Posts Tagged → album
New Releases of Note 4/13
In the first few months of 2012 we’ve seen a rash of insanely good new releases… here are a few of the latest and greatest to whet your musical appetite!
M. Ward – “A Wasteland Companion”, April 10
M. Ward’s carefully placed voice and interlocking use of language is pristine on this record, his eighth solo offering. His lyrics always fascinate, unencumbered by fuzzy guitar or overridden drums here, laid out like a storybook. The bits of found sound like a clinking piano, creaking door or the punchy jangle of percussion lend a bit of real life to this smoothly produced album. As always, he borrows little snippets, as if from a skipping radio dial, of music from decades before; southern blues, lo-fi rock, lilting pop. Peppered with better-than-usual Zooey Deschanel chorus coos, “A Wasteland Companion” is a surprisingly breezy and satisfying record, nodding fiercely to American dirt rock, smooth 60s R&B and jaunty indie.
M. Ward with Lee Ranaldo Band (of Sonic Youth) at Higher Ground tickets here.
The Black Seeds – “Dust and Dirt”, April 10
This eight member dub afrobeat outfit has been around since 1998 but hasn’t put out a proper album since 2008′s “Solid Ground”. With their newest album just out on Easy Star, they have taken chill to a whole other level. The base of their sound is essentially reggae, which has been morphed/harangued and all around brutalized in the past by less-than-reverent utilizers, but sounds fresh and pleasantly infectious here. Intricate and interlacing keyboards and precise percussion provide the backdrop for samples of jazz, trip-hop and downtempo amid the groovin’ dub background.
Get tickets to their Boulder, CO show here.
Schoolboy Q – “Habits and Contradictions”, January 14
Schoolboy Q has had an interesting life… born in Germany, grew up in LA, joined gangs and sold a LOT of Oxycontin. He’s been AROUND. And while “Habits and Contradictions” is a filthy-mouthed rap album and gritty as all get-out, the beat is oh so salacious. Seductive saxophones make a surprising appearance (very Morphine-esque) in “There He Go” and new fave A$AP Rocky steps in on the supremely catchy “Hands On The Wheel”. This album is moody and dark, laced with the intense and emotional flow of Schoolboy Q, fettered only by the electro-introduced interlude skits so prevalent in hip hop. His rhymes are quick-witted and tempo-pushing, strange at times but irresistibly compelling.
Catch Schoolboy Q at Higher Ground May 4th and at the Fox Theatre May 12th.
Scope other recent new releases sure to tickle your ear-fancy…
- Alabama Shakes- “Boys & Girls” ———-> Tickets
- Bassnectar- “Vava Voom” ———-> Tickets
- Bear in Heaven- “I Love You, It’s Cool” ———-> Tickets
- Hoodie Allen- “All American”
- Miike Snow- “Happy to You”
- Of Monsters and Men- “My Head is an Animal”
- Rusko- “Songs”
- Sucre- “A Minor Bird” ———-> Tickets
- The Shins- “Port of Morrow”
Radiohead Announces King of Limbs Album – Available This Weekend!
Radiohead have announced that they are dropping their new album The King of Limbs this Saturday, February 19 for digital download! The album is up now for preorder and comes in two formats, digital download and super special deluxe “Newspaper” edition. The newspaper edition certainly sounds intriguing and includes the following items:
- Two clear 10″ vinyl records in a purpose-built record sleeve.
- A compact disc.
- Many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-colour piece of oxo-degradeable plastic to hold it all together.
- The Newspaper Album comes with a digital download that is compatible with all good digital media players.
- The Newspaper Album will be shipped on Monday 9th May 2011 you can, however, enjoy the download on Saturday 19th February 2011.
- Shipping is included in the prices shown.
- One lucky owner of the digital version of The King Of Limbs, purchased from this website, will receive a signed 2 track 12″ vinyl.
All of this can be yours for $48, shipping included. In any case, that is literally the only info that we have about the album at this time. No tracklist, no singles, nothing. Stay tuned for updates, and in the meantime head here to preorder the new album!
M.I.A. Album Release Date (Via Blimp?!) and Tour Announcements + New Video + New Album Tracklist
M.I.A. used an unconventional method over the weekend to announce her forthcoming third album. During Jay-Z’s Coachella set, she had a BLIMP fly over the crowd advertising a cryptic message of “New Album 6.29.10″. This is welcome news for all of us M.I.A. fans, especially those lucky individuals who will get the opportunity to see her live this summer performing the new material.
She currently has two live dates on her schedule, both appearances at HARD Fest that will take place in July, one in New York and the other in L.A. I speculate (and granted this is speculation) that she will not be done there. With a new album on the horizon and a couple of in-demand dates on the books, I imagine that she will be showcasing her verbal skills at least a few more times this year for eager crowds to enjoy. Also, if you remember, she did cut her last tour short for various personal reasons and to continue work on this forthcoming album.
The new record will see the aforementioned June 29 release in the US, but will be released one week earlier in Japan via Sony Japan. Artists such as Switch, Rye Rye, Blaqstarr, Diplo and Sleighbells are all speculated as contributors to the new album. This should make for an intriguing comeback for M.I.A. who has largely been out of the public eye following her Grammy performance back in 2009. I know that I am eager for her return in 2010!
Cheers.
UPDATE:
Check out the new MIA video for ‘Born Free’ right here – not for the faint of heart.
M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.
Also, just released – here is the tracklisting for MIAs new album:
1. The Message
2. Born Free
3. Meds and Feds
4. Lovealot
5. Tequila
6. It Is What It Is
7. XXXO
8. Tell Me Why
9. Story Told
10. Space
Peter Hook Takes ‘Unknown Pleasures’ on Tour
In case you are not familiar with the background of New Order, the band who brought us “Blue Monday” and a string of other hits over the years, I will take a moment to enlighten you because that background is really what this is all about. Before New Order, there was Joy Division, founded by Ian Curtis, Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Peter Hook in 1976. The band pioneered much of what is recognized as the post-punk movement of the late 1970s. The band released Unknown Pleasures, their debut album, in 1979. This was the only album they released before lead singer Ian Curtis committed suicide on the verge of the band’s first ever North American tour. They posthumously released their second album, Closer, in 1980. Both of these albums have gained iconic status since their release and are widely recognized as modern classics.
After the death of Curtis, the remaining members of Joy Division formed a new group, New Order. Long before Curtis’ death they had made a pact that if one member left the group for any reason, they would not continue as Joy Division. Now, in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Ian Curtis’ death, Peter Hook is taking the album out on the road once again. He will play the album in its entirety on May 18 at Manchester’s FAC251 club, the renovated site of the original Factory Records. If by any means possible you can make it to this show, do so.
Surrounding this show is a comprehensive English tour during which Hook will show previously unreleased footage of both Joy Division and New Order and will field questions from audience members. This promises to be an interesting experience and a celebration of one of the groundbreaking albums of the 1970s and 1980s, the effects of which can still be heard in music today. Dates for the tour are below.
Sun 11 Apr ’10 Birmingham Glee Club
Mon 12 Apr ’10 Bolton Albert Hall
Tue 13 Apr ’10 Worcester Huntingdon Hall
Thu 15 Apr ’10 Milton Keynes Stables
Sun 18 Apr ’10 Middlesbrough Town Hall
Tue 20 Apr ’10 Gateshead The Sage
Wed 21 Apr ’10 Durham Gala
Thu 22 Apr ’10 Burnley Mechanics
Sun 25 Apr ’10 Cardiff Glee Club
Mon 26 Apr ’10 Oxford Academy
Tue 27 Apr ’10 Wakefield Theatre Royal
Wed 28 Apr ’10 Gloucester Guild Hall
Thu 29 Apr ’10 Derby Assembly Rooms
Fri 30 Apr ’10 Norwich UEA
Sat 1 May ’10 Salford The Lowry
Stream the Full Slash Album Now
Slash is set to release his self-titled solo album May 10, but the kind folks over at Aol. and Spinner have made it available for your listening pleasure now. Slash enlisted the aid of numerous musicians for this effort including Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Cornell, Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother, and Lemm from Motorhead.
That is a pretty impressive list, but it grows even more interesting when you add in the likes of Iggy Pop, Kid Rock, Dave Grohl, Duff McKagan and Maroon 5′s Adam Levine, all of whom appear on the album. Even if you are not a Slash or Guns n’ Roses fan, I would check out this album. I am not a huge fan of either but am intrigued to hear what will come out of a collaboration of these artists with the legendary guitarist. I am currently giving the album my first listen, and I have to say that its got Slash’s fingerprints all over it thus far, but it does not seem stale or lackluster, and his use of the albums’ guests thus far has been impressive.
To listen to the album for yourself, just head on over here.
Album Tracklist:
‘Ghost’ (featuring Ian Astbury)
‘Beautiful Dangerous’ (featuring Fergie)
‘Nothing To Say’ (featuring M Shadows)
‘Crucify The Dead’ (featuring Ozzy Osbourne)
‘Promise’ (featuring Chris Cornell)
‘By The Sword’ (featuring Andrew Stockdale)
‘Doctor Alibi’ (featuring Lemmy)
‘Saint Is A Sinner Too’ (featuring Rocco De Luca)
‘Watch This’ (featuring Dave Grohl and Duff McKagan)
‘I Hold On’ (featuring Kid Rock)
‘Gotten’ (featuring Adam Levine)
‘We’re All Gonna Die’ (featuring Iggy Pop)
‘Starlight’ (featuring Myles Kennedy)
New MGMT Album Streaming Now: Initial Thoughts
In case you missed our tweet, the new MGMT album got leaked so the band kindly put it up on their site for you and me to stream for free! I have been wanting to listen to the album for some time now – o, you too? – and now I get to. First impressions on my end are as follows: I feel that the album takes a definitive turn from the indie anthems that saturated “Oracular Spectacular.” Does that mean that the album is a lesser effort than “Oracular”? I personally do not think so.
In my opinion there is more of a flow to this than there was on “Oracular.” The tracks spill together beautifully, creating much more of a cohesive “album” feel. Don’t get me wrong – “Oracular” was one of my top albums of 2007/2008 to be sure, and had this album preceded it, I am fully confident that the buzz around the band would have been much different. The hits that are present on “Oracular” enable MGMT to create “Congratulations” and for it to be accepted. They established themselves with “Time to Pretend,” “Electric Feel,” and “Kids” and are now able to wander in new directions without risking as much. Right now, my favorite track on the album is probably the upbeat yet wandering “Brian Eno.” Hit the link below to go check out the much more psychedelic and chilled-out new MGMT album. Hit our Facebook page or twitter with your thoughts on the album.
Cheers.
