May Program Titles Released This Week:

After The Burial – Evergreen CD/LP (Sumerian)

“After the Burial is the master of releasing tracks and albums that are full of memorable hooks, ones that force the listener to grin with childish glee; an oft-forgotten vibe in progressive metal and the entire genre. In addition to the first single, tracks like ‘Exit, Exist’ mimic ‘Collapse’ (off 2016’s Dig Deep) with its fast-paced low-end chug-bend-fest, and ‘In Flux’ opens with a ‘My Frailty’ (from In Dreams) intro dissonant riff before diving head first into an off-kilter but high BPM riff that becomes instantly memorable. In contrast, tracks like ‘Respire’ are much more straightforward with an increased focus on drawing from hardcore and metalcore influences with staple chug overlaid with melodies and are an instant playlist addition for all the gym going fans. In a world of increasingly overthought and bloated yet forgettable progressive ‘djent’, After The Burial prove why they are genre giants and could not have picked a more aptly named record. If you are someone who likes their metal to be pure headbanging, grooving, bopping experience without pretentious subtleties, this record is definitely for you.” – Metal Wani

Jade Bird – Jade Bird CD/LP (Glassnote)

“With her fiery pop-Americana, singer-songwriter Jade Bird is determined to make a name for herself in 2019 – all on her own terms. She feels a greater kinship with American songwriters such as Gillian Welch and Julien Baker than putative British forebear Jake Bugg, who famously railed against manufactured pop while employing blue-chip songwriters. Bird plays guitar and writes everything. Her self-titled debut is appropriately bold. Its 12 polished tracks shift between barn-burners, wry acoustic jangle and affecting piano ballads. Her protagonists are often jilting women or foolish men being lured away by (occasionally two-dimensional) temptresses. As a woman, she says: ‘It’s really interesting to confront the same expectations as white male guitarists and exceed them. That’s my biggest goal, to keep smashing expectations. When people are like, oh, you’re country? Well, here’s an indie rock song. Now it’s punk, and I know what I’m talking about. It’s always been so important for me to be respected over being heralded.’ Bird’s tornado of personality, redoubtable conviction and sterling debut suggest the choice won’t be an issue.” – The Guardian

Cage The Elephant – Social Cues CD/LP+MP3 (RCA)

“Social Cues is a satisfying collection of glitzy anthems, breezy vibes, and even some earnestly introspective highlights that showcase technical and creative maturity. From the start, the album impresses with its production courtesy of John Hill, whose work with venerated peers like Florence + The Machine and Portugal. The Man speaks for itself. Opener ‘Broken Boy’ immediately dishes out dissonant energy and ethereality before channeling 1960s surf rock attitude via sharp, overlapping guitar chords and steadfast rhythms. Blended with vocalist Matt Shultz’s trademark presence, a fusion of 1970s punk attitude and classic Mick Jagger swagger, it’s a superficial yet sufficiently gripping good time. Likewise, the consequent title track is lighter and more danceable in terms of both mix and melodies, whereas ‘Night Running’ is funky and spacey, entrancing the listener in easygoing colorfulness and—thanks to special guest Beck—warmly chill vocals. Further along, ‘House of Glass’ feels like an aggressive amalgamation of Super Furry Animals and the Last Shadow Puppets, and the punchy ‘Tokyo Smoke’ is lovingly ornamented by inventive effects and luscious synths amongst its resolute accessibility.” – Pop Matters [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]

[Read more…] about New Releases for April 19, 2019

April Program Titles Released This Week:

Steve Earle And The Dukes – GUY CD/LP (New West)

Steve Earle was 19 and had just hitchhiked from San Antonio to Nashville in 1974. Back then if you wanted to be where the best songwriters were, you had to be in there. Guy Clark had moved to Nashville and if you were from Texas, Guy Clark was king. A few years later, Steve would be playing bass guitar in Guy’s band and flying high on what would become an indelible friendship of like-minded musicians who bonded in a kinship of stories told through song. In the fall of 2018, Steve and The Dukes went into House Of Blues studio in Nashville and recorded his tribue to Guy Clark, GUY, in six days. “I wanted it to sound live…When you’ve got a catalog like Guy’s and you’re only doing sixteen tracks, you know each one is going to be strong.” Earle and his current, perhaps best-ever Dukes lineup take on Clark’s songs with a spirit of reverent glee and invention. The tunes are all over the place and so is the band, offering max energy on such disparate entries as the bluegrass rave-up “Sis Draper” and the talking blues memoir of “Texas 1947”. Earle’s raw vocal on the sweet, sad “That Old Time Feeling” is heartbreaking, sounding close enough to the grave as to be doing a duet with his late friend and mentor.

Free Throw – What’s Past Is Prologue CD/LP (Triple Crown)

After two studio albums and nearly seven years as a band, Free Throw is making a significant change to their identity. The group – who has sung openly of personal struggles related to substance abuse and body image – holds nothing back on What’s Past Is Prologue, their third full length record. Past releases may have provided small glimpses into Free Throw’s history as a band and personal lives outside of music, but What’s Past Is Prologue is the group at their most forthcoming. The album’s 12 tracks detail the continuing mental health struggles of lead singer Cory Castro and serve as a complete story of what happens when you decide that everything in your life needs to change. As Castro explains, the record is split into two parts. The first half of explores the weight of personal blame, with singles – including the gunning and practically unstoppable “Tail Whip, Struggle” and the limitless, swaying tenderness of “Stay Out Of The Basement” – setting the stage for an impactful finale. As the album nears its conclusion, “Today Is Especially Delicious” provides a tumultuous turning point, with the band tearing through Castro’s shouted confession: “Is this what I had planned for my life/I need a hand of some type to pull me up and break this cycle of drinking for breakfast.”

Garcia Peoples – Natural Facts CD/LP+MP3 (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond)

Consider Natural Facts by Garcia Peoples to be your heady, friendly reminder that it’s alright to let the sunshine in. The second album in less than a year from those lovable New Jersey moptops with the sweet twin guitars, Natural Facts provides a portal to the carefree place that both indie rock and jam bands forgot, and a handy alternative to whatever you may need an alternative from. Danny Arakaki and Tom Malach’s guitars remain at centerstage on machine gun shreds like the album-opening “Feel So Great” and the rolling grooves of “High Noon Violence” (which would fit right in with one of David Crosby’s early ‘70s studio supergroups). Natural Facts isn’t a throwback, as much as Garcia Peoples sometimes accidentally sound like a band one might stumble into at New York’s late Wetlands Preserve in the mid-‘90s. Rather, it’s a newly emerging conversation, songs and structures and solos and duos drawing from the latest and most right-on musicians to cross Garcia Peeps’ collective transom. The classic rock guitarists of yore might be obvious subsequent touchstones, but bend your ear and newer colors emerge, generated from hours and years of talk and music.

[Read more…] about New Releases for March 29, 2019

April Program Titles Released This Week:

Avey Tare – Cows On Hourglass Pond CD/LP+MP3/LP+10”+MP3 (Domino)

Dave Portner aka Avey Tare of Animal Collective, has returned, following up 2017’s release of Eucalyptus and 2018’s audiovisual album Tangerine Reef, a collaboration between Animal Collective and avant-garde coral macro-videographers Coral Morphologic, with a gorgeous and layered new record. Cows On Hourglass Pond takes inspiration from the future and the past in equal measure, referencing a myriad of cultural touchstones and influences: Buddy Holly, robots, Waylon Jennings, Morricone soundtracks, and much more. “The first single, ‘Saturdays (Again)’, is pretty low-key, with few of the bracing vocal contortions that Portner sometimes peppers his songs with. Sonically, it’s much slicker than the scrappy Eucalyptus, which felt like a return to the scrappy early days of Animal Collective, with its layers of lo-fi acoustic guitar and sound effects like malfunctioning electronic toys. The acoustic is back for ‘Saturdays (Again)’ but it sits within a lush and dubby mix, atop melodic synth bass, accompanied by peals of lead guitar.” — SPIN [Limited deluxe vinyl pressing adds a bonus 10” featuring the non-album tracks “Tipped In Hugs” b/w “Dog Says Goodbye”.]

Bad Suns – Mystic Truth CD/LP+MP3 (Epitaph)

The third full-length from L.A. band Bad Suns, Mystic Truth gets its title from a piece of art that vocalist Christo Bowman stumbled upon while visiting London’s Tate Modern on tour. Created by Bruce Nauman in 1967, the neon-and-glass piece spells out a possibly paradoxical statement in blue spiraled cursive: “The True Artist Helps The World by Revealing Mystic Truths.” “I thought that connected back to the message of the record, which is about finding the extraordinary in very simple things, even though we’re living in a very dark time right now,” says Bowman. Right from opener “Away We Go”, Bad Suns reveal the timeless sensibilities at the heart of Mystic Truth. With its soaring vocals, majestic piano melodies, and fiery guitar tones, the song unfolds as a brightly anthemic battle cry. “‘Away We Go’ was mostly inspired by us growing up and really being adults for the first time, and trying to make sense of all that,” says Bowman, who co-founded Bad Suns at age 17. “It’s about learning how to make decisions for yourself, and sometimes just going for something and blindly trusting that it’s going to work out.” [Limited clear vinyl pressing also available.]

Andrew Bird – My Finest Work Yet CD/LP (Loma Vista)

My Finest Work Yet finds Andrew Bird grappling with themes of current day dichotomies and how to identify a moral compass amidst such divisive times. “I’m interested in the idea that our enemies are what make us whole – there’s an intimacy one shares with their opponent when locked in such a struggle. If we were to just walk away would our enemies miss us? How did we get to this point and how can we, through awareness of it, maybe pull ourselves out of this death spiral,” says Bird. He tackles these topics with a more direct songwriting approach than his previous releases, taking greater risks both lyrically and in recording. Bird and the band taped all the songs live without headphones or separation attempting to create a sound where all instruments bled into each other’s microphones. Of the new music, Bird reflects, “There is a certain optimism to this record…it’s pretty up musically though it doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the lyrics.”

[Read more…] about New Releases for March 22, 2019