Staff Picks

Kimber- Joy Division
Lindsay-Protomartyr, Lianne La Havas
Dario-Protomartyr
Eric-Arca

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THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES

Fiona Apple – Fetch The Bolt Cutters CD/2xLP (Epic)
Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and alt-rock icon Fiona Apple returns with her first album in nearly eight years. Following up 2012’s The Idler Wheel, the raw and percussion-heavy Fetch The Bolt Cutters has earned instant acclaim as one of the best records of the 2020 and some of the finest work of her career. It takes its name from a line in the British police procedural The Fall spoken by star Gillian Anderson, but Apple explains that, “Really, what it’s about is not being afraid to speak.” She produced the adventurous 13-track collection herself and recorded it at her Venice Beach, CA home studio with drummer Amy Aileen Wood, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, guitarist Davíd Garza and Cara Delevingne singing harmonies. Biting yet buoyant, Fiona’s elastic turns of phrase are supported by intoxicating melodic hooks throughout with visceral tracks like “I Want You to Love Me”, “Shameika” and “Fetch The Bolt Cutters” serving as standouts. “Fetch The Bolt Cutters is a strange and exceptional record, even within the context of an uncommon career…whimsical and hardcore at the same time…” – The Guardian

Joy Division – Closer 40th Anniversary Edition LP (Warner)
Limited 40th anniversary edition of Joy Division’s sophomore album “Closer“, pressed on crystal clear vinyl. “Closer” is the second and final studio album by English rock band Joy Division, originally released on 18 July 1980. Produced by Martin Hannett, it was released two months after the suicide of the band’s lead singer and lyricist Ian Curtis.

No Age – Goons Be Gone CD/LP (Drag City)
Effortlessly raw and extravagant in one practiced swoop, No Age set their live/bedroom internal clock and get out early into a glorious windtunnel of naked beats and sunbaked guitars, forming a wave from with they hang eleven tunes. Goons Be Gone is a perfectly balanced set, ranging from their classic punk and indie to ever-evolving soundscapes.

Protomartyr – Ultimate Success Today CD/LP+MP3 (Domino)
A sting in the summer blossom, Ultimate Success Today is Protomartyr’s fifth full-length album. Following the release of Relatives In Descent, the band’s critically acclaimed headlong dive into the morass of American life in 2017, Ultimate Success Today continues to further expand the possibilities of what a Protomartyr album can sound like. The album was recorded at Dreamland Recording Studios, a late 19th century church, in upstate New York and co-produced by the band and David Tolomei (Dirty Projectors, Beach House) with mixing by Tolomei. Featured guest musicians on the album include Nandi Rose (vocals), jazz legend Jemeel Moondoc (alto sax), Izaak Mills (bass clarinet, sax, flute), and Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello).

Yaeji – What We Drew LP (XL)
NYC-via-Seoul electronic producer, DJ and vocalist Yaeji releases a new mixtape. What We Drew is titled intentionally; for Yaeji, the title captures the spirit of the project as a whole which she explains, “is so much about friendship, family, gratitude and support – support that I’ve felt, that I’ve given, and that we all share.” Produced entirely by Yaeji over the course of two years, she started writing the music for What We Drew with no specific narrative in mind, each track becoming a snippet of her life, a look into her diary.

Arca – KiCk i LP (XL Recordings)
Produced and recorded by Arca, KiCk i defines a new era of multiplex harmony for the Venezuelan artist, singer, DJ, performer and experimental music composer. Featuring guest appearances by Björk, Rosalía, Shygirl and Sophie, KiCk i is a celebration not only of the joy Arca’s been able to find in her life, but the sometimes arduous journey it took for her to find it. Her struggles to reconcile her Venezuelan heritage and her trans Latinx identity emerge as reggaetón and pop en Español. “I don’t want to be tied to one genre,” Arca says. “I don’t want to be labeled as one thing.” [CD due July 24.]

Bob Dylan – Rough And Rowdy Ways LP+MP3 (Columbia)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Rough And Rowdy Ways is Bob Dylan’s first album of original material in eight years and his first since becoming the only songwriter to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 2016. Its 10 tracks include the three new songs released this spring: the album’s lead-off track, “I Contain Multitudes”, the nearly 17-minute epic “Murder Most Foul”, and “False Prophet”. “This isn’t perhaps the most comforting communique to issue in the middle of a global pandemic, but then the man behind it has seldom dealt in soothing reassurance. And besides, it doesn’t matter. For all its bleakness, Rough And Rowdy Ways might well be Bob Dylan’s most consistently brilliant set of songs in years: the die-hards can spend months unravelling the knottier lyrics, but you don’t need a PhD in Dylanology to appreciate its singular quality and power. It is a testament to his eternal greatness.”

El Michels Affair – Dhuaan b/w Sha Na Na 7″ (Big Crown)
EMA follow-up their recent foray into psychedelic, Turkish-inspired, Bollywood funk with a pair of hypnotic Himalayan-influenced tracks. [New album, Yeti Season, is due out this year.]

Felt – Felt 3: A Tribute To Rosie Perez [Reissue/2009] 2xLP (Rhymesayers)
In celebration of the tenth anniversary of Murs & Slug’s third collaboration under their Felt moniker, Felt 3: A Tribute To Rosie Perez has been pressed on a limited edition double-LP blue & white ‘galaxy effect’ vinyl, with one of three limited bonus die-cut picture discs featuring exclusive remixes.

Fu Manchu – Fu30, Pt.1 10” (At The Dojo)
Limited transparent orange colored vinyl pressing. The first instalment in Fu Manchu’s 30th Anniversary vinyl 10” series, Fu30, Pt.1 includes two new original Fu Manchu songs, as well as a cover of The Doobie Brothers’ “Takin’ It To The Streets”.

Marvin Gaye – His Classic Duets LP (Motown)
Every Great Hit Of Marvin Gaye: 15 Spectacular Performances is a platinum-selling 1983 compilation which covers Marvin Gaye’s career, from his key 1960s hits through the multi-chart # 1, “Got To Give It Up”. His Classic Duets is an update of Marvin Gaye’s 1970 collection Marvin Gaye & His Girls. The vinyl album sleeve (cover and back) artwork is based on the original. 14-tracks featuring duets with Tammi Terrell, Mary Wells, Kim Weston and Diana Ross.

Jarv Is… – Beyond The Pale CD/LP (Rough Trade)
Beyond The Pale is the debut album from Jarv Is…, featuring Jarvis Cocker (vocals, guitar, percussion), Serafina Steer (harp, keyboards, vocals), Emma Smith (violin, guitar vocals), Andrew McKinney (bass, vocals), Jason Buckle (synthesizer and electronic treatments) and Adam Betts (drums, percussion, vocals). This is the first original music from Jarvis Cocker since his 2009 album Further Complications. Jarv Is… formed to play a show at the Sigur Ros’s Norður og Niður festival in Iceland at the very end of 2017, conceived as a way of writing songs in collaboration with an audience. As the material they were playing was in a state of flux the band decided to record their live shows so that they could monitor how the songs were developing. After an appearance at the Desert Daze festival in California, Geoff Barrow (Portishead, Beak>) suggested that these recordings could be used as the basis for Beyond The Pale.

Lianne La Havas – Lianne La Havas CD/LP (Nonesuch)
British singer/songwriter/guitarist Lianne La Havas returns with her self-titled third album, her first since 2015’s Grammy-nominated Blood. The ten songs – nine originals plus a cover of Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes” – span the arc of a love affair, one that brought growth and newfound confidence. “This is my first completely self-produced album with my own band. I got my own way with everything – all the decisions that you hear on this album were mine,” Lianne says. “I’m a woman now, so I’m less shy and timid about saying certain things. And there’s no right or wrong when it’s your record, so I was very much embracing that fact, as well. I’ve tapped into the best and worst parts of me and while I didn’t expect this to be the direction of my new music, it’s my reality and it’s driven by emotion. I dare say that this is the closest I’ve gotten to a pure expression so far. If you’d never heard me before, I’d be happy to say, ‘This is me. This is who I am.'”

Nick Lowe – Lay It On Me 12” (Yep Roc)
This limited edition vinyl EP features two new originals from Lowe, “Lay It On Me Baby” and “Don’t Be Nice To Me”, plus a cover of Dorsey Burnette’s “Here Comes That Feeling” (made famous by Brenda Lee). Nick’s wordplay and razor-sharp lyrics shine bright with the twang-friendly tones of Los Straitjackets behind him.

The Lawrence Arms – Skeleton Coast LP (Epitaph)
Chicago bred trio The Lawrence Arms return with their first album in six years. Skeleton Coast contains the elements of the band’s sound that fans have come to love for the past two decades but re-contextualizes them in a way that somehow sounds perfectly aligned with this strange time in our collective history. Although it was written and recorded before the Coronavirus pandemic upended the world, the band’s seventh studio album sounds eerily prescient as it imagines an apocalyptic future where coyotes croon and wolf packs roam free.

The Pretenders – Hate For Sale CD/LP (BMG)
Following up 2016’s acclaimed Alone, Hate For Sale is the Pretender’s first album to be recorded with the now long-standing touring line-up of the group. Produced by the revered Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur) Hate For Sale is the Pretenders’ eleventh studio album overall and the first to be written collaboratively by Chrissie Hynde and electrifyingly dynamic guitarist James Walbourne. “I wanted to write with him since day one,” says Chrissie. “James is especially sought after and has recorded with Jerry Lee Lewis, Dave Gahan, and The Rails, to name but a few.” And on the single “The Buzz”, she adds, “I think we all know that love affairs can take on the characteristics of drug addiction. It’s about that.”

The Texas Gentlemen – Floor It!!! CD/LP+MP3 (New West)
Pop on Floor It!!!, the new and second full-length effort from the Texas Gentlemen, and prepare your eardrums to be hit with everything from woozy, brass-fueled Dixieland-style jazz (“Veal Cutlass”), to slinky, chicken-scratch country funk (“Bare Maximum”) to lushly orchestrated pop-soul balladry (“Ain’t Nothin’ New”) – and that’s all in just the first 10 minutes of play time. While the Gentlemen’s sound is clearly steeped in the classic roots, rock and pop music of the ‘60s and ‘70s, there’s a dreamy (the lilting “Sing Me to Sleep”), spacey (“Skyway Streetcar”) and occasionally progressive (“Dark At The End of the Tunnel”) element to what they do that seems to detach the music from belonging to any particular place and time. Add in elements of funk, soul, country, R&B, southern rock, gospel and essentially any other style that catches their musically omnivorous ears; an expansive and detailed approach to arrangement that sees the songs adorned with all manner of horns, strings and heavenly background vocals (“Hard Road”) and you have a collection of tunes that is more than just a mere album. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Bing & Ruth – Species CD/LP (4AD)
Bing & Ruth, the ever-evolving project helmed by New York composer David Moore, returns with a new 7-track, 49-minute record. While on a surface level, Species is an exploration of the sonic possibilities of the Farfisa organ, aided only by a clarinet and double bass (played respectively by founding members Jeremy Viner and Jeff Ratner), the album title is a nod to both humanity and humility – a devotion to the godly intuition with which we are all endowed, and the humbleness required of us to perceive it. It’s also about suspended time and trance; not just a steady movement from A to B, but as something that flows, meanders and eddies, like water.

Eli Goulding – Brightest Blue CD/2xLP (Interscope)
Ellie Goulding’s highly anticipated fourth studio album release, Brightest Blue, is split into two sides to showcase both her artistic depth and commercial success – lead by platinum singles “Close To Me” and “Hate Me”.

The Allman Betts Band – Down To The River LP (BMG)
Limited double clear vinyl LP pressing of the Allman Betts Band’s 2019 debut album. Led by Devon Allman, son of founding Allman Brothers Band keyboardist and singer, Gregg Allman, and Duane Betts, son of founding Allman Brothers Band guitarist and singer, Dickey Betts, Down To The River was recorded at the famed Muscle Shoals Sound Studios with producer Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price, John Prine and Elvis Presley). The beginning of the partnership between Devon Allman and Duane Betts goes back to the Gregg Allman tribute show at the Fillmore in San Francisco. It was time, in that historic venue, to pass the spirit to the next generation. It was time to take all the lessons of the past, all their collective experiences, and make something new.

Joy Division – Closer [Reissue/1980] LP (WB)
Joy Division – Transmission [Reissue/1979] 12” (WB)
Joy Division – Atmosphere [Reissue/1980] 12” (WB)
Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart 12” (WB)
Limited 40th anniversary edition of Joy Division’s sophomore album Closer, pressed on crystal clear vinyl. Also available: four album-era 12” singles, repressed on 180gm vinyl. Closer is the second and final studio album by English rock band Joy Division. Produced by Martin Hannett, it was released two months after the suicide of the band’s lead singer and lyricist Ian Curtis.

Kllo – Maybe We Could LP+MP3 (Ghostly Int’l)
New release from the electronic pop collaboration of Melbourne cousins Chloe Kaul and Simon Lam. Ten tracks pairing the rhythms of dance music to emotive chords and melodies; revealing two artists at their strongest yet most vulnerable, operating as their truest selves, honest with each other and their craft. Limited colored vinyl pressing.

COMING NEXT WEEK!
X – Alphabetland CD
PJ HARVEY – Dry + Dry Demos CD/LP
COURTNEY MARIE ANDREWS – Old Flowers CD/LP
STRFKR – Future Past Life CD/LP
SPOON – Telephono LP
SPOON – Soft Effects CD/LP
DEVENDRA BANHART – Vas Ovoid 12″
JERRY GARCIA + JOHN KAHN – Garcialive 14 CD