Kimber – Ride
Lindsay – Kevin Morby and Sonhoy Blues
Dario – Fleet Foxes and Larkin Grimm
Brittany- Kevin Morby, Ride, Big Star

THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – Louie Louie Louie CD/LP (Savoy)
The incomparable kings of swing return with an electrifying celebration of jazz legends Louie Armstrong, Louie Jordan and Louie Prima.

Big Star – The Best Of Big Star CD/2xLP (Stax)
If the short-lived but fondly remembered Big Star could have experienced popular success in direct proportion to its posthumous influence, the rangy Memphis rock quartet would have lived up to its ambitious name, and then some. With the possible exception of the Velvet Underground, no other underground pop band has left such a lasting and indelible legacy. Taking the gritty soul of Memphis rhythm and blues and fusing it with the artful melodies and vocal harmonies of British power pop, and injecting it all with a flailing, pre-punk, garage-band energy, Big Star created a unique sound with a potentially universal appeal. This new Best Of compilation celebrates the founding fathers of power pop with 16 tracks spanning all three of their LPs (1972’s #1 Record, 1974’s Radio City and Third, released after the group disbanded). Includes rare single versions of some of their most popular songs, plus new liner notes.

David Bowie – Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles ’74) 2xCD (Rhino)
A previously unreleased live recording from Los Angeles on September 5, 1974. This was a pivotal gig in the transition between the Diamond Dogs tour and the Philly Dogs tour. [Limited vinyl edition was released on RSD 2017.]

Can – The Singles CD/3xLP (Mute)
The Singles collects all the A and B-side versions that the krautrock pioneers released over the course of their career (1969-1986). This unique document is the first time the singles have been presented together, from well-loved tracks like “Halleluwah,” “Vitamin C” and “I Want More” to more obscure and sought-after singles such as “Silent Night” and “Turtles Have Short Legs.” The tracks are all presented in their original single versions, many of which have been unavailable for many years and not presented outside of the original 7″ releases.

Chain & The Gang – Best Of Crime Rock CD/LP (In The Red)
Chain & the Gang are singular, terrifying, and unparalleled. Not only the most ferocious live combo ever witnessed but also the world’s only anti-liberty rock ‘n’ roll group.

Com Truise – Iteration CD/2xLP+MP3/Cassette (Ghostly Int’l)
Six years after Galactic Melt introduced the cosmic story of Com Truise, Iteration now concludes his sprawling saga. True to its name, the album is built on Com Truise hallmarks: neon-streaked melodies, big drums, robotic grooves, bleary nostalgia. But Iteration is also the most elegant and streamlined that Seth Haley’s singular music has ever sounded. At the album’s heart is an elaborate narrative, one full of longing, hope, anxiety, and triumph. Iteration illustrates the last moments Com Truise spends on the perilous planet Wave 1, before he and his alien love escape its clutches to live in peace. Some of Haley’s smartest, catchiest work is here, from the weightless pop of “Isostasy” to “Ternary’s” lush synth-funk. “Vacuume” somehow balances massive bass drops and smashing drums with angelic gasps, and “Usurper” gracefully pairs subtle poignancy and uplifting dance beats. The closing title track “Iteration” ends it all in a gush of majestic revelry. [Limited blue and white color vinyl pressing also available.]

Dead Heavens – Whatever Witch You Are CD/LP (Dine Alone)
The early sparks of the Dead Heavens’ sound began on a solo from frontman/guitarist Walter Schreifels (Vanishing Life, Gorilla Biscuits, Rival Schools, Quicks) with Drew Thomas (Youth of Today, Bold, Into Another) and Nathan Aguilar (Cults) as the backing band. They were obsessing over Cream’s first album Fresh Cream and MBV, My Bloody Valentine’s both miasmic yet blissful follow up to Loveless. Aguilar also introduced them to the psych beauty of White Fence on that tour, which resonated with Schreifels, who was in the mood for heavier music, guitar solos, and a big rock feeling after a recent Quicksand tour. Upon returning to NYC, Aguilar reacquainted Thomas and Schreifels with musician, painter, engineer and dude who came up with the title Use Your Illusion, Paul Kostabi, who had previously played in White Zombie and Psychotica. Eventually Kostabi joined Dead Heavens, which had morphed mid-recording from a project into an actual band, changing the sound dramatically. Heavier and dual guitar leads, more sonic possibilities. Whether they’re connecting the sounds of the psychedelic ‘70s or channeling the now, Dead Heavens have sound tracked their explorations their full-length debut, Whatever Witch You Are.

Beth Ditto – Fake Sugar CD (Virgin)
Beth Ditto, who rose to fame as the dynamic frontwoman of punk ‘n’ soul band Gossip, releases her debut solo album. In an interview with BBC 1 Radio, Ditto said she spent two years writing nearly 80 songs for her solo album, including some tracks written with producer Jacknife Lee. However, her main collaborator on Fake Sugar was songwriter and producer Jennifer Decilveo. “She was the rollerblades to my roller skates. We’d argue all day long and I loved it,” Ditto said of the collaboration. In addition to album opener “Fire,” the 12-song LP also features “Go Baby Go” that serves as a tribute to late Suicide singer Alan Vega. The singer’s 2014 marriage to her longtime girlfriend also informed Fake Sugar’s lyrics. “This is adulthood, baby,” Ditto added. “You fought for marriage equality, now you gotta live in it.”

The Drums – Abysmal Thoughts CD/2xLP+MP3 (ANTI-)
With The Drums’ new Abysmal Thoughts, band founder Jonny Pierce is making the exact album he has always held in his heart. Of course, this is The Drums, so that heart is broken – but there’s beauty and even bliss in this kind of heartbreak, as well as that special kind of glorious delirium that comes from taking everything life can throw at you and still walking away triumphant. If Abysmal Thoughts doesn’t sound at all abysmal – really, Pierce has rarely been this irresistibly pop – that’s because this is a story about how to figure out what happiness means once the worst has already happened: “If there’s one thing I can rely on it’s the healing power of being an artist,” he says. “I’m falling back in love with music.”

The Dustbowl Revival – The Dustbowl Revival CD/LP (Signature Sounds)
The Dustbowl Revival’s always-joyous sound now reveals a more soulful, funky side that exudes deeper emotions and taps a more modern vibe. The Dustbowl Revival reveals the band moving in an exciting new direction. Instead of Dixieland jazz and Depression-era folk songs serving as musical mile markers, it mines an energizing vein of soul, funk and roots-infused rock that evokes the work of Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin and classic Stax recordings, and fits the band alongside such contemporaries as Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats and St. Paul & the Broken Bones.

Steve Earle & The Dukes – So You Wanna Be An Outlaw CD/2xLP (WB)
If you ever had any doubt about where Steve Earle’s musical roots are planted, his new collection, So You Wannabe An Outlaw, makes it perfectly plain. “There’s nothing ‘retro’ about this record,” he states. “I’m just acknowledging where I’m coming from. I’m always gonna be a Texan, no matter what I do. And I’m always going to be somebody who learned their craft in Nashville. It’s who I am.” So You Wannabe An Outlaw is an homage to outlaw music. “I was out to unapologetically ‘channel’ Waylon as best as I could.” says Earle. “…Waylon Jennings’ Honky Tonk Heroes was the template for the new album. And I’ve always considered that record to be really important. I consider his Honky Tonk Heroes the Exile On Main Street of country music.” The new songs include the gentle, acoustic folk ballads “News From Colorado” and “The Girl On The Mountain.” “Fixin’ To Die,” on the other hand, is a dark shout from the hell of Death Row. “The Firebreak Line” returns Earle to his pile-driving, country-rock roots. “You Broke My Heart” is a sweet, simple salute to the 1950s sounds of Webb Pierce or Carl Smith. “Walkin’ In L.A.” is a twanging country shuffle. The guitar-heavy “Sunset Highway” is an instant-classic escape song. And the deeply touching “Goodbye Michelangelo” is Earle’s farewell to his mentor, Guy Clark, who passed away last year. [Available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe adds four cover tracks.]

E.S.G. – Step Off [Reissue/2002] CD/LP+MP3 (Fire America)
Pumping their way out of the South Bronx of New York in the early ‘80s, this rhythm and dance-punk outfit made unforgettable funk that was also unusually rooted in post-punk. This is band-approved reissue of Step Off includes artwork from award nominated illustrator Hannah Alice, who recently gained critical praise for her work on the Bert Jansch reissue of Avocet. [Limited pink vinyl color vinyl LP pressing also available.]

Fleet Foxes – Crack-Up CD/2xLP (Nonesuch)
Crack-Up is the long-awaited and highly anticipated third album from Northwest indie-folk act Fleet Foxes. The Nonesuch Records release comes six years after the 2011 release of Helplessness Blues and nearly a decade since the band’s breakout 2008 self-titled debut. All 11 songs on Crack-Up were written by Robin Pecknold who also co-produced the album with longtime bandmate and close collaborator Skyler Skjelset. The album comes preceded by “Third of May / Ōdaigahara,” a nearly nine-minute epic powered by piano and electric twelve-string guitar, string quartet, and the group’s trademark sparkling harmonies. “When Fleet Foxes released the nine-minute album centerpiece ‘Third Of May / Ōdaigahara,’ they were sending a message, letting us know that this would be an album of multi-part suites and proggy digressions and quiet ruptures. On that score, they have been true to their word. Crack-Up is an album full of pretty, soothing music that nonetheless delights in taking odd turns, in branching off in unexpected directions.” – Stereogum

The Garden – The Life And Times Of A Paperclip CD/LP/Cassette (Burger)
Recently released on vinyl and cassette – now available on CD. The Garden is a constantly evolving, conceptual punk band based in Orange County, California. Established in in 2011 by twin brothers Wyatt and Fletcher Shears, the band consistently defies categorization and continues to break ground in their self-inflicted Vada Vada genre. They are the auditory invaders of the new world; borderless, informed and decentralized, slick sound released from constraint and old ideologies.

Goldie – The Journey Man 2xCD (Cooking Vinyl)
Goldie delivers a double-album of high quality drum ‘n’ bass that ticks numerous boxes – dancefloor darkness, jungle revivalism, liquid funk warmth – with a string of suitably impressive collaborators (Ulterior Motive, Swindle, José James, Natalie Williams, Terri Walker) swinging by to ensure the set oozes soul.

House And Land – House And Land CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
House And Land is the duo of Sally Anne Morgan (fiddle, shruti box, banjo, vocals) and Sarah Louise Henson (vocals, 12-string guitar, shruti box, bouzouki). On their self-titled debut, the duo showcases a variety of Appalachian music styles, incorporating elements of drone, microtonality and minimalism, each often drawing connections to nature, and linked to music across a spectrum that evokes trance and other spiritual states, which can also be seen in artists like Agnes Martin and composers such as Éliane Radigue and John Luther Adams.

Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit – The Nashville Sound CD/LP (Southeastern Records)
“The title of Jason Isbell’s sixth album, The Nashville Sound, could be construed as either wildly presumptive or absurdly aspirational. In truth, it’s a little bit of both. The idea of a homespun artist like Isbell eclipsing any number of corporate country megastars as the public face of “the Nashville sound” is far-fetched, but it’s no longer entirely laughable. The bro-country backlash has made Isbell’s cerebral, folky brand of songwriting somewhat en vogue to the point that even the most mainstream country artists have started chasing at least the perception of the rootsy authenticity he exudes. Even if Isbell only plays a miniscule role in defining what comes out of Nashville these days, he’s exercising that influence the best he can on The Nashville Sound. The album is more eclectic and energetic than his other recent efforts, which have seen Isbell’s voice and vitality as a songwriter crystallize just as his sound has become slicker and more uniform. It may not entirely be the full-throated ‘return to rock’ we were promised, but it’s convincing evidence that the Nashville sound can and should encompass more than country—alternative or otherwise—and mean more than just somber acoustic dirges about sobriety and marriage.” – Slant [Limited vinyl pressing including a 11”x11”, 22-page songbook also available.]

Lorde – Melodrama CD (LAVA/Republic)
“Playing to tens of thousands of people at the main stage of Coachella is a disquieting proposition for a self-described introvert. But Lorde is making some of the most exciting music in pop by living in contradictions like this. Her second album, Melodrama, packs an emotional wallop, especially considering how coolly analytical her debut was. ‘For a lot of people, their teenage years would be where they were most emotionally accessible, and for me it was the opposite,’ she says. ‘I realized I was feeling all the feelings, and they feel so singular and so young. When I was 16, it felt important to be unfazed by things. Now I’m deeply fazed.’ This record is not only a test of her unique position in the pop firmament but also an attempt to capture the feeling of being young in 2017: tense, urgent, uncertain about the future. To be a success, it needs to speak to this moment. As she puts it, ‘Nobody wants an apathetic pop record right now.’” – Time

Jason Loewenstein – Spooky Action CD/LP (Joyful Noise)
13 new songs of unwavering rock from the influential Sebadoh member.

Moby & The Pacific Void Choir – More Fast Songs About The Apocalypse CD/LP (Mute)
As with much of Moby’s output during his nearly three-decade-long career, it’s not surprising that a spiritual & political questioning underpins the nine songs comprising latest full length album. In characteristically iconoclastic fashion, the weighty themes explored throughout More Fast Songs About The Apocalypse find expression as some of the most direct and personal music Moby has ever created. “That quality of atmospheric sadness I’ve done so much of before isn’t here – there’s nothing quiet or ambient,” he notes. “Sonically, this record isn’t subtle: it’s big & loud, with huge kick drums & massive choral choruses.” [Limited orange color vinyl pressing also available.]

Kevin Morby – City Music CD/LP (Dead Oceans)
City Music is an airplane descending over frozen lakes into Chicago. City Music is riding the Q Train out to Coney Island to smell the ocean and a morning in Philadelphia where great cranes reconfigure the buildings like an endless puzzle. City Music is also the new album by Kevin Morby. Full of listless wanderlust, it’s a collection inspired by and devoted to the metropolitan experience across America and beyond by a songwriter cast from his own mold. It is a collection crafted using the other side of its creator’s brain, the jumping off point perhaps best once again encapsulated by an image. “Here, Lou Reed and Patti Smith stare out at the listener,” explains Morby. City Music sees Morby joined once again by cohorts Megan Duffy (guitar) and Justin Sullivan (drums). Here the vocals were recorded at night, in darkness, overlooking a Pacific Ocean illuminated only by the stars, the wash and whisper of the ebbing tidal a distant soundtrack. The record was completed with Richard Swift in Oregon (producer of Foxygen, sometime member of The Black Keys). Here the album gives voice to all those cities speaking the same universal language of chaos and commerce and culture.

Alison Moyet – Other CD/LP (Cooking Vinyl)
Pop legend Alison Moyet return with her second studio album on Cooking Vinyl, which is also her second collaboration with producer Guy Sigsworth. Other finds Alison at the top of her game – this is intelligent, adventurous electronic pop that’s defined by Sigsworth’s signature soundscapes.

Michael Nau – Some Twist CD/LP+MP3 (Suicide Squeeze)
“For the second album released under his own name, Michael Nau distils some of the best elements of his works with Page France and Cotton Jones into a warmly organic mixture of low-key, sleepily pastoral chamber pop.” – PopMatters [Limited pink color vinyl pressing also available.]

Palm – Shadow Expert CDEP/12”+MP3/Cassette (Carpark)
“One of the music industry’s weird quirks is that sometimes records get trapped in limbo. Case in point: Palm’s new Shadow Expert EP was recorded just a month after they released their debut album, Trading Basics, but it’s just getting released now. Shadow Expert already sees them becoming a more complicated and confident band compared to their debut — which led us to name them a Band To Watch — but it’s fun to imagine where they could possibly go from here. And if you’ve seen them live at any point over the last two years, it’s clear they’ve somehow become even better than what’s demonstrated on the six songs here. And these six songs are good, including early singles ‘Walkie Talkie’ and the title track, but this feels like just a stepping stone on the way to something even greater, and that’s an exciting prospect.” – Stereogum [Limited royal blue color vinyl pressing also available.]

Peacers – Introducing The Crimsmen CD/LP/Cassette (Drag City)
Escalating from a disembodied voice to slowly mounting full-band hypnosis, this is a trip into the goldenrod days of fandom, a dimension where a t-shirt could change your life. Since their first LP in the summer 2015, The Peacers have been gigging in SF and around, wood-shedding and collecting tunes for this divinely awaited moment: Introducing The Crimsmen. The tunes rock forth from a jukebox with a crack in the glass, with channels leaking/kaleidoscopic aspects of low-fi life directed back through the wires to form discrete detail, little shadows, backdrops, edgework.

Portugal. The Man – Woodstock CD (Atlantic)
“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 [Vinyl edition due in August.]

Ride – Weather Diaries CD/2xLP (Wichita Recordings)
Ride’s first album in over 20 years was produced by legendary DJ, producer and remixer Erol Alkan, and is packed with all the classic elements that made Ride one of the defining bands of the early-‘90s. Trembling distortion, beautiful harmonies, pounding rhythms, shimmering soundscapes and great songwriting all combine to make an album that’s ambitious in scope, timeless and thoroughly addictive. Weather Diaries sees the band reunited with label co-founders Mark Bowen and Dick Green, who worked with Ride during the band’s early years on Creation Records. It also brings the band back together with mixer Alan Moulder (Arctic Monkeys, Smashing Pumpkins, The Killers) who mixed their seminal 1990 album Nowhere and produced its follow up Going Blank Again.

Roya – Roya CD/LP+MP3/Cassette (Burger)
Recently released on cassette – now available on vinyl and CD. Roya, the poetic Persian name of a little girl means an ominous dream, a mind trip, a fantasy. Such was the vision lead singer Rahill Jamalifard first had when hatching the idea for the band. A moody and seductive tone set against a primitive and surreal soundscape, lending its voice to somber echoes and jangles of post punk and psychedelia.

Royal Blood – How Did We Get So Dark? CD/LP (WB)
After becoming the biggest breaking British rock band with their self-titled 2014 debut album, Royal Blood returns with their eagerly anticipated second album, How Did We Get So Dark? The album’s first single “Lights Out” ups the ante on their first outing with a wrecking ball of a groove cemented by Thatcher’s thunderous rhythms, while Kerr wrangles the twisted invention of his bass riffs to a whole new level. Their patented two-man artillery of carefully constructed melodic aggression is prevalent throughout, especially in “I Only Lie When I Love You,” which is a compelling cowbell-assisted reminder of the power of a stop-start riff and a strident chorus. There are times when Royal Blood are more visceral than ever – notably the gargantuan introduction to “Hook, Line And Sinker” and also the intense denouement that brings “Look Like You Know” to a close.

Royal Trux – Platinum Tips & Ice Cream CD/LP/Cassette (Drag City)
“The duo’s first album in 17 years is a surprisingly practical gesture, a career-spanning live album that connects the accessible and impenetrable extremes of the Trux discography.” – Pitchfork

Songhoy Blues – Résistance CD/LP (Fat Possum)
Songhoy Blues’ second full-length outing Résistance is bold, inspiring and outward-looking, perfectly reflecting the position in which the band found themselves following the massive success of their breakthrough 2015 debut, Music In Exile. Lyrically and sonically, the album is a huge leap forward: richer, more eclectic and musically adventurous, it captures a band who, for the last three years, have toured the world and soaked up music far beyond the borders of their native Mali. With more time and a wider armory of equipment at their disposal, the album is the sound of Songhoy Blues stretching themselves, with hints of R&B, soul and hip-hop all fusing seamlessly with the band’s trademark exuberant sound, with themes for our time. Whereas their debut was lyrically rather parochial, dealing with the problems faced by the people of Mali, Résistance is more universal in tone and speaks positively about their homeland, lovingly talking about the beauty of the Sahara and night-life in Bamako.

Matthew Sweet – Tomorrow Forever CD (S. Matthew Sweet)
Purely in terms of its guitar payload, Tomorrow Forever is a breathtaking Fourth of July fireworks show, with axes trading volleys from the left and right channels in old-school-stereo fashion, as Sweet breaks out a lineup of killer players, each sporting a distinct style, like a modern-day Moby Grape or Buffalo Springfield. [Vinyl edition due June 30.]

Tindersticks – Minute Bodies: The Intimate World Of F. Percy Smith CD+DVD/LP+DVD (City Slang)
Minute Bodies is an interpretative edit of Stuart Staples film tribute to the astonishing work and achievements of the early twentieth century naturalist, inventor, and pioneering filmmaker that combines Smith’s original footage with a new contemporary score by Tindersticks, with Thomas Belhom and Christine Ott, to create a hypnotic, alien yet familiar dreamscape that connects us to the sense of wonder Smith must have felt as he peered through his own lenses to see these micro-worlds for the first time.

Various Artists – Boombox 2: Early Independent Hip Hop, Electro And Disco Rap 1979-83 2xCD/3xLP+MP3 (Soul Jazz)
A new selection of early rap music from the period 1979-83, with barely a household name in sight. Featured here are some the earliest hip-hop records that came out of New York City following the enormous commercial success of the first ever rap record, Rapper’s Delight by the Sugarhill Gang, in September 1979.

Dustin Wong & Takako Minekawa – Are Euphoria CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
The sounds of duo Dustin Wong & Takako Minekawa are a coalescence of the complexities of life, with the sheer joy of imaginative creation. Their new album Are Euphoria, continues to dive deeper into the dreamlike technicolor tapestries their songs have always explored, blossoming forward with each cycle of loops. Completely characteristic of their style, Wong and Minekawa achieve a density of textures, timbres, beats, and harmonies while remaining totally weightless, suspended in the air.

David Bowie – Be My Wife [Reissue/1977] 7” (Parlophone)
Originally released in the UK in June 1977 “Be My Wife” was the second and last single to be taken from his groundbreaking album Low. The The AA of this 7” picture disc is a previously unreleased live version of the instrumental Low track “Art Decade” recorded in Perth, Australia in 1978 during the Isolar II tour.

Eyedress – Manila Ice LP (Lex)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Eyedress is Idris Vicuña, a 26-year-old singer/rapper/producer from the Philippines. His music is somewhere between Connan Moccasin, Mac Demarco and Frank Ocean.

The Flaming Lips – The Flaming Lips Onboard The International Space Station: Concert For Peace CD (WB)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Seven live-ish tracks from Oczy Mlody reimagined as a fictional/fantastical live Flaming Lips performance on the International Space Station.

Larkin Grimm – Chasing An Illusion LP (Northern Spy)
New album from the experimental folk singer. Grimm explained the album was inspired by Ornette Coleman and the powerful experience attending his funeral last year. The album includes David Bowie-producer Tony Visconti on bass and was mixed with “the same dusty, unlabeled mixing board” as Bowie’s Young Americans.

Oval – 94discont. [Reissue/1998] LP+12”+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Oval – Dok [Reissue/1998] LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Oval – O [Reissue/2010] 2xLP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Oval’s Markus Popp is a true pioneer in the realm of electronic music, one whose influence can still be heard today. Three of his Thrill Jockey albums are back in print on 180gm vinyl. Dok and O are pressed on color vinyl (clear and white, respectively).

Sun Kil Moon – Common As Light & Love Are Red Valleys Of Blood 2xLP (Caldo Verde)
Mark Kozelek’s new double-album was recorded with former Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley in San Francisco, CA and Hoboken, NJ and for the most part captures events from January to
August of 2016 and how the mercurial singer/songwriter processed it all while traveling. A disenfranchised Kozelek laments the Nice, France terror attack and Orlando nightclub shooting on “Bastille Day” and “Bergen To Trondheim” respectively and condemns Trump’s election and tech culture on “Lone Star.”

Royal Trux – Platinum Tips & Ice Cream (Drag City)
“The duo’s first album in 17 years is a surprisingly practical gesture, a career-spanning live album that connects the accessible and impenetrable extremes of the Trux discography.” — Pitchfork