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"

New Music Tuesday - October 29, 2013

New Full-Length Releases

Arcade Fire - Reflektor Arcade Fire arguably became the biggest indie rock act after their last album, The Suburbs, won Album of the Year at the Grammys in 2011. They'd been critical successes from the beginning, the but album helped to make them commercial hits as well. Though they'd released two full-length records prior, this may be their biggest challenge, as they're following up a highly-successful record. Thankfully, they haven't strayed from the epic sound that has served them well in the past. Listen/Watch: "Reflektor"

Diane Coffee - My Friend Fish Diane Coffee is the moniker for Shaun Fleming, drummer for the band Foxygen. It still amazes me how quickly we are seeing solo albums from the members of that band so soon after their own debut album. Still, I always enjoy hearing what individual band members do on their own; it can provide an interesting look at how their sound plays into the band's sound and what they can do on their own. Listen/Watch: "Green"

Los Campesinos! - No Blues No Blues is this Welsh band's fifth studio album, which sees them continuing to advance and mature their sound. While I liked the twee sound of their debut album, Hold on Now, Youngster..., I tired of it and they didn't seem to waver much from it even three years later, when they released their fourth album, Hello Sadness. This might be the biggest jump forward for them and I'm interested again! Listen/Watch: "Avocado, Baby"

Moonface - Julia with Blue Jeans On Wolf Parade (the former band of Moonface's Spencer Krug) broke up two years ago, which was a travesty for me... they were one of my favorite bands. Dan Boeckner went on to form Divine Fits with Britt Daniel and Moonface is Krug's post-Wolf Parade project. This is his third album with the project following last year's excellent With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery. Each former member of Wolf Parade has made unique music following the dissolution, and it's all been great! Listen/Watch: "Barbarian"

Sky Ferreira - Night Time, My Time Sky Ferreira is a young pop singer who began gaining critical acclaim following the release of her first EPs, As If! and Ghost. It took some time for her first full-length (hint: it's this album) to be released. She struggled a bit with major labels who wanted to turn her into a more typical pop star. Thankfully, Capitol has allowed her to be herself more. Maybe, she can start to change the course of modern pop music. Listen/Watch: "You're Not the One"

Son Lux - Lanterns Son Lux's music is an interesting mix of post-rock and hip hop. He upped the ante even more last year by releasing an EP under the name S / S / S with Serengeti and Sufjan Stevens. The three have very different sounds, so the combination was even more interesting. I started checking Son Lux out more following that release, this is his third full-length. Listen/Watch: "Lost It to Trying"

Upset - She's Gone Ali Koehler was the drummer for the band Best Coast until 2011, when she left the band under what she claimed was not her own decision. Bethany Consentino (Best Coast's lead singer) claimed her departure was much more amicable. Whatever the reason for that split, she is back with a new project, Upset, with Patty Schemel and Jenn Prince. The sound is similar to her past projects, Vivian Girls and, of course, Best Coast. Listen/Watch: "You and I"

White Denim - Corsicana Lemonade I've heard the White Denim name around the past couple of years, but only decided to check them out when they announced the release of this latest album earlier this year. I checked out the early single "Pretty Green" and was immediately impressed by their sound. It felt, to be, like a more psychedelic version of The Black Keys. Loving this album, now it's time to check out their back catalog! Listen/Watch: "Pretty Green"

Other New Releases

Baio - Mira EP Baio is the mononym for Vampire Weekend's bassist, Chris Baio. He's been active as a member of that band since its inception in 2006, but began releasing solo material last year. In sharp contrast to his main band's African-tinged indie rock, his music is electronic. Listen/Watch: "Mira"

Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticisms Reissue Transatlanticisms was Death Cab for Cutie's fourth album released in 2003. It became their first charting record at 97 (later releases would reach the top 10). It has been ten years since that breakthrough release and, of course, time for an anniversary release. This includes a remastered version of the original album and a disc of demos. Listen: "The New Year" (Demo)

Foals - Holy Fire: Live at Royal Albert Hall Foals released an excellent third album, Holy Fire, earlier this year. On March 28, they performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England. This, along with a DVD, is the official release of that show. Listen: "Late Night"

Mount Kimbie - CSFLY Remixes EP Mount Kimbie released their sophomore album, Cold Spring Fault Less Youth, earlier this year. This EP features various remixes of two of the songs from that album by producers such as Lee Gamble, Oneman and Kyle Hall. Listen: "You Took Your Time" (Kyle Hall remix)

Music from and Inspired by Dallas Buyers Club Dallas Buyers Club is an upcoming film starring Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto (and I can't wait to see it). The film's soundtrack features songs from Portugal. The Man, My Morning Jacket, and Tegan and Sara. Listen: Tegan & Sara - "Shudder to Think"

Phosphorescent - Muchachos de Lujo Though I wasn't yet into Matthew Houck's music when he released his latest album earlier this year, once I heard it, it quickly became one of my favorites of the year. The record is already getting its deluxe edition, which includes tracks recorded live at the St. Pancras Church. Listen: "Terror In The Canyons (The Wounded Master) (Live at St. Pancras Church)"

The xx/Sampha - "Reconsider"/"Without" The indie label Young Turks has been releasing a series of split 7" singles throughout 2013. Each has been available in limited edition quantities.The latest brings together The xx and Sampha. Listen: The xx - "Reconsider"