Out This Week 1/22

Finally! With all of these great new releases, 2013 is coming on with a roar. Well, maybe not The Big Roar this time, but rather Wolf’s Law, the new and much anticipated second album from The Joy Formidable. Fans wondering how the Welsh trio could possibly follow up their hard hitting debut after such a meteoric rise can rest assured that the emotive wallop of their sophomore release is just as strong. In fact, the album’s title itself refers to a bone’s ability to get stronger after it heals from a trauma, a fitting analogy for this vigorous set of songs. Chaz Bundick a.k.a. Toro Y Moi‘s sounds are less muscular but no less appealing on his third album out today. Anything in Return is, as our Music Director, Don Yates, says, “an intricately crafted set of sleek electro-pop with warm, lushly textured songs combining house, funk and hip hop rhythms with atmospheric synths, wispy vocals and sticky pop melodies.”

Many other excellent new releases of 2013 can be found in record stores today, like full-fledged debut of bi-coastal band Foxygen, who “follow up their excellent 2012 mini-album, Take The Kids Off Broadway, with a smartly executed set of ‘70s-inspired rock blending elements of prog, glam, garage-rock, soul, Dylanesque folk-rock, Kinks and more”; the second album from Brooklyn-via-Tacoma band Widowspeak, “an evocative set of dark dream-pop inflected with ‘70s folk-rock, psychedelia, spaghetti western and more”; and a new project called Pillowfight, featuring producer Dan the Automator and singer-songwriter Emily Wells, whose debut “hearkens back to ‘90s-era trip hop, combining mostly downtempo beats and dark textures with Wells’ sultry vocals.” For more laidback beats, check out the latest from LA-based producer Jason Chung, whose second album as Nosaj Thing is “a meticulously-crafted set of moody, lush, crisp beats with soft, subtle, ethereal vocal samples and two standout vocal guest turns from Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino and Toro Y Moi.”

And if you like moody music, there’s more where that came from: LA-via-Copenhagen band Gliss make a strong showing on their latest, which “finds them moving away from the crunchier Smashing Pumpkins-influenced sound of their earlier records towards a more atmospheric dream-pop sound thickly textured with reverbed guitars, ethereal synths, mostly programmed beats, airy vocals and blissful pop melodies”; Chicago’ Speck Mountain third album “is a fine set of dreamy, psych-tinged indie-pop reminiscent at times of Mazzy Star, featuring mostly slow-burning songs combining atmospheric guitars, ethereal organ, dusky lead vocals and airy harmonies”; and Baltimore’s Arbouretum have created “another expansive blend of doom-laden stoner rock and psych-tinged folk-rock, with heavy, rumbling guitars, atmospheric keyboards, occasional pedal steel and spare, stately rhythms accompanying Dave Heumann’s solemn vocals and dark, poetic lyrics” on their fifth album.

Like we said, it’s a good week for new music, so while you’re at your favorite record shop (R.I.P. Easy Street Queen Anne), be sure to check out the latest from Nightlands, the Philly-based project of War On Drugs bassist Dave Hartley, whose sophomore effort is “an often-enchanting set of psych-tinged indie-pop blending acoustic and electric guitars, synths, trumpets, dulcimers, handclaps, soaring multi-tracked harmonies and smooth ‘70s-inspired pop melodies”; from Japanese multi-instrumentalist Shugo Tokumaru, whose fifth album “is another charming set of whimsical folk-pop, with a densely layered sound combining a wide variety of colorful instrumentation with sunny pop melodies”; from the LA-based husband-and-wife duo Big Harp, whose second album “finds them moving away from the more rootsy sound of their fine debut towards a grittier, noisier folk-rock sound with crunchy guitars and buzzing keyboards accompanying Senseney’s haunting baritone and dark lyrics”; and from Ra Ra Riot, the Syracuse U.-founded band that’s paired down its lineup to a four but turned up the dancebeats to eleven!

You’ll find all of these and more, including the first in nine years (and their tenth in nearly 30 years!) by “college rock” legends Camper Van Beethoven, on the shelves of record stores today. There are too many other great new albums to mention, so be sure to sample all of the songs below and get on out there. 2013 is rolling on, with or without you!