Well, this is the week to go broke at the record shop. Bye bye, paycheck, it was nice knowing you, and hello to these excellent new releases! Such as, the long-awaited release from The Black Keys, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates describes as, "a more subtle and atmospheric take on the band’s sound." Yates notes, "As with their last few albums, this one was co-produced by Danger Mouse (who also co-wrote all of the songs and plays keyboards on the album), and he helps provide them with a moody, electronic-tinged sound incorporating elements of woozy psych-rock, cinematic ‘70s soul, slinky funk and hip hop on subtly seductive songs combining bluesy psych guitars and a variety of other instrumentation with propulsive rhythms and dark lyrics of a failed relationship."
You'll also want to check out the third release from Brooklyn's The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, which "finds them opting for a cleaner, brighter sound, toning down the noisy shoegazer guitars in favor of fizzy dream-pop with jangly guitars, atmospheric keyboards, sparkling melodies and gorgeous harmonies."
Swedish band Little Dragon have released what Yates calls, "their most impressive set yet of chilly, R&B-tinged electro-pop, featuring a more spacious sound with shimmering synths, occasional strings, bass-heavy, mostly downtempo beats and Yukimi Nagano’s aching vocals and often-melancholy lyrics." Neil Young shares his cover-album Letters Home, which was recorded direct to vinyl at Jack White's Third Man Records. Black Moth Super Rainbow frontman Tobacco is back with a third solo album of "mind-melting set of dark, psych-tinged electro-pop." Former Vivian Girls-bassist Katy Goodman shares a tougher edge on her third solo release as La Sera. Kishi Bashi shares another set of "ambitious set of expansive chamber-pop, featuring a densely layered sound with looped violins, strummed acoustic guitars, dynamic vocals and bright pop melodies." Indie rock veterans Guided By Voices have released their second album of the year, Cool Planet. (Only two so far? You're slacking, Pollard!) And Hamilton's not the only former member of The Walkmen to go solo: Walter Martin shares his debut album, We're All Young Together, featuring guest vocals from Karen O, Matt Berninger of The National, and, oh yeah, Hamilton Leithauser.
(Various Artists) Iggy Pop & Nick Cave (feat. Thurston Moore) - "Nobody's City"from The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project: Axels & Sockets on Glitterhouse Records
Jacqui Abbott / Paul Heaton - "D.I.Y."from What Have We Become? on Universal / Virgin EMI
Agalloch - "Celestial Effigy"from The Serpent & the Sphere on Profound Lore / Eisenwald
Rodrigo Amarante - "Hourglass"from Cavalo on Easy Sound
Amen Dunes - "Lonely Richard"from Love on Sacred Bones
Tori Amos - "Trouble's Lament"from Unrepentant Geraldines on Decca / Island / Mercury
Joseph Arthur - "Walk On The Wild Side"from Lou on Vanguard
Beaty Heart - "Banana Bread"from Mixed Blessings on Universal
The Black Keys - "Fever"from Turn Blue on Nonesuch
Chromeo - "Come Alive (feat. Toro y Moi)"from White Women on Big Beat Records
The Clientele - "An Hour Before the Light"from Suburban Light reissue on Merge
Douglas Dare - "Nile"from Whelm on Erased Tapes Records
Sylvan Esso - "Coffee"from Sylvan Esso on Partisan
Dawn Golden - "All I Want"from Still Life on Downtown
Guided by Voices - "Bad Love Is Easy To Do"from Cool Planet on GBV, Inc.
Hallelujah the Hills - "You Got Fooled"from Have You Ever Done Something Evil? on Discrete Pageantry
Hiss Tracts - "for the transient projectionist"from Shortwave Nights on Constellation
Hunterchild - "Aching"from Hunterchild on Temporary Residence
Ice Cube - "Everythang's Corrupt"from Everythang's Corrupt on Lench Mob
Incognito - "Hats (Makes Me Wanna Holler)"from Amplified Soul on Shanachie Records
Michael Jackson - "Love Never Felt So Good (feat. Justin Timberlake)"from Xscape on Epic / MMJ Music
Kishi Bashi - "Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It!"from Lighght on Joyful Noise
La Sera - "Losing to the Dark"from Hour of the Dawn on Hardly Art
Little Dragon - "Let Go"from Nabuma Rubberband on Republic
Walter Martin - "We Like The Zoo ('cause We're Animals Too) (feat. Matt Berninger)"from We're All Young Together on Family Jukebox
Mimicking Birds - "Bloodlines"from EONS on Glacial Pace
Mirah - "Oxen Hope"from Changing Light on Absolute Magnitude Recordings / K Records
Nick Mulvey - "Meet Me There"from First Mind on Fiction
Nightfell - "I Am Decay"from The Living Ever Mourn on Southern Lord Records
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Simple and Sure"from Days of Abandon on Yebo Music
Owen Pallett - "The Riverbed"from In Conflict on Domino / Secret City
Sean Nicholas Savage - "Naturally"from Bermuda Waterfall on Arbutus
Sturgill Simpson - "Turtles All The Way Down"from Metamodern Sounds in Country Music on High Top Mountain / Thirty Tigers
Structures - "The Worst of Both Worlds (ft. Drew York)"from Life Through a Window on Sumerian Records
Swans - "A Little God In My Hands"from To Be Kind on Young God
Tiny Ruins - "Me At The Museum, You In The Wintergardens"from Brightly Painted One on Flying Nun
Tobacco - "Eruption (Gonna Get My Hair Cut At The End Of The Summer)"from Ultima II Massage on Ghostly International
Torch Runner - "Feeding"from Committed to the Ground on Southern Lord Records
The Trouble with Templeton - "Soldiers"from The Rookie on Bella Union
Neil Young - "Needle Of Death"from Letter Home [LP] on Reprise / Third Man Records
Young Widows - "Kerosene Girl"from Easy Pain on Temporary Residence
Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst returns with his latest solo release, Upside Down Mountain. KEXP Music Director Don Yates says the new album, "features a warm, rich sound with acoustic and electric guitars and keyboards along with occasional horns, pedal steel, woodwinds and gorgeous harmonies co…
One of the most exciting new releases of the week comes from Oakland artist Merrill Garbus, better known as tUnE-yArDs. KEXP Music Director Don Yates describes her third album as "an inventive set of visceral, rhythm-driven avant-pop with consistently strong, brightly melodic songs featuring a dens…
