New Music Tuesday - January 21, 2014

New Full-Length Releases

Damien Jurado - Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son Ever since I heard Jurado open for Sharon van Etten in a late-2012 Cincinnati concert, I have been interested in his sound. The man is a bit of an indie/folk chameleon. Some of his work is quiet and introspective, some other is more raucous. This latest release leans more on the quiet side, which he seems to have preferred of late. Listen: "Metallic Cloud" Listen: "Silver Joy"

Marram - Sun Choir Marram is a collective of artists and musicians out of Edinburgh, Scotland. This release features the voices of kids from the Light of Love Children’s Home. Also featured are other great musicians like Jarvis Cocker and Owen Pallett. Proceeds from the album will benefit the Children's Home. Watch: "With Us Instead" Listen: "Falling from the Sun"

Warpaint - Warpaint Warpaint started getting some attention around the time of the release of debut album, The Fool, in 2010. They faded from view for a couple of years, but started gearing up last year, first with a tour (including a stop at MidPoint Music Festival) and then a few singles. Expectations have been high for their follow-up album, but these are some ladies who can live up to it! Listen: "Love Is to Die" Listen: "Biggy"

Other New Releases

BOATS BOATS is a companion to the album from Marram above. It's a compilation featuring a number of different artists, but all using the vocals from the Children's Home as samples in the songs. Featured here are Son Lux, Taken By Trees, Bear in Heaven and many others. Listen: YACHT - "Icarus Complex" Listen: Rustie - "BOATSSS"

Joe Goddard - Taking Over Remixes Joe Goddard, known for his work with The 2 Bears and Hot Chip, released his latest solo work in the summer of last year. Now, it's getting the remix treatment. This remix release features reworkings of a couple of the tracks from the Taking Over EP, as well as remixes by other producers. Listen: "Step Together" (Alternate Mix) Listen: "She Burns" (Leo Invisible Remix)

Moderat - "Last Time" Moderat released a great, but under-appreciated album, II, in June of last year. The album had a lot of good tracks, including "Last Time," which is now getting released as a stand-alone single. Watch: "Last Time" Listen: "Last Time" (Jon Hopkins Remix)

Prurient - Washed Against the Rocks 7" Washed Against the Rocks is the latest in a long string of releases from this prolific artist. The 7" is being released in a limited quantity of 500 pressings. Listen: "Doors Closed in Secrecy"

Sampha - Sundanza Sampha has become a fairly prominent musician, often a featured artist for others, but has scant solo recordings to his name. He's significantly increased the number with this latest release, which includes recordings from throughout his career so far. Listen: "Kij" Listen: "Curves"

The Soft Moon - "Feel"/"Hunger" I started listening to The Soft Moon last year after the band released their sophomore album, Zeros. There was something interesting about their dark/post-punk sound. They are following that album up with a pair of new songs, equally enthralling! Watch: "Feel" Watch: "Hunger"

New Music Tuesday - 08/06/2013

New Full-Length Releases

Future Wife - We're Gonna Die Future Wife is the musical project of artist Young Jean Lee. It is based on her live show, which consists of a series of monologues and songs about life and death. Whereas, in her live shows, she read the monologues, she has invited a number of other artists to read for the album. This includes Sarah Neufeld (who is also releasing an album this year), David Byrne and Ad-Rock, among others. Listen: "Uncle John" (read by Adam Horovitz)

Moderat - II Moderat is a electronic music band made up of two other electronic acts, Modeselektor and Apparat. The combined act released their first self-titled album in 2009 to a fair amount of acclaim. Although both bands have released albums under their original monikers in the years since, they are back with a follow-up. Though I'd heard a lot about them, I had never really checked them out until I heard and fell in love with the lead single from this record! Listen/Watch: "Bad Kingdom"

Pond - Hobo Rocket Pond is also an off-shoot of another band, in this case it's psychedelic rock band Tame Impala. They've been more prolific than their sibling band, releasing six albums compared to Tame Impala's two. Though they are similar, they've taken on a more disjointed, raucous sound. They show no signs of taking it slow after this record; the next album, Man, It Feels Like Space Again, has already been announced. Listen/Watch: "Xanman"

Other New Releases

Desaperacidos - "Te Amo Camila Vallejo"/"The Underground Man" Conor Oberst has had a lot of music projects. He's performed under his own name, most famously as Bright Eyes, and in the supergroup Monsters of Folk (that's not everything, just summarizing). Desaperacidos is a punk band started in 2001, though he only released one album in the project before disbanding a year later. They got back together last year for a pair of politically-tinged singles and they're at it again this year. Listen: "Te Amo Camila Vallejo"

John Cale - "All Summer Long"/"Sandman (Flying Dutchman)" John Cale released his latest studio album, Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood, in October of last year. As is often the case when artists release albums, there were tracks recorded during the same session that did not make it to the final cut. "All Summer Long" is just such a track. It seems more appropriate to release it now than in the midst of autumn! Listen: "All Summer Long"

Lil Silva - The Distance EP Lil Silva is a London-based grime producer. Being London-based these days seems to mean working with a group of other hot British artists. In Lil Silva's case, that includes Rosie Lowe and Sampha (who's released his own EP recently). This is the second time Lil Silva has recorded with Sampha, previously working with him on the single "On Your Own." Listen: "Salient Sarah" (featuring Sampha)

Ultraísta - Remixes Ultraista, a side project of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, released their debut album last year. As seems to be a requirement over the past couple of years, the album is getting the remix treatment. Various tracks from the album are getting remixed by the likes of Four Tet, Chvrches and Zero 7. Listen: "Our Song" (Zero 7 remix)

New Music Tuesday - 07/09/2013

New Full-Length Releases

Hebronix - Unreal I was heartbroken to hear that Daniel Blumberg quit as the lead singer of Yuck. The band had been one of the better to come out of the 90s-style indie rock revival a couple of years ago. My fears were salved, somewhat, upon discovering that both sides would be continuing on. The band would continue under the same name and Daniel under the name of Hebronix. The project takes a slightly different direction than that of his former band, but it's still apparent that this is a Blumberg project. Listen: "Unreal"

Jay-Z - Magna Carta Holy Grail Jay-Z took a very different approach to the release of this album. Samsung purchased one million copies of the record at $5 a pop and released it for free to subscribers. It was a boon to Jay-Z, he had a platinum record before it was even out. It didn't work as well for Samsung, though. The app crashed and there were numerous privacy concerns. It's a fairly new approach, so Samsung will live and learn. Although, it is disconcerting to think of the corporate influence involved. Listen: "Holy Grail" (featuring Justin Timberlake)

Robert Pollard - Honey Locust Honky Tonk Holy crap, this dude is prolific! He is the lead singer of Guided By Voices, who released three albums last year and already have an album and EP out this year. As a solo artist, he's put out two albums every year since 2006. I guess that he has a lot to say (or nothing else to do). Listen: "Airs"

Sweet Valley - SV Nathan Williams, of Wavves, started this side project with his brother Kynan last year. They released three albums for free that year, but this is their first release this year. They released the albums in a fairly short time frame last year, so expect more from them soon! Listen: "Kingdom of Heaven"

Other New Releases

Beck - "I Won't Be Long" Beck will be releasing a new acoustic album later this year (the exact date hasn't yet been announced). In the meantime, he is releasing a series of singles that are definitely not acoustic, so I'm guessing these won't be on the album. This is the second this year, following "Defriended." Listen: "I Won't Be Long"

Moderat - "Bad Kingdom" Moderat (the combination of Modeselektor and Apparat) are releasing an album later this year, creatively title Moderat II. "Bad Kingdom" is the first single released from that album. I haven't been very familiar with either artists' work, or their work together. But, if this is the sound they have, I'm pretty psyched for the album! Listen/Watch: "Bad Kingdom"

Regina Spektor - "You've Got Time" It's only been a little over a year since Regina released her most recent album, What We Saw from the Cheap Seats. This single does not come from that album however. I'm not sure if this heralds a new album later this year, but I like this sound from her, it's a bit like early Yeah Yeah Yeahs! Listen: "You've Got Time"

Thriftstore Masterpiece: Trouble Is a Lonesome Town Thriftstore Masterpiece is a music project dedicated to honoring lesser-known records from the past. This edition is dedicated to Lee Hazlewood's 1963 debut album, Trouble is a Lonesome Town. The album features covers from Black Francis (of the Pixies), Art Brut and Isaac Brock (of Modest Mouse), among others. Listen: Isaac Brock - "Railroad"

Woods - "Be All Be Easy"/"God's Children" The latest single from Woods features a re-recorded version of a song from their second most recent album, Sun and Shade. The B-side of the single features a cover of a song by The Kinks. Listen: "Be All Be Easy"