brighton, Esben And The Witch have amassed a number of accolades since their formation. The trio has drawn attention for the dark, brooding soundscapes that fill their albums, supported by Rachel Davies’ hypnotic vocals. The good news is that Esben And The Witch did it again on Older Terrors, the dark atmospheric rock group’s first album with Season Of Mist. Older Terrors is often quiet and pensive, at times letting nothing but Davies’ voice drift through the silence, but Esben And The Witch also aren’t shy about injecting distorted riffs that keep Older Terrors interesting. Esben And The Witch set a languid pace to the album. Older Terrors never gets fast, but it never gets lost in its slower pace either. The album’s highlights undoubtedly come in the form of Davie’s powerful vocal performance — just listen to the end of album opener ‘Sylvan’ to get the idea.” – Decibel
 
Lee Fields & The Expressions – Special Night CD/LP (Big Crown)
A masterclass in soul music past and present. 
 
Jim James – Eternally Even CD (Capitol/ATO)
“As frontman of My Morning Jacket and collaborator in various Americana side projects, Jim James has made music synonymous with escape: rollicking and dreamy soundscapes, loose themes of nature and spirituality, a voice that nearly curdles with sheer abandon. Eternally Even, his second solo outing, plants him dead-center in the rubble of modern sociopolitical rot—the result is an album steeped in textures of drone and tones of dismay, with a sort of ramshackle grit tuned to frequencies of urgency and naïveté. Eternally Even is musically meticulous — sometimes corroded and minimal, sometimes fascinatingly warped, the music is a vivid interpretation of a broken system, or of a system breaking. The album opens and closes with songs—‘Hide in Plain Sight’ and ‘Eternally Even,’ respectively—that combine skittering percussion and grinding organ loops, while the two parts of ‘We Ain’t Getting Any Younger’ revive the flow of ‘Hide In Plain Sight’ at double time, adding additional paranoia. ‘Same Old Lie’ rides a similarly dark carnival-esque groove until the outro, when a distorted organ and banging conga drums conjure up an unsettling, eerily militant atmosphere. The grainy automation of these tracks grows identifiable by the end of the album, which is eerie given how eccentric it initially feels. Other songs on Eternally Evenslide nicely into James’s comfort zone of psychedelic armchair R&B, yet he works deliberately as a producer to disturb their familiarity” – Slant. [Vinyl edition due December 16.]
 
Kaiser Chiefs – Stay Together CD (Kaiser Chiefs Recordings)
“This sixth record sees the band take this nondescript sound and stuff it impressively full of sing-a-long hooks, covering topics including monogamy (‘We Stay Together’) and shagging (‘Good Clean Fun’). As with Coldplay’s last album, there’s an underlying disco flavor here, with this more British strain calling to mind a tamed Pet Shop Boys (although, in a rare risky move, Ricky Wilson opts to don a strangely satisfying Leo Sayer falsetto on ‘High Society’). Overall it feels like a kind of gentrified pop: synthetic and nondescript, but predictably appealing all the same” – The Guardian. [Vinyl edition due December 2.]


Alicia Keys – HERE CD (RCA)
New (sixth) album from the singer/songwriter. Includes the song “Blended Family (What You Do For Love),” featuring A$AP Rocky. “On this album, I’ve arrived HERE,” Keys says. “A place where I’m willing to truthfully look at myself in the mirror and to also see the reality of who we have become in this world. The good, the ugly, the shadows and the light. I’ve come to realize that in order for us to grow and to understand and accept each other we have to recognize the complexity of ourselves. We have to be able to talk about it and meet each other where we are, HERE.”
 
Lambchop – FLOTUS CD/2xLP+MP3 (Merge)
For Love Often Turns Us Still—officially titled FLOTUS—is like many of Lambchop’s records: a subtle masterpiece, the kind that slowly and generously reveals its quiet wisdom to those patient and attentive enough to receive it. Start to finish, FLOTUS is imbued with that magic energy that comes when an artist stumbles upon the thrill of the new—something that makes them crazy enough to want to start the whole process over again. The album is bookended by two long-form pieces: the first, “In Care of 8675309,” is most reminiscent of where Lambchop has been, while the second, the sprawling, hypnotic “The Hustle,” suggests where they might still be headed. The latter seamlessly shifts between movements, a foundation suggestive of krautrock and early electronic music, gorgeously ornamented with perfectly placed piano and horns. Drawing upon a diverse palate of influences and transcending each one, it’s a stunning piece of work—certainly one of the most impressive achievements of Lambchop’s catalogue.
 
The Chris Robinson Brotherhood – If You Lived Here, You Would Be Home By Now CDEP/12” (Silver Arrow)
Less than three months after the release of their new album, Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel, The Chris Robinson Brotherhood release a companion EP If You Lived Here, You Would Be Home By Now. The new EP is comprised of tracks recorded at the same Stinson Beach, CA, sessions as the album. “If You Lived Here is the sonic bookend to our Anyway You Love recording and song cycle,” Robinson says. “When we were sequencing the original album, these five songs seemed to want to hang together in their own way and tell their own little story, so they were set aside to present separately.” EP track “New Cannonball Rag” is fueled with a relaxed groove that includes slide guitar, organ, and a sprinkling of psychedelic sound effects.
 
Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions – Until The Hunter CD/2xLP+MP3 (Tendril Tales)
Third studio album from Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions. The band includes Colm Ó Cíosóig of My Bloody Valentine. “On the nine minute plus opener ‘Into The Trees’ Sandoval’s ageless voice is augmented by church organs and O’ Cíosóig’s slow drum shuffle; it’s a psychedelic drone evocative of Mazzy Stars’ ‘She Hangs Brightly.’ As Sandoval intones ‘I miss you’ with singer Mariee Sioux refraining the line, the feel of melancholy in her voice is set up beautifully, but musically it’s a curveball, as thereafter the album explores country music, folk and blues. The record’s highlight ‘Let Me Get There’ sees Kurt Vile join them on a country rock song where his and Sandoval’s dulcet voices dovetail together wonderfully, like a modern day Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris.” – The Line Of Best Fit


STRFKR – Being No One, Going Nowhere CD/LP+MP3 (Polyvinyl)
The title of STRFKR’s fourth album may seem bleak at first. But hold it in your head a minute, feel its weight, and you may recognize the phrase for what it is: a goal. In the era of the personal brand—amid the Fear Of Missing Out Age—it’s increasingly hard to shed a stifling sense of self, or to just be in the moment that you’re in. Well, consider this an invitation to get blissfully insignificant. That’s what STRFKR founder Joshua Hodges aimed to do when he exiled himself to the desert to create this record, but he returned with this set of darkly glistening dance songs rife with sticky beats, earworming hooks, philosophical heft, and bittersweet beauty. Album track “Tape Machine” is “a funky electro-pop ride… Founder Joshua Hodges went alone to the desert with the goal alluded to in the album’s title, Being No One, Going Nowhere, and came up with an album’s worth of rich dark dance songs” – KCRW.


Tad – God’s Balls [Reissue/1989] CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Tad – Salt Lick [Reissue/1990] CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Tad – 8-Way Santa [Reissue/1991] CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
The classic discography and assorted singles from the beloved and iconic Seattle band’s 1988-1992 run receive the deluxe reissue treatment. Producer & engineer Jack Endino (who produced God’s Balls, TAD’s first full-length) has lovingly remastered all of the recordings from the original tapes. These deluxe editions feature new images from photographer Charles Peterson, bonus tracks, and expansive liner notes from the band and Jack Endino.
 
Toro Y Moi – Live From Trona 2xLP+MP3 (Carpark)
Following extensive touring behind What For?, his fourth studio album as Toro Y Moi, acclaimed musician Chaz Bundick brought the band to the middle of the Mojave Desert in April 2016 to play a special concert. Live From Trona documents this experience, recorded live beneath the geological wonders known as the Trona Pinnacles, which formed thousands of years ago in what used to be a prehistoric lake. The album features unique live arrangements of songs from across the band’s catalog, new music, and an expanded band line-up. Limited edition “desert pink” color vinyl pressing.


NEXT WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
MIKE WATT – Ring Spiel Tour 95 CD/LP
SLEIGH BELLS – Jessica Rabbit CD/LP
DAVID BAZAN – Dark Sacred Night CD/LP
DANIEL BACHMAN – Self-Titled CD/LP
BALKAN BEAT BOX – Shout It Out CD
BODY/HEAD – No Waves CD/LP
BRIGHT EYES – Cassadaga CD/LP
BRIGHT EYES – Digital Ash In A Digital Urn CD/LP
BRIGHT EYES – I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning CD/LP
DEAD CAN DANCE – Garden Of The Arcane Delights/Peel Sessions CD/LP
ISLANDS – Return To The Sea CD/LP
KILBEY KENNEDY – Inside We Are The Same CD/LP
VARIOUS – Killed By Deathrock 2 CD/LP
KULA SHAKER – K CD/LP
JOHN LENNON/YOKO ONO – Unfinished Music:Two Virgins CD/LP
JOHN LENNON/YOKO ONO – Unfinished Music: Life With The Lions CD/LP
YOKO ONO – Plastic Ono Band CD/LP
VARIOUS – Punk 45: Les Punks: French Connection CD/LP
WAKRAT – Self-Titled CD/LP
WOLF PEOPLE – Ruins CD/LP
STEVE REICH/TERRY RILEY – Six Pianos/Keyboard Study #1 CD/LP
BOWERY ELECTRIC – Beat LP reissue
JAMIE LIDELL – Building A Beginning LP
LOSCIL – Monument Builders CD/LP
HIS NAME IS ALIVE – Patterns Of Light CD/LP
LOU BARLOW – Apocalypse Fetish LP
BEN FOLDS – Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner Gate LP
BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE – Feel Good Lost LP
ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO – Burn Something Beautiful LP
AUTECHRE – LP reissues for Amber, Incunabula, Tri Repetae LP
SHLOHMO – Bad Vibes LP