Boo Boo Records

March Program Titles Released This Week:

Best Coast – Always Tomorrow CD/LP (Concord)

Inspired by the ‘70s, L.A.-based duo Best Coast expand their signature indie pop sound into a harmonic blend of melodic guitars and keyboards as warm and refreshing as a California breeze. Multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno, along with the irrepressible Bethany Cosentino, combine to bring her masterful storytelling to new heights, crafting their most eloquent and reflective album to date. “Always Tomorrow is about leaving the darkness for the light, but still understanding that nothing is ever going to be perfect,” Cosentino said. “It’s about burning it all down and starting from scratch even when the idea of that is fucking terrifying. Closing one chapter and moving onto the next even when you have no idea what is on the other side. Acceptance. It’s about taking a gigantic leap of faith.”

Greg Dulli – Random Desire CD/2xLP (BMG)

For the last 30 years Greg Dulli, frontman of The Afghan Whigs and The Twilight Singers, has been the poet laureate of the bizarre whims and cruel tangents of desire. A foremost authority on the sell-your-soul rewards of carnal lust, the high voltage epiphanies of chemical enhancement, and the serotonin lows left in their wake. Therein lies Random Desire,the first solo album under Dulli’s own name. Opener, “Pantomima,” sets the tone from the sardonic taunts of the album’s first bars: desolation, come and get it. Clocking in at a lean 37 minutes, Random Desire is a clinic put on by a veteran master operating at the height of his powers, offering evidence of the hard-fought and weary wisdom learned from setbacks and victories alike. A lucid, confident and self-assured document of the songs of experience, the perils of existence, and the possibilities that offer themselves anew with each breath. Another death and rebirth from an outlaw who has seen it all and somehow lived to tell.

Grimes – Miss Anthropocene CD/LP+MP3 (4AD)

Canadian artist Claire Boucher aka Grimes follows-up 2015’s Art Angels with her highly-anticipated fifth studio album, Miss Anthropocene. An amalgamation of three albums Grimes recorded over the past three years, Miss Anthropocene is based on a neologism commonly used in scientific circles. Misanthropocene refers to both the misanthrope’s loathing of humanity and the Anthropocene era in which our planet is dominated by human activity. The 10-track collection is introduced by the breathy and beat driven “Violence” and atmospheric “So Heavy I Fell Through The Earth.”

[Read more…] about New Releases for February 21, 2020

March Program Titles Released This Week:

Boniface – Boniface CD/LP (PIAS)

The self-titled debut from Canadian solo artist Boniface is a catalogue of his most formative coming-of-age experiences – each moment captured in diary-like detail and set against a magnificently sprawling backdrop. Throughout the album, the musician/producer otherwise known as Micah Visser reflects on falling in love and facing heartbreak whilst struggling with identity, never failing to find an ineffable beauty within all the pain. The result is a body of work both bracingly honest and powerfully exhilarating. Growing up in Winnipeg, Visser wrote the songs for the album at home throughout their late teens and early twenties, after shifts at the local coffee shop and lost nights in the city. This intimacy has been preserved on Boniface, which features production engineer Neil Comber (Charli XCX, M.I.A., Glass Animals) who helped bring Boniface’s lavish arrangements to full and dazzling life. [Limited red colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Albert Cummings – Believe CD/LP (Mascot Label Group)

Blues-rock guitarist Albert Cummings’ new album, Believe, features a flavorful mix of blues, country, and rock ‘n’ roll. Recorded at the iconic FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL, Cummings takes this release to new heights with the help of Grammy-winning producer, Jim Gaines (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Santana). Together, they drew inspiration from the rich recording legacy of Muscle Shoals and created a timeless album full of rhythm, funk, and soul. “You can hear the difference between this album and my others, and that is the Muscle Shoals difference,” Cummings says of the new project, “If I had recorded those same songs anywhere else, then Believe would have sounded like a completely different album.” [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Eden – No Future CD (Astralwerks)

Vocalist/producer/multi-instrumentalist Eden (Dublin-bred artist born Jonathon Ng) returns with No Future, the follow-up to his acclaimed 2018 full-length debut, Vertigo. As with all his music to date, lead single “Projector” was recorded and produced by Eden at his home studio. With its dreamlike textures and heady drum-machine rhythms, the song finds Eden’s graceful vocal work channeling a heavy-hearted surrender. “‘Projector’ is about appreciating all the ebbs and flows and accepting how things really are instead of wishing they were some other way,” Ng explains. “It started out as a very no-man’s-land kind of song, and then the lyrics ended up reflecting the concept of the death of the universe into a very personal space: this idea that no matter what’s going on in your life right now, everything eventually runs its course.” [Vinyl edition due March 13.]

[Read more…] about New Releases for February 14, 2020

March Program Titles Released This Week:

Green Day – Father Of All… CD/LP (Reprise)

Five-time Grammy Award-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Green Day unleash their soul-inflected new single “Father Of All…”, – complete with a falsetto turn from frontman Billie Joe Armstrong – which is the lead track of their new thirteenth studio album of the same name. It’s the band’s first album of new music since 2016’s Revolution Radio. Citing Kendrick Lamar and old-school Motown as influences, Armstrong revealed to Billboard that, “It’s very high energy – 10 songs in 26 minutes. I like to feel some sense of joy, living through the chaos of [this] era.” [Limited indie store exclusive colored vinyl pressing also available.]

The Homesick – The Big Exercise CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)

The Big Exercise, the second album by Dutch band The Homesick, finds the group keenly second-guessing their core chemistry as a live unit, imbuing their angular post-punk workouts with baroque elements such as piano, acoustic guitar, percussion, and even clarinet. “It’s the opposite of trying to translate recorded music to the stage,” guitarist Elias Elgersma comments. “We were already playing these songs live for quite some time, so for this album, we wanted to unlock the potential of these songs further in the studio.” Opening track “What’s In Store” was in part inspired by bassist Jaap Van der Velde’s unprompted deep dive into the world of national anthems, making his own attempt to conjure a similarly timeless melody. The song seamlessly bleeds into the chivalrous prance of “Children’s Day” and the fragmented “Pawing”, righteously encouraging Erik Woudwijk’s nimble, cerebral drumming to become the band’s driving force. The headstrong wanderlust of The Big Exercise is fitting, given The Homesick’s exodus as a small-town Dutch band ready to trot the world.

The Lone Bellow – Half Moon Light CD/LP (Dualtone)

Half Moon Light is an artistic triumph worked toward for years, earned not by individual posturing, but by collective determination and natural growth. With earthy three-part harmonies and songwriting as provocative as it is honest, The Lone Bellow creates sparks that make a stranger’s life matter or bring our sense of childlike wonder roaring back. On Half Moon Light, the trio mix light and dark to muster a complex ode to memory, a call for hope, and an exercise in empathy. Anchored in the acoustic storytelling that first so endeared the band to fans and critics, Half Moon Light also takes more chances, experimenting with textures and instrumental fillips to create a full-bodied music experience. The 15-track album touches on personal topics like family, loss, overcoming struggle, and letting things go. The band expertly traverses several moods throughout, going from gentle, soothing lows to enormous, sweeping highs, and their musicianship shines through in every track.

[Read more…] about New Releases for February 7, 2020