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New Music Releases Thread


From last week Kathryn Joseph really impressed me. Spiritualized less so. I've either got a bit bored of them, having followed them for so long or just need to hear it at the right time.
From today's batch I'm looking forward to hearing Dana Gavanski and Ghost Power (Tim Gane of Stereolab's new band).
 
Alexis Petridis of the Guardian likes the Let's Eat Grandma album a lot:

They warmed up for Chvrches in the O2 in Newcastle a few years ago and were better than the main act. Not for everyone obviously, but great to see them getting great reviews.
 
There are new albums this week from Action Bro, Bloc Party, Corb Lund, Frog Eyes, Front Person, Girlpool. Julie & Dany, Kenlani, Kelly Lee Owens, Melody's Echo Chamber, Miranda Lambert, Rammstein, Steven Lambke, The Head and the Heart, Tomberlin, Toro y Moi, Willie Nelson, Jens Lekman (part 1 of a career retrospective), Dana Gavanski, Astrel K, Ghost Power, Oumou Sangare, Let's Eat Grandma, Archive and Luke Howard.
Honeyglaze's debut is out today as well. Another one from Speedy Wunderground/Dan Carey.
 
Been to see Low tonight, how bloody good are they?

Wonderful, wonderful band. Alan Sparhawk launching his guitar into the audience hammer thrower style at End of the Road in 2008 remains one of the most rock and roll, if incredibly bizarre and misjudged things I've seen. Fortunately, it didn't hit anyone and their then bassist apologised profusely.

On a completely different subject, although it's kind of EotR related (as he's played two of the best sets I've seen at a festival there), Jens Lekman should be one of the planet's biggest pop stars.
 
My usual potted review of new stuff I've listened to over the weekend:

Kate Bollinger: an EP. Quite nice slacker indiepop vibe going on on the best songs.
Toro y Moi: has moved away from the chillwave thing he was branded with to having an almost post-rock vibe at times. The good songs are very good, some of it is a bit dull though.
Dana Gavanski: oddball wonky stuff in the manner of Cate Le Bon or Aldous Harding. Pretty good.
Oumou Sangaré: one of the long standing Malian musicians. Mixes African folk and blues, great vocals.
Melody's Echo Chamber: more woozy psychedelia from France. Has a good vibe to it, probably a grower.
Kelly Lee Owens: her third album. There's more of an industrial sound to this than the previous two. It's good but not as warm.
Jens Lekman: mentioned above. This is the early part of his career retrospective. Marvellous! He has quite the body of work. The second half is out this week.
Lola Kirke: a hybrid of country and mainstream pop. When it works, it works.
Let's Eat Grandma: the quirkiness of yore has been replaced by MASSIVE POP BANGERS for the first half of the album at least, the second half is a bit more introspective (it's an album made during a grieving period for one of them). Think Chvrches with better songs. Top class!
Zombie Zombie: I think this has been out for 3 or 4 weeks. It's a quirky mix of their usual Justice style psych-techno with, er, Latin chanting. Really enjoyable.
Tomberlin: very good. There's a more relaxed sound than previous releases. An artist growing and finding herself.
Corb Lund: country/roots rock. Quite rousing!
Girlpool: they've blended their quirky indie sound with some bigger R'n'B style production vibes. Interesting. Gets better as it goes on.
Ghost Power: analogue synths to the fore. It's TIm Gane of Stereolab and Jeremy Novak of Dymakion. Closer in sound to Cavern of Amti-Matter than Stereolab.Very good!!
Astrel K: Rhys Edwards' solo project. Dreamy indie psychedelia. I like it.
Scalping: I'm liking this. A melding of, I guess, metal and trip-hop. Largely instrumental.
Honeyglaze: an album that grows on you as it goes on. Starts off with an sort of indie-pop vibe but mutates into kind of post-rock with pristine female vocals.

Album of the week: I'll discount the marvellous Jens as it's a compilation and give it to Let's Eat Grandma instead. There's a lot of other good things though - Tomberlin, Astrel K, Ghost Power, Scalping, Dana Gavanski, Oumou Sangare, Honeyglaze etc.
 
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