Things are picking up! In the world of new releases, that is. 2013 has fully arrived, and as you head back to work, school or whatever your day-to-day, it’s time to put record shopping back into your regular routine. The shelves of your favorite record shops are now being lined with anticipated new LPs, like the latest from Yo La Tengo, whose 13th LP of beautifully crafted autumnal indie-pop, our Music Director, Don Yates, describes as “warm, low-key and inviting, though also sonically adventurous, seamlessly blending expansive psych-rock, motorik German prog, trippy folk-rock, orchestral pop and more on songs that are both emotionally moving and brilliantly constructed.” Yo La Tengo, by the way, will be performing live on KEXP this Friday at 3PM and then at Easy Street Records Queen Anne at 7PM for their last ever in-store! They’re sure to play new songs, so pick up your copy now and be ready!
Other new releases you’ll want to grab this week include the Philadelphia band Free Energy’s second album, “an impressive, filler-free set of ‘70s-inspired power pop that’s packed with euphoric, hook-filled songs combining soaring guitars, bright keyboards, energetic rhythms, handclaps, cowbell, sing-along choruses and exuberant pop melodies,” and the debut solo release of Christopher Owens, former frontman of Girls. Sean Lennon and Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier team up for the debut of Mystical Weapons, and Berlin producer Pantha du Prince joins Norwegian collective the Bell Laboratory for a glitchy combo of electronica and dance. Newly acclaimed rapper A$AP Rocky also releases his official debut, and two local bands, Pickwick and The Head and the Heart, each offer a small taste of more music to come. Sample these and more, including some intriguing new sounds from a U.K. band called Virals and a reissue of the 1988 debut from Spokane-based garage punk band Vampire Lezbos, right here:
A$AP Rocky - Long.Live.A$AP
from Long.Live.A$AP on Polo Grounds / RCA
The Capsules - Across The Sky (MP3)
from Northern Lights and Southern Skies on Vespera Records
Criminal Hygiene - Rearrange Me (MP3)
from CRMNL HYGNE on Small Smile Records
Free Energy - Girls Want Rock
from Love Sign on Free Energy Music
The Head And The Heart - Josh McBride
from “Josh McBride” / “Honey Come Home” 78 rpm single on Electric Records
Holopaw - Golden Sparklers
from Academy Songs, Volume I on Misra Records
Midnight Spin - Lion Run (MP3)
from Don’t Let Me Sleep (self-released)
Mystical Weapons - Mechanical Mammoth (MP3)
from Mystical Weapons on Chimera Music
Christopher Owens - Here We Go
from Lysandre on Fat Possum
Pantha du Prince & the Bell Laboratory - Photon
from Elements of Light on Rough Trade
Parquet Courts - Borrowed Time (MP3)
from Light Up Gold on What’s Your Rupture?
Pickwick - Lady Luck (feat. Sharon Van Etten)
from Covers EP (self-released)
Vampire Lezbos - Plasma
from Vampire Lezbos (reissue) on Flat Field Records
Virals - Strange Fruit
from Strange Fruit EP on Zoo Music
Yo La Tengo - Ohm
from Fade on Matador
One Comment
A$AP Rocky ‘s “Long.Live.A$AP” is everything that I wanted it to be. So good. Glad it’s out on vinyl.