The last week of new releases in April. Info and links for the ones you want to know about most below, plus some other ones you may not have heard of (but should know), with audio & video for your listening and viewing pleasure. Click here to see releases from the past several weeks…Damon Albarn, Everyday Robots (Warner Bros.)
If the name sounds familiar, you know him because he fronts UK alt rock band Blur and is the key mastermind behind Gorillaz, not to mention having his fingers in innumerable projects and collaborations, and producing loads of other bands. This is Albarn's debut solo outing, recorded at his West London studio and produced by Richard Russell. Guests include Brian Eno and Natasha Khan (Bat For Lashes). Video for latest track "Heavy Seas Of Love" below.
Edward David Anderson, Lies & Wishes (The Royal Potato Family)
Anti-Mortem, New Southern (Nuclear Blast Records)
Autopsy, Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves (Peaceville Records)
Nat Baldwin, In The Hollows (Western Vinyl)
The bass player for Dirty Projectors presents an ambitious collection of new tracks featuring recruits Otto Hauser (Vetiver, Lia Ices, Espers) on drums and percussion, and Rob Moose (The National, Antony and the Johnsons, Bon Iver) to write string arrangements.
Olga Bell, Krai (New Amsterdam Records)
Moscow-born, Alaska-raised, New York-based composer Bell presents a sophomore full-length described as a 12-person electro-acoustic song cycle about nine frontier territories in Russia, performed entirely in Russian. Pitchfork.com is streaming the album in full here, but you can check out a track now, "PERM KRAI / ПЕРМСКИЙКРАЙ" after the jump... I admit, it's rather intriguing - sounds like there's more than one song playing at once and I don't know what the fuck she's saying without the lyrical translation...
Ben Watt, Hendra (Unmade Road)
[Formerly of Everything But The Girl]
Brody Dalle, Diploid Love (Caroline International)
Really reminiscent of early Hole, before Courtney Love got all crackhead craycray. And a little more grungy and droning, but also with some really full, horn-blasted urgency in the vein of TV on the Radio. I dig. You can listen to her full album here on NPR. In the mean time, check out a 13-plus minute album sampler below.
Broken Twin, May (ANTI-)
Elephant, Sky Swimming (Memphis Industries)
Eli Paperboy Reed, Nights Like This (Warner Bros.)
Neo soul meets light Motown and gospel throwback with definite pop appeal.
Ex-Cult, Midnight Passenger (Goner Records)
Floor, Oblation (Season of Mist)
The Howlin' Brothers, Trouble (Readymade)
Howlin Rain, Live Rain (Silver Current)
Jeffertitti's Nile, The Electric Hour (Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records)
The Father John Misty bassist issues the second album with his project, with special guests on tap like drummer Josh Tillman (Father John Misty/Fleet Foxes) and Jonny Bell (Crystal Antlers) on saxophone to help created his so-called “Transcendental Space-Punk Doo Wop” ... "Blue Spirit Blues" below.
Jackiem Joyner, Evolve (Artistry Music/Mack Avenue Records)
Ray LaMontagne, Supernova (RCA)
Ah, Ray, how you know how to serenade with such blissful bearded husky sweetness. Fifth album has some striding folk rock numbers like the hip-swaggering, organ groove-vibing title track that channels the '60s psychedelic British invasion sound, reflecting his evolving sonic direction. The video by Australian animator Lucy Dyson was created using cutout paper-doll images that follow a boy and girl through surreal landscapes and situations. Arcade Fire stage-design collaborator Maureen Towey craft the subdued, moodily lit look of his full-band outing set to begin May 27 and lands at Ruth Eckerd Hall on July 12. Trippy aforementioned video below.
Lindsey Stirling, Shatter Me (Lindsey Stomp Music)
The Milk Carton Kids, Live from Lincoln Theatre DVD (ANTI-)
Miss May I, Rise Of The Lion (Rise Records)
Old 97s, Most Messed Up (ATO)
Pigeon John, Encino Man (The Telephone Co/MRI/RED)
Pink Mountaintops, Get Back (Jagjaguwar)
Pixies, Indie Cindy (PIAS)
The alt rock behemoths issue their first album of new material since 1991's Trompe Le Monde; the album is also being issued as a 2CD Deluxe Boxset that includes a 13-track bonus live disc, recorded on Pixies Winter 2014 tour, a casebound book with 40-page booklet with original art by Vaughn Oliver.
The Revere, Behold, The Sea Itself! (Rock Ridge Music)
Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Phosphorescent Harvest (Silver Arrow)
Rodrigo y Gabriela, 9 Dead Alive (ATO)
The nimble-fingered acoustic guitar rock duo from Mexico deliver a fourth full-length video. Guitarist Rodrigo Sanchez told Rolling Stone that first single"The Soundmaker," pays tribute to Antonio de Torres Jurado, a luthier from the 18th century, "...his contribution to the world was to give the classical guitar the shape we know it now. If it wasn't for him, this album wouldn't even exist." Take a listen below.
Saliva, Rise Up (Rum Bum Records)
Secret Colours, Positive Distractions Part II EP (self-release)
The String Cheese Incident, Song In My Head (SCI Fidelity)
Styles P, Phantom and The Ghost (Empire Dist.)
Thee Oh Sees, Drop (Castleface)
Read what Adam has to say about this latest from the indie garage outfit here.
Timeflies, After Hours (Island)
There's something mildly intriguing about this hip hop duo, though they've gotten a little too pop electro since their 2011 debut, The Scotch Tape. They perform at this weekend's Big Guava Music Festival this Sun., May 4.
Chad VanGaalen, Shrink Dust (Sub Pop)
The fifth album from Calgary, Alberta's multi-instrumentalist, lo-fi sonic sculptor and warped-sonics producer Van Gaalen, who wanted to score a science fiction film so started making one; the first episode of his animated feature, Translated Log of Inhabitants, is due out sometime later this year. In the meantime, he issues this LP, a partial score to the film, but also, according to VanGaalen, a country record. In sum, "It’s like Bob and Doug McKenzie in space.” Experiments on aluminum pedal steel guitar, explorations on themes of death, transformation, fear, benign evil, and the eccentricity of love, and influences ranging from the Flying Burrito Brothers, to the sci-fi mysticism of 80s-era graphic novel The Incal by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius make for one heady listening experience. Check out "Where Are You?" below.
Whitechapel, Our Endless War (Metal Blade)
Wovenhand, Refractory Obdurate (Deathwish Inc. / Glitterhouse Records)
Wye Oak, Shriek (Merge)