The second week of new releases in May features some giant names, both dead and alive. 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…Amen Dunes, Love (Sacred Bones)
Tori Amos, Unrepentant Geraldines (Mercury Classics)
The piano-banging songstress and the first female artist I really loved — were Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink really that long ago? — presents her 14th studio LP. She also stops at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Aug. 22.
Kyle Andrews, One Plus One EP (self-release)
Joseph Arthur, Lou (Vanguard)
Bane, Don't Wait Up (Equal Vision Records)
The Black Keys, Turn Blue (Nonesuch)
Who would've thought the garage-blues twosome from Akron, Ohio would get big enough to play arena-sized venues? I certainly didn't the first time I saw them at Skipper's back in '05, though that date was magical (and far more intimate than any Keys concert I've seen since). This is the eighth studio LP from the Dan Auerbach-led outfit filled out with aux players now in addition to drummer Patrick Carney; this album was co-produced by Danger Mouse.
Blondie, Ghosts Of Download (Nobel ID)
Blueprint, Respect the Architect (Weightless)
Cheap Girls, Famous Graves (Xtra Mile)
Chromeo, White Women (Big Beat/WEA)
Dylan Gardner, Adventures In Real Time (self-release)
Guided by Voices, Cool Planet 9GBV)
Are you really surprised to see that Robert Pollard & Co. are releasing yet another new album? This is their sixth in the past two years...
Hiss Tracts, Shortwave Nights (Constellation Records)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor's David Bryant and Growing/Total Life member Kevin Doria.
Michael Jackson, Xscape (Epic)
The second posthumous release from the late pop star, this one curated and executively produced by Epic Records chairman L.A. Reid himself. Timbaland and a team of record producers (Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon, John McClain, and Rodney Jerkins among others) were brought on to retool and modernize the eight selected tracks. Jerkins produced the title song and is the only original song producer to work on the final productions.
Killer Be Killed, Killer Be Killed (Nuclear Blast)
A new hardcore punk supergroup featuring Max Cavalera (Soulfly), Greg Puciato (the Dillinger Escape Plan), Troy Sanders (Mastodon) and Dave Elitch (formerly of the Mars Volta).
Kishi Bashi, Lighght (Joyful Noise Recordings)
This might be the most delightful and surprising music I've heard in a while, instantly uplifting and a rather innovative use of classical instrumentation, loops and synthesizers, skewed into bright folk pop at some moments, and more straightforward rubber-band bouncy dance pop during others, and into places not resembling either, with crazy pitch-shifted samples, strings and pretty McCartney-esque vocal stylings. The creator is K. Ishibashi and this is his orchestral solo project; he plays violin, keys and guitar, and he's versed in looping and programming, too. Adorable, eye-popping video for the lush "Philosophize in It! Chemicalize with It!" below...
La Sera, Hour Of The Dawn (Hardly Art)
Little Dragon, Nabuma Rubberband (Loma Vista)
The jazz-hued synth-dance group led by sultry-voiced Yukimi Nagano issue a fourth full-length of groove-vibing tunes. Video for first single "Klapp Klapp" below.
Major Lazer, Apocalypse Soon EP (Secretly Canadian / Mad Decent)
The latest collaborations in the Diplo-fronted electro music project include Pharrell Williams, Michael Montano and Sean Paul. Check out "Aerosol Can" featuring Williams below.
Walter Martin, We're All Young Together (Family Jukebox)
I don't follow The Walkmen, but this track from the in-hiatus-band's organist/bassist, a duet with Karen O., "Sing to Me," is just darling, so sweet it almost hurts the teeth. Another track, "We Like the Zoo," is rather charming as well. According to Martin in a statement, "I'm calling it a family record and I tried to fill it with warmth and humor because that's the kind of art I like - stuff that makes everyone feel welcome," he says. "To me it's a serious record disguised as a not serious record."
Me First and The Gimme Gimmes, Are We Not Men We Are Diva (Fat Wreck Chords)
Mirah, Changing Light (Absolute Magnitude Recordings/K Records)
Dolly Parton, Blue Smoke (Dolly Records/Sony)
Swans, To Be Kind (Young God Records/Mute)
Sylvan Esso, Sylvan Esso (Partisan Records)
Another intriguing release this week, that has the potential to be a favorite. Sylvan Esso is vocalist Amelia Meath and electro producer Nick Sanborn, their sound is melody-rich experimental electro-pop tastiness with multi-tracked and layered vocals, percussion, beats and various other sonic accoutrements, recorded in Sanborn’s Durham, N.C. bedroom. In the vein of TuneYards. "Coffee" below.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Days of Abandon (Yebo Music)
The Trouble with Templeton, Rookie (Bella Union)
Thine, The Dead City Blueprint (Peaceville)
Tobacco, Ultima II Massage (Ghostly International)
Various Artists, I Saved Latin! A Tribute To Wes Anderson (American Laundrymat Records)
A 23-song, double-disc album comprising covers of songs from Anderson films Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic, Darjeeling Limited, and others. Among the artists that recorded said covers are Generationals, Juliana Hatfield, Freelance Whales, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, and Mike Watt & The Secondmen.
Weatherbox, Flies In All Directions (Favorite Gentlemen/Triple Crown Records)
Kristeen Young, The Knife Shift (self-release)
The hot art rock songstress who's supporters and co-producers include Tony Visconti (of David Bowie's The Next Day) and Dave Grohl plays on drums on the full record and guitar on five tracks. Likened to Sleater-Kinney and Kate Bush.
Young Widows, Easy Pain (Temporary Residence Ltd.)
WAR, Evolutionary (Far Out Records/UMe)
The first record of new material from the multi-ethnic band that came up in the 1970s features guest collabs with Cheech & Chong, Tower of Power, Joe Walsh, Malik Yusef, and the USC Marching Band.