CDs:

Anarbor – Burnout CD (Hopeless)

Sophomore album from the Phoenix pop-punk act.

Barenaked Ladies – Grinning Streak CD (Vanguard)

Barenaked Ladies deliver another batch of sunny pop/rock on their new album Grinning Streak, which features the single “Boomerang.”

George Benson – Inspiration: A Tribute To Nat King Cole CD (Concord)

Benson’s heartfelt renditions of some of Cole’s greatest songs with Nelson Riddle arrangements and the 42-piece Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra are complemented by duets with Tony Award winner Idina Menzel and rising star Judith Hill, along with a special collaboration with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

Big Black Delta – Big Black Delta CD/2xLP (Master Of Bates)

“If Jonathan Bates’ output as the founder and frontman of Mellowdrone constituted an experimental seven-part anthology, then his self-titled LP as Big Black Delta is a sonic prequel highlighting the many sources of inspiration for his earlier lo-fi project. Free of lyrics, guitars, and percussion, ‘PB3’ is an assortment of mellow synthesizer drones that evoke imagery of isolated exploration à la past-collaborator M83’s cinematic scores.” – Consequence Of Sound

Big Deal – June Gloom CD/LP (Mute)

Big Deal is a boy/girl indie pop duo comprised of Kacey Underwood (from California) and Alice Costelloe (from the UK). Their debut, Lights Out, was an understated one, centered around just two guitars (one electric, one acoustic) and their two voices. Quite understandably, especially for anyone who has seen Big Deal’s intimate, if almost coy, stage act, or listened to the band’s pining songs, audiences frequently mistake their working relationship for a romantic one.

Broncho – Can’t Get Past The Lips CD (Fairfax)

With echoes of The Replacements, Iggy and the Stooges and The Ramones, Broncho’s exuberant ten song debut Can’t Get Past The Lips is a blisteringly cathartic 20 minute flash of gritty, crunching guitar work supported by an assaultive rhythm section and made whole by songwriter Ryan Lindsey’s aggressive, yelping vocal work. Vinyl version due June 18.

Harold Budd – Jane 1-11 CD (Darla)

“Jane 1-11 is at least among Harold’s very best work and may be his all-time best. Start to finish, this is Harold at his most inspired and most tapped in to his unique gift. There is no other Harold Budd record on which he so strongly expresses his singular avant sensibility.”

Buika – La Noche Mas Larga CD (Warner Music Latina)

La Noche Mas Larga captures the fusion of jazz, Afro-Cuban and many more international music styles over eleven recordings comprised of new songs and also some classics, reworked and arranged to blend in with one of the most soulful voices in the globe. Recorded and mastered throughout Europe, Buika brought in some of the greatest musicians from the region as well as from Cuba.

[Read more…] about New Releases for June 4, 2013

CDs:

Airbourne – Black Dog Barking CD (Roadrunner)

There’s something about the kind of potent rock & roll fury that Airbourne cranks out, all cylinders firing, that makes you want to chug a beer straight down your throat and punch the air as though it’d touched your wife inappropriately.

Alpine – A Is For Alpine CD (TNO/Turnout)

“The angular meets the angelic with Alpine, a Melbourne-based band of art-pop Aussies who have delivered one of the most original and eclectic albums of the year. A Is For Alpine melds the dual-harmonized, pixie-ish vocals of frontwomen and longtime friends Lou James and Phoebe Baker with brisk, scattered beats and some ridiculously inventive guitar play” – Direct Current Music 

Baptist Generals – Jackleg Devotional To The Heart CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)

The Denton, TX band, known for its haunting, claustrophobic take on drunken folk, needed ten full years to bare its hearts for this sophomore LP. The band’s vibraphones, guitarrons and ambient feedback combine like a mess of ventricles, aortas and veins.

Bazooka – Bazooka LP (Slovenly)

Bazooka is a severely crusty unit from Athens, Greece. Perhaps the most savage crew of the incredibly corrosive rock & roll scene that includes Acid Baby Jesus and Gay Anniversary, they have concocted an evil, grungy stomper of an album.

The Beach Boys – Live: The 50^th Anniversary Tour 2xCD (Capitol)

Double-disc, 41-track live collection culled from the 50th anniversary reunion tour of The Beach Boys (Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks).

JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound – Howl CD/LP (Bloodshot)

New release from Chicago’s modern soul band. Throughout Howl, the dark side of love and longing is explored by frontman JC Brooks’ starkly personal lyrics and the Uptown Sound’s willingness to bare all their influences and let the grooves fall where they may. A collective evolution has been made where influence meets experience, and this organic progression results in 11 songs that are more open than ever both in message and vibe.

[Read more…] about New Releases for May 21, 2013

CDs:

Chris Abrahams – Memory Night CD (Room40)

Abrahams is the pianist for Australian liminal improvisation trio The Necks. Memory Night is what can only be described as a profound rendering of contemporary composition — a powerful yet delicate evocation of sound where instruments and electronics melt and are reformed.

Trace Adkins – Love Will CD (Show Dog)

This collection of sexy grooves, heart-wrenching ballads and up-tempo anthems about the world’s greatest emotion are worthy additions to Adkins long list of career hits.

Adult. – The Way Things Fall CD (Ghostly International)

The Way Things Fall, the band’s first full length since 2007’s Why Bother?, is a record that sounds both focused and coherent, flowing with a conceptual ease. Vinyl version due May 21.

Sam Amidon – Bright Sunny South CD (Nonesuch)

Bright Sunny South features a band made up of Bartlett and multi-instrumentalists Shahzad Ismaily and Chris Vatalaro. Jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler also makes a cameo. Amidon himself not only sings but also plays banjo, fiddle, acoustic guitar, and piano on the album.

Anamanaguchi – Endless Fantasy CD (Dream.Hax)

Anamanaguchi, the band behind Scott Pilgrim Vs.The World: The Game’s soundtrack, is back with their second full length album. Vinyl version due June 11.

Anonymous – Inside The Shadow [Reissue/1976] CD/LP (Machu Piccu)

This 1976 album combines the adventure of West Coast ballroom groups, the 12-string majesty of The Byrds, and breathtaking multi-part harmonies to forge something inimitable and one-of-a-kind.

Arckanum – Fenris Kindir CD/LP (Season Of Mist)

Sweden’s black metal troll Arckanum return with his eighth opus, Fenris Kindir. Equal parts ripping riffs and howled vocals from the edge of Ragnarok, the album expands on the darkness of Helvítismyrkr and finds them taking a battle-axe to the world.

Beaches – She Beats CD/LP (Chapter Music)

Second album from the sprawling Melbourne psych-rock five-piece.

Bibio – Silver Wilkinson CD/LP (Warp)

“Stephen Wilkinson seems to occupy his own universe. Using his home studio, the producer is able to craft warped, woozy nuggets of electronic pop music which seem to break rules you hadn’t even considered were capable of being broken.” – clashmusic.com

Blank Tapes – Vacation CD/LP+MP3 (Antenna Farm)

Blank Tapes is Matt Adams, a soft-spoken kid from a Southern California suburb who learned to play practically every instrument a good garage band needs, and then started making beautifully idiosyncratic records on his trusty home eight-track. Full of the kind of three-part harmonies the Wilson Brothers used to love, Vacation has songs that transplant the style and sentiment of immortals like Ray Davies and Robyn Hitchcock, Kris Kristofferson and Lou Reed, into modern garage pop.

Jason Boland And The Stragglers – Dark & Dirty Mile CD (Proud Souls)

New album from the old school country purists, co-produced with Shooter Jennings.

Boxer Rebellion – Promises CD/LP (INgrooves)

New studio album from London based indie rock quartet. Moving away from the more analog and darker soundscapes that enveloped the band’s previous album, Promises is a significant step in a different direction for the four-piece — a hi-fi, soaring piece of work that truly delivers on the band’s epic, signature sound, and individual skill as musicians.

Randall Bramblett – The Bright Spots CD (NWT)

Bramblett’s tenth studio album finds familiar territory with the Southern-driven funk and Americana soul he has long been known for. Vinyl version due June 4.

Brother JT – The Svelteness Of Boggietude CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)

Brother JT is Central, PA’s John Terlesky whose freewheeling boundless music has been released under many different monikers: Brother JT & Vibrolux, Brother JT3, and most commonly Brother JT. Brother JT is a moniker that finds Terlesky’s songwriting and ample guitar skills taking a decidedly psychedelic form but never deviating too far from the classic song structure.

The Svelteness Of Boogietude is a typical of JT s output in certain ways — rockers mixed with ballads, all of them crafted with casual elegance — but there are new elements here as well.

[Read more…] about New Releases for May 14, 2013