This Week’s New Releases & Staff Picks – 9/13/2019
STAFF PICKS
Kimber – Devendra Banhart
Lindsay – Stereolab reissues
Dario – Kazu
Paula – Devendra Banhart, (Sandy) Alex G
Gabriel – The Pixies
JUST ANNOUNCED PRE-ORDERS
Corridor – Junior (pre-order)
Mudhoney – Morning In America (pre-order)
THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
Devendra Banhart – Ma CD/LP (Nonesuch)
Ma is Devendra Banhart’s first album since 2016’s Ape In Pink Marble. Bursting with tender, autobiographical vignettes, the record displays a shift from the sonic experimentation of his previous albums to an intricate, captivating story-telling and emotional intimacy. Banhart favors organic sounds to accompany his voice and guitar here with the arrangements bolstered by strings, woodwinds, brass, and keyboards. Lead single “Kantori Ongaku” translates from Japanese to “country music” and is a nod to experimental pop legend Haruomi Hosono, a founding member of the influential electronic band Yellow Magic Orchestra. Welsh singer-songwriter Cate Le Bon contributes background vocals on “Now All Gone” and Banhart’s mentor, muse, and dear friend, the folk legend Vashti Bunyan, duets with him on “Will I See You Tonight”. Notes Banhart, “Vashti is the archetype of the mother, one of the most important people in my life. It was so beautiful to sing this duet with her.”
Kazu – Adult Baby CD/LP (Adult Baby)
Kazu Makino, founder & leader of Blonde Redhead, releases her first solo album. “Salty” (the first single) and all of Adult Baby is teeming with contributions from significant pioneers of the global pop, electronic, rock and indie scenes such as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mauro Refosco (Atoms For Peace, Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Byrne) and Ian Chang (Son Lux, Landlady).
Pixies – Beneath The Eyrie CD/LP (Infectious/BMG)
Visceral, musically cinematic, otherworldly but strangely familiar and a bit unsettling, welcome to Pixies’ seventh studio album, Beneath The Eyrie, where tales of witches, Daniel Boone, misfits and other characters fit utterly into the band’s inherent weirdness. Boasting twelve new boundary pushing songs, the album was produced by Grammy-nominated Tom Dalgety (Ghost, Royal Blood) and recorded in December 2018 at Dreamland Recordings near Woodstock, NY. Drummer David Lovering spotted an eagle’s nest (or eyrie) right above the studio hence the title. “Beneath The Eyrie sees Pixies dipping back into the mysticism that came with their first few releases. The album exudes creativity in hazy clouds of tremolo guitar and atmospheric moodiness and harkens back to a faraway time, filled with gothic storytelling of retribution and comeuppance.” – Gigwise [Deluxe CD edition is housed in a 20-page hardback book. A limited indie exclusive colored vinyl pressing is also available.]
Stereolab – Emperor Tomato Ketchup [Reissue/1996] 2xCD/3xLP (Warp)
Stereolab – Dots And Loops [Reissue/1997] 2xCD/3xLP (Warp)
Stereolab – Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In the Milky Night [Reissue/1999] 2xCD/3xLP (Warp)
The continuation of Stereolab’s seven album reissue campaign when 1996’s Emperor Tomato Ketchup, 1997’s Dots And Loops and 1999’s Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In the Milky Night are reissued, via Warp Records and Duophonic UHF Disks, as expanded and re-mastered editions on vinyl and compact disc. Each album has been re-mastered from the original 1/2′ tapes by Bo Kondren at Calyx Mastering and overseen by Tim Gane. Bonus material will include alternate takes, 4 track demos and unreleased mixes. These reissues follow 1993’s Transient Random Noise-Bursts With Announcements and 1994’s Mars Audiac Quintet which received Expanded Editions earlier in 2019. Limited number of clear vinyl edition copies available.
(Sandy) Alex G – House Of Sugar CD/LP (Domino)
On House Of Sugar, his ninth album, (Sandy) Alex G inhabits a diverse range of musical and emotional points-of-view (often simultaneously), in turn illuminating the tension that hides in the shadow of desire. Alexander Giannascoli began writing these songs in the fall of 2017, having just finished a tour for House Of Sugar’s acclaimed predecessor, Rocket, and moved into a new apartment in Philadelphia. Whereas with earlier efforts, such as 2011’s self-released Winner or the landmark 2014 release DSU, he’d write numerous songs quickly; with House Of Sugar, Giannascoli worked at a steadier pace, concentrating on fewer songs and laboring over each one more than before. As the product of extended focus and planning, House Of Sugar emerges as Giannascoli’s most meticulous, cohesive album yet: a statement of artistic purpose, showing off his ear for both persistent earworms and shifting textures. [Limited indie exclusive vinyl pressing also available.]
Twin Peaks – Lookout Low CD/LP (Grand Jury)
Twin Peaks has one defining ethos and it’s to keep pushing. They’ve embraced change ever since their 2010 formation as high school friends making scrappy basement rock ‘n’ roll to now cementing their status as one of Chicago’s most essential bands. Where their last LP, 2016’s Down In Heaven, and 2017’s Sweet ‘17 Singles compilation were adventurous and compelling updates on their youthfully raucous formula, their fourth album Lookout Low feels like a total revolution. The songs are bursting with energy, like the spidery jam-minded opener “Casey’s Groove”, a mind-melder that is reassuring thanks to Caiden Lake James’ (vocals, guitar) inviting croon. Throughout the LP, multi-instrumentalist Colin Croom wrote horn arrangements that at times evokes the soulfulness of Allen Toussaint and the burly Americana of the E Street Band. The auxiliary percussion from drummer Kyle Davis expands the already breezy and spread out compositions. [Limited indie exclusive vinyl pressing also available.]
Chelsea Wolfe – Birth Of Violence CD/LP (Sargent House)
There is a core element to Chelsea Wolfe’s music – a kind of urgent spin on America’s desolation blues – that’s existed throughout the entirety of her career. Wolfe has always been a conduit for a powerful energy, and while she has demonstrated a capacity to channel that somber beauty into a variety of forms, her gift as a songwriter is never more apparent than when she strips her songs down to a few key components. As a result, her solemn majesty and ominous elegance are more potent than ever on Birth Of Violence. Every Chelsea Wolfe album introduces new unorthodox textures and approaches, and the trajectory of her creative arc has generally aimed for larger and more imposing sounds, but Birth Of Violence deliberately alters that course in favor of a more intimate atmosphere.
Belle And Sebastian – Days Of The Bagnold Summer CD/LP+MP3 (Matador)
Days Of The Bagnold Summer is the latest outside- the-box accomplishment from storied Glasgow six-piece Belle And Sebastian, comprised of Stuart Murdoch, Stevie Jackson, Sarah Martin, Chris Geddes, Richard Colburn, Dave McGowan, and Bobby Kildea. The last two years have seen them go against conventional practice by releasing a trilogy of EPs to some of the best reviews of their career, and launch and curate their own four-day music festival at sea in The Boaty Weekender, continuing the individualist streak that has characterized them from day one.
Alex Cameron – Miami Memory CD/LP (Secretly Canadian)
Cameron’s flair for narrative and character are still on full display; yet Miami Memory‘s most frequent narrator is, for the first time, Cameron himself – singing with stunning candor of his three-year relationship with visual artist and actor Jemima Kirke. Cameron reveals a striking honesty about love and sex in a time where a palpable fleetingness hangs over everything from relationships to human life on this planet – but also where constricting mores have deteriorated enough to let family life, in all its morphing forms, exist outside of social obligation. [Limited edition blue colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Boy Scouts – Free Company CD (ANTI-)
Recently released on vinyl – now available on CD. As Boy Scouts, Oakland-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Taylor Vick makes the kind of music that hits like good advice from tough emotional truths. Vick’s songs survey the damage that can come from loving other people with curiosity and grace. Her new album Free Company is a stunningly tuneful rumination on heartbreak and loss that is always galloping toward the horizon. Opener “Get Well Soon” reckons with the difficult epiphany that comes when you’ve worked overtime to help someone you love, only to realize they won’t meet you in the middle and help themselves. Her tightest and most cohesive collection of songs, Vick recorded Free Company in a tiny studio her friend Stephen Steinbrink set up inside a rented shipping container – a unique spot that ended up being perfect for her. Steinbrink plays drums, synth, and bass throughout the record in addition to singing backup.
The Lumineers – III CD/2xLP (Dualtone)
The Lumineers’ new album III is audacious: every note, every syllable, and every moment of silence in between is emotionally charged. It’s darker in tone than previous albums and is presented in three chapters, with each one centering on one main character from a fictitious family known as the Sparks, who span three generations in the album’s storyline. III’s concept began while the band was writing in the Catskill mountains, where producer Simone Felice works. Mixing raw emotional themes with their ear-catching melodies, expressive vocals and trademark acoustic sound, III moves masterly in artistic directions not yet traveled by the band. Regarding the cinematic new record, multi-instrumentalist Jeremiah Fraites says, “This collection of songs worked out in a beautiful way, and I feel with this album we’ve really hit our stride.” Vocalist Wesley Schultz adds that lead single “Gloria”, “is about love between an addict and her family.”
Various Artists – World Spirituality Classics 2: The Time For Peace Is Now CD (Luaka Bop)
The Time For Peace Is Now compiles fourteen songs that, while recorded over four decades ago, speak now more than ever. The tracks are a subset of 1970s-era gospel, not directly talking about Jesus or God, but instead tackling how we live with ourselves and each other. These are undeniably soulful, passionate, and urgent songs from obscure 45s, dug up from a long dormancy in attics, sheds and rated across the American south. “This album is reflective of the dichotomy of the sacred and the secular. The music here is in some sense the same as the music of the club. ‘Keep Your Faith To The Sky’ could have you singing ‘Keep Your Head To The Sky’ by Earth, Wind and Fire. Listening to ‘It’s Hard To Live In This Old World’ and ‘That’s A Sign Of The Times’ imbues the pessimistic/realistic sense of what was happening. Like many blues songs, the problem must first be named before it can be solved. At the end of The Time For Peace Is Now, hope is still present. The problem is named in the beginning and a possible solution is presented.” – Pastor Keith L. Whitney
Ceschi – Sans Soleil CD/LP (Fake Four Inc.)
Sans Soleil is the second installment in Ceschi’s powerful and final three-album trilogy. His music lives in some liminal space between left field hip hop, folk punk and indie rock, and has earned him a cult following within the indie rap and DIY punk communities.
Chastity – Home Made Satan CD/LP (Captured Tracks)
Home Made Satan is an emotional and political concept album from the perspective of a young man who’s spent too much time alone, inside, isolated from the world. It’s about fear, and radicalization; an intense meditation on youth and extremism in an increasingly irrational and violent Western World. The new songs are gothier and poppier than ever, recalling ’80s staples like The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
The Cult – Sonic Temple: 30th Anniversary 5xCD/2xLP/3xLP+Cassette (Beggars Banquet)
To celebrate the anniversary of The Cult’s long out-of-print 1989 album Sonic Temple, this 30th anniversary edition is now available as five-CD set and a deluxe three-LP box which includes a cassette and ephemera. Both contain limited-release demos in addition to previously unreleased tracks. A standard double-disc vinyl reissue is also available. Sonic Temple catapulted The Cult into superstar status and remains their most commercially successful release.
Gruff Rhys – Pang! CD/LP (Rough Trade)
A Welsh language pop album with a couple of verses of Zulu and an English title, Gruff Rhys’ Pang! Was produced and mixed by Muzi in Johannesburg, South Africa. The nine-track collection was developed unexpectedly over about 18 months and recorded in Cardiff, Wales.
Long Beard – Means To Me CD/LP+MP3 (Double Double Whammy)
Means To Me is the second full-length under Leslie Bear’s moniker, Long Beard, and her first since 2015’s Sleepwalker. Throughout the record, Leslie explores what constitutes a home – how it extends beyond the physicality of a roof over your head to the comfort of another person.
The Paranoyds – Carnage Bargain CD/LP (Suicide Squeeze)
Los Angeles punk quartet The Paranoyds channel revelry and revulsion into their debut album Carnage Bargain – a raucous blend of garage rock grit, new wave swagger, horror film soundtrack campiness, and a myriad of other influences. [Limited edition blue colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Prince – The Versace Experience – Prelude 2 Gold [Reissue/1995] CD/LP (Sony Legacy)
Prince – Chaos And Disorder [Reissue/1996] CD/LP (Sony Legacy)
Prince – Emancipation [Reissue/1996] 3xCD/6xLP (Sony Legacy)
The Prince Estate and Legacy Recordings continue their partnership in 2019 with the reissue of two key albums from 1996: Chaos And Disorder and Emancipation. Another key release from this era, The Versace Experience (Prelude 2 Gold), has also been reissued. All are available on vinyl for the first time as limited colored pressings.
Alasdair Roberts – Fiery Margin CD/LP (Drag City)
“Every song that’s nevermore sung / will sound again upon the Evernew Tongue.” Whether we understand the reference in the line, it sums up Alasdair Roberts’ approach as a singer and songwriter, now halfway through its third decade. Down the years, he has devoted himself to the history of traditional songs, playing them forward into our ever-evolving world as their meanings continue to evolve within him. Whether singing the auld songs, using inspiration from a line of text, or taking a time-honored air as a starting point to a new song, he has pushed the tradition ahead in ways that few other singers and writers have approached.
Sampa The Great – The Return CD/LP (Ninja Tune)
A characterful record, The Return reference points range from classic hip-hop to ancient Southern African sounds. Built on four years of personal and musical soul-searching, it’s an assured statement, the product of meaningful musical connections and of Sampa having to redefine her self-identity away from the comforts of family and old friends.
Subhumans – Crisis Point CD/LP (Pirates Press)
Subhumans is one of the most influential bands from the UK Anarcho-Punk scene of the ‘80s, filed right alongside Crass and Conflict, and just as relevant today as they were during the darkest days of Thatcher’s Britain. This is their first new music in 12 years – ten new songs about terror/pollution/mind control and similar reflections on a world in crisis.
Indian Summer – Giving Birth To Summer LP (Numero)
The fourth leg on the early emo table of Rites Of Spring, Moss Icon, and Cap’n Jazz, Indian Summer’s Giving Birth To Thunder compiles their complete discography. Emo’s second wave crashed into the Bay Area in the summer of 1994 in a rage-filled capsule of quiet and loud, octave chords, angry sons, Spock haircuts, and screaming. At the eye of this pissed-for-the-hell-of-it storm were Indian Summer.
Jónsi & Alex – Riceboy Sleeps [Reissue/2009] 2xLP+12” (Krunk)
Known primarily for his haunting falsetto and other-worldly presence as the singer in Sigur Rós, Jon Thor Birgisson aka Jónsi has, together with his partner Alex Somers, been exhibiting artwork and staging exhibitions under the name Riceboy Sleeps for years now.
I See You: A zine by Crack Magazine curated by Thom Yorke (XL)
Crack Magazine and Thom Yorke have collaborated on a limited-edition zine, titled I See You.
It comprises interviews with eight artists, activists and musicians chosen by Yorke, who answer questions set by him. The zine is prefaced by Thom answering the questions himself. It features pioneering electronic music composer Laurie Spiegel, writer and environmentalist George Monbiot, Edinburgh poet Harry Josephine Giles, New York contemporary artist Amy Cutler, fashion designer Jun Takahashi, director and screenwriter Luca Guadagnino, experimental musician Kali Malone and Brooklyn-based visual artist Christian Holstad. Thom Yorke has decided to donate any profits from I See You to Greenpeace.
COMING NEXT WEEK!
BRITTANY HOWARD – Jaime CD/LP
HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER – Terms Of Surrender CD/LP
FITZ + THE TANTRUMS – All The Feels CD
LIAM GALLAGHER – Why Me Why Not CD/LP
KEANE – Cause and Effect CD/LP
CHASTITY BELT – Self-Titled CD/LP
M83 – DSVII CD/LP
SMOG – Knock Knock LP reissue LP
CHARLEY CROCKETT – Valley CD/LP
FLY PAN AM – C’est Ca CD/LP
DAVID KILGOUR + HEAVY EIGHTS – Bobbie’s A Girl CD/LP
MERMAIDENS – Look Me In The Eye CD/LP
THEE OH SEES – Face Stabber LP
FLOATING SPECTRUM – A Point Between CD/LP
JUAN MACLEAN – Brighter The Light CD/LP
YACHT – Chain Tripping CD/LP
JOEL PATTERSON – Let It Be Guitar! Joel Patterson Plays The Beatles CD/LP
NEAL FRANCIS – Changes CD/LP
GIANT SAND – Recounting The Ballads Of Thin Line Men LP
VIVIAN GIRLS – Everything Goes Wrong LP reissue
VIVIAN GIRLS – Memory LP reissue
VIVIAN GIRLS – Self-Titled LP reissue
Y LA BAMBA – Entre Los Dos CD/LP
ATMOSPHERE – God Loves Ugly LP reissue
ATMOSPHERE – Seven’s Travels LP reissue
LIZZO – Cuz I Love You LP
NILS FRAHM – Encores 3 LP