New Releases for February 26, 2013
CDs:
10,000 Maniacs – Music From The Motion Picture CD (Org Music)
The first studio album from 10,000 Maniacs in over a decade. Vinyl version due March 26.
Alcoa – Bone And Marrow CD/LP (Bridge Nine)
Singer/songwriter Derek Archambault has spent the last four years on tour with progressive hardcore/punk band Defeater, and has had a solo project called Alcoa going for even longer. Alcoa’s debut full-length, Bone & Marrow, is country-tinged with pop sensibilities; full of songs about life, love and regret. Also prevalent on the album is the addition of instrumentation like upright bass, banjo, fiddle, pedal steel, piano/organ, and charming guy/girl dueling vocals.
Alvin & Alyosha – All The Times We Had CD/LP (Dualtone)
Ivan & Alyosha’s debut full-length album encapsulates the personalized blend of rousing songcraft, infectious melodic hooks and thoughtful lyrical introspection that’s already endeared the band to just about anyone who’s witnessed one of their effortlessly uplifting live shows, or who’s heard either of their two prior indie EP releases. “Like their Seattle brethren in The Head And The Heart, Band Of Horses and Fleet Foxes, Ivan & Alyosha create luscious, enjoyable folk-pop.” – Paste
Joan Armatrading – Starlight CD (429)
“This isn’t a jazz album, anymore than her UK charttopper Into The Blues was about something so simple as the blues. She’s always had a roving eye, a restless muse. As with each of her more recent projects, Armatrading plays all of the instruments — save for drums, which she programs with an idiosyncratic verve. They are sometimes strangely busy, often weirdly off-kilter. This gives the album more of a found-art avant-pop sensibility, and in that way recalls almost nothing that she’s done before.” – somethingelsereviews.com
Atoms For Peace – AMOK 2xCD/LP/2xLP+MP3 (XL)
Atoms For Peace is Thom Yorke, Nigel Godrich, Mauro Refosco, Joey Waronker, and Flea. They came together by playing in support of Thom’s Grammy nominated album The Eraser. They got a big buzz from those shows and discovered loads of energy from transforming the music from electronic to live, so they carried on for a few days in the studio and decided to make it a loose, on-going thing. Both CD and vinyl are available in Regular and Deluxe editions, which feature unique packaging (foil embossed sleeves) and bonus tracks.
Autre Ne Veut – Anxiety CD/LP (Software)
Autre Ne Veut’s influences range from David Byrne to Lee Scratch Perry, Laurie Anderson and Annie Lennox to Katy Perry and Rihanna. However, their primary influence is karaoke — the solitary person singing along with their favorite song. There are club bangers on Anxiety, for sure; “Counting” — a cybernetic sea shanty, tips its hat to Timbaland; and opening track, “Play By Play” rolls out like a slowly evolving Top 40 operetta with nods to Dr. Luke and Patti LaBelle in equal measure.
Syd Barrett – The Madcap Laughs [Reissue/1970] CD (Capitol)
Syd Barrett – Barrett [Reissue/1970] CD (Capitol)
Syd Barrett – Opel [Reissue] CD (Capitol)
Digitally remastered reissues — each featuring bonus tracks.
Don Bikoff – Celestial Explosion [Reissue/1968] CD/LP (Tompkins Square)
A kid from Oyster Bay, LI, Bikoff got his start in Greenwich Village, annoying Dave Van Ronk and playing the folk/blues circuit where he met Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Jesse Fuller and Mississippi John Hurt. The comparisons to John Fahey’s and Robbie Basho’s work stated in the LP liner notes touched a nerve with Fahey himself at the time.
Bilal – A Love Surreal CD (eOne)
“A Love Surreal, Bilal’s fourth studio album, cultivates the stratospheric vibe of John Coltrane’s spiritual jazz masterpiece, A Love Supreme, which inspired its title. Most songs here float around as if in zero gravity, anchored by subtle melodic hooks and producer Steve McKie’s gently assertive drums. Bilal’s tenor, taut and shiny as copper wire, spins out stories of complicated love.” – NPR
Boduf Songs – Burnt Up On Re-Entry CD/2xLP+MP3 (Southern)
Burnt Up On Re-Entry is an infinite space where dark psychedelics are crafted using a combination of raw electronics, manipulated samples and heavy rock guitar. The songcraft remains centered around a heavy melodic and melancholic core, which has been prevalent across the entire Boduf Songs canon.
BOY – Mutual Friends CD/LP (Nettwerk)
BOY is comprised of Valeska Steiner and Sonja Glass (neither of which are boys). Steiner sang in several bands in her native Switzerland before moving to Germany, where Glass grew up, playing the cello in classical orchestras as a child, and later working as a bass player for several pop bands. The duo met when they both participated in a prestigious music workshop in Hamburg.
