CDs:
Ages And Ages – Divisionary CD/LP (Partisan)
“On the surface, Ages And Ages’ sophomore release, Divisionary, might appear to shine with as much bright optimism as the band’s debut album, 2011’s Alright You Restless. Bringing to mind childhood summer camp—the good one, not the one where you got 17 mosquito bites on your face—the music remains focused on the tight, soaring vocal harmonies of the group’s seven members, rising and falling with the vibrant acoustic guitars, shakers, hand claps and driving bass drum.” – Willamette Week
Tetuzi Akiyama and Anla Courtis – Naranja Songs CD (Public Eyesore)
The guitar is one of the most abused and overplayed instruments on the planet. Most guitarists use so many notes when so few are actually necessary. That is perhaps why Naranja Songs sounds so completely and totally out of place. Although this is a guitar album, it presents the instrument in a way in which it is rarely heard. The instrument is played very methodically and slowly with more of an emphasis on individual sounds and notes than melodies. These compositions sound something like a cross between modern jazz, minimalist noise, ambient, and modern classical.
Animals As Leaders – The Joy Of Motion CD (Sumerian)
Having given the instrumental prog-metal envelope a serious push with their first two records—2009’s Animals As Leaders and 2011’s Weightless—Tosin Abasi and longtime guitar partner Javier Reyes take their virtuoso approach to the next level on The Joy Of Motion.
Asia – Gravitas CD/CD+DVD (Frontiers)
32 years after their wildly popular self-titled debut, the legendary British rock band returns with a brand new studio album. Available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe adds two bonus tracks and a DVD with a video for first single “Valkyrie,” behind-the-scenes footage and three Asia classics recorded live with a full symphonic orchestra in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Aztec Camera – High Land, Hard Rain [Reissue/1983] 2xCD (Domino)
In his liner notes for this expanded reissue, David Fricke calls High Land, Hard Rain “ten songs of anxious yearning, romantic urgency, big hurt and hard-won learning, distilled into compact dramas of buckskin-folk jangle and skewed-pop elegance.” Includes a second disc of rare live and studio tracks, including alternate mixes.
The Bad Plus – The Rite Of Spring CD (Sony Masterworks)
With a reputation for deconstructing popular songs and the avant-garde, it seems natural for the bad boys of jazz, The Bad Plus, to record their version of Stravinsky’s controversial masterpiece The Rite Of Spring.
Barren Harvest – Subtle Cruelties CD/LP (Handmade Birds)
Barren Harvest is a somber, ethereal collaboration between Lenny Smith (Atriarch) and Jessica Way (Worm Ouroboros). The music composed by these two creative veterans is cold and bright, pierced by measured silence and whispering tones, swells of synth, haunting guitars and autoharp. Dark, refined neo-folk meets ambient post-punk in a ghostly fog as dual voices lament lost loves, decaying flesh, and Nature’s fragile beauty.
The Baseball Project – 3rd CD/2xLP+CD+MP3 (Yep Roc)
Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Scott McCaughey (Minus 5), Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Linda Pitmon and Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate) continue their tradition of inspired rock songs that provide passionately funny and sarcastically reverent commentary on the sport of baseball.
The Belle Brigade – Just Because CD/LP (ATO)
Founded by siblings Barbara and Ethan Gruska, The Belle Brigade’s music is artfully arranged, with enticing melodies and pop harmonies, fueled by the interplay of driving rhythms between Barbara’s drums and Ethan’s guitars. Both are gifted songwriters finding inspiration in the works of Peter Gabriel, John Lennon, The Beach Boys, Sly Stone, Harry Nilsson and countless others.
Big Scary – Not Art CD/LP (Barsuk)
The story of Big Scary begins in Melbourne, Australia, where duo Tom Iansek and Jo Syme, armed with just acoustic guitars and egg shakers, started playing songs together in the living room of Syme’s parents’ house, gradually working up to a bolder, more expansive sound by incorporating electric guitars, drums, synths and piano. What began as a few rainy day acoustic ballads in their first incarnation soon grew, and before long, the newly named Big Scary were writing anything they pleased — fuzzed-out garage rock; piano-led pop; intricate, pastoral instrumentals — each imbued with an effortless pop sensibility and lightness of touch that would quickly see the duo attract a strong following in their home country.
Black Hat – Thought Of Two CD/LP (Hausu Mountain)
Spread informally across underground networks, learned by hearing and watching one’s influences in action, possessed of as many unique voices as artists – the experimental electronic and noise/drone movements constitute contemporary incarnations of “folk” music, with knobs, oscillators, and patch cables in the place of acoustic guitars and harmonicas. As these movements flourish and overlap, the music that Nelson Bean makes as Black Hat emerges as a bold addition to the expanding center of the Venn Diagram.
Boy George – This Is What I Do CD (Very Me Records/Kobalt)
New album from the British singer/songwriter and ’80s icon best known for his work with Culture Club. This Is What I Do features writing collaborations with producer Youth, and a version of Yoko Ono’s “Death Of Samantha,” and features a string of guest musicians including DJ Yoda, Kitty Durham (Kitty Daisy & Lewis), Ally McErlaine (Texas/Red Sky July), MC Spee (Dreadzone) and Nizar Al Issa.
Burnt Ones – Gift CD/LP (Castle Face)
A potent blend of wide-eyed strummers on shifting sands is punctuated by blinking oscillators, left turns into wispy sound collage and tape manipulations, drug-rug-wrapped lushness and telephone whispers from a supremely stoned sounding Mark Tester, the guide through this cultish and vaguely sinister headphone-scape.
