New Music Friday - March 31, 2017

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases

Aimee Mann - Mental Illness Mental Illness is the ninth album from Aimee Mann and the first since her 2014 collaboration with Ted Leo as The Both. The album features vocal contributions from Leo, as well as a few unexpected influences. One track is influenced by a meeting Mann had with actor Andrew Garfield (she recently spoke of the experience on Song Exploder). Another track came about from a photo of a friend's cat. Both tracks are below! Watch: "Goose Snow Cone" Watch: "Patient Zero"

Bob Dylan - Triplicate In his old age, Dylan is finding his second wind. He's released an album for each of the past three years. It's become fairly stereotypical for aging rock stars to record standards albums and Dylan has been no different. His output has been better than most, though. So many other artists have transformed his music, it's interesting to hear him transform this music...and he's proven that his singing voice isn't nearly that bad. Watch: "I Could Have Told You" Listen: "My One and Only Love"

Freddie Gibbs - You Only Live 2wice This album represents a bit of a resurrection for Gibbs. There is, of course, the obvious imagery of the resurrection of Jesus on the cover, but the album also follows a difficult year for the rapper. He was arrested in France last year for rape and eventually charged with sexual assault. The charges were later dropped. He processes the experience alone. A rarity in hip hop, there are no features on the album. Watch: "Crushed Glass" Listen: "Alexys"

Goldfrapp - Silver Eye Silver Eye is the seventh album from Goldfrapp and one that stands in contrast to their 2013 record, Tales of Us. That record, with its more folk-focused sound, was also more somber than much of their work. They enlist producers Leo Abrahams, John Congleton, and The Haxan Cloak to help execute on the return to a more dancefloor ready sound. Watch: "Anymore" Watch: "Systemagic"

Tei Shi - Crawl Space Crawl Space is the debut album from this Argentinean singer. It follows a pair of well-received EPs, Saudade and Verde, released in 2013 and 2015 respectively. She combines elements of art-pop, R&B, and electronica for something she has, jokingly, called "mermaid music". Watch: "Keep Running" Watch: "How Far"

Other Full-Length Releases

Chaz Bundick Meets The Mattson 2 - Star Stuff Watch: "Star Stuff" Listen: "Disco Kid"

Dave Davies & Russ Davies - Open Road Listen: "Path Is Long"

Geotic - Abysma Watch: "Actually Smiling" Watch: "Nav"

Lydia Ainsworth - Darling of the Afterglow Watch: "Afterglow" Watch: "The Road"

Mastodon - Emperor of Sand Watch: "Show Yourself" Listen: "Andromeda"

Richard Edwards - Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset Listen: "Disappeared Planets" Listen: "Lil Dead Eye-d"

Timothy Seth Avett as Darling - IV Watch: "Your World" Watch: "Should We Move"

You’ll Never Get to Heaven - Images Listen: "Images" Listen: "Beyond the Clouds"

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.

Brooklyn Youth Chorus - Black Mountain Songs

The Doors - The Doors Reissue Listen: "Light My Fire" Listen: "The End"

Fleetwood Mac - Tango in the Night Reissue Listen: "Seven Wonders" (Early Version)

Gold Connections - Gold Connections Watch: "Faith in Anyone" Listen: "Isabel"

Julia Holter - In the Same Room Listen: "So Lillies" Listen: "Horns Surrounding Me"

Johnny Cash - The Original Sun Albums 1957-1964

New Music Tuesday - July 8, 2014

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

New Full-Length Releases

Sia - 1000 Forms of Fear Sia Furler is an Australian singer and songwriter who began her career as a solo artist and frequent collaborator to Zero 7. She's also made a name for herself as a songwriter and has written hits for Katy Perry, Rihanna, Britney Spears, among many others. 1000 Forms of Fear is her sixth album and a return after a four year hiatus from recording new music. She's turned her hit-writing capabilities on herself and has become a hit artist herself; something many songwriters fail to do. Watch: "Chandelier" Listen: "Eye of the Needle"

Other New Releases

Goldfrapp - Tales of Us Deluxe Edition Goldfrapp released her sixth album in September of last year. That album is getting released this year with rerecorded live versions of each of the album's tracks. Watch: "Stranger" Watch: "Jo"

Matt Berninger & Andrew Bird - "A Lyke Wake Dirge" Turn is the latest epic show from AMC, starring Jamie Bell and taking place around the American Revolutionary War. Matt Berninger, frontman for The National, and Andrew Bird have teamed up for  a new original song to promote the series. Information: Turn (IMDB)

MellowHype - INSA MellowHype is the Odd Future sub-group that consists of Hodgy Beats and Left Brain. It's been a couple of years since their sophomore LP Numbers, but they are back with a full-length mixtape. Watch: "Nowadays" Listen: "The Daze"

Tim Hecker - "Amps, Drugs, Mellotron" The Adult Swim Singles Series is back in full swing for the summer of 2014. Already, they have released new music from Giorgio Moroder, Machinedrum, and Fatima Al Qadari. For his contribution, Tim Hecker has reworked a track from his 2013 album, Virgins. Listen: "Amps, Drugs, Mellotron"

Titus Andronicus - "Titus Andronicus"/"Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, New Jersey" The ambitiously-named Titus Andronicus have been active since 2005. At the beginning of this month, the band announced a 7" single series, kicking off with a reissue of one of their first releases. "Titus Andronicus" b/w "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, New Jersey;" which was originally released in 2007. Both songs were included on the band's debut album, The Airing of Grievances. Listen: "Titus Andronicus" Listen: "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, New Jersey"

Woods - "Tambourine Light"/"Tomorrow's Only Yesterday" Freak folk band Woods released another in a long string of amazing records with With Light and with Love in April. This follow-up single comprises two tracks which did not make it onto that release. Listen: "Tambourine Light" Listen: "Tomorrow's Only Yesterday"

New Music Tuesday - 03/25/2014

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

New Full-Length Releases

The Baseball Project - 3rd The Baseball Project is a side project of former R.E.M. member Peter Buck, who has released a number of solo records since the demise of his band. Also included in this project are Scott McCaughey (The Young Fresh Fellows), Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate), and Mike Mills (R.E.M.). As the name implies, their music revolves around that great-American past-time, with songs about Babe Ruth and the Oakland A's, just to name a few. Listen: "13" Listen: "They Are the Oakland A's"

Future Islands - Singles Future Islands has been getting a lot of attention in the run-up to the release of their fourth studio album (and first while signed to 4AD). I wasn't too set on checking them out until I caught a snippet of a recent interview and live performance on NPR. I knew I had to check them out and was hooked as soon as I heard tracks from the record. They remind me a bit of Greg Dulli, but with synth-pop music in place of dark indie rock. Watch: "A Dream of You and Me" Watch: "Seasons (Waiting on You)"

Glenn Kotche - Adventureland Glenn Kotche is the drummer of the band Wilco, but has also made a name for himself as an experimental percussionist (you can see some of his work in an ad for Delta Faucets). This is his fourth solo release, which collects various work that Kotche has done for ensembles. Listen: "Anomaly Mvt 2"

Johnny Cash - Out Among the Stars Johnny Cash passed away in 2003 so, of course, this is not a collection of newly-recorded songs. The tracks on this latest album come from a series lost 1980s recording sessions that were scrapped when Cash hit a lull in his career. In 2012, his son, John Carter Cash, found the old recordings and put them together for this release. Carter Cash promises that he has enough material for several more albums, so this will probably not be the last we hear from this legend. Watch: "She Used to Love Me a Lot" Listen: "Out Among the Stars"

Liars - Mess Liars change up their sound with each release, but never seem to lose the experimental edge to their music. The band specifically contrasted this record with their previous release, WIXIW, calling it "fun, instinctual and confident." Through their changes, Liars manages to maintain a strong fan base and high critical acclaim for all their records, which is no different with this release. Watch: "Mess on a Mission" Listen: "Mask Maker"

Tokyo Police Club - Forcefield Forcefield is the fourth studio album from this Canadian indie rock band. The album was preceded by the release of the epic 9-minute single "Argentina." The band has always had a strong pop aesthetic to their sound, but seemed determined to bring some of the pomp often seen in other genres to their own sound. Watch: "Argentina (Parts I, II, III)" Watch: "Hot Tonight"

Wolfmother - New Crown Some bands spend months releasing singles, giving interviews and touring in order to promote a new record. Wolfmother did none of that, dropping this latest album as a surprise on their Bandcamp page and letting the fans discover it for themselves. It seemed that the Wolfmother name was dead after the release of a solo album from frontman Andrew Stockdale last year. This latest release proves that the band is still going strong and are as excellent as ever! Listen: "New Crown" Listen: "Enemy Is in Your Mind"

Other New Releases

Bob Dylan in the 80s The 80s weren't exactly the most highly-acclaimed decade of Bob Dylan's career. That doesn't stop a group of musicians from coming together to record covers of some of his tracks from that era. Included on this release are Deer Tick, Blitzen Trapper, and Built to Spill. Listen: Built to Spill - "Jokerman" Listen: Reggie Watts - "Brownsville Girl"

D'Angelo - Live at the Jazz Cafe, London: The Complete Show We're still waiting for a new studio album from this incredible singer. In the meantime, however, we get a re-release of his 1998 set at the Jazz Cafe in London. The re-release features six additional tracks not featured on the original. Listen: "Cruisin'" Listen: "Shit, Damn, Motherfucker"

De La Soul - Smell the D.A.I.S.Y. De La Soul is planning to release a new album, currently titled You're Welcome, later this year. Leading up to that, however, they are putting out a mixtape fully produced by J. Dilla. Listen: "Dilla Plugged In" Listen: "Goes with the Word"

Goldfrapp - Thea Remixes EP "Thea" was a stand-out track from Goldfrapp's latest album, Tales of Us. This remix EP contains reworkings of the track from Blood Diamonds, WAWA, Red Top, and Twin Shadow. Listen: "Thea" Listen: "Thea" (Twin Shadow Remix)

King Dude & Chelsea Wolfe - Sing More Songs Together... Well, I'm familiar with Chelsea Wolfe (thanks to her incredible 2013 album Pain in Beauty). I'm less familiar with her partner on this release, King Dude. This, however, is not their first recording collaboration, they released Sing Songs Together... in 2013. Listen: "Be Free"

Lotus Plaza - "Indian Paintbrush"/"Gemini Pt. 1" Cassette may not be the preferred listening method for most music fans, but it is seeing a bit of a resurgence of late. The latest release come from Lockett Pundt of Deerhunter and Lotus Plaza. The tracks here are some experimental improvisation on his guitar. Listen: "Indian Paintbrush" Listen: "Gemini Pt. 1"

Loud Dreams, Vol. 1 Sean C and LV are a production duo in the world of hip-hop. This release is a bit of a mixtape of some of their work, including tracks from Jadakiss, Fabolous, A$AP Ferg and Pusha T. Listen: Pusha T & A$AP Ferg - "Hand in My Pocket"

Miles Davis - Miles at the Fillmore This release is the third of a "bootleg" series of releases from Columbia, collecting various Miles Davis live recordings. He performed at the Fillmore in San Francisco many times, and there are a number of recordings out there with the same or similar names. However, these latest constitute some of the highest quality available. Information: miledavis.com

Noah: Music from the Motion Picture Make a movie about a story out of the Bible and you're just asking for controversy. While the film-makers admit to taking liberties with the well-known story of Noah and the ark, there are many who question whether the film should have been made. I have no opinion on that, but I'm happy that it's given us a new track from the incredible Patti Smith! Listen: Patti Smith - "Mercy Is"

Rio 2 Soundtrack Cartoons tend to be a lot less controversial, but this isn't one that I'm likely to see. However, it has given us a new song from another incredible musician, Janelle Monáe! Listen: Janelle Monáe - "What Is Love"

Sylvan Esso - "Coffee" Sylvan Esso is a side project of Amelia Meath of Mountain Man and Nick Sanborn of Made of Oak. The new collaboration developed somewhat surprisingly, and this is the first release from the project. From the sound of it, though, I hope there is more to come! Watch: "Coffee"

New Music Tuesday - September 10, 2013

New Full-Length Releases

2 Chainz - B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time I feel like I'm starting to become a bit of a hip hop connoisseur. Before this year, there were only a handful of artists that I really paid attention to, but I've been giving a lot more love to the genre lately. 2 Chainz is one of those artists I've been paying more attention to, especially after he was featured on the GOOD Music release Cruel Summer last year. I don't know what exactly it is about him that I like so much...maybe it's the way he says his name! Listen/Watch: "Feds Watching"

Arctic Monkeys - AM The Arctic Monkeys started off their career as teenagers sounding a lot like their early-2000s indie rock predecessors like Babyshambles or The Strokes. Over time, they have grown and strayed more and more from that sound. Now, their style is more reminiscent of stoner/psychedelic rock bands...think Queens of the Stone Age. While changes in style can often alienate fans, I love when bands switch things up. Of course, it helps that I truly love their current sound! Listen/Watch: "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?"

Babyshambles - Sequel to the Prequel One of the Arctic Monkeys indie rock predecessors is also releasing a new album this week! It's been a little while since we heard from Babyshambles, so long that I actually thought that they had broken up. Not so, six years after Shotter's Nation, and a solo album from front-man Peter Doherty, they are returning! Unlike the Arctic Monkeys, I haven't gotten much of an indication that their sound has changed greatly from their first two releases, but there's nothing wrong in sticking with what you do best. Listen/Watch: "Nothing Comes to Nothing"

Body/Head - Coming Apart Since the breakup of both her band, Sonic Youth, and her marriage to Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon has been fairly quiet. 2013 seems to be her re-entry year; she will be guest-starring on Girls, will release two books and has started a new band with Bill Nace. Body/Head released an EP earlier this year, but this is their first full-length together. The band has a similar punk/noise rock sound to Sonic Youth, but with a bit more experimentation going on. Listen: "Actress"

Delorean - Apar I started listening to Delorean about three years ago following the release of Subiza. I loved their interesting mix of indie rock and dance music. Also, what's not to love about an indie band out of Spain (really, we don't see too much of that). I always find the albums immediately following those which caught my attention from a band to be particularly exciting; I like to see what they've maintained of what I love and how their sound has progressed. Listen/Watch: "Spirit"

Emiliana Torrini - Tookah Emiliana Torrini is an Icelandic artist (family by way of Italy). Given such, much of her music shows the same quirkiness it seems we often get from artists from that country (Björk or Sigur Rós, for example). The 2009 single "Jungle Drum," from Me and Armini, was what first caught my attention of her. I've been a fairly avid fan since and was extremely excited when she announced the new album. Listen: "Speed of Dark"

Goldfrapp - Tales of Us So, there was a period during my sophomore or junior year of college where I really started to get downtempo electronic music (I think I credit Zero 7 with the discovery and love). I quickly tried to check out any band I could in the genre. Goldfrapp was one of the few who captured a bit more of my attention and became a fixture in my music library. I've loved her ever since. Tales of Us is her sixth studio album and I expect even more to love! Listen/Watch: "Drew"

Holy Ghost! - Dynamics After the end of LCD Soundsystem a couple of years ago, I pegged Holy Ghost! as a band that did nearly as masterful a job in the electronic genre. It must be something that James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem also saw, since the band is signed to his record label, DFA. Like LCD, this band uses electronic beats to develop music with otherwise typical song structures. Their sound seems to lean more towards pure electronic, though. Listen/Watch: "Teenagers in Heat"

Janelle Monáe - The Electric Lady It's not often that artists jump into concept albums at the start of their careers. Janelle, however, jump-started hers with the Metropolis concept, which centered around an android named Cindi Mayweather. Although she's carried this concept through two EPs and two albums, it's never come off as hokey or silly, it's resulted in some really excellent work. For her latest album, she's proving her worth even more, bringing in some R&B heavy-hitters like Prince and Erykah Badu as guests. Listen/Watch: "Dance Apocalyptic"

Man Man - On Oni Pond This is one of those artists I have randomly decided to check out after seeing their name dropped on several of my favorite blogs and magazines. Honestly, I know very little about them, except that they've been getting some good response on this latest album. Sometimes, it can be a good thing to just check something out for the sake of doing so, so I'm hoping this one pans out for me! Listen/Watch: "Head On"

The Weeknd - Kiss Land This is The Weeknd's debut album. Despite that, it seems like he's been around forever. In 2011, he released three mixtapes, which were compiled into Trilogy last year. The mixtapes and compilation have gotten him a lot of attention and a lot of hype. Reviews seem to be mixed on whether this album quite lives up to the hype, but it is exciting to see him releasing his first proper studio album! Listen/Watch: "Belong to the World"

Willis Earl Beal - Nobody Knows OK, so I guess I decided that this would be my week to check out music that I wasn't already too familiar with. Willis is another artist who I don't know much about, though I remember reading a lot of great things for his debut album, Acousmatic Sorcery. A big reason I'm checking this out, though, is that a singer who released of my favorite albums last year, Cat Power, is featured on one of the songs. As I've said before, work with someone whose music I love, I will definitely check out yours, as well! Listen: "Coming Through"

Other New Releases

Frightened Rabbit - Late March, Death March EP Frightened Rabbit released their excellent Pedestrian Verse album earlier this year. Typically, artists will release two or three song singles to further promote the album and songs, but FR has been releasing longer EPs in support of the album's tracks. They first did it with "State Hospital" last year and are doing it for another track from the album, "Late March, Death March," this week. Listen: "Radio Silence"

The Road to Jajouka The Road to Jajouka is a tribute album dedicated to paying tribute to the Master Musicians of Jajouka, Morocco. The album features recordings by Flea, Billy Martin and Lee Ranaldo. Listen: Lee Ranaldo - "Boujeloudia Magic"