The soundtrack for Peaky Blinders was released this past Friday and includes new songs from a number of amazing musicians, including Laura Marling, PJ Harvey, and Queens of the Stone Age. It also features a new song from Anna Calvi, "You're Not God." The song doesn't feature her vocals much, aside from audible breaths and growls, but instead focuses on her incredible guitar work.
FKA twigs recently appeared on BBC 1 to perform songs from her new album, Magdalene. In addition to "home with you," and "cellophane," she also performed a cover of Gershwin's jazz classic "Summertime." Despite the song's 85 years as a jazz standard, she manages to bring something new with her distinctive breathy vocals.
Every music video released by Rosalía has been amazing, usually featuring colorful costumes and well-choreographed dance sequences. These don't feel like typical pop videos, though. There's something to the camera work and cinematography, and of course her music, that elevates her videos above the fray.
This week, Moses Sumney announced a two-part album, græ.
He released an incredible debut album, Aromanticism, in 2017, followed up by the Black in Deep Red EP last year. Based on the first track from the album, "Virile," he is only building on the loose song structure and jazz-influenced vocals that made his earlier work so amazing. Part one of the album will be released in February, and part two and the physical release coming on May 15.
Also announced this week:
Action Bronson - Lamb Over Rice (November 22)
Andrew Bird - HARK! (out now)
Andy Stott - It Should Be Us (out now)
Animal Collective - Ballet Slippers (November 22)
Annie Hart - A Softer Offering (December 13)
Black Lips - Sing in a World That’s Falling Apart (January 24)
C.Y.M. - C.Y.M. (out now)
Camila Cabello - Romance (December 6)
Grimes - Miss Anthropocene (February 21)
Free Nationals - The Free Nationals (December 13)
Hamerkop - Remote (February 7)
The Homesick - The Big Exercise (February 7)
Katie Gately - Loom (February 14)
Lee Ranaldo & Raül Refree - Names of North End Women (February 21)
Noel Gallagher’s High-Flying Birds - Blue Moon Rising (March 6)
Of Montreal - UR FUN (January 17)
Okay Kaya - Watch This Liquid Pour Itself (January 24)
The Rentals - Q36 (June 2)
Rose Cousins - Bravado (February 21)
The Secret Sisters - Saturn Return (February 28)
Tinashe - Songs for You (November 22)
Walter Martin - The World at Night (January 31)
Wiki - OOFIE (out now)
Wolf Parade - Thin Mind (January 24)
Yorkston/Thorne/Khan - Navarasa: Nine Emotion (January 24)
I'm trying something new here. Rather than just a album that was announced during the week that I'm excited about, I will start posting a few things that I've liked from the week. This will include new album announcements, songs, covers, and videos!
Angel Olsen announced her fourth album, All Mirrors, a few weeks back. I'm incredibly excited for it and, yes, I have preordered it (possibly twice, I'm not sure if my first order went through). She already released one amazing track from the new album, but released a second this week, "Lark."
Sleater-Kinney released The Center Won't Hold, their incredible, St. Vincent-produced ninth album, earlier this month. They released a new video for one of the album's tracks this week, "Can I Go On." The video starts out innocent-looking enough, with a pair of older ladies about to enjoy some tea together. Things quickly devolve, however, into a knock-down drag-out bout, complete with stripping and mud.
Lucy Dacus has been releasing one-off singles every few months this year. She's released four so far and her latest is a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark." The cover is dedicated to both Springsteen and Dacus' father.
Finally, in album announcement news, FKA twigs announced her sophomore album, Magdalene!
The album follows her incredible LP1 and will feature Future and production from Jack Antonoff, who seems to be becoming one of the biggest names in pop production today (he also produced new albums from Lana Del Rey, Kevin Abstract, and Taylor Swift). She previously released one song from the album, "cellophane," and released "holy terrain" along with the album's announcement. The album will be released on October 25.
Anyway Gang - Anyway Gang (November 29)
Bishop Nehru - My Disregarded Thoughts (November 8)
Bombay Bicycle Club - Everything Else Has Gone Wrong (January 17)
Bonnie “Prince” Billy - I Made a Place (November 15)
Cigarettes After Sex - Cry (October 25)
Cold War Kids - New Age Norms 1 (November 1)
Danny Brown - uknowhatimsayin¿ (October 4)
David Bowie - David Bowie: Conversation Piece (November 15)
Editors - Black Gold (October 25)
Foxes in Fiction - Trillium Killer (October 18)
Freddie Mercury - Never Boring (October 11)
Jacques Greene - Dawn Chorus (October 18)
Jeff Goldblum - I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This (November 1)
Kanye West - Jesus Is King (September 27)
Kele Okereke - 2042 (November 8)
La Neve - The Vital Cord (October 14)
N.E.R.D. - In Search Of Box Set Reissue (October 25)
Prince - 1999 Remastered (November 29)
R.E.M. - Monster 25th Anniversary Reissue (November 1)
The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed 50th Anniversary Edition (November 1)
Sudan Archives - Athena (November 1)
Swans - Leaving Meaning (October 25)
Tindersticks - No Treasure But Hope (November 15)
Water from Your Eyes - Somebody Else’s Song (October 25)
Weezer - Van Weezer (May 15)
The Who - WHO (November 22)
Wild Nothing - Live from Brooklyn Steel (September 27)
I think it's safe to crown fka twigs the queen of music videos. She self-directs the majority of them, incorporates her incredible dancing, and it doesn't hurt that the music is amazing. Her latest is an intimate video of her doing some subtle moves while laying in bed wrapped up in sheets. It's a simple image, but one that pairs perfectly with the song.
There's no word yet on whether this track will be included on an upcoming release; fka twigs last released the EP M3LL155A in August of last year.
With my analysis of 2015 year-end lists finally complete, I am fully in 2016 music mode! View my Upcoming Releases list to see what's set to come out over the next few months!
This was a slow week for announcements, but there were still a couple of exciting announcements made. Perhaps with the new Kanye album set for release this past week (it didn't come, by the way), other artists didn't want to try and compete with the media attention. Fair enough.
Among those that did make announcements was fka twigs. It's not a new album, but the vinyl reissue of her first EP, EP1.
The EP was released when she was still known simply as twigs (a name that changed following a complaint from another artist). The EP was released in December 2012, but the following years saw her profile rise with two celebrated EPs and a debut LP, LP1, in 2014. That first EP became a much sought after item and an original pressing can set you back at least a couple hundred dollars. This new pressing should cost considerably less!
The EP1 reissue is set to come April 8.
Also announced this week:
Battles - Vinyl reissues (April 1)
Britt Phillips - Luck or Magic (April 29)
Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop - Love Letter for Fire (April 15) Star Wars Headspace (February 19)
Tim Kasher is known for his work in Cursive, an emo band who released their first album in 1997. Slightly more recently, he has been involved in The Good Life, whose first album was released just three years later. That project has been hiatus for eight years, but is back this year with a new album. It's the first from the band that was recorded as a more collective effort, lending it a broader range of styles and ideas than previous efforts.
Talib Kweli is all about the surprise releases in the back half of this year. A few weeks ago, he released a first volume of b-sides and rare tracks with very little warning. This release comes with the same amount of forewarning, none. The album, with featured appearances from Miguel, Patrick Stump (of Fallout Boy), and Ab-Soul, seeks to warn of the evils of money. It is, as would only be appropriate, available as a free download here.
20. Spoon - They Want My Soul
19. Lykke Li - I Never Learn
18. The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers
17. Jessie Ware - Tough Love
16. Tennis - Ritual in Repeat
15. D'Angelo & The Vanguard - The Black Messiah
14. tUnE-yArDs - Nikki Nack
13. Peter Matthew Bauer - Liberation!
12. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
11. Afghan Whigs - Do to the Beast
10. Chet Faker - Built on Glass
I wish I had become acquainted with this Australian artist with the release of his first EP, Thinking in Textures, and his incredible cover of Blackstreet's "No Diggity." I came in earlier this year, though, just before the release of this debut album. I listened to, and watched the video for "Talk Is Cheap;" I was immediately reminded of Jamie Lidell at his best (around 2005's Multiply). Faker does a similarly masterful job of blending electronica, trip hop, and R&B.
Prior to this year, I had dismissed Mac DeMarco as little more than a goofball with a guitar. However, after seeing how much praise his previous album, 2, received on 2012 year-end lists, as well as the praise heaped on this record when it was released, I decided I would be wise to check him out. While I have found a silly, irreverent attitude (and sometimes just gross) in many of his interviews, and especially in his music videos, I've also found laid-back, well-written work. I certainly regret underestimating this guy in the past, he's proof that a goofy persona doesn't equate to goofy music.
This young lady has had quite the year. Some interesting things have happened in her personal life, but her music has been supremely impressive. She often gets pigeon-holed with the label of R&B (perhaps because of her race), but her music incorporates elements of trip hop, experimental, electronic, even choral music. All of that combines to make slow-burning, ethereal, and sensual songs. Her music didn't quite strike me on first listen; it's subtle, but over time I was able to parse out her influences and intricacies and ultimately come to love the release.
I loved Lia Ices' previous album, 2011's Grown Unknown, and found this to be a worthy follow-up, perhaps even more loved than that record. She took what she's done so well in the past and built upon it, while displaying more levity and a bit of international flair. This one of the few albums this year that, after listening through, I would allow to start back over at the beginning and listen through again.
Adult Jazz is one of my absolute favorite new finds of the year. This Leeds band shows that the British do experimental rock just about the best. There are elements of so many things that I love here; vocals sometimes reminiscent of Yellow Ostrich, other times of Wild Beasts, and the occasional jangly guitar that reminds me of WU LYF. Oh, and trombones (if you know anything about me, you know that was my instrument of choice in high school and college). However, this also sounds like almost nothing else I've heard before. There was perhaps no other album this year that I was so excited to share with other people.
I'm sometimes a bit wary when musicians make a major shift from the genre in which they started. In Mountain Man, Amelia Meath created harmonious folk music. Her work here, with Megafaun's Nick Sanborn, is very different. The sound is a electronic-tinged indie pop. The backgrounds of the two musicians keep the output interesting and artsy, while Amelia's smoky vocals completely seal the deal. The album's opener "Hey Mami" was my own personal song of the summer.
It's not usually a live television performance that interests me in a band, but after hearing so much about Future Islands' Letterman appearance (and after an interesting NPR interview), I had to check this band out. I was not disappointed; the band looks so unassuming in pictures and, at first glance, their music seems to be the same way. But then, much as lead Samuel Herring busts into an odd dance move, he lets out a metal-style growl. The music is great, but it's those surprising touches that make it just a little more memorable.
So many of today's hip hop talent is so young, with many artists having been born in the 1990s, but these two (El-P and Killer Mike are both pushing 40) set out to prove that it's not just a young man's game. They succeed, easily showing just about everyone else up. No album this year has made me feel so many emotions; anger, joy, sadness. Just for good measure, the duo also throws in a good amount of humor and sexuality. This could easily be my favorite hip hop album ever and another record that I would let repeat and listen to multiple times in a row.
At first, the announcement that The Walkmen were talking an "extreme hiatus" was terrifying news to me. No sooner than that news was released, though, several members had already announced their own solo records. They're all great, but frontman Hamilton Leithauser's stood out the most for me. His album could have come across as bare, lacking the band's other members, but he gets help from a number of other great musicians, and some of his bandmates are featured, as well. I still miss The Walkmen, but the solo albums are great to have in their absence.
My number one favorite album for last year was a pretty easy choice to make. I've loved St. Vincent for a number of years and she hasn't has a misstep of an album yet. Her latest is probably her best yet. She's spent her career as the quintessential cool indie girl, but transformed herself in 2014; starting with an unexpected hair bleaching. She's become an almost superhuman figure, with music and a live persona to match. Albums released towards the beginning of the year tend to get forgotten once December rolls around, this one was released in February, but I kept returning to this one all year long.
FKA Twigs has made a name for herself over the past couple of years, both with her music and her unique look. Since 2012, she's released of a couple of EPs and a few singles. LP1, as the name suggests, is her first full-length album. She's made her way up from a back-up dancer to one of the most anticipated and exciting artists of the past few years. She plays a bit like a female counterpart to artists like The Weeknd, many of her songs are about sex, but her music seems so much more mature and sensual.
Mirel Wagner - When the Cellar Children See the Light of Day
Wagner is a Finnish-by-way-of Ethiopia singer and songwriter, and this is her second album; first since signing with Sub Pop Records. Her voice is haunting, the lyrics are dark, instrumentation is sparse. Her style has gained her comparisons to a variety of other musicians, including (take this as you may) Lana Del Rey, Mark Lanegan, and Nick Cave. The comparisons are well-deserved, the young performer makes music that sounds like its been around forever and even she seems beyond her years.
Beal was gaining a lot of traction in his career when he released his sophomore album, Nobody knows., last year on XL Recordings. Turns out he wasn't very happy signed to a label and broke away from them earlier this year, feeling that the label didn't support the types of people that he made his music for. He hasn't resigned to a new label, but is releasing his latest effort independently. It is available digitally through CD Baby.
Architecture in Helsinki - Places Like This Picture Disc
Places Like This was Architecture in Helsinki's third studio album and my first introduction to the band several years ago. It's getting re-released today on vinyl as a picture disc.
This was Japan-only live album from the iconic Britpop band. It was recorded during a show in Tokyo almost twenty years ago. The album was initially released in 1996, but is now seeing an international release.
Lucki Eck$ - "Weightin' On" (featuring Danny Brown)
Lucki Eck$ is a rapper out of Chicago. He's worked with another artist releasing new music today, FKA Twigs, and even features on one of the album's tracks. For his new single, he gets some help from the more established Danny Brown.
Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here! New Full-Length Releases
Beck - Morning Phase
It's been awhile since we've gotten a full-length album directly from Beck. In late 2012, he released original sheet music, Song Reader, and put out a series of singles last year. Morning Phase is his first album in six years. The sound of the album is promised to be more akin to 2002's Sea Change than to his last album, Modern Guilt.
Thee Oh Sees officially disbanded late last year (though they still have an album coming out in April of this year). John Dwyer is already moving onto his next project, though. The sound should differ from that of his most-known band, with a style Dwyer has described as "hand-made electronics."
SchoolBoy Q started his career as the hype-man for fellow rapper and label-mate Kendrick Lamar. He released his first album, Setbacks, in 2011. This is his third album and first on major label Interscope. He caught my ear with the Lamar-assisted "Collard Greens," but I've enjoyed the other tracks I've heard from the album, as well!
It may be early in the year, but this was one of my own personal most anticipated releases for 2014. St. Vincent has truly been one of my favorites for several years and I love each of her albums. She expands her sound even more on this self-titled release. On certain tracks, you can really hear the influence from her 2012 collaborative album with David Byrne.
Tell me you're working with one of my favorite artists and you'll definitely get me in the door! I'm wasn't familiar at all with Eternal Lips, but I heard that they recorded a song with the incredible Sharon van Etten. I gave the song a listen and even liked the parts that weren't her!
Fadeaway Records has been on hiatus for about ten years. The founders parted ways to pursue other projects, but regrouped this year. Friends is the first new release from the label, including both covers of songs from artists who were signed to the label as well as some new tracks!
The Field released Cupid's Headin October of last year. As has become standard, songs from the record are getting their own remix treatment. This remix EP features contributions from John Tejada, Tim Hecker and TM404.
FKA Twigs has risen to prominent recently for her peculiar brand of pop and R&B (and a voice that reminds me of Grimes'). She is partnering up with the band inc. for a new single!
Jon Hopkins released his latest album, Immunity, in June of last year, which featured the track "Collider." That track is being released along with some remixes of the song, including Karenn, Pangaea and Objekt.
Making Patterns Rhyme is a new tribute album from Duran Duran. It features covers of their songs by artists such as Liars, Crocodiles and Moby. Proceeds from sales of the album will go to benefit Amnesty International.
Your Arsenal was Morrissey's third album, originally released in 1992. This latest reissue comes remastered and includes a DVD of Morrissey's 1991 concert in Mountain View, California.
