New Music Friday - January 22, 2016

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases

Chairlift - Moth Following the release of a solo album and an EP from frontwoman Caroline Polachek (under the name Ramona Lisa) in 2014, it seemed that this band was in the midst of a break. Turns out, the band was still hard at work, preparing their third album. They continue making their special brand of artsy pop. The album was highly anticipated and received glowing reviews upon its release. Watch: "Romeo" Watch: "Ch-Ching"

Eleanor Friedberger - New View Eleanor Friedberger is a member of a band currently on hiatus. She was one-half of The Fiery Furnaces with her brother Matthew, but they went their separate ways in 2011, both embarking on solo careers. New View is her third album, on which she grapples with life as a solo artist and approaching 40. Watch: "Sweetest Girls" Watch: "He Didn’t Mention His Mother"

Savages - Adore Life Savages had a hard act to follow in their 2013 debut, Silence Yourself. In a statement released along with the album's announcement back in October, they seemed to acknowledge some of the inherent difficulty in following up a much celebrated record, stating it was about "recognizing your potential" and "self-doubt and inaction," and so on. Watch: "The Answer" Watch: "Adore"

Shearwater - Jet Plane and Oxbow Shearwater is one of those reliably consistent bands with a fairly well-defined sound and lyrical content. That consistency doesn't keep them from trying to expand and improve. On their latest, they've enlisted previous collaborators, tour mates, and film composer Brian Reitzell. The result is an album that still fits within my purview of the band's sound, but manages to add something new into that equation. Watch: "Quiet Americans" Listen: "Only Child"

Other Full-Length Releases

Adrian Younge - Something About April II Listen: "Memories of War" (featuring Laetitia Sadler) Listen: "Sittin’ By the Radio" (featuring Loren Oden)

The Besnard Lakes - A Coliseum Complex Museum Watch: "The Plain Moon" Listen: "Nightingale"

Bonnie “Prince” Billy - Pond Scum Watch: "When Thy Song Flows Through Me" Listen: "Rich Wife Full of Happiness"

Charlie Hilton - Palana Listen: "100 Million" (featuring Mac DeMarco) Listen: "Funny Anyway"

The I Don’t Cares - Wild Stab Listen: "Born for Me" Listen: "King of America"

Jesu & Sun Kil Moon - Jesu/Sun Kil Moon Listen: "America’s Most Wanted Mark Kozelek & John Dillinger" Listen: "Exodus"

Sam Means - 10 Songs Watch: "We’re Alone"

Tindersticks - The Waiting Room Watch: "Were We Once Lovers?" Watch: "Hey Lucinda"

Ty Segall - Emotional Mugger Listen: "Diversion" Listen: "Leopard Priestess"

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.

METZ - "Eraser"/"Pure Auto" Watch: "Eraser" Listen: "Pure Auto"

SAD13 & Lizzo - "Basement Queens" Listen: "Basement Queens"

Sonic Youth - Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star Reissue Listen: "Winner’s Blues" Listen: "Bull in the Heather"

Sonic Youth - NYC Ghosts and Flowers Reissue Listen: "Free City Rhymes" Listen: "Renegade Princess"

New Music Tuesday - 11/26/2013

New Full-Length Releases

Billie Joe & Norah Jones - Foreverly Talk about an unconventional partnership! Jazz chanteuse Norah Jones and "punk" rocker Billie Joe Armstrong are not exactly the first two musicians you would expect to get together to record an album, but here they are with a collection of Everly Brothers singles (also unexpected). The songs are all taken from the relatively forgotten Everly Brothers album Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. Thankfully, it seems to be more in the vein of Jones' music than of Armstrongs'. Listen: "Roving Gambler"

Kevin Morby - Harlem River Morby has performed as a member of Woods and started a side project, The Babies, with Cassie Ramone of the Vivian Girls in 2009. He's gradually halved the number of people that he's worked with until now, where it's just himself. Harlem River sees him finally stepping out into the forefront and releasing something more personal than his previous work. Listen: "Harlem River"

Sébastien Tellier - Confection Sébastien Tellier is a French singer and producer who has become noted for his New Wave meets electronic style. I've flip-flopped on his music for a little while, but after hearing the Caroline Polachek-assisted "In the Crew of Tea Time" (which is not actually on this record), I got pushed over the edge in his favor. I'm excited for this latest record as well as to go back over his back catalog and find more to love! Listen/Watch: "L’amour naissant"

Other New Releases

Alt-J - Summer EP Alt-J released an incredible album, An Awesome Wave, early last year and got on the fast track to being one of my favorite new bands. They're getting the remix treatment this year. This EP features mixes of songs from that debut album by the likes of The Internet, Dave Sitek and Ben Lovett (of Mumford & Sons). Listen: "Dissolve Me" (Ben Lovett Remix)

Beady Eye - "Soul Love"/"Iz Rite" Since the dissolution of Oasis, both Gallagher brothers have been very busy in new bands. Beady Eye is the project of Liam Gallagher, who released their sophomore album, BE, earlier this year. Now, they're releasing a pair of songs from that album as a single! Listen/Watch: "Soul Love"

Destroyer - Five Spanish Songs EP Dan Bejar is a Canadian musician who's released music with several supergroups, including Swan Lake and The New Pornographers. Destroyer, however, is a project that's primarily his and in which he's put out the most content. Five Spanish Songs is a short collection of tracks sung all in Spanish. Listen/Watch: "Bye Bye"

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Soundtrack The second installment of the latest movie franchise craze is out and, with it, another collection of new songs. I'm always impressed by the caliber of artists that are recruited for movie soundtracks these days and this one is no different. New songs from Patti Smith, The Weeknd, Sia and The National feature on this soundtrack! Listen: The National - "Lean"

Flume & Chet Faker - Lockjaw EP I've only recently started listening to Flume, but quickly began to love his music. He very recently released a deluxe version of debut self-titled album and is quickly following that up with a collaborative EP with Chet Faker (not to be confused with jazz musician Chet Baker). Listen/Watch: "Drop the Game"

Robert Pollard - "Return of the Drums"/"My Museum Needs an Elevator" Such a busy, busy man. Pollard released an album with Guided by Voices early this year and is set to release another in early 2014. Additionally, he is soon releasing another solo record after also releasing one earlier this year. I don't know how musicians like this do it, but it's great to see the love for their craft on record! Listen: "Return of the Drums"

Shearwater - Fellow Travelers Shearwater has been performing since 2001 and, in that time, they've toured or collaborated with a lot of other bands. With this release, they are honoring many of those collaborators with covers of their songs. On this album are songs originally sung by Coldplay, St. Vincent and Xiu Xiu, and others. Listen/Watch: "I Luv the Valley OH!"

Sky Ferreira - Night Time, My Time B-Sides Ferreira has been making quite a splash with her debut album, released just a few weeks ago. She's quickly following that up with a collection of b-sides from the recording of her debut. Listen: "Werewolf (I Like You)"

Thee Oh Sees - Singles Collection, Volume 3 Thee Oh Sees have been around for about 16 years and have put out 12 albums. This is their third collection of non-album singles! Listen: "What You Need"