Upcoming Album of the Week (Ending March 16, 2019)

Australia's Triple J radio station has a great series called Like a Version, in which artists of many different genres covers songs by other artists, also of various genres. The results are almost always interesting, and most recently, they welcomed Pond to cover Madonna's "Ray of Light." The track sounds right at home with Pond's psychedelic, spaced-out sound. The station has released albums of the cover songs in the past; I'm looking forward to a follow-up that includes this one. If that happens, look for it on my Upcoming Releases page!

This week, The National announced their 8th album, I Am Easy to Find.

amazon.com

The always excellent Cincinnati band have been indie rock mainstays for over a decade. They've been one of my favorites since I was introduced to them in college by a friend, and I generally end up with their albums on my year-end favorites list. Their last release, 2017's Sleep Well Beast, was no different.

They announced the follow-up along with the first single, "Had Your Soul with You," and a trailer featuring actress Alicia Vikander (who also appears on the album cover).

I Am Easy to Find is set for release on May 17 and, yes, I have already pre-ordered it!

Also announced recently:

Baroness - Gold & Grey (June 14)
Billie Marten - Feeding Seahorses By Hand (April 26)
Black Mountain - Destroyer (May 24)
Carla dal Forno - “So Much Better”/“Fever Walk” (April 19)
Clinic - Wheeltappers and Shunters (May 10)
Dessner-Labèque - El Chan (April 5)
Greys - Age Hasn’t Spoiled You (May 10)
The Head and the Heart - Living Mirage (May 17)
Holly Herndon - PROTO (May 10)
J-E-T-S - ZOOSPA (May 24)
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Fishing for Fishies (April 26)
Kishi Bashi - Omoiyari (May 31)
Local Natives - Violet Street (April 26)
Mac DeMarco - Here Comes the Cowboy (May 10)
Marissa Nadler & Stephen Brodsky - Droneflower (April 26)
Nick Murphy - Run Fast Sleep Naked (April 26)
Pip Blom - Boat (May 31)
Protomartyr - No Passion All Technique Reissue (May 3)
Soundwalk Collective with Patti Smith - The Peyote Dance (May 31)
Stef Chura - Midnight (June 7)
Zacari - Run Wild Run Free (out now)

Ex Machina

Director: Alex Garland Writer: Alex Garland Stars: Domhnall Gleeson (Caleb), Oscar Isaac (Nathan), Alicia Vikander (Ava), Sonoya Mizuno (Kyoko) Often, it seems that modern science fiction films are so focused on non-stop action that they fail to explore the human implications of the technology that is being presented. That is far from the case in Ex Machina. In the film, Caleb, an employee for a large internet company wins a lottery to spend a week with the company's elusive founder, Nathan, at his remote estate. When he arrives, he discovers that Nathan has built a very advanced and human-seeming android; his job for the week is to test the machine and determine whether it passes the Turing test (does the machine converse and act as a human would). Over the course of the week, Caleb begins to learn some uncomfortable truths about Nathan's relationship with his creation and the true depth of his research and development.

Mini soundtrack:

Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark - "Enola Gay"
Oliver Cheatham - "Get Down Saturday Night"
Savages - "Husbands"