First Listen: New Releases for August 12

With Jeff out of town, he asked for me to fill in for him. This week we have new releases from '80s, 90's, and '00s acts as well as brand new bands with their first releases. Let's get started!

Dilated Peoples - Directors of Photography
With their first release in 7 years, Dilated People's are back with a return to form from 2000's Expansion Team. If you like old school 90s conscious hip hop, this is definitely for you. The only problem might be the album's length. For the first 12 or so songs, it is a fantastic album and would get my vote for hip hop album of the year so far. But, at 18 songs and over an hour, it gets pretty repetitive and feels dull towards the end. A little diversity and expansion would have helped the 2nd half of this one immensely.

The Gaslight Anthem - Get Hurt
I know I'm going to sound like a crotchety old man here, but I've just never gotten the whole Gaslight Anthem thing and lumped them into the whole neo-pop punk category with bands like Good Charlotte. Get Hurt doesn't change anything for me, as it feels too arena rock ready for my taste. It reminds me of Fall Out Boy meets Muse, so maybe that's your kind of thing. Also, get off my lawn.

Brian Setzer - Rockabilly Riot! All Original
Since the 1980s, Brian Setzer has been America's leader in throwback music. From The Stray Cats 1950s rockabilly revival to The Brian Setzer Orchestra's swing throwback, he's always looked to the past for inspiration. This solo album returns him to his rockabilly roots, as you can tell by the title. It's a sequel to his 2005 Rockabilly Riot Vol. 1: A Tribute to Sun Records, but with original songs. As with everything he's done, there is just a touch of a cheesy factor to it, but it's really, really fun. If you think you want to check this out, you'll end up enjoying it.

FKA twigs - LP1
This week's oddest new release is also one of the best. Jeff wanted me to make sure I included the debut album from FKA twigs, and I'm glad he did. It's odd and quirky in the best way, mixing the trip hop of Portishead with the freakiness of Tune-Yards and Bjork. If you like any of those bands, you need to check this out. 

It Looks Sad. - S/T 
My favorite of this week's new releases also has the worst band name. Luckily, the music is infinitely better than the band name would suggest. At only 4 songs (2 of which are "bonus tracks") and 15 minutes, I assume we'll be hearing more soon. It has elements of The Cure meets emo, but more the Jawbreaker side of emo. If you like the earlier material by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, you'll want to hear this. I'll be looking out for a full length hopefully sooner than later.

Prawn - Kingfisher
I wasn't familiar with Prawn before this week, but to me they sound like a less screamy version of The Sheila Divine. Good, straightforward alt-rock with the slightest hint of a 90s emo edge to it. Definitely worth a listen.




Also released this week:
Sinead O'Connor - I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss
Lucero - Live from Atlanta

Monday Mix: Travelogue

As I'm heading out on business this week (and Ken will be taking care of new releases), I was somewhat inspired to do a travel-themed mix this week. It's not to say that all the songs are about travel, but either something in the song or something in the title or something in my brain made me think of traveling. Designed to go from start to finish, hopefully this gets you through your travels this week.

First Listen: New Releases for August 7

A very packed week this week, so let's not waste any time.

Katie Kate - Nation: I didn't know of Katie Kate before this week, and she sometimes raps on this always electronic album that combines some electro and synth on this interesting album. I'm going to need to spend some time with it, I think, to really see if it has staying power, but this was an interesting listen for me on a whole. If you dug the Princess Superstar from a few weeks ago, this might be worth a shot for you.

Tuatara - Underworld: I've been a fan of Tuatara since their first album nearly 20 years ago. I only got into it because it was a Peter Buck side project, but I became a fan in general pretty quickly. The downside to the group was that, as it expanded, it moved away a bit from its instrumental, experimental world music roots into something a little more broad, to the point that they actually had some basic vocal albums of late. Underworld, thankfully, is a return to the early albums in nearly every way, with some catchy tunes and interesting soundscapes throughout. I recommend everyone at least give this a shot, and if you fell off the bandwagon sometime in the last decade, this is definitely a reason to hop back on.

Arkells - High Noon: This is some fairly inoffensive, radio friendly pop rock music. I don't have a lot to say about this at all - having listened to it, it left no impression on me whatsoever, which probably isn't the best sign. With so much out this week, I can't really see this being necessary.

Clairy Browne and the Bangin' Rockettes - Love Cliques: I don't know if my perception of this group is shaded by the amazing "Love Letter," but if you're expecting an EP of tunes like that, this isn't the place. These are much slower tracks, still pretty good, but not really the exciting, immediate stuff Browne and crew are probably known for. As an EP, it works well, but if this is a shift in direction, I'm not so sure.

Spider Bags - Frozen Letter: Their first album for Merge, Spider Bags is a band I didn't know prior to this week. It's a weird one in some regards, with lo-fi elements alongside a crunchier, more produced feel. I enjoyed a lot of this album, although at 8 songs and around 30 minutes of a runtime, it's not a lot of album to really get attached to. Still, with my interest in this sort of thing, this is an album I'll be putting in rotation. Hard to compare it to something similar, but it does fit right in with the Merge oeuvre.

The Wind + The Wave - From the Wreckage: With The Civil Wars officially calling it quits this week, it was interesting to trip up on the debut album from The Wind + The Wave. While I think Angus and Julia Stone (also out this week, see below) better fill the slot, The Wind + The Wave do a sort of radio-friendly, accessible folk rock that seems to be The Big Thing as of late. With that said, it sounds like I'm disparaging it, but it's actually a really solid, enjoyable album from start to finish. It could stand to be a little less polished, but if that's the only complaint, I can only hope this has some staying power. Worth a listen.

Mozart's Sister - Being: Mozart's Sister is a one woman electropop project through Asthmatic Kitty. For some, that might be all you need to hear. For others, this is a pretty good, albeit kind of strange, album to listen to. I enjoyed it enough, but I can't say everyone would, and you'd probably get a good idea about how you'd enjoy the rest of the album. I'm a fan, though, and I'll be sticking with this one for a while.

Bear in Heaven - Time is Over One Day Old: I resisted Bear in Heaven for a long, long time. I think I was just tired of Bear bands and they were caught in the crossfire, as their brand of electro indie rock (which is somewhat muted on this album) really works for me. This is definitely a shift of sorts that kind of blurs what makes them interesting, and this ultimately means that we have an album that is good enough to listen to, but unmemorable enough to essentially be forgettable. You'll probably enjoy this as I did on first listen, but especially in a crowded release week, it has questionable legs.

Angus and Julia Stone - Angus and Julia Stone: Angus and Julia Stone started out as an old Amie Street find for me. Then "Big Jet Plane" was on a bunch of movies and shows and a lot of other people found them. Still, they're not nearly as huge as I feel like they should be at this point, as they are writing some of the best folk pop songs going right now. Especially with the gap left by The Civil Wars, Angus and Julia Stone have a solid shot with their fourth, self-titled album to fill that vacuum. Arguably my favorite album of the week, given the lack of missteps and near-perfect pacing, this is a must listen for the week.

Spoon - They Want My Soul: The latest album by Spoon is being hailed as a return to form, and I can't really disagree. I didn't care much for Transference, and I recognize that Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga was a little polarizing even if I really enjoyed it. This is Spoon the way my brain conceptualizes Spoon, and it's really solid from beginning to end. A highlight of the week for sure, and it might end up on a few end of year lists if the first listen is any indication for me. Highly recommended.

Sunny Sweeney - Provoked: The current trend in alt-country is really less "alt" and more "country," and, while Sunny Sweeney is part of that, her album is ultimately more Elizabeth Cook than, say, Sturgill Simpson or Kathleen Edwards. The level of twang that's on this album is normally a turnoff for me, but the longer I stayed with it, the more I got from it. There's a great Lucinda Williams cover in the middle, there's some solid storytelling, and it ends up being a quality album in the end in ways I didn't expect. Definitely a good listen if you're into a lot of the alt-country and folksy stuff we've featured here.

Monday Mix: Elephant Six

The 33/3 blog reminded me that Bill Doss of Olivia Tremor Control, also of Sunshine Fix, Apples in Stereo, and probably all the rest, passed away a year ago last week. The Elephant Six Collective were a group of bands that really, really took up a good deal of my listening time in college and beyond, so I figured, in honor of Doss, the mix this week would highlight some songs from those bands.

A fair warning to some - there's equal parts accessible (Apples in Stereo, Elf Power) and weird (Music Tapes, Major Organ and the Adding Machine), so, for best results, throw it on shuffle and enjoy the adventure.

The Lees of Memory - "We Are Siamese"

For someone who was obsessed with Superdrag since 1996, I was really disappointed by their reunion album, Industry Giants. Somehow, it was just missing something their earlier recordings had, some kind of spark. Happily, that is back with The Lees of Memory, the new project featuring former Superdrag members John Davis and Brandon Fisher. This is their shoegaze project, and it's much more on the My Bloody Valentine side of things than it is The Stratford 4. It somehow merges the drone of shoegaze with the fuzzed out guitars of Superdrag. You can watch the video below.

The Lees of Memory's debut album, Sisyphus Says, is due out 9/16 on SideOneDummy Records. You can get some more information on their Bandcamp page.

Newport Folk Festival, Fort Adams State Park, Saturday, 7/26/14

After missing Friday's edition of the Newport Folk Festival, I entered Fort Adams State Park on Sunday determined not to miss a single thing. Of course, with 4 official stages all going at once, such a thing is impossible, as I re-learn every year.

Starting the day off at the Quad Stage, The Haden Triplets came on bright and early at 11:05 am. Considering the last time I saw Petra and Rachel perform live, it was at the Middle East in Cambridge with That Dog, the circumstances couldn't have been more different. Instead of 90s post-grunge guitars, they performed beautiful 3 part harmonies over classic country and folk songs. Dedicating their set to their father, the recently departed Charlie Haden, they covered classics like Bill Monroe's "Voice From on High" and The Carter Family's "Single Girl, Married Girl."

After The Haden Triplets, I headed down to the Harbor Stage for John Reilly & Friends. Yes, it's that John Reilly of such films as Magnolia and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. It was curiosity that brought me down, but he proved he's not just a musical novelty act. He even addressed it by declaring that he had some nerve playing folk songs at the Newport Folk Festival. His set was very stylistically similar to The Haden Triplets, and even covered "Single Girl, Married Girl." Having Becky Stark sing backup sure doesn't hurt.

I dragged myself away from John Reilly to head over to the Fort Stage for Pokey LaFarge. He kept the old-timey vibe going with his set of roots and Americana. Hailing from St. Louis, he always puts on a fantastic live show, so I didn't regret leaving John Reilly. He brought a 6 piece band, including a horn section, and played laid back numbers like "Bowlegged Woman" and "Sweet Potato Blues," the names of which perfectly describe the band's sound. Fighting the throwback act tag, their set was exquisitely timeless. Plus, the entire band was by far the best dressed of the entire weekend.

I made my way back over to the Quad Stage for my most anticipated act of the festival, Benjamin Booker. For an act to play one of the most prestigious festivals around without an album out, and with this much hype behind him, he better be amazing. Booker destroyed my expectations and rocked the entire crowd. Declaring right from the start that this wouldn't be a folk show, Booker delivered on his promise. His 3 piece band played harder than any other act I've seen in my 8 years of attending Newport, showing what Nirvana could have sounded like if Kurt Cobain had explored his blues influences more. He had the entire Quad Stage crowd up on their feet through almost his entire set, of which the highlight was "Have You Seen My Son." It was an interesting choice to slow it down with more mellow material for his last few songs, but it might have just been to bring us all down to earth for the rest of the day. His set was definitely the highlight of my weekend, if not year.

Houndmouth was up next on the Quad Stage. Led by the three way vocals of Matt Meyers, Katie Toupin, and Zak Appleby, I don't think I've ever seen a band have as much fun and play as loosely as they did on stage. Opening with a Funkadelic cover is always an interesting choice at a folk festival, but they made it their own and pulled it off. "Penitentiary" was just a revelation live and their pure joy at playing was contagious. After missing their set last year, it was spectacular to catch them this time around. I'll be keeping an eye out for them when they come around on their own, hopefully as soon as possible. 

Unfortunately, my desire to catch everything made my head down to the Fort Stage for Deer Tick. They've been involved with the festival for 5 straight years, and this was their main stage debut. To celebrate, the band took the stage decked in white tuxedos and yacht hats with a horn section. It was a triumphant set, with the biggest singalong of the weekend during "Ashamed." I don't think any band has come as far as they have since their debut at the Harbor Stage from bar band to overtaking an entire festival. I give it 2 more years until they're headlining the whole thing.

Of course, I wasn't able to catch all of Deer Tick since I had to make it over to the Harbor Stage for Lucius. It took me a while to warm to Lucius, but they officially won me over with their set on Saturday. They brought an updated version of 60s girl group pop to the festival and delighted the crowd. Their matching outfits and makeup can seem too gimmicky at times, but they clearly have chops, playing everything from keyboards to drums during their set. Mavis Staples even joined them for a rendition of "Go Home." When you can win over Mavis, you're doing something right. It was just another set of pure fun.

Puss n Boots closed out the Harbor Stage on Saturday. Norah Jones was the obvious draw for most in attendance, but they are truly a 3 person band with Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper as equal members. I've never truly understood the Norah Jones thing, but she may have truly found her calling in an all female country band that plays Neil Young and Wilco covers. They were also joined by Mavis Staples for "Twilight." The crowd might have come for the A-list star, but they got a great performance from a band that I hope is around for a while.

Jack White closed out the Fort Stage and the night. Playing an absolutely firey set filled with more White Stripes songs than I could have expected ("Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground," "Hotel Yorba," "Ball and Biscuit"), he found new life with well known songs. It took a bit to accept that he has a top professional backing band, and some of the charm of The White Stripes is lost without Meg on drums, but you quickly got over it and just enjoyed the music. White made a comment that Newport was the first time in 12 years he could walk around a festival and just enjoy music without being bothered. And it was true. He was a regular fixture all day, walking around with John C. Reilly, and watching sets like Benjamin Booker. It's one of the truly magical things about the Newport Folk Festival. It's a huge name festival, but it's still as small and intimate as a club show. It's more of a community than an event.

Check back soon for our take on Sunday's edition of the Newport Folk Festival.

First Listen: New Releases for July 28

Not a very long release list this week, but still some goodies.

Jenny Lewis - The Voyager: I cheated a bit on this one, folks. My goal with this is twofold - to highlight new releases and to give a quick judgement of sorts on them. I couldn't do that with this album, as it's a pretty layered affair with a lot of moving parts, and I discuss The Voyager, Lewis's third solo album, with three listens under my belt so far. This album absolutely gets better as more time is spent with it - Lewis's crystal clear voice can be a little jarring depending on the song, and it takes a while to really settle in for what it is. In the end, this is an album that really balances out the sounds from her first two solo albums with some of the better pop sensibilities of the Jenny and Johnny project from a few years ago. There are a number of great songs here, and this is an album that's probably going to end up on some year-end lists. Definitely recommended if you like music.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Hypnotic Eye: It's easy to write off Tom Petty as a legacy act, having been going full bore since the 1970s. Is a lot of his new stuff as good as some of the classics? No, of course not, but the latest album still works as a great piece of straightforward rock music. It sounds like Tom Petty, and, ultimately, that might be all that actually matters. Because it's Tom Petty, it's worth a listen. Because it's good, you might give it a few more.

The Muffs - Whoop Dee Doo: The Muffs are reformed after an aborted situation with The Pixies to offer the grungiest grunge album you're likely to hear this year. It sounds straight out of the mid-1990s, which I'm sure is the point, and is something I really ended up liking a lot more than I thought I would. Let's be honest, the newer Pixies material we've heard of late has been terrible, so why not give some love to something good instead, right?

Stardeath and White Dwarfs - Wastoid: I know S&WD more through The Flaming Lips (S&WD member Dennis Coyne is Wayne Coyne's nephew), and the type of psychedelic experimental... whatever it is they've done has been very hit or miss for me. Wastoid is a surprise in that it is much more straightforward affair. It's different, it has a wide dynamic range, but it's also not strange while still retaining some of those qualities. I was shocked to enjoy this as much as I did, and I truly hope it has some staying power.

Monday Mix: Best Songs of July 2014

With another month out of the way (and with the knowledge that there are a few interesting releases out tomorrow), I figured a look back at some of the better songs of the last month might be worth a look. Maybe you missed them when they first came out, and maybe we missed them, but these are 20 of the most essential songs from some of the best releases of the month. Enjoy!

First Listen: New Releases for July 22

A pretty stacked week this week for releases.

Got a Girl - I Love You But I Must Drive Off of This Cliff Now: Got a Girl, the Dan the Automator/Mary Elizabeth Winstead project has been highlighted here at the blog before, and now that we have a full-length album, we can hear how well the initial song release matches the album. Overall, Ken is right that it feels a lot like the Lovage project, and while it may be a tad too long for my ears, there is more than enough here to really enjoy as a lounge-style electronic piece, and Winstead more than holds her own as a singer (which can be dicey for actors and actresses who try to cross over). Definitely worth putting in your rotation.

Alvvays - Alvvays: I hate their name, and there's not exactly new ground forged in the debut album from Alvvays, but there's something very pleasant and reliable here that I appreciate. Polyvinyl specializes in this sort of indie pop, and Alvvays, even with the amount of hype and buzz they're received in indie circles, delivers a pretty great first album on a whole. Reminds me of the indie rock I came to love to start, so that's always great. Certainly a good start from this band.

La Roux - Trouble in Paradise: It's been five years since we've heard new music from La Roux. Since then, "Bulletproof" became more popular, the duo went through some lineup changes, and now we get an excellent-sounding electropop album that at least made me feel like they hadn't missed a beat. "Let Me Down Gently" is an early favorite for me, but this is absolutely one of the better electropop albums we're going to hear this year, and if you enjoy this sort of thing, it's worth a listen.

The Raveonettes - Pe'hai: The Raveonettes surprised everyone this week with a new album, their first in a couple years. While they're still a long way from doing entire albums in one key or trying to ape 1950s rock music, this does feel very much like a standard Raveonettes album we've come to expect. "Killer in the Streets" in particular jumps out at me as a solid song, and it didn't feel like there was a weak spot throughout. Where this will sit in the Raveonettes discography remains to be seen, but for now, this is a welcome surprise this week.

Nightmare and the Cat - Simple: Nightmare and the Cat actually reminds me of old Feeder in a sense. It's radio-friendly, indie-rock-on-a-major-sounding music, and it absolutely has its place, but this is one of those areas where the solid songwriting and catchy hooks, at least for me, got overshadowed by the polish. I can see these guys getting moderately big at some point and us tiring of it quickly because of the production values, but in terms of what they do, the album is pretty solid. If you're looking for a left-of-center album for your cookouts that might be tolerated by your guests, this could do the trick, but know what you're getting into.

The Black Angels - Clear Lake Forest: This one came as a surprise to me this week, as this is exactly what you'd expect from a modern retro act that's playing it straight as opposed to a lot of the other retro acts out there. This seven song EP sounds like an old psych record updated for modern times, and it's really great. This is a must-listen for this week, for sure.

PS I Love You - For Those Who Stay: My pick of album of the week is the new PS I Love You, which continues what has been a really solid run of albums by the band. This one feels a lot more urgent, a lot more immediate, and is a great mix of indie sensibility and outright rock. Truly, there's nothing to dislike about this at all, and it's making me start to wonder why I don't think of them more often when I'm looking for something like this to listen to. Should be a mandatory listen for everyone this week.

Field Mouse - Hold Still Life: Ken has been following Field Mouse for a while now, and their debut album has landed. I saw one description as something like a modern Velocity Girl, and there's a lot to that comparison. The album is a nice swig of 1990s indie-pop goodness with some shoegaze mixed in for good measure. This one might end up being a grower for me, but it's good to know that they're getting better with time as well. Definitely give this a shot.

Dom Flemons - Prospect Hill: As the members of the Carolina Chocolate Drops continue to release solo pieces, I have to say that this is one of the better folk records I've heard in a while. Flemons left the group last year, and his first release as a solo artist involves some modern takes on old folk, jazz, and ragtime songs. There are a lot of gems here, and some nice surprises for those who have listened to bits and pieces of the old American songbook. It's like a really fun history lesson, and I hope this gets released on Spotify soon, before it disappears from Soundcloud.

Download Free Music From Shovels & Rope!

To prepare fans for the upcoming release of their new album (Swimmin' Time, due out August 25), Shovels & Rope have released the Swimmin' Time Primer for free through Noisetrade! The six songs come from the upcoming album, their debut (O' Be Joyful), and other previously unreleased music. It also includes the first single from Swimmin' Time, "The Devil is All Around," and their collaboration with J Roddy Walston, "Boys Can Never Tell." Based on "The Devil is All Around," the new album features even more of their hyped up rockabilly and alt-country. Plus, everyone loves free music!

To download your copy of Swimmin' Time Primer, head over to Noisetrade. It will cost you your email address, but Noisetrade is totally worth it. For more info on Shovels & Rope and tour dates (including the 2014 Newport Folk Festival!), check out their website.