![](https://h7sc78.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/NEWRELEASES-3819-999x600.jpg)
This Week’s New Releases & Staff Picks – 3/8/2019
STAFF PICKS
Kimber – Luluc, Meat Puppets
Lindsay – Nick Waterhouse, Luluc
Dario – Caetano Veloso, Neil Young reissue
Paula – Helado Negro, Caetano Veloso
JUST ANNOUNCED PRE-ORDERS
Tacocat – This Mess Is A Place (pre-order)
Iron & Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days (pre-order)
The Mountain Goats – In League With Dragons (pre-order)
Jenny Lewis – On The Line (pre-order)
Ty Segall – Deforming Lobes (pre-order)
THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
Flight Of The Conchords – Live In London CD/3xLP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
In October of 2018, ten years after the launch of their hit HBO series, Flight Of The Conchords, New Zealand musical comedians Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement returned to HBO for an all-new comedy special. Live In London was taped before a live audience at the Eventim Apollo – located in the Hammersmith, London – and featured the Conchords performing songs from the sold-out UK and Ireland edition of Flight Of The Conchords Sing Flight Of The Conchords Tour. The Live In London album features seven new songs including “Iain and Deanna”, “Father And Son”, “Summer Of 1353”, “Stana”, “Seagull”, “Back On The Road”, and “Bus Driver”. The album also features performances of fan favorites “Inner City Pressure”, “Bowie”, “Foux du Fafa”, “Mutha’uckas – Hurt Feelings”, “Robots”, “Carol Brown” and “The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)” (the latter two bonus tracks edited out of the broadcast due to time constraints).
Foals – Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost: Part 1 CD/LP (WB)
Foals return with two new albums in 2019: Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1 and Part 2, a pair of releases, separate but related. Part 1 is now available, with Part 2 following in the Autumn. Eager to break the traditional pop song structure which they felt they were becoming increasingly tapered to, the 20 tracks defy expectation. There are exploratory, progressive-tinged songs which occasionally break the 10-minute mark alongside atmospheric segues which make the music an experience rather than a mere collection of songs. Yet the band’s renowned ability to wield relentless grooves with striking power also reaches new heights. Part 1’s lead single “Exits” is a case in point, featuring frontman Yannis Philippakis conjuring the image of a disorienting world via a contagious vocal melody. It’s a fresh anthem for Foals’ formidable arsenal, but also an ominous forecast. “Exits” signposts what to expect thematically from Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost. The title is a warning that anything – from the tiniest fleeting moment of inspiration through to the planet’s own biological diversity – can be under threat of being irrevocably erased.
Patty Griffin – Patty Griffin CD/2xLP (PGM/Thirty Tigers)
Patty Griffin’s self-titled collection represents an extraordinary new chapter for the incomparable singer-songwriter and immediately stands among the most deeply personal recordings of her remarkable two-decade career. The album – which follows 2015’s Grammy Award-nominated Servant Of Love – collects songs written during and in the aftermath of profound personal crisis, several years in which she battled – and ultimately defeated – cancer just as a similar and equally insidious disease metastasized into the American body politic. Yet as always, like very few others, Griffin’s power lies in how, as Holly Gleason in the Martha’s Vineyard Gazette observed, “her songs seem to freeze life and truth in amber.” It’s in how Griffin can express the strikingly intimate while never making it about herself, all wrapped in sparse arrangements that breathe an incomparable force and import into her songcraft.
Meat Puppets – Dusty Notes CD/LP (Megaforce)
Dusty Notes is the first Meat Puppets studio album to feature the original trio (Curt and Cris Kirkwood and returning drummer Derrick Bostrom) since 1995’s No Joke! Since the band debuted in the early ‘80s, Curt has continually proven himself to be among the most brilliant songwriters of his generation. Time after time, album after album, he’s demonstrated an extraordinary ability to draw upon various roots and rock styles en route to a unique new vision of what the Meat Puppets can be. His latest contributions, especially songs such as “Warranty”, “On”, “Nine Pins”, and “Outflow” could be forgotten gems from Nashville, Bakersfield and Laurel Canyon. Dusty Notes also features keyboardist Ron Stabinsky, a jazz-trained virtuoso adept at any style, and Curt’s son Elmo, whose old-school rock-guitar grit ideally complements his father’s spacier explorations. Intuitive, inspired and overflowing with genuine musicianship, it’s the sort of band that transforms what Curt describes as “simple yet engaging” songs into majestic maiden voyages.
Sasami – Sasami CD/LP+MP3 (Domino)
Sasami (aka Sasami Ashworth) has been making music in the Los Angeles area, in almost every way you can, for the last decade. From playing French horn in orchestras and studios and playing keys, bass, and guitar in local rock bands (Cherry Glazerr, Dirt Dress), to contributing vocals/string/horn arrangements to studio albums (Curtis Harding, Wild Nothing, Hand Habits) and producing on tracks for other respected artists (Soko), she has gained a reputation as an all-around musical badass. Sasami’s self-titled debut album is playful, heartfelt and personal, chronicling the surprising ways that relationships – with lovers, with friends, with oneself – can shift in a single year. Sasami says, “‘Not The Time’ and ‘Callous’ are basically entries in the diary that is my first record of songs. Maybe it’s a mix of a diary and a collection of letters; written but never sent to people I’ve been intimately involved with in one way or another.”
Nick Waterhouse – Nick Waterhouse CD/LP (Innovative Leisure)
Nick Waterhouse’s eponymous fourth album was recorded at the finest working studio in Los Angeles, Electro Vox Recorders, and co-produced by Paul Butler (The Bees, Michael Kiwanuka, Devendra Banhart), the master of all things warm, rich and wooly. Nick’s songs here are personal, but personal in the way that “Please Mr. Postman”, “What’s Going On” and “Cathy’s Clown” are – intimate, direct, yet still malleable enough for listeners to suffuse their own life stories into the mix. The album is thick with talented players, including Andres Rentaria, Paula Henderson and the staggering, howling saxophone of Mando Dorame. All of the new Waterhouse songs sound big. Brawny and muscular. The lyrics are suspicious, outraged and, at times, very vulnerable (muscle is just flesh, after all). Waterhouse uses an economy of words to deliver complex, coded messages. He offers up equal parts criticism of the time we live in and innate human flaws. He paints relationships under the cover of darkness, slashing through neo-noir fantasies that are romantic, blood-spattered and bracingly aware of the powerlessness felt among people, amid the rapid onslaught of commercialism and technological progress.
William Basinski – On Time Out Of Time CD/LP+MP3 (2062/Temporary Residence)
On Time Out Of Time is a suite of works originally commissioned for the 2017 installations ‘ER=EPR’ and ‘Orbihedron’ by artists Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand (in collaboration with Jean-Marc Chomaz and LIGO) for the exhibition, ‘Limits of Knowing’ at Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin by curator, Isabel de Sena. These works utilize, among other things, exclusive source recordings from the interferometers of LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) capturing the sounds of the merging of two distant massive black holes, 1.3 billion years ago.
Chatham County Line – Sharing The Covers CD/LP+MP3 (Yep Roc)
Sharing The Covers is a tribute to those whom Chatham County Line hold dear, and a chance for the group to perform modern and traditional classics in the bluegrass-style they’re known for. On the 13-track collection, CCL takes the familiar and adds a touch of originality to create a wholly new and inventive roster of covers by Tom Petty, Alton Delmore, John Lennon, The Louvin Brothers, Beck, James Hunter, and more.
The Coathangers – The Devil You Know CD/LP (Sacred Bones)
The Devil You Know takes the Atlanta trio’s vitriolic punk, playful house party anthems and heart worn ballads and melds them into a new sound that retains all their former live show glories while revealing a new level of songwriting and nuance.
Stella Donnelly – Beware Of The Dogs CD/LP/Cassette (Secretly Canadian)
Delivered entirely with a sarcastic wink and a full heart, Beware Of The Dogs proves across 13 life-affirming songs the power in sticking up for yourself, your friends, and what’s right. The album showcases an artist totally in command of her voice, able to wield her inviting charm and razor-sharp wit into authentically raw songs. It’s a resounding statement of purpose in recent memory and most importantly, it’s a portrait of Donnelly taking charge.
Helado Negro – This Is How You Smile CD/LP (RVNG Int’l)
Miami-born, New York-based artist Roberto Carlos Lange embraces a personal and universal exploration of aura – seen, felt, emitted – on his sixth album. This Is How You Smile derives from Jamaica Kincaid’s Girl, a story she wrote in the form of a mother’s sole, complicated, but loving voice, speaking a How to litany of advice ranging from domestic chores to what a daughter, an immigrant and young woman of color, must do to protect herself in a world that was not designed by or for her. This is how joy, or it’s visage, at turns comforts, constricts, or becomes armor.
Pinegrove – Skylight CD/2xLP (Pinegrove)
Recently released on vinyl – now available on CD. “Completed in 2017 and shelved for almost a year, Pinegrove’s third record is smaller, softer, and closer to the chest. Recorded and produced by Hall and guitarist Sam Skinner at a house in upstate New York, Skylight focuses on atmosphere and abstraction. While Cardinal was defined by anthemic eruptions of longing, these 11 songs move patiently and often disregard verse-chorus song structures in favor of loose vignettes.” – Pitchfork
Justus Proffit – L.A.’s Got Me Down CD/LP (Bar/None)
“Tempered by the sights and sounds of Los Angeles, the songs on Justus Proffit’s debut album tell the tales of growing up in the shadow of the Hollywood sign. I don’t think I know anyone that can write a song as impetuous or dope as him.” – Melina Duterte aka Jay Som
Weezer – Weezer (The Teal Album) CD (Crush Music)
On the heels of their latest studio album Weezer (The Black Album) the alt-rock band delivers a covers album. “As anyone could have gathered after a first listen of ‘Africa’ or ‘Rosanna’, the latter of which is sorely missing on this compilation, the band doesn’t just half-ass the cover; they meticulously replicate each song with Fincher-like obsession. Sure, they’re not exactly offering their own spin on it, but that’s also kind of the point. The fact that these covers are so reverent to the source materials kind of plays into the joke that Cuomo is literally givin’ em what they want with no room for error. It’s like live band karaoke, and everyone is invited, which is all this really boils down to at the end of the day. They’re not reinventing the wheel; they’re using it.” – Consequence Of Sound
The Wild Reeds are a band led by women, and that matters. Not a sister band, not a girl group, but a band fronted by three women, all talented singers, songwriters, and multi-instrumentalists in their own right. Cheers was born out of a strange and painful time, full of tough break-ups, family deaths, and discord within the band itself. The 13 songs are snapshots from that upheaval, touching on illness, therapy, heartbreak and disconnection from three perspectives. Some of the sunniest songs contain the darkest undercurrents, and The Wild Reeds don’t shy away from sadness or open endings.
The Black Crowes – Before The Frost… [Reissue/2009] 2xLP (Silver Arrow)
Vinyl reissue of the eighth and final studio album by The Black Crowes. Before The Frost… was recorded before a live audience at Levon Helm’s Woodstock, NY studio, The Barn in late February and early March, 2009.
Luluc – Dear Hamlyn [Reissue/2008] LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Luluc released their debut album, Dear Hamlyn, in 2008; the songs were written following the death of Zoe Randell’s father. Dear Hamlyn eventually gained a large group of influential admirers. Peter Blackstock, co-founder of No Depression Magazine, wrote, “the most beautiful album I’ve heard in ten years.”
New Order – Ceremony (Version 1) 12” (WB)
New Order – Ceremony (Version 2) 12” (WB)
Recordings in East Orange, New Jersey, during the US visit the previous September, New Order’s first single might, in an alternative universe, have been Joy Division’s next. Both the original version (released on 12” in March 1981) and the alternative, re-recorded version (released later that year) have been remastered and pressed on heavyweight vinyl.
The unearthly combo from Olympia, Washington returns with their first new music in almost a decade. See Now And Know is typical OTR: sexy, untethered, and sing-along at the edge of the volcano fun.
Nestled between the emotionally terse 30 Degrees Everywhere and the pop explosion of Nothing Feels Good, this singles and unreleased songs compilation sees The Promise Ring in a number of different musical phases.
Caetano Veloso – Caetano Veloso [Reissue/1968] LP (Third Man)
Caetano Veloso’s self-titled debut solo album is one of the most important and influential Brazilian (and, dare we say, South American) albums of all time. With the release of this seminal album, Veloso would become the leading voice of Tropicália. The songs on Caetano Veloso immediately connected with people. Alegria, Algeria was his breakout hit that gained traction as a hymn for liberty advocates, juxtaposing images of Coca Cola, guerrilla groups, bombs and Brigitte Bardot as part of the everyday experience.
Weezer – Weezer (The Black Album) LP (Crush Music)
Released last week on CD – now available on vinyl. Weezer (The Black Album) was produced by TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek, with whom the band worked for the first time. The album’s songs were entirely written on piano by frontman Rivers Cuomo for the first time in Weezer history, creating some of the most satisfyingly awesome songs in the entire hits-filled Weezer catalog. With band members switching up instruments in the studio, and choruses filtered through Sitek’s own encyclopedic musical references of everything from Gorillaz to Can to Pink Floyd, Weezer (The Black Album) is the bold next step in the winning streak of acclaimed albums they’ve released since 2014.
Neil Young – Dead Man [Reissue/1996] LP (Vapor)
All instrumental pieces provided by Young interspersed with memorable movie sound bites.
Dido – Still On My Mind CD/LP (BMG)
Dido is back with her first new album in five years. Still On My Mind encapsulates a variety of styles and genres, ranging from her love of hip-hop to her folk roots, but ultimately the entire record carries a dance and electronic music sensibility, even on the tracks with no beats. At the core, it’s about the songs which capture the beautiful essence of Dido personally and emotionally. The first taste of the album is “Hurricanes”. From the first few notes of this powerful track, Dido’s voice has never sounded bigger and better, making you realize how much we’ve missed that sound. Dido describes the making of Still On My Mind as “an absolutely magical experience. I wanted to capture the feeling I still get from listening to music, just that rush like you don’t need anything more than this.”
NEXT WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE – Self-Titled CD/LP
THE FAINT – Egowerk CD/LP
KAREN O + DANGERMOUSE – Lux Prima CD/LP
STEPHEN MALKMUS – Groove Denied CD/LP
MATMOS – Plastic Anniversary CD/LP
THE FALL – Ben Sinister/Domesday Pay-Off Triad CD/LP
VIJAY IYER / CRAIG TABORN – Transitory Poems CD
FINN ANDREWS (Veils) – One Piece At A Time CD/LP
BOUNCING SOULS – Crucial Moments CD/LP
BLAQK AUDIO – Only Things We Love CD/LP
SNARKY PUPPY – Immigrance CD/LP
OVER THE RHINE – Love and Revelation CD/LP
TODD SNIDER – Cash Cabin Sessions CD/LP
NEW ORDER – Everything’s Gone Green 12″