CDs:
Chris Abrahams – Memory Night CD (Room40)
Abrahams is the pianist for Australian liminal improvisation trio The Necks. Memory Night is what can only be described as a profound rendering of contemporary composition — a powerful yet delicate evocation of sound where instruments and electronics melt and are reformed.
Trace Adkins – Love Will CD (Show Dog)
This collection of sexy grooves, heart-wrenching ballads and up-tempo anthems about the world’s greatest emotion are worthy additions to Adkins long list of career hits.
Adult. – The Way Things Fall CD (Ghostly International)
The Way Things Fall, the band’s first full length since 2007’s Why Bother?, is a record that sounds both focused and coherent, flowing with a conceptual ease. Vinyl version due May 21.
Sam Amidon – Bright Sunny South CD (Nonesuch)
Bright Sunny South features a band made up of Bartlett and multi-instrumentalists Shahzad Ismaily and Chris Vatalaro. Jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler also makes a cameo. Amidon himself not only sings but also plays banjo, fiddle, acoustic guitar, and piano on the album.
Anamanaguchi – Endless Fantasy CD (Dream.Hax)
Anamanaguchi, the band behind Scott Pilgrim Vs.The World: The Game’s soundtrack, is back with their second full length album. Vinyl version due June 11.
Anonymous – Inside The Shadow [Reissue/1976] CD/LP (Machu Piccu)
This 1976 album combines the adventure of West Coast ballroom groups, the 12-string majesty of The Byrds, and breathtaking multi-part harmonies to forge something inimitable and one-of-a-kind.
Arckanum – Fenris Kindir CD/LP (Season Of Mist)
Sweden’s black metal troll Arckanum return with his eighth opus, Fenris Kindir. Equal parts ripping riffs and howled vocals from the edge of Ragnarok, the album expands on the darkness of Helvítismyrkr and finds them taking a battle-axe to the world.
Beaches – She Beats CD/LP (Chapter Music)
Second album from the sprawling Melbourne psych-rock five-piece.
Bibio – Silver Wilkinson CD/LP (Warp)
“Stephen Wilkinson seems to occupy his own universe. Using his home studio, the producer is able to craft warped, woozy nuggets of electronic pop music which seem to break rules you hadn’t even considered were capable of being broken.” – clashmusic.com
Blank Tapes – Vacation CD/LP+MP3 (Antenna Farm)
Blank Tapes is Matt Adams, a soft-spoken kid from a Southern California suburb who learned to play practically every instrument a good garage band needs, and then started making beautifully idiosyncratic records on his trusty home eight-track. Full of the kind of three-part harmonies the Wilson Brothers used to love, Vacation has songs that transplant the style and sentiment of immortals like Ray Davies and Robyn Hitchcock, Kris Kristofferson and Lou Reed, into modern garage pop.
Jason Boland And The Stragglers – Dark & Dirty Mile CD (Proud Souls)
New album from the old school country purists, co-produced with Shooter Jennings.
Boxer Rebellion – Promises CD/LP (INgrooves)
New studio album from London based indie rock quartet. Moving away from the more analog and darker soundscapes that enveloped the band’s previous album, Promises is a significant step in a different direction for the four-piece — a hi-fi, soaring piece of work that truly delivers on the band’s epic, signature sound, and individual skill as musicians.
Randall Bramblett – The Bright Spots CD (NWT)
Bramblett’s tenth studio album finds familiar territory with the Southern-driven funk and Americana soul he has long been known for. Vinyl version due June 4.
Brother JT – The Svelteness Of Boggietude CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Brother JT is Central, PA’s John Terlesky whose freewheeling boundless music has been released under many different monikers: Brother JT & Vibrolux, Brother JT3, and most commonly Brother JT. Brother JT is a moniker that finds Terlesky’s songwriting and ample guitar skills taking a decidedly psychedelic form but never deviating too far from the classic song structure.
The Svelteness Of Boogietude is a typical of JT s output in certain ways — rockers mixed with ballads, all of them crafted with casual elegance — but there are new elements here as well.
