Boo Boo Records

 CDs + Vinyl:

!!! – As If CD/2xLP+MP3 (Warp)
Combining punk abandon and tightly-coiled dance music has always been bonded into !!!’s DNA. It’s this core plus their growth and mastery of songwriting that has seen them outlive the mid-2000s ‘indie/dance punk’ tag and has allowed them to consistently grow lyrically and sonically from album to album. As If is their sixth album and their first since 2013’s Thr!!!er, and was self-produced mostly by the band, along with some help from Spoon’s Jim Eno and Patrick Ford, who have worked with them in the past. “Everyone wants us to be punk; everyone wants us to be raw,” Nic Offer said in an interview with Spin earlier this month. “Well, we want to make dance music. The kind of dance music that sounds raw is that early-’90s house records.”

Edward David Anderson – Lower Alabama: The Loxley Sessions CD (The Royal Potato Family)
Anderson returns with his second solo album — a nine-track effort is the most stripped-down and roots-based album. The resulting collection floats melodiously on rivers of fiddle and clouds of pedal steel, on gentle acoustic guitars and hints of piano, dusted with some ghostly guitar from Will Kimbrough and striking vocal harmony from Crawford’s wife, singer Savana Lee. Vinyl due November 27.

Olga Bell – Incitation CD (One Little Indian)
“After the Dirty Projectors split with Angel Deradoorian, they added Olga Bell to their lineup for 2012’s Swing Lo Magellan. But we’ve been covering Olga Bell since she was in the collaborative outfit Bell, a 2008-era Band To Watch. These days, Bell is a solo artist under her full name, releasing an album sung completely in Russian last year called Krai and following that up this year with a new EP. Maybe sharing a label with Björk inspired Bell to channel some of her head-thrown-back pathos (although Bell is already on the record as a fan). The title track ‘Incitation’ submerges dark and discordant brass under angular synths and frenzied beats. It would feel disorganized if it wasn’t for the sharp stab of her voice piercing through the noise.” – Stereoum. Vinyl version due November 27.

Birthmark – How You Look When You’re Falling Down CD/LP+MP3 (Polyvinyl)
Birthmark is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Nate Kinsella, who on top of releasing three previous albums under the Birthmark moniker, has collaborated with his cousins Mike and Tim Kinsella in various projects over the years (Owen, American Football, Joan Of Arc, Make Believe).

Raoul Björkenheim with Ecstasy – Out Of The Blue CD (Cuneiform)
Ecstasy is usually an all too fleeting experience offering the briefest glimpse at transcendence. But a heightened sense of consciousness and discovery manifests throughout Out Of The Blue, the transporting second album by composer and guitar maestro Raoul Björkenheim and his extraordinary Finnish quartet Ecstasy. Featuring the celebrated drummer Markku Ounaskari, the young and dauntingly prolific bassist Jori Huhtala and saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen, Ecstasy has forged more than a signature sound. Earthy, pristine and unmistakably Nordic, the music evokes the grandeur of Finnish landscapes and the hothouse intimacy of a tight-knit Helsinki scene where the musicians regularly convene to refine their volatile sound.

Doug Hream Blunt – My Name Is Doug Hream Blunt: Featuring The Hit CD (Luaka Bop)
Doug Hream Blunt learnt to play music at the age of 35, by taking an evening class in the Golden Gate neighborhood of San Francisco in the late 1980s. The class was organized by a local high school music teacher and his wife, and held in a small home-built studio of their garage. Today, Doug is starting to receive a cult following. With admirers such as Ariel Pink, Dam-Funk, David Byrne and Jamie Lidell, he has had a direct influence on the art and music of Dean Blunt, who has not only taken his name, but also created work following the steps of Doug — recording music with non-musicians and sidestepping other norms for ‘how things should be done.’

BØRNS – Dopamine CD (Interscope)
Growing up in coastal Michigan, Garrett Borns moved from one inspiration to another. His first artistic love was visual arts and then came music thanks to an eccentric piano teacher. At the age of fifteen BØRNS attended the prestigious summer program at Interlochen Center for the Arts to study filmmaking while writing songs on the side with the music majors. Playing local gigs through high school and college, BØRNS ended up in a secluded treehouse home in the Los Angeles canyons where he wrote his debut Candy EP, a set that filters the singer s naturally moody, sensual sound through an explosion of sunlight, as he puts it.

Joe Budden – All Love Lost CD (eOne)
Joe Budden, the quick-witted lyricist, has always has a knack for introspection, taking a life that he makes so public and twisting lines around it with humor and biting observations. But the New Jersey MC, known for his Mood Muzik mixtapes, his dalliances with dime pieces and a dark side, has really matured beyond his years. Guests include Royce Da 5’9, Marsha Ambrosius & Jadakiss, Eric Bellinger, Yummy Bingham & Felicia Temple, and Emanny.”

Christine And The Queens – Christine And The Queens CD (Atlantic)
Christine And The Queens’ Héloïse Letissier has already made a name on the back of her shadowy pop songs in her native France. This US edition features some translations of songs from the triple platinum French version as well as a few new songs and collaborations with Tunji Ige and Perfume Genius. “It’s challenging, Christine says, to be attempting full-scale U.S. crossover success while also combatting the norms of an industry she’s attempting to pierce, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. “The thing that bothers me is that sometimes I do interviews and they’re like, ‘Oh, so you’re like the good woman, ‘cause you’re not trivializing your body,’’ she says. ‘You’re not a whore. You’re not selling your body like Miley Cyrus.’ I love Miley! She’s punk rock, she’s crazy, she’s sexual, and that’s cool. I can be complex like that. I would love to be perceived as a male rock star. You can take a picture of me and not airbrush it. Embrace my defects” – SPIN. Vinyl version due October 30.
[Read more…] about New Releases for October 16, 2015

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