Social Media Program Titles Released This Week:

Dashboard Confessional – The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most [Reissue/2001] LP (Hidden Note)

Limited indie store exclusive orange/opaque colored vinyl pressing. “Of all the downtrodden intellectuals turning skate-punk into emo, Dashboard Confessional’s Christopher Carrabba is by far the most bruised. With just an acoustic guitar and some choice words, the Ben Folds sound-alike turns the concept of the love song on its head with The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most‘s torrent of poetic abuse aimed at girls who’ve taken advantage of his good nature. From “Saints And Sailors” (“This apartment is starving for an argument / Anything at all to break the silence”) to “The Good Fight” (“I claimed you as my only hope and watched the floor as you retreated”) to “Screaming Infidelities” (“So kiss me hard because this will be the last time I let you”), Carrabba is unapologetically bitter. Yet while his love life may be a tragic mess, the pure cathartic joy he derives from putting the ladies in question back in their place – evident from his venomous acoustic attacks – is unmistakable, infectious, and fantastically liberating. Wallowing in self-pity has seldom been so much fun.” – Dan Gennoe

Alain Johannes – Um CD/LP (Ipecac)

The third solo album from the Chilean-American multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, who is a founding member of several bands, including the alternative rock group Eleven, and has been involved with acts such as Queens Of The Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, PJ Harvey, Chris Cornell, Arctic Monkeys, Mark Lanegan and The Desert Sessions, both as a musician and as a producer.

L-Seven – L-Seven LP (Third Man)

L-Seven were a short-lived but foundational post-punk band from Detroit, MI. Active between 1980-83, L-Seven only ever officially released one 7″ on Touch And Go’s Special Forces, a division of Touch And Go Records designated for releases that were not just straight-ahead punk and hardcore. The band was formed by members of The Blind, Retro and Algebra Mothers and fiery singer Larissa Stolarchuk and are not to be confused with the similarly named L.A. grunge group L7 who would form a decade afterward. During their time together L-Seven was loved and respected by all the Detroit punk and hardcore bands. L-Seven is a collection of unreleased studio and live recordings.

The Psychedelic Furs – Made Of Rain CD/2xLP (Cooking Vinyl)

From its exhilarating opening bars, Made Of Rain – the first Psychedelic Furs album in nearly 30 years – sounds like them and them alone. It’s a joy to hear again, fresher than ever, that unique mesh of sounds and layers, that fusion of smooth and stark, of restraint and abandon, of melancholy and rage, of optimism and nihilism, of tough and tender. Their ageless charisma flows anew. The six-piece line-up has gelled into a groove-some, guileful beast. [Limited indie store exclusive vinyl pressing also available.]

[Read more…] about New Releases for July 31, 2020

Social Media Program Titles Released This Week:

Spoon – Soft Effects LP”+MP3 (Matador)

Out of print for nearly five years, Soft Effects has been remastered and reissued on vinyl. Soft Effects (1997) features five of Spoon’s strongest songs and marks a leap forward in the band’s repertoire, signaling the great things to come on subsequent Spoon albums. The vinyl repress features blue sky cover never before used in physical packaging.

August Listening Station Program Title Released This Week:

The Naked And Famous – Recover CD/2xLP (Somewhat Damaged)

The Naked And Famous’ new album Recover reasserts the duo as one of modern indie-pop’s most exciting sonic trailblazers, taking them to emotionally inspired depths, while maintaining their fresh effervescence. While they have sonically mastered the art of dreamy, hook-laden synth-pop, The Naked And Famous have stuck to their guns as far as intimate storytelling. Recover is largely an autobiographical record rooted in a powerful sentiment of survival, and of the very human process of self-preservation – of saving, choosing and celebrating oneself in a world constantly trying to put us down.

Thin Lear – Wooden Cave CD/LP (EggHunt/Clandestine)

Queens-based songwriter Matt Longo (aka Thin Lear) has always been drawn to the stories of forgotten eccentrics but never haunted by their subjects. And yet, upon the reading of 1920’s occultist Netta Fornario, and her misunderstood demise on a tiny island off Scotland, he unearthed the inspiration for a surreal and ethereal collection of songs, Wooden Cave. Pulling influence from the insular world of Astral Weeks, the melodic adventurousness of Harry Nilsson, and the eclecticism of Shuggie Otis, Thin Lear creates songs existing on a sonic and lyrical island of their own. The result is eleven tracks sprawling from ornate, warm ballads, to psychedelic-tinged folk, to propulsive grooves, brimming with melody and heart. Wooden Cave, written for outsiders like Netta, radiates with a sonic glow that harkens back to ‘70s-era studio obsessives, familiar and surprising in equal measure, like a face from a dream.

[Read more…] about New Releases for July 24, 2020

Social Media Program Titles Released This Week:

The Aces – Under My Influence CD/LP (Red Bull)

The Aces’ music is universally relatable and yet deeply personal, showcasing a confidence only time and true friendship can bring. the band has opened for 5 Seconds Of Summer, headlined its own tour, and spent a countless number of hours documenting everything in-between (and after) into music. “These songs are truly the stories of our lives. Under My Influence means so many things to us, but above all, it means unapologetically becoming who you are.” [Indie store exclusive red and black splatter colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Fionna Apple – Fetch The Bolt Cutters CD/2xLP (Epic)

Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and alt-rock icon Fiona Apple returns with her first album in nearly eight years. Following up 2012’s The Idler Wheel, the raw and percussion-heavy Fetch The Bolt Cutters has earned instant acclaim as one of the best records of the 2020 and some of the finest work of her career. It takes its name from a line in the British police procedural The Fall spoken by star Gillian Anderson, but Apple explains that, “Really, what it’s about is not being afraid to speak.” She produced the adventurous 13-track collection herself and recorded it at her Venice Beach, CA home studio with drummer Amy Aileen Wood, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, guitarist Davíd Garza and Cara Delevingne singing harmonies. Biting yet buoyant, Fiona’s elastic turns of phrase are supported by intoxicating melodic hooks throughout with visceral tracks like “I Want You to Love Me”, “Shameika” and “Fetch The Bolt Cutters” serving as standouts. “Fetch The Bolt Cutters is a strange and exceptional record, even within the context of an uncommon career…whimsical and hardcore at the same time…” – The Guardian

Yaeji – What We Drew LP (XL)

NYC-via-Seoul electronic producer, DJ and vocalist Yaeji releases a new mixtape. What We Drew is titled intentionally; for Yaeji, the title captures the spirit of the project as a whole which she explains, “is so much about friendship, family, gratitude and support – support that I’ve felt, that I’ve given, and that we all share.” Produced entirely by Yaeji over the course of two years, she started writing the music for What We Drew with no specific narrative in mind, each track becoming a snippet of her life, a look into her diary.

[Read more…] about New Releases for July 17, 2020