CDs + Vinyl:

A Skylit Drive – ASD CD (Tragic Hero)
New album from the California post-hardcore band.

Alex G. – Beach Music CD/LP+MP3 (Domino)
“Alex Giannascoli, more commonly known as Alex G, is a lo-fi bedroom pop artist from Pennsylvania. Although he has tons of albums currently on Bandcamp, Beach Music is his first released under the record label Domino Recording Company. Beach Music features the same good old Alex G with smooth and fuzzy vocals, but this time introducing a variety of rhythms to the mix. With melodies ranging from ‘80s crime drama theme songs’ to ‘blues-influenced western steel guitar,’ Beach Music gives a dreamy and effervescent performance. Beach Music is a mashup of everything: genres, melodies, vocals, rhythms, you name it. Every song contains at least two different types of each, which normally should not go together so well. Alex G manages to bring together harmonies with styles of music in a way that flows from song to song in a continuous motion, with each element building on the other throughout the album.” – VinylMag

Aliment – Silverback CD/LP+MP3 (La Castanya)
Furious and yet happy punk pop, a feeling of being alive, singing along with fists in the air and dancing wrapped in a wall of sound. The 10 songs on Silverback still sound urgent and energetic, yet have grown weightier, possessing a sense of nocturnal abandon fueled by alcohol. Tougher, more compact and even, perhaps, more grown-up, they sound similar to The Marked Men or the melodic power pop sensibility of a much heavier Pointed Sticks.

Tori Amos and Samuel Adamson – The Light Princess [Original Cast Recording] 2xCD (Mercury Classics)
With music and lyrics by Tori Amos and book and lyrics by Samuel Adamson and suggested by a story by George MacDonald, Amos weaves her delicately crafted music throughout the narrative, with Adamson poignantly telling the story of a young woman facing her fears. The Light Princess is the next chapter in Amos’s career, best described as “a huge triumph” by The Huffington Post. “Amos’s score has its own pulsating beauty, as if Philip Glass had been commissioned to score Cinderella.” — New York Times

The Beckies – The Beckies [Reissue/1976] CD (Real Gone Music)
CD release of this classic one-off album from The Beckies, the group led by Michael Brown of Left Banke, Montage, and Stories fame. Brown made a career out of melding classical motifs with rock, but here on what would turn out to be the last project to which he made a significant contribution the focus is definitely more on the latter. The Beckies fits right on the shelf with your Badfinger and Raspberries records, full of catchy tunes that in another era would have had a chance at significant radio play, but 1976 was the height of the disco craze, and therefore it sunk without a commercial trace.

Jason Boland and The Stragglers – Squelch CD (Proud Souls Entertainment)
Jason attributes his success to his determination to remain steadfast and true to the country music of old, avoiding the constant allure of what many consider watered down, cliché-driven songs that seem to dominate mainstream country radio today. Squelch, referring to the knob on wide-band radios that is used to keep the unwanted noise out, is exactly what this album represents. Eleven tracks of steel and fiddle driven country songs for the country music connoisseur.

Boy & Bear – Limit Of Love CD (Nettwerk)
For their third album, Limit Of Love, Australian quintet Boy & Bear teamed up with producer Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams, Kings Of Leon, Kaiser Chiefs) at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studio recording live in the studio, straight to tape, with virtually no overdubs. They have been named one of USA Today’s “5 Australian Acts You Need To Know Now.” According to the album’s press release, Limit Of Love is “a dirty, danceable, synth-tinged romp.” Vinyl due November 6.
[Read more…] about New Releases for October 9, 2015

CDs + Vinyl:

Davie Allan & The Arrows – 50^th Anniversary CD (Curb)
Davie Allan & The Arrows had their first hit in 1965 with Apache 65, and this album celebrates the 50 years of Davie Allan & The Arrows that followed.

ALO – Tangle Of Time CD/LP (Brushfire)
Jam-packed with freewheeling exuberance and deft songwriting, Tangle Of Time features tracks penned by each of the band’s four members who individually take stock in life, love, and family and combine their musings with a healthy dose of humor. A jubilant collection of songs that evoke the California cool of ‘70s pop/rock while embracing the in-the-moment improv that has propelled the band for almost two decades. Although there is a distinct songwriting voice that can be heard on each track, the band’s collective efforts string the album into an unmistakably ALO offering.

Amateur Best – The Gleaners CD/LP (Brille/PIAS)
Amateur Best is the alias of Birmingham-based “personal pop” musician, songwriter, and producer Joe Flory. Flory has come a long way since his beginnings making major label pop music as Primary 1. Following the release of No Thrills and tours of Europe playing drums with Chilly Gonzales & The Kaiser Quartett, Flory made a move from the bustle of London to his current home in Birmingham in order to hone his songwriting and production talents, perfecting a melodic, crystal clear style of vocal pop. It’s a style that draws on the electronica of Cassius’s Au Reve, the soundtrack work of Michael Nyman, the intricate layering of The Avalanches, and the experimental pop of David Sylvian and Ryuchi Sakamoto.

Aqua Nebula Oscillator – Friday The 13^th CD (Cleopatra)
US debut from French funkadelic occult rock band.

Audiotopsy – Natural Causes CD (Napalm)
Former members of Mudvayne, Hellyeah and Skrape have joined to follow old instincts and at the same time create their own unique version of heavy modern sounds with Natural Causes.

Autre Ne Veut – Age Of Transparency CD/LP (Downtown)
“Along with artists like How To Dress Well and Holy Other, Autre Ne Veut makes music that’s sometimes categorized as ‘PBR&B,’ suggesting a point where indie pop (ironically) meets modern R&B. Autre Ne Veut’s Arthur Ashin uses R&B tropes in his music, but rather than soundtrack a romantic moment, the songs instead voice the anxious thoughts that surround love. So while most R&B singers prowl the register somewhere between a pillow-talk purr and a sultry croon, only scaling upward toward a voice-cracking, la petite mort falsetto for emphasis, Ashin has his voice begin on the other side of that crack.” – NPR

Avicii – Stories CD (Island)
Sophomore album from the Swedish DJ featuring guest appearances by Zac Brown Band, Chris Martin and Martin Garrix. Vinyl version due October 30.

Bad Company – Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy: The Very Best Of Bad Company CD (Atlantic)
This 19-track collection spans 1974 and 1982 and features many of group s best-loved songs remastered, including “Can’t Get Enough,” “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and “Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy.”

Bixiga 70 – III CD/LP (Glitterbeat)
There is no doubt that Bixiga 70 is one of the guiding voices of Brazil’s contemporary instrumental music scene and their new album III clearly demonstrates why.

The Black Lillies – Hard To Please CD/LP (Attack Monkey Productions)
The Black Lillies is a band for the ages, not the slick, soulless music that seems to get most of the radio airplay, but rich, rootsy tunes performed with as much heart as technical virtuosity. This commitment to authenticity has earned them accolades from outlets as diverse as Rolling Stone Magazine, who calls them one of the most buzzworthy new acts in country and Americana, and the Wall Street Journal, who praised their rootsy flair… a winsome hybrid traditional enough to appeal to an Opry crowd and expansive enough to ensnare a broader audience.

Black Tambourines – Freedom CD/LP (Easy Action)
Black Tambourines is grounded in the ethos of DIY production and scuzzy, distorted garage-rock, but with ragged grooves and a sun-kissed haze.

Blitzen Trapper – All Across This Land CD/LP+MP3 (Vagrant)
“Touted as a return to the “classic” sound of the band, which man will associate with the 2008 breakthrough Furr, Portland folk-rockers Blitzen Trapper release their eighth album All Across This Land. If ever there was an indication that the record promises to be a return to the sunny, riff-oriented classic rock sounds the band has excelled at for so long, it’s the title track. Tapping into the sun-dappled sounds of early-‘70s blues rock, classic Laurel Canyon rock, and of course the perpetual influence of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, ‘All Across This Land’ is a perfect balm for the dog days of summer, its breezy optimism reflected in the accompanying ‘visualette.’ It’s the kind of track you want to blast in the car with the windows rolled down.” – Pop Matters

Mal Blum – You Look A Lot Like Me CD (Don Giovanni)
In many ways, You Look A Lot Like Me is a mental health record, written when Mal was at a low point, and re-worked and polished at a high one. It turned out to be essential in helping get out of a dark period of depression and Mal Blum hopes others will connect with these songs on a similar, personal level. Vinyl version due October 16.
[Read more…] about New Releases for October 2, 2015