March 24, 2017 — Stinkweeds
This Week’s New Releases and Staff Picks- 3/24/17
Kimber- Vic Chestnutt, Jesus and Mary Chain
Lindsay- Pontiak
Dario- Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble
Brittany- Wolf Eyes
Arbouretum – Song Of The Rose CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
The Baltimore torch-bearers have long been famed for their ability to entwine elegant songwriting with an erudite poetry, both sonically and lyrically. Weaving contemplations on philosophy, mysticism, redemption, and the implications of human progress, Arbouretum’s songwriting on Song Of The Rose sees the band further refine this artistry. “Dave Heumann continues to steer the band on a course that swerves between the heavy/heady poles of ‘70s-inspired rock, with an eye on anthems and a foot planted on the muddy earth.” – Exclaim
Bardo Pond – Under The Pines CD/LP+MP3 (Fire)
So complex and substance-affected was their evolution, Bardo Pond have been creating their dreamy riffs for 26 years alongside a myriad of side projects. Under The Pines sees them delve into the subconscious with their transcending cosmic post-rock. Over 41 minutes Bardo Pond’s fermentation, their languid throb and textured groove (flute, violin, Isobel Sollenberger’s haunting vocals) sounds like cathartic dream pop wrapped in a delicately constructed barbwire shroud.
Daniel Brandt – Eternal Something CD/LP (Erased Tapes)
Daniel Brandt, co-founder of Germany’s electroacoustic ensemble Brandt Brauer Frick, joins the Erased Tapes family with his solo debut album. What started off as a more simplistic idea soon evolved into something a lot more complex as the London and Berlin based music producer traveled across the world, experimenting with various other artists and different instruments. From his father’s cabin based in the German countryside with access to nothing but cymbals, to being surrounded by guitars in Joshua Tree, his unexpected journey soon progressed into what became his first solo album. Daniel played nearly all instruments himself with the only exception being fellow musicians Florian Juncker on trombone, Manu Delago on hang drum, and Andreas Voss on cello.
Dickey/Maneri/Shipp – Vessel In Orbit CD (Aum Fidelity)
Vessel In Orbit presents the first new group music in over a decade from singular drummer-composer Whit Dickey. It is a richly melodic and deeply focused album; structural integrity and emotional resonance are paramount throughout. Created together with the impeccable improvisers Mat Maneri on viola and pianist Matthew Shipp, each of these men has a lifetime commitment to creative music, and they share a musical relationship with one another that dates back decades. Dickey’s wonderfully inviting compositional structures provide fruitful platforms for his esteemed colleagues and, par for his work as a leader, he cedes the spotlight to the collective as a whole. Wide-open listening and fluid expression abound here.
Craig Finn – We All Want The Same Things CD/LP+MP3 (Partisan)
Shortly after the release of Faith In The Future in September 2015, Craig Finn got together with producer Josh Kaufman to talk about making another record. He had been writing a ton, and wanted to follow up quickly on the last album. He had been thinking about love and partnership in modern times, and had written a lot of songs about couples. Love seems like the biggest mystery in our modern days — no amount of science or advances in technology can help us fully understand the notion of love and the role it plays in our lives. But Finn also thought about the search for love as an antidote for loneliness, and how so often modern partnership can be an alignment of self-interests. We make teams with each other to combat the world around us. There is a beauty in that for sure, but it also can fray around the edges. We lean against each other to keep ourselves upright, make uneasy truces, and push forward into uneasy times. The songs Finn had written dwelled on this. Finn and Kaufman started working in short sessions starting November 2015 and kept it going over the next year. As on Faith In The Future, percussionist Joe Russo and engineer Dan Goodwin were prominent parts of the sessions. They had developed a vocabulary and a style of working that felt comfortable — maybe like a band making their second or third record. That said, they also wanted create something different and new, so they invited a lot of other people to collaborate.
Johnny Flynn – Sillion CD/LP (Transgressive)
The fourth album from the indie singer/songwriter Johnny Flynn — expect lyrics of storytelling with a folk-influenced sound, for fans of Mumford & Sons, Bear’s Den, Matthew And The Atlas and Eliza & The Bear.
Diamanda Galás – All The Way CD/LP (Intravenal Sound Operations)
“‘All The Way’ is nominally a love song, but in contrast to say, Frank Sinatra’s Karo-sweet 1957 definitive rendition of the song, Diamanda Galás’ version is bitter and broken down. The song serves as the title track for a new record of frigid and gothic jazz and blues standards, Galás’ first in nearly a decade.” – Pitchfork
The Jesus And Mary Chain – Damage And Joy CD/LP/Cassette (Artificial Plastic)
“Last month, Creation Records founder Alan McGee claimed that The Jesus And Mary Chain, the great ’80s and ’90s noise-pop alchemists, had recorded a new album and that it would be coming out in March. This was incredible news; in all their years as functioning recording artists, The Jesus And Mary Chain never recorded a single bad song. But it was also hearsay. So it’s even more awesome to confirm that, yes, there is a new Jesus And Mary Chain album. This will be the band’s first since 1998’s Munki, and as Pitchfork reports, the brothers Jim and William Reid recorded it with producer Youth, a member of Killing Joke, who also played bass. Their touring drummer Brian Young also joined them, as did bassist Phil King, fresh off of the aborted Lush reunion. In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Reid said he and his brother, guitarist William Reid, had loads of songs,’ but, ‘We disagree about a lot of things to do with it, like how to record it, where to record it. Now we’re starting to come around to agreeing with each other, which is kind of strange territory for me and William.” — Stereogum
Bridget Kearney – Won’t Let You Down CD/LP (Signature Sounds Recordings)
In the 12 years she has toured the world as a member of the soul-pop sensation Lake Street Dive, Bridget Kearney has fine-tuned many things — voracious collaborating, acclaimed bass playing, and harmonizing, to name a few. But the skill she has honed most obsessively is songwriting. While still a student at The New England Conservatory of Music, Kearney won the grand prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, a harbinger of things to come. Now, Kearney steps into the spotlight with her first solo effort, a wry, big-hearted pop album entitled Won’t Let You Down. Shades of The Beatles, Wilco, Fleetwood Mac, and even Nick Cave can be detected, as the album swerves from ’60s pop to modern indie-rock.
Pontiak – Dialectic Of Ignorance CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Dialectic Of Ignorance’s expansive structures echo the rugged, hazy climbs of the Blue Ridge Mountain setting of Pontiak’s lives, but don’t be fooled; this is no mere collection of pastoral instrumental landscapes. Having opened their own brewery in August 2015, the Carney brothers have had the opportunity to reassess their creative process through brewing. The lessons learned from this experimentation have had a formative effect on the both the process underlying and subsequent sound of this album. Potent from the first note, “Tomorrow Is Forgetting” fuses Van Carney’s tenacious, stony guitar riffing with his brothers’ blistering vocal harmonies, in a five-minute minimalist stoner opus that relentlessly cranks up the intensity.
Laetitia Sadier Source – Find Me Finding You CD/LP (Drag City)
Laetitia has relentlessly followed her music through different dynamics and into a variety of dimensions over the course of four solo albums since 2010 (not to forget her three albums with Monade and the long era of Stereolab)—but the nature of the construction here stands distinctly apart from her recent albums. Sadier was inspired by a mind’s-eye envisaging of geometric forms and their possible permutations. As she sought to replicate the shapes in music, this guided the process of assembly for the album. Features longtime collaborators Emmanuel Mario and Xavi Munoz, keyboard and flutes from David Thayer (Little Tornados), synths and electronics from Phil M Fu, and guitar from Mason Le Long, with guest appearances from Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor and cornet work from Rob Mazurek.
Spiral Stairs – Doris & The Daggers CD/LP (Nine Mile)
It’s been eight years since Scott Kannberg aka Spiral Stairs (founding member of Pavement and Preston School of Industry), released any new music. Yet second album Doris & The Daggers is well worth the wait, showcasing the most personal and emotional music Kannberg has ever written and reflecting the life changes that occurred over those years. The album was recorded over a series of short sessions at Exactamundo studios in Eagle Rock, CA. Long-time low-end foil Matt Harris returned on bass duties, while the drum-stool was adopted by Broken Social Scene’s Justin Peroff. The trio cut 30 songs in all, while a number of Scott’s close musical friends stepped in to make some key contributions. Along with the lyrical wit and Scott’s unerring knack for tuneage as embraceably familiar as a beloved sweater; these songs are full of life, stories engagingly told, and a sense of affection for everything that happens within them.
Various Artists – Hustle! Reggae Disco [Reissue/2002] CD/3×12” (Soul Jazz)
This compilation features non-stop killer reggae versions of original funk and soul classics in a disco style. Reggae disco updates of seminal classics by Anita Ward (“Ring My Bell”), Chaka Khan (“I’m Every Woman”), Michael Jackson “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” Sugarhill Gang (“Rappers Delight,” here performed by Derrick Laro and Trinity for producer Joe Gibbs) and more, all showing the hidden but inseparable link between the dance floors of New York, Kingston, and London. Expanded reissue featuring five extra tracks.
Wolf Eyes – Undertow CD/LP+MP3 (Lower Floor Music)
Times of chaos ring the bells for the newest sea-bottom R&B sound lurch from radical sonic artists Wolf Eyes. New release Undertow finds the trio diving into new depths of the electronic and free jazz infected world.
John Zorn – There Is No More Firmament CD (Tzadik)
There Is No More Firmament is a remarkable collection of recent compositions from 2013–2016 that showcase the range, variety and continued creativity of Zorn as he enters his sixties. Connected together with a thread of intensity, magic and madness, the music tells a twisted and complex story of a magical descent into madness. The compositions include two works for brass ensembles, a woodwind quintet, jazz piano trio, string trio and two solo pieces for clarinet and trumpet, with the outrageous trumpet solo Merlin appearing in two realizations—one by jazz master Peter Evans and another by the European classical virtuoso Marco Blaauw.
Vic Chesnutt – Is The Actor Happy? [Reissue/1995] 2xLP+MP3 (New West)
Faithfully remastered and complete with six bonus tracks, Vic Chesnutt’s fourth studio album is back in print on vinyl. “For all the literary depth, melodic strength, and honest performances included here, it’s essential to know that Chesnutt’s songs are equal parts silly and serious, heartbreaking and hilarious. That’s the gravity of the situation, and that’s why you should listen” (Pop Matters). “Not just arguably his finest release, but also his most extroverted” (Pitchfork).
Ben Folds – The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner [Reissue/1999] LP (Analog Spark)
Ben Folds – Songs For Silverman [Reissue/2005] LP (Analog Spark)
The audio for these vinyl reissues has been sourced from the original mix reels and mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. Records were plated and pressed at RTI on 180gm vinyl and housed in a Stoughton jacket with a four page booklet.
coming next week….!
MASTODON – Emperor Of Sand CD/LP
RICHARD BUCKNER – Impasse CD/LP reissue
RODNEY CROWELL – Close Ties CD/LP
DAVE DAVIES / RUSS DAVIES – Open Road CD
GOLDFRAPP – Silver CD/LP
HAUSCHKA – What If CD/LP
ISIS – Live III CD/LP
AIMEE MANN – Mental Illness CD/LP
MAVERICKS – Brand New CD/LP
PHARMAKON – Contact CD/LP
SNEAKS – It’s A Myth CD/LP
JAKE XERXES FUSSELL – What In The Natural World CD/LP
ORCHESTRA BAOBAB -Tribute To Ndiouga Dieng CD/LP
NICK CAVE – One More Time With Feeling DVD
JULIA HOLTER – In The Same LP