New Music Friday - September 2, 2016

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases

Angel Olsen - My Woman My Woman is either Olsen's third or fourth album (depending on what you consider her debut cassette to be); it is her first since her increased profile from 2014's Burn Your Fire for No Witness. On the new album, Olsen seeks to get away from the lo-fi folk music she became known for on previous records. The sound is certainly more confident and aggressive, and possibly her best work to date. Watch: "Sister" Watch: "Shut Up Kiss Me"

Other Full-Length Releases

Jamie T - Trick Watch: "Tinfoil Boy" Watch: "Power Over Men"

Travis Scott - Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight Watch: "Pick Up the Phone" (featuring Young Thug & Quavo)

Y La Bamba - Ojos del Sol Watch: "Libre" Listen: "Ostrich"

Zomby - Ultra Listen: "Quandary" (featuring Darkstar) Listen: "Her"

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.

Action Bronson - "Descendant of the Stars" Listen: "Descendant of the Stars"

Hodgy Beats - Dukkha Listen: "Anime" Listen: "Talk It Out"

No Age - "Separation"/"Serf to Serf" Listen: "Separation" Listen: "Serf to Serf"

Nouvelle Vague - Athol Brose Watch: "Athol Brose"

Ted Leo & Publicist Split 7”

Soundwalk Collective, Jesse Paris Smith, & Patti Smith - Killer Road Watch: "Fearfully in Danger" Watch: "Killer Road"

New Music Tuesday - February 3, 2015

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

New Full-Length Albums

Big Noble - First Light Big Noble is the side project of Interpol's Daniel Kessler with sound designer Joseph Fraioli. Their first album takes on the interplay between "popular music and sound design" and uses field recordings, guitar, and sound manipulation. Watch: "Peg" Watch: "Stay Gold"

Bob Dylan - Shadows in the Night Bob Dylan has been active for more than half a century and, as one of our most celebrated songwriters, has seen much of his music covered by various other musicians. This time around, he is the one doing the covering. His latest record features songs originally sung by Frank Sinatra. Dylan is far from a crooner, he has his own distinctive voice, which lends a unique style to these songs. Listen: "Stay with Me" Listen: "Full Moon and Empty Arms"

Mount Eerie - Sauna Sauna is the fifth full-length album from Mount Eerie and their first in three years. The album is meant to evoke the feel of an actual sauna, stuffy and heavy, but still very relaxing. The album was recorded in a reclaimed church in Washington state. Watch: "Sauna" Watch: "This"

Murder By Death - Big Dark Love Recently, Bloomington-based band Murder By Death relocated a couple of hours south to Louisville. The band has settled into a well-established sound over their 15 years and seven albums together. Their latest sees them experimenting a bit on their sound, but still holding to their whiskey-voiced folk rock. Listen: "Big Dark Love" Listen: "Solitary One"

Ricked Wicky - I Sell the Circus The once-impossibly-prolific band Guided By Voices broke up last year, but it looks like their members will remain active on their own. Former frontman Robert Pollard is busy with a new project, Ricked Wicky. Pollard takes the name from his first made-up band name from his youth and brings in former collaborators Todd Tobias and Nick Mitchell to help. Listen: "Mobility" Listen: "A Real Stab"

Other New Releases

Billie Holiday - At Storyville The latest release from the legendary Billie Holiday was recorded at the Storyville Club in Boston in October 1951 and October 1953. More than half a century after the original recording, the music is getting a new release. Purchase: Amazon

Built to Spill - Ancient Melodies of the Future Reissue Built to Spill are getting set to release a new album in April of this year. First, they are re-releasing their fifth album which was originally released in 2001. Listen: "Strange" Listen: "The Host"

Fifty Shades of Grey Original Motion Picture Soundtrack It seems like a lot of movies that are otherwise uninteresting to me are getting really good soundtracks. Fifty Shades of Grey is the latest such film. It's unlikely I'll ever see it, but with new tracks from The Weeknd, Sia, and Jessie Ware, I may have its soundtrack on repeat. Watch: The Weeknd - "Earned It" Listen: Jessie Ware - "Meet Me in the Middle"

Hiss Golden Messenger - Southern Grammar EP Hiss Golden Messenger released his fifth album, Lateness of Dancers, in September of last year. He's following that up with a short new EP, which features two new songs, and a live version of the title track. A studio version of the title song was on his previous album. Listen: "He Wrote the Book" Listen: "Brother, Do You Know the Road?"

Hodgy Beats & Don Cannon - DENATAPE 2 Mixtape We may have already had the first Odd Future release of the year with Award Tour II last week, but Hodgy Beats is not far behind with his own follow-up mixtape. He released his first mixtape, DENATAPE, in 2009 and is releasing his follow-up to that this year, though he's released other mixtapes in the time between. Listen: "Self Titled" Listen: "Miyagi’s Prime"

Joni Mitchell - Newport Folk Festival 19th July 1969 The second-oldest live recording this week comes from Joni Mitchell and her 1969 performance at the Newport Folk Festival. The show came towards the beginning of her career and saw her performing songs that would become classics, as well as some of her rarer tracks. Listen: "The Circle Game"

Kali Uchis - Por Vida EP Kali Uchis is a Colombian singer-songwriter who has been featured on songs from Tyler, the Creator in the past. On her latest release (available as a free download from her site), Tyler returns the favor. The release also features production from Kaytranada and BADBADNOTGOOD. Watch: "Know What I Want" Listen: "Lottery"

Ty Segall Band - Live in San Francisco Ty Segall's prolific slate of new releases continues with his latest live album. The album was recorded over the course of two nights at The Rickshaw Shop and covers several years' worth of output. Listen: "What’s Inside Your Heart"

New Music Tuesday - 06/04/2013

New Full-Length Releases

Camera Obscura - Desire Lines Camera Obscura are yet another example of the incredible indie pop that comes out of Scotland. For their fifth full-length, they've enlisted such go-to guest vocalists as Neko Case and Jim James. Desire Lines promises to be yet another delivery of incredible pop from this band! Listen: "Fifth in Line to the Throne"

Eleanor Friedberger - Personal Record Eleanor Friedberger made a name for herself with her brother Matthew as one-half of The Fiery Furnaces. Although her brother has been an active solo artist for about seven years, Eleanor released her first solo album, Last Summer, in 2011. It's been four years since the last Fiery Furnaces album; I'm not sure if the siblings' respective solo albums signal a break for them. Listen/Watch: "Stare at the Sun"

Future Bible Heroes - Partygoing Future Bible Heroes is one of many side projects of The Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt. In stark contrast to the baroque pop sound of his main band, this project delivers a more electronic sound. In more than 16 years together, this is only the band's third album. Stephin Merritt is a busy enough man to warrant the gaps in releases, though. Listen: "Sadder Than the Moon"

Portugal. The Man - Evil Friends Every time I think of Portugal. The Man the song "So American" gets stuck in my head. The opening track from their last album, In the Mountains in the Clouds, is easily my favorite song from the band. And so, I'm very confused on how I almost missed that they were releasing a new record! Although it was actually announced months ago, I only heard about it last week. Still, I'm pretty excited for some new music from these guys. Listen/Watch: "Evil Friends"

Quadron - Avalanche I kind of stumbled upon this Danish group recently, when I listened to the song "Better Off," which featured Kendrick Lamar. The lead singer, Coco O., was also recently featured on The Great Gatsby soundtrack. Their sound reminded me a bit of the indie soul of Jessie Ware. Are these two artists signaling a new trend in music? I certainly hope so! Listen: "Better Off"

Queens of the Stone Age - Like Clockwork QOTSA work hard to keep driving, riff-filled hard rock alive, and they may be the best at it of any current bands. For this album, they teamed up with the visual artist Boneface for both the album artwork and a series of five music videos. Thanks to the visuals in those videos, this may be one of the creepiest albums to date. It's hard to listen without thinking of those terrifying characters! Listen/Watch: "My God Is the Sun"

Other New Releases

Future Bible Heroes - Memories of Love, Eternal Youth and Partygoing In addition to the new album up above, Future Bible Heroes is also re-releasing their first two albums, Memories of Love and Eternal Youth. So, if you're like me and hadn't taken the chance to check out this side project from Stephin Merritt, this seems the perfect opportunity to do it! Listen: "Lonely Days"

Ghost Brothers of Darkland County Stephen King may be best known for the numerous horror novels he has written, but he recently expanded his repertoire into musicals. Ghost Brothers was written with John Mellencamp. The soundtrack, released last week features tracks from Kris Kristofferson, Neko Case and Elvis Costello Listen: Elvis Costello - "That's Me"

Hodgy Beats Untitled 2 Hodgy Beats is a member of the hottest hip hop collective of the moment, Odd Future. Naturally, he's been featured on a number of other Odd Future releases, but has also released some in his own name. This is his second "Untitled" EP. Listen: "Years"