CDs:
A Life Once Lost – Ecstatic Trance CD (Season Of Mist)
New from the metalcore band. Vinyl version due November 6.
Oren Ambarchi/Robin Fox – Connected CD/LP (Kranky)
This release brings together two of the most extraordinary artist/musicians working in Australia today and here they join forces to produce powerful music that fuses Oren Ambarchi’s legendary guitar sound with Robin Fox’s mathematically rigorous tones and textures, resulting in sound works that stretch in scope from the sublime and spacious to the intensely dense and foreboding.
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Lost Songs CD/LP (Superball)
Eighth studio album is dedicated to Pussy Riot and inspired by “the apathy to real world events that has plagued the independent music scene now for over a decade,” according to singer/multi-instrumentalist Conrad Keely.
A.R. Kane – The Complete Singles Collection CD (One Little Indian)
Some late-‘80sgroups (My Bloody Valentine, Pixies) have maintained a high profile, while
others, considered their contemporary equals, have faded into the background (A.R. Kane, Throwing Muses). Hopefully this long-overdue collection of A.R. Kane’s EPs and singles, which has arrived — funny coincidence — the same year as MBV’s own EPs compilation, will serve to redress this injustice.
Paul Banks – Banks CD/LP+MP3 (Matador)
Interpol’s lead singer and guitarist finally steps fully out from behind his Julian Plenti alter-ego on his second solo album. It’s a tour-de-force of mechanized, minor-key intensity.
Bardo Pond – Yntra CD/LP (Latitudes)
Still incredibly thick with their battery of guitars and unrelenting signature groove riding merrily along underneath, Bardo Pond, true to their name, manage to balance their sound exquisitely between polar extremes.
Bat For Lashes – The Haunted Man CD/2xLP+CD (Astralwerks)
Third album by British singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and visual artist Natasha Khan. Album opener “Laura” was named Best New Track by Pitchfork.
Tony Bennett – Viva Duets CD (Sony)
Viva Duets finds Bennett performing his greatest hits with a celebrated roster of artists including Marc Anthony, Miguel Bose, Roberto Carlos, Ana Carolina, Chayanne, Franco DeVita, Gloria Estefan, Vicente Fernandez, Maria Gadu, Juan Luis Guerra, Dani Martin, Romeo Santos, Thalma and Vicentico, with additional duet guests to be announced.
Blackbird Blackbird – Boracay Planet CD (Lavish Habits)
Blackbird Blackbird is the moniker of San Francisco-based wünderkind Mikey Maramag. His unique style of dreamy folktronica recalls influences from all ends of the musical spectrum; deeply textured, hypnotic songs pay homage to psychedelic pop of the likes of Caribou and Washed Out, while the warmth of analogue instrumentation spliced with digital artifacts hints at contemporaries James Blake, Four Tet and Mount Kimbie.
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Cobra Juicy CD/LP (Rad Cult)
BMSR’s fifth album declares death to hippies, excising all things flower power and tightening up what sprawl there was into a nastily bright pile of fuzzed guitar, live bass, hot synths, and stubby rhythms.
