New Music Friday - June 1, 2018

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases

Father John Misty - God’s Favorite Customer Josh Tillman has been a very prolific artist since starting his career in 2004, with 12 album both under the name J. Tillman and under his newer moniker, Father John Misty. He's followed up his last record, 2017's Pure Comedy, fairly quickly, with an album he jokingly referred to as its Pure Comedy 2 while touring for the previous record. Watch: "Mr. Tillman" Watch: "Date Night"

LUMP - LUMP LUMP is the latest record from the spectacular Laura Marling, partnering with Mike Lindsay of TUNNG. It's a short, but sweet album. Vocally, the record is similar to her solo work, but Lindsay's involvement lends a different instrumentation to her sound. Watch: "Curse of the Contemporary" Watch: "May I Be the Light"

Natalie Prass - The Future and the Past Prass scrapped the initial follow-up to her 2015 self-titled debut following the 2016 election. A different record came out of her frustration with the results. She channels those frustrations into an R&B-inflected record that calls for unity in these times. Watch: "Short Court Style" Watch: "The Fire"

Neko Case - Hell-On Only Neko Case could make me look beyond the worst album art I've seen this year (I'm sorry Neko, though I still love you). She is as masterful as ever on her seventh album, showcasing the sounds she's developed both as a solo artist and with The New Pornographers, as well as introducing some new ideas. Watch: "Last Lion of Albion" Watch: "Curse of the I-5 Corridor" (featuring Mark Lanegan)

The Saxophones - Songs of The Saxophones The Saxophones are the husband-wife duo of Alexi Erenkov and Alison Alderdice. They've released a series of short EPs together over the past couple of year, this is their first studio album. Watch: "Mysteries Revealed" Listen: "Picture"

Other Full-Length Releases

Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge - The Midnight Hour Listen: "Black Beacon" Listen: "Better Endeavor"

Juliana Daugherty - Light Listen: "Light" Listen: "Sweetheart"

Oneohtrix Point Never - Age Of Watch: "Black Snow" Watch: "The Station"

Phil Cook - PEOPLE ARE MY DRUG Watch: "Miles Away" (featuring Amelia Meath) Listen: "Steampowered Blues"

Richard Edwards - Verdugo Watch: "Minefield" Listen: "Beekeeper"

Roger Daltrey - As Long As I Have You Watch: "As Long As I Have You" Listen: "I’ve Got Your Love"

Sam Evian - You, Forever Watch: "IDGAF" Watch: "You, Forever"

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.

Cold Cave - You & Me & Infinity EP Watch: "You & Me & Infinity" Listen: "My Heart Is Immortal"

The Flaming Lips - Greatest Hits Vol. 1 Watch: "The Captain" Watch: "Do You Realize??"

Mazzy Star - Still Watch: "Quiet, the Winter Harbor" Listen: "Still"

Paul Simon - Graceland - The Remixes Listen: "Graceland" (MK & KC Lights Remix) Listen: "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" (Thievery Corporation Remix)

Upcoming Album of the Week (Ending March 10)

David Byrne released a new album, American Utopia, this week and received some criticism for the complete lack of female collaborators. For his part, he issued a very sincere apology for the exclusion, noting that it doesn't fit with his past work (remember that amazing collaborative album with St. Vincent?) and recognizing his position to help uplift female voices.

Hopefully, he keeps this in mind with his future work; I, for one, would not mind a new album with St. Vincent! If that happens, look for it on my Upcoming Releases page!

This week, the glorious Neko Case announced her seventh solo album, Hell-On.

consequenceofsound.net

Case has had an over-two-decade long solo career, with amazing six albums. My favorite of hers remains the 2000 sophomore album Furnace Room Lullaby. She released her most recent solo record, The More I Love You... (the full title is much longer) in 2013, which landed at the number two spot for my favorite albums of that year.

She hasn't been quiet since that last record. Two years ago, she joined up with kd lang and Laura Veirs for case/lang/veirs and, last year, rejoined with The New Pornographers for Whiteout Conditions; both also incredible albums.

She announced her latest on Monday and released the title track the next day.

Hell-On is set to be released on June 1!

Also announced this week:

The Amazing - In Transit (April 6)
Beach House - 7 (May 11)
Ben Frost - All That You Love Will Be Eviscerated (March 23)
Buck Meek - Buck Meek (May 18)
Damien Jurado - The Horizon Just Laughed (July 6)
Grouper - Grid of Points (April 27)
Jon Hopkins - Singularity (May 4)
La Luz - Floating Features (May 11)
Lily Allen - No Shame (June 8)
Little Dragon - “Best Friends”/“Sway Daisy” (April 20)
Logic - Bobby Tarantino II (out now)
Maria Usbeck - “Bosque De Bambú” (out now)
Now, Now - Saved (May 18)
Quiet Slang - Everything Matters but No One Is Listening (May 18)
serpentwithfeet - soil (June 9)
Shamir - Resolution (out now)
TT - LoveLaws (May 18)
Van Morrison - You’re Driving Me Crazy (April 27)
Wand - Perfume (May 25)

Neko Case in Cincinnati

When: October 22, 2013
Where: Taft Theatre in Cincinnati, OH

The Show:

Neko Case is one of those artists who, for some reason, I kept missing live. I'd seen her perform with The New Pornographers when they visited Cincinnati in 2011, but kept getting hit by some poor luck whenever I made plans to her solo. The first was later in 2011, on her tour with My Morning Jacket. I misjudged the start time of the event and made it to the venue just as she was finishing her set. The second time, at 2012's Forecastle Festival, I had to leave to make it back for a softball game, which I couldn't even make it to due to an accident on the highway.

This time, I was determined to see her perform. I had my ticket ahead of time and made it to the venue with more than enough time to see her entire set. Case had just released her sixth album, The Worse Things Gets..., and I was already in love with the record.

As expected, the show was amazing. Case is a great songwriter and singer, but her talents show even more when performing live. The only thing I disliked in the show was the number of times that she stopped to chide an audience member for using their phone to take a picture or video.

The audience had been asked, nicely at first, by both Case and Kelly Hogan (a member of her touring band) to keep their phones put away during the show. It was obviously something that really bothered Case; at one point, she got into a pretty heated argument with one fan that held up the music enjoyment for about five minutes. It was frustrating, both towards Case and those that did have their phones out, but overall, I was happy with the show and excited that I finally got to see her live!

Since we were asked nicely not to take pictures, I have none of my own from the show. To see a collection of pics from an area photographer, click here!

Mini Setlist:

"This Tornado Loves You" (from Middle Cyclone)
"Maybe Sparrow" (from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood)
"Man" (from The Worse Things Get...)

New Music Tuesday - 09/03/2013

New Full-Length Releases

Grooms - Infinity Caller Grooms is one of those bands that I have no recollection of how I heard of them, just that, when I did, I loved their sound. That was two years ago and I immediately acquired the two albums that the post-punk band had released up to that point, Receiver and Proms. I haven't read much about them in music magazines and blogs, so while I'm excited for a new album from them, I'm also hoping it starts to get them some more well-deserved attention! Listen/Watch: "I Think We're Alone Now"

John Legend - Love in the Future I've loved John Legend for years and he is one of the few artists to survive the shift in my musical tastes after high school. This is the soul artist's forth album (fifth if you count the Wake Up! collaboration with The Roots). I find Mr. Legend to be a very consistent artist and I've loved everything he's put out so far in his career. I hope that this latest will continue the love. Listen/Watch: "Who Do We Think We Are"

Jonathan Rado - Law and Order It used to be the case (or at least it used to feel this way) that bands would be around for  a good while before individual members started to break out and release solo material. Foxygen has been together since 2005, but started gaining a lot of attention following the release of this year's We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic. Despite their recent acclaim, Jonathan Rado, the band's guitarist, is already putting out his solo debut. I wonder if it will be as easy to love as his band's work... Listen: "Faces"

King Khan & The Shrines - Idle No More There's nothing more fun than throwback music, especially when it takes on a slight dirty tone. King Khan has specialized in a sound that harkens back to the early days of rock and roll; at times he can sound like Little Richard or Chuck Berry. The Shrines is one of the many musical projects that he is a part of, he has also worked with Mark Sultan, GZA and the Black Lips. I expect even more dirty rock and roll from him here! Listen/Watch: "Darkness"

Lonnie Holley - Keeping a Record of It Lonnie Holley started his life as an "outsider" artist after crafting headstones for a family member (outsider meaning he did not receive formal training). He began producing pieces which were featured in art museums across the country. He made a transition to music in 2012 with the album Just Before Music. This time around, he gets some help from other prominent musicians, Bradford Cox and Cole Alexander. Listen: "From the Other Side of the Pulpit"

Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You This is possibly one of my favorite all-time artists. Neko Case has an amazing voice that is instantly recognizable, which is perhaps why she's had the opportunity to work with so many other artists. I've loved everything she's done, whether it's her solo work, The New Pornographers or her feature on The Dodo's last album. Getting new music from her is probably the greatest pleasure though (she's also an incredible song-writer, by the way). So, yeah, I'm pretty excited about this! Listen/Watch: "Night Still Comes"

Okkervil River - The Silver Gymnasium This is another much-loved artist for me. I didn't really start to get into Okkervil River until early late 2011, but when I did, I quickly acquired and loved just about everything that they had put out to that point. 2011's I Am Very Far easily made it onto my favorite albums list for that year. From early listens, I anticipate that this album will also be a favorite for me. Listen/Watch: "It Was My Season"

Volcano Choir - Repave Justin Vernon sure does a lot. He has his solo work in Bon Iver, the Shouting Matches and has been a favorite go-to when Kanye West needs a vocalist. All that (plus others) and this band. He recently said that this is where his heart is. Although it's been two years since the last Bon Iver release, he is focusing on this band and doesn't plan on returning to Bon Iver in the near future. I hope that it means that this album displays the same quality and attention to detail that his solo work has! Listen/Watch: "Comrade"

Other New Releases

Pixies - EP-1 The Pixies were pretty big in the late 1980s and early 1990s and were an important precursor to the grunge and indie rock of the 90s. They seemed to come back out of nowhere this year, first with the single "Bagboy" and now with this EP. Their return has unfortunately heralded the loss of a member, Kim Deal, but it's still great to be getting some new music from them! Listen/Watch: "Indie Cindy"