January 15, 2016 — Stinkweeds
New Releases & Staff Picks – 1/15/16
STAFF PICKS
kimber – el vy
lindsay – all them witches
dario – sonny smith
jeff – all them witches
THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
EL VY – Return To The Moon LP (4AD)
Finally available on LP. El Vy (pronounced like a plural of Elvis; rhymes with ‘hell pie’) is the musical collaboration between Matt Berninger, vocalist and lyricist of The National, and Brent Knopf, the Portland musician and producer best known for his work in Menomena and his more recent band, Ramona Falls. Their 2015 debut album Return To The Moon is a project Berninger and Knopf have been thinking about for years. Their friendship spans nearly a decade, starting back when the National and Menomena played small half-empty clubs along America’s West Coast. Feeling an immediate musical kinship, the pair kept in touch, Brent sending Matt occasional rough sketches of music and Matt responding with melodies and lyrics. Finally, in the winter and spring of 2014-15, they actually got together to make an album.
All Them Witches – Lightning At The Door [Reissue/2013] CD/LP+MP3 (New West)
Lightning At The Door is an eight-song, kick you in the teeth, swirling mixture of blues, psych, boogie and jam rock. Originally released in 2013, this reissue features two bonus tracks from the original recording sessions. “A brooding feel pervades, and some ofLightning At The Door‘s most effective moments are in its quieter, ambient reaches, beginning with the walk-into-water intro to opener ‘Funeral For A Great Drunken Bird,’ volume swells of guitar feedback shifting smoothly into warm, natural-sounding fuzz given melodic breadth by [Fender Rhodes specialist] AllanVan Cleave‘s keys.” —The Obelisk
Daughter – Not To Disappear CD/LP (Glassnote/4AD)
Nearly three years after the release of their debut album If You Leave, Daughter — the London-based trio of Elena Tonra, Igor Haefeli and Remi Aguilella – return with a new album.“The slow, improbable rise of gorgeous slowcore-folk trio Daughter brings me great pleasure. Elena Tonra is a masterful lyricist and vocalist, but it’s not just her that makes Daughter such a well-balanced, elegant act. Guitarist Igor Haefeli and drummer Remi Aguilella expertly and carefully construct the kind of wounded, dark pop prisms that let Tonra’s voice, and the stories of pain it tells, take front and center.” – Stereogum
Elizabeth Cotten – Vol. 2: Shake Sugaree [Reissue/1965] LP (Folkways)
Originally released in 1965, Elizabeth Cotton’s second album Vol. 2: Shake Sugaree is another gem featuring her idiosyncratic, self-taught upside-down left-handed guitar playing, plus banjo. The song “Shake Sugaree” is a folk classic featuring her great granddaughter Brenda Evans on vocals. This is an absolutely essential collection from an American folk legend.
Sam Smith – In The Lonely Hour: Drowning Shadows Edition 2xLP (Capitol)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Expanded double-disc edition of the British singer/songwriter’s 2014 album includes a bonus disc that contains nine tracks additional tracks, including collaborations with A$AP Rocky, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, and Disclosure.
Sonny Smith – Sees All Knows All LP (Empty Cellar)
Sonny Smith (Sonny & The Sunsets) has written a monologue, an hour long story, calledSees All Knows All. A tale of love, sex, drugs, spaceships, romance, hallucinations, bitter tears and champagne.Guests include Kelley Stoltz, Shayde Sartin, Rusty Miller, James Finch, German Carracosca, and Jordi Llobet. The result is a Joe Frank meets Michael Hurley meets R. Crumb production: a dry, witty, autobiographical look at the meaning(s) of life from an underdog with deep nostalgia for America’s lost folk culture and a strong sense kinship with the marginalized.
Mike Watt – Ball-Hog Or Tugboat? [Reissue/1995] 2xLP (ORG Music)
Ball-Hog Or Tugboat? is the debut solo album from bass legend Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE, Stooges, etc.). Watt recruited an all-star group of musicians to participate in the recording, including Henry Rollins, members of Sonic Youth, Frank Black, Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl (their first appearance on a record since Cobain’s death), Red Hot Chili Peppers’s Flea, Nels Cline, Mike D and Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys, Eddie Vedder, J Mascis, and many others.
NEXT WEEK’S NEW RELEASES
TY SEGALL – Emotional Mugger CD/LP/CASS
BONNIE PRINCE BILLY – Pond Scum CD/LP/CASS
CHAIRLIFT – Moth CD/LP
BESNARD LAKES – Coliseum CD
JESU / SUN KIL MOON – Self-Titled CD
TRICKY – Skilled Mechanics
LUSH – Chorus CDBOX
ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER – New View CD/LP
TORTOISE – Catastrophist CD/LP
SHEARWATER – Jet Plane and Oxbow CD/LP
SAVAGES – Adore Life CD/LP
TOMORROW’S TULIPS – Indy Rock Royalty Comb LP
HIGH LLAMAS – Here Comes The Rattling Trees CD/LP
HALF JAPANESE – Perfect LP
COCOROSIE – Heartache City LP
JOHN CALE – Music For A New Society LP
JOHN CALE – M:FANS LP
DWARVES – CD reissues
CHARLIE HILTON – Palana CD/LP
I DON’T CARES – Wild Stab CD/LP (Juliana Hatfield + Paul Westerberg)
AOIFE O’DONOVAN – In The Magic Hour CD/LP
POP 1280 – Paradise CD/LP
TINDERSTICKS – Waiting Room CD/LP
STEVEN WILSON – 4.5 CD/LP
VARIOUS – Studio One Presents: Showcase CD/LP
BADLY DRAWN BOY – Hour of Bewilderbeast LP reissue
LADDIO BOLOCKO – Live and Unreleased LP
CLUSTER – Sowiesoso LP
CLUSTER – Cluster II LP