July 21, 2017 —

New Releases and Staff Picks 7/21/17

STAFF PICKS

Kimber – Manchester Orchestra
Lindsay – Marika Hackman
Dario – Avey Tare
Brittany – Waxahatchee

THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES

Lana Del Rey – Lust For Life CD (Interscope)
This is a CD only release for now. Along with an appearance by The Weeknd on the title track, Del Rey expanded her circle of collaborators on her upbeat new album, Lust for Life, to include Sean Ono Lennon, hip-hop producer Boi-1da (Drake, Rihanna), and pop hitmakers Benny Blanco (Ed Sheeran, Major Lazer) and Max Martin (Katy Perry, Ariana Grande), among others. As a result, Del Rey’s creative partners call Lust For Life her most diverse work to date. “There is a ton of hip-hop that’s infused,” Grant says. “But there are some [songs] that go back to her jazz and folk roots.” Says Nowels, “There’s hip-hop, piano songs, acoustic guitar songs, psychedelia.” Del Rey’s collaborators say she was well aware that listeners could use some positivity in 2017.

Foster The People – Sacred Hearts Club CD (Columbia)
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.” [Vinyl edition due August 11.]

Manchester Orchestra – A Black Mile To The Surface CD/2xLP+MP3 (Loma Vista)
Manchester Orchestra has always prided themselves on their approach. The Atlanta-based band, led by singer/lyricist Andy Hull with Robert McDowell, had spent their career challenging each other to build a poignant, exhilarating narrative with each new album and EP. Since the beginning, each subsequent Manchester Orchestra album has been a grand statement for that specific moment in their career, originated in a desire to push themselves forward creatively. For a band on record number five and seeking innovation, how do you untangle yourself from the past? How do you write songs about being happy? Describing a rock record as “cinematic” usually implies a double-length, sprawling album with a full orchestra on every song; Manchester Orchestra’s A Black Mile To The Surface is cinematic in that it conjures worlds. There’s magical surrealism at work, with songs about a boy with no ears (“The Alien”) and the father/sleeping child callback of “The Sunshine.” There’s a story to parse here – three brothers, an abandoned wife and child, a mysterious journey through the depths of a miles-deep mine, a narrative of twists and turns, recurring characters, alternating timelines – but the songs and melodies stand on their own. [Deluxe colored 180gm vinyl edition, featuring an etching on the D-side, is also available.]
 
Chris Robinson Brotherhood – Barefoot In The Head CD+LP (Silver Arrow)
The self-produced Barefoot In The Head serves as the third collection of new material in only two years’ time for the Chris Robinson Brotherhood. The album opens with the Americana funk of “Behold The Seer,” which sounds like something of a mission statement for the CRB. On the dreamy “She Shares My Blanket,” Robinson crafts cinematic scenes from a winter love affair in the mountains, while elegant pedal steel added by special guest Barry Sless on “Blonde Light Of Day” casts a warm, romantic haze and “Blue Star Woman” sounds like T-Rex dressed in overalls living on a West Coast commune. Throughout Robinson and Co. deftly intertwine country, blues and psychedelia, even channeling freewheeling ‘60s folk on “Hark The Herald Hermit Speaks,” a breakneck stream of consciousness that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality. On the English psych inspired “Glow,” which Robinson calls “one of the most special things I’ve ever done in the studio,” The CRB are joined by the celebrated sarodist Alam Khan (son of the legendary Ali Akbar Khan).

Soundtrack – Sid & Nancy: Love Kills [Reissue/1986] CD/LP (Geffen)
Soundtrack to the 1986 biopic on the lives of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and girlfriend Nancy Spungen featuring songs from Clash founder Joe Strummer, former Pistols’ bandmate Steve Jones, Velvet Underground’s John Cale, plus contributions from The Pogues and Circle Jerks, as well as actor Gary Oldman.

Avey Tare – Eucalyptus CD/2xLP+MP3 (Domino)
Eucalyptus is the new studio album written and produced by Animal Collective’s Avey Tare. Conceived on Hawaiian mornings, written on a sunlit bedroom afternoon in Los Angeles, practiced in the dark early hours of the California twilight, recommended listening for dawn or dusk. Recorded by Animal Collective’s Deakin (Josh Dibb), featuring chamber orchestration arranged by Eyvind Kang, musicians Angel Deradoorian and Jessika Kenney, Eucalyptus is an immersive album length electroacoustic movement through leaves, rocks and dust.
 
Tyler, The Creator – Scum Fuck Flower Boy CD (Sony)
CD only, for now. 14 new tracks – includes guest appearance from Frank Ocean, Rex Orange County, A$AP Rocky, and more.

Violent Femmes – Two Mics & The Truth: Unplugged & Unhinged In America CD (PIAS America)
Violent Femmes’ new live album, 2 Mics & The Truth: Unplugged & Unhinged in America, includes rearranged classics, songs played live for the first time, spontaneous requests and random improvisations. While visiting radio stations to support their latest record I Can Do Anything, Violent Femmes and their talented backing band of multi-instrumentalists recorded this live record using special equipment and recording techniques to capture an ideal sound. “This is the first time we’ve delivered a full scale recording to the public which captures the sound and spirit of the band the way we play together when we’re working out songs in the hotel or dressing room,” says bassist Brian Ritchie. The intriguing vulnerability of a live show captured in a refined recording is unable to be matched by a polished studio session. Ritchie explains further, “This project refocuses attention upon the repertoire as a whole by stripping songs to their essentials, conveying them without artifice and removing them from any timelines. It’s the closest we’ve gotten to the essence of Violent Femmes.” [Vinyl edition due August 4.]
 
Imagine Dragons – Evolve LP (KIDinaKORNER/Interscope)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. The multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning Las Vegas quartet returns with their vibrant third album. Billboard called lead single “Believer” ‘a whimsical-yet-authoritative anthem” while TIME backs up the claim calling it “another showstopper.”
 
Poliça – Bruise Blood: Reimagining Steve Reich’s Music For Pieces Of Wood LP (Totally Gross Nation)
Blazing a trail across the modern musical landscape with three albums of dark, personally political pop, Poliça has distorted the conventions of production and form to create deeply affecting songs that claw into your consciousness. This fourth release, a collaboration with Berlin-based neoclassical powerhouse s-t-a-r-g-a-z-e, dives further into the creative form that Poliça has developed since its inception. Taking minimalist pioneer Steve Reich’s Music For Pieces Of Wood as a basis and corrupting its polyrhythms across a continuous twenty minutes, the recording pushes the boundaries of both artists in a truly engrossing and transportive collaboration. Etched vinyl.

 

 

 

 

 

NEXT WEEK’S NEW RELEASES

ARCADE FIRE – Everything Now (day cover + night version) CD/LP
CAGE THE ELEPHANT – Unpeeled CD/LP
JOYWAVE – Content CD
MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA – Black Mile To The Surface CD/LP
JAMES VINCENT MCMORROW – True Care CD/LP
PET SHOP BOYS – Fundamental:Further Listening 2005-2007 CD/LP
BADBADNOTGOOD – Late Night Tales CD/LP
LAPALUX – Ruinism CD/LP
PETER GABRIEL – Birdy LP
PETER GABRIEL – Long Walk Home LP
PETER GABRIEL – Passion LP
OOIOO – Gold & Green LP
GILLIAN WELCH – Harrow & The Harvest LP
BEYONCE – Lemonade LP
APHEX TWIN – LP Reissues