February 3, 2017 —

This Week’s New Releases & Staff Picks – 2/3/17

STAFF PICKS

kimber – elbow
lindsay – elbow, moon duo
dario – surfer blood
jeff – homeshake
dominic – moon duo

THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
 
Elbow – Little Fictions CD/LP+MP3 (Concord)
Little Fictions was recorded in Scotland and Manchester and sees the band collaborate with the string players of The Hallé Orchestra, the Hallé Ancoats Community Choir, members of London Contemporary Voices and session drummer Alex Reeves. “This album, according to Elbow’s guitarist Mark Potter, is ‘the sound of four people who love what they do, and each other’. If that seems a little too bromantic to be true, the proof is in the playing. Elbow are sometimes pigeonholed as prog-rockers, but the special ingredient in their recipe is something you won’t find in early Genesis: blokey warmth. It’s there in Garvey’s big-hearted lyrics, his beer-stained vocals, and the layers of music behind him, which tend to be intricate but emotional. When it all falls into place, an Elbow song is a thing of beauty, built to make arms sway. The producer, the band’s keyboard player Craig Potter, maintains their tunefulness while nudging it into the world of 2017, where rhythm is king. These ten songs require some patience. Only the opener, the stirring ‘Magnificent (She Said),’ grabs you right away, and the title track is a full eight minutes long. But, as so often, the effort is rewarded.” – Daily Mail [Limited color vinyl copies also available, along with standard black 180gm pressing.]


 

Ron Gallo – Heavy Meta CD/LP+MP3/Cassette (New West)
A few words from Ron Gallo “Heavy Meta is 11 tracks of lyrical confrontation and laughter for cynics laid down roughly on a bed of fuzz, chaotic structures and primal sounds evoked from a red Fender jaguar electric guitar — there is bass, there are drums and not much else besides the occasional icing (no artificial colors or dyes). It’s not comfortable and easily pinpointed and I’m sure that will create an issue for the desire for neat little boxes we have grown to love. I still don’t know what I’m doing and I plan on keeping it that way. Besides a couple of years of emotional and mental turmoil, loss, confusion, breakdown and internal growth what did all of that ever get me? Well, it gave me this record called Heavy Meta and it is the first few findings from my guerilla treasure hunt for bullshit, both outside and within. Ethos meets pathos. The only thing I do know is that I want to use music to reflect the times and as a primary outlet for me to become a total psychopath on stage, challenge myself and talk about potentially heavy real world things, call you out, then maybe we can even hug after the show.” [Limited pink color vinyl pressing also available.]


Dave Hause – Bury Me In Philly CD/LP+MP3 (Rise)
“A beautifully written piece of work. Dave Hause has always been blessed with a purity of songwriting craft that sets him apart from the punk troubadour pack. This collection is no exception – the misery-tinged love letter of opener ‘With You’ setting the tone for an album which deals in both human triumph and defeat with beautifully observed skill. As the lusty porch-side reminiscence of ‘The Ride’ gives way to the anthemic, titular homage to Hause’s hometown of Philadelphia, he once again cuts to the core of the human condition. It adds up to another deft, mature and utterly addictive release” – Rock Sound. [Limited color clear vinyl pressing also available.]


 

Homeshake – Fresh Air CD/LP+MP3 (Sinderlyn/Captured Tracks)
Homeshake is the pseudonym and solo project of Edmonton-born, Montreal-based musician Peter Sagar. “Former Mac DeMarco bandmate Peter Sagar introduced us to his Homeshake project with In the Shower, then took us to the kitchen for a Midnight Snack. For his next offering, though, he’s taking things outside with a new album titled Fresh Air. The 14-track finds Sagar taking his breezy R&B-infused sound in a ‘slightly funkier direction.’ A press release notes that the new record aims to evaporate negativity in the minds of listeners with its collection of ‘smokey, laid-back love songs and airy productions.’” — Exclaim
 


 
Wyclef Jean – J’ourvert CD (Urban/E1)
J’ouvert is a 10-track precursor to Wyclef’s forthcoming full length album aptly titled Carnival III: Road To Clefication dropping next summer on the 20th anniversary of Wyclef’s critically acclaimed debut The Carnival – and album that established himself as a producer and solo artist whose work draws from elements of pop, country, folk, disco, Latin, and electronic music.


Less Than Jake – Sound The Alarm CDEP/12” (Pure Noise)
New release from the Gainesville, Florida-based ska/punk band.


The Menzingers – After The Party CD/LP+MP3 (Epitaph)
For their fifth full-length After The Party, The Menzingers set out to make the quintessential jukebox record: an unstoppably melodic album primed for bar-room sing-alongs. Delivering anthemic harmonies, furious power chords, and larger-than-life melodies, the Philadelphia-based garage-punk four-piece amply fulfills that mission while achieving something much more deeply nuanced. [Limited red vinyl pressing also available.]


Moon Duo – Occult Architecture Vol. 1 CD/LP (Sacred Bones)
Meaning all things magick and supernatural, the root of the word occult is that which is hidden, concealed, beyond the limits of our minds. If this is occult, then the Occult Architecture of Moon Duo’s fourth album — a psychedelic opus in two separate volumes released in 2017 — is an intricately woven hymn to the invisible structures found in the cycle of seasons and the journey of day into night, dark into light. Offering a cosmic glimpse into the hidden patterning embedded in everything, Occult Architecture reflects the harmonious duality of these light and dark energies through the Chinese theory of Yin and Yang. In Chinese, Yin means “the shady side of the hill” and is associated with the feminine, darkness, night, earth. Following this logic, Vol. 1 embraces and embodies Moon Duo’s darker qualities, released appropriately in the heart of the northern hemisphere’s winter. [Limited red and black color vinyl pressing also available.]
 



Sampha – Process CD/LP (Young Turks)
Sampha hails from Morden, south London and has spent the last six years generously dividing his musical talents across solo and collaborative work. Equally in demand as a songwriter, singer, producer and player, Sampha has been sampled by and produced for Drake (“The Motion” and “Too Much ft Sampha”), Kanye West (“Saint Pablo ft Sampha”), Beyonce (“Mine ft Drake”), Katy B (“Play ft Sampha”) and FKA twigs (LP1 standout “Numbers”). He also remains a frequent collaborator in the Young Turks family and beyond; from remixing The xx and Chairlift to experimenting in sonics and structure as half of production duo Short Stories (alongside Koreless).


Surfer Blood – Snowdonia CD/LP+MP3 (Joyful Noise)
Surfer Blood is one of the best young indie-rock bands around, and their fourth album, Snowdonia, is one of their most ambitious efforts. Overcoming adversity, the band has artistically grown and thrived. Following the departure of bassist Kevin Williams and guitarist Thomas Fekete (tragically lost to cancer in May), singer/guitarist John Paul Pitts and drummer Tyler Schwarz have rebuilt a talented lineup with guitarist Michael McCleary and bassist Lindsey Mills, all four alumni of the same high school in West Palm Beach, Florida. Pitts wrote specifically with the new band’s talents in mind: “When I was writing I was thinking more about background vocals and harmonies. Lindsey and Michael are great singers, and I really wanted that to show in the songs. There are layers of vocals on almost every track, and the call-and-response parts between Lindsey and I are something totally new.” [Limited white color vinyl pressing also available.]


Avalanches – Since I Left You [Reissue/2000] 2xLP (Astralwerks)
Vinyl reissue of the debut album from the Australian electronic outfit. Playful, twisted, psychedelic, sampledelic, delirious and infectious, it’s the sound of six men who spent most of adolescence rummaging through bargain bins in Melbourne’s record shops, constructing their own post-modern disco-pop amalgam from rubbish ’50s rejects and saccharine ’60s pap.


 

Eluvium – Talk Amongst The Trees [2007] 2xLP (Temporary Residence)
Eluvium – Copia [2007] 2xLP (Temporary Residence)
Originally released on CD and Digital formats only, Talk Amongst The Trees and Copia were eventually available on vinyl exclusively as part of the Life Through Bombardment Vol. 1 box set. Each is now available separately in full-color widespine jackets with dual heavyweight full-color inner sleeves.


Soft Machine – Live At The Paradiso LP (Real Gone Music)
Soft Machine was one of the first prog-rock bands, but if your vision of prog-rock consists of musicians wreathed in pot smoke airily singing of fairies and wizards, it will be summarily dispelled by this fantastic “authorized bootleg,” which captures the band in March 1969 at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, playing material that was to be released six months later on Soft Machine: Volume Two. Limited “soft purple” color pressing.]


Unwound – Fake Train LP (Numero)
After the Pacific Northwest grunge raids of the early ’90s that saw Nirvana, Mudhoney, and even the Melvins hoisted up the major label flagpole, Unwound’s 1993 debut came as a welcomed reprieve for underground noise-niks everywhere. A pulsing cluster of wiry feedback, lurching bass, and single stroke rolls, Fake Train entangles the energies of frustrated backpack emo, faded Riot Grrrl back issues, and their own dash of teen spirit and unleashes it all in an earsplitting 10-song assault. “Comes on like an homage to Wire’s ‘1 2 X U’ as filtered through Minor Threat and a broken bottle of Robitussin” (Pitchfork). “It’s no contest: Unwound is the best band of the ’90s” (A.V. Club).
 


Matteo Vallicelli – Primo LP+MP3 (Captured Tracks)
Matteo Vallicelli is an Italian drummer and composer, best known as the live drummer of The Soft Moon, Death Index, and as a founding member of many renowned Italian punk bands.


NEXT WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
DAVID BOWIE – Reissues of David Live CD/LP, Diamond Dogs CD/LP, Live Nassau Coliseum 76 CD/LP, Station To Station CD/LP, Young Americans CD/LP
SALLIE FORD – Soul Sick CD
BLACK JOE LEWIS + HONEYBEARS – Backlash CD/LP
THIEVERY CORPORATION – Temple Of I & I CD/LP
JESCA HOOP – Memories Are NowCD
CHUCK PROPHET – Bobby Fuller Died For Your Sins CD/LP
SADIES – Northern Passages CD/LP
SINKANE – Life & Livin It CD/LP
LUPE FIASCO – Drogas Light CD
OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW – Best Of CD/LP
TINARIWEN – El Wan CD/LP
AVENGED SEVENFOLD – Best of 2005 LP
VIC CHESNUTT – Drunk LP
WEEKND – Starboy LP
KIDS – Soundtrack LP
HAMILTON MIXTAPE LP