Instinct, the full-length debut of Niki and the Dove, now finally available on CD, tops this week’s list of new releases. Like fellow Swedish artists The Knife and Lykke Li, the Swedish duo combine ’80s synth-pop, dark post-punk and dancy funk on what our Music Director, Don Yates, praises as “well-crafted songs with twinkling, ethereal synths, occasional tribal rhythms and some monster pop hooks.” synths, occasional tribal rhythms and some monster pop hooks.” Seattle producer/guitarist Erik Blood returns with a titillating concept album about pornography (don’t worry, it’s still SFW) wrapped in “a varied, atmospheric sound ranging from blistering shoegazer psych-rock to hazy dream-pop, with jangly, effects-laden guitars, propulsive rhythms and soft, half-buried vocals.” It’s been 15 years since the McDonald brothers and the rest of Redd Kross have released new material, and though it’s never worth a wait that long, fans from their early 80′s Cali punk days, through their 90′s college alt rock and their more recent reunion shows will be thrilled to find out that the new album is “a surprisingly strong set of punkish power pop with sharply crafted songs combining loud, crunchy guitars, energetic rhythms, exuberant harmonies and catchy pop melodies.” Also out this week is the latest from Antibalas, the Brooklyn-based 12-piece jammers, who return with a “first-rate set of funky Afrobeat combining bright horn riffs, funk guitars, propulsive rhythms and occasional vocals.”
Other new releases you’ll want to pick up this week come from Antony and the Johnsons, whose Cut the World was recorded live in Copenhagen with The Danish National Chamber Orchestra; Fergus & Geronimo, the Brooklyn-via-Denton, TX, duo, second album on local label Hardly Art is a “quirky/snarky blend of New Wave dance-funk and garage-pop”; Brooklyn-via-Florida duo Blonds, who will appeal to Beach House fans with their debut of “atmospheric dream-pop, with a haunting, noir-ish sound featuring reverbed guitars, eerie keyboards and Cari Rae’s dusky vocals”; Ape School, the project of Philly’s Michael Johnson featuring “an adventurous yet tuneful blend of psych-pop, prog-rock and more, with a densely produced sound combining fuzzy guitars and swirling synths with acidic lyrics and lots of catchy pop hooks”; and local producer Kid Smpl, who’se latest is “an impressive EP of nocturnal bass music with an atmospheric sound combining lush synths and murky ambient textures with spacious beats and occasional muffled vocal samples” -- and just so happens to drop from a new label started by KEXP DJ Alex Ruder.
You can sample all of these below before heading out to your favorite record shop today:
Antibalas - Dirty Money
from Antibalas on Daptone Records
Antony and the Johnsons - Cut the World
from Cut the World on Secretly Canadian
Ape School - Marijuana’s on the Phone (MP3)
from Junior Violence on Hometapes
Archers of Loaf - Dead Red Eyes (MP3)
from White Trash Heroes (remastered) on Merge Records
Bear Mountain - Two Step (MP3)
from xo (self-released)
Birds and Batteries - Let The Door Swing (MP3)
from Stray Light on Eightmaps
Blonds - Time
from The Bad Ones on Gluck Music
Erik Blood - Today’s Lover (MP3)
from Touch Screens (self-released)
Ned Collette & Wirewalker - Il Futuro Fantastico (MP3)
from 2 on Fire Records
Fergus and Geronimo - Roman Tick (MP3)
from Funky Was the State of Affairs on Hardly Art
Kid Smpl - Escape Pod (MP3)
from Escape Pod EP on Hush Hush Records
Koko Beware - Beach Babe (MP3)
from Something About the Summer (self-released)
Niki and the Dove - DJ, Ease My Mind (MP3)
from Instinct on Sub Pop
Ormonde - Cherry Blossom (MP3)
from Machine on Hometapes
The Orwells - Mallrats (La La La) (MP3)
from Remember When on Autumn Tone
Permanent Collection - One Thousand Sins (MP3)
from Newly Wed Nearly Dead on Loglady Records
Redd Kross - Researching the Blues (MP3)
from Researching the Blues on Merge Records
Sweet Valley - Total Carnage (MP3)
from Stay Calm on Fool’s Gold
Tidelands - The New Black (MP3)
from We’ve Got a Map on Redgummy Records
Willits + Sakamoto - Completion (MP3)
from Ancient Future on Ghostly
