Monday Music News

06/06/2016

Janice Headley

All over the world this weekend, KEXP's favorite bands were trying out new material. As a warm-up, Icelandic kings Sigur Rós sneakily tried out a new song at an intimate show in the UK. On Saturday evening, they unleashed the well-rehearsed track, titled "Óveður", at Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Spain. Watch fan-shot footage from the festival of the song below. Will they perform it in Seattle? Or debut even more new tunes? Will Jónsi stop by KEXP again? Find out on Tuesday, September 20th when the band perform at the Paramount Theatre. [Consequence of Sound]

Meanwhile, on Friday night, The National tried out two new tracks from a benefit show for Syrian refugees in Hamilton, Ontario. The songs are titled "Hague Blue" and "The Day I Die," and you can watch fan-shot footage of that last one below. Founding member Aaron Dessner told Pitchfork earlier this year that the band will record a new album soon in a home studio he built in upstate New York. [Pitchfork]

Well, we can't say we didn't see this coming: Yes, Angel Olsen has a new album titled My Woman out September 2nd on Jagjaguwar. A press release reveals Olsen is abandoning her "folkier" sounds for the synths, working with producer Justin Raisen (Sky Ferreira, Charli XCX). "The album is put together as a proper A-side and a B-side, featuring the punchier, more pop/rock-oriented songs up front, and the longer, more reflective tracks towards the end," the official statement reads. "And because these new songs demanded a plurality of voices, Olsen sings in a much broader range of styles — her disarming, timeless voice is even more front-and-center than before." [Stereogum]

Black Moth Super Rainbow's Thomas Fec returns with his solo project Tobacco for a new full-length, titled Sweatbox Dynasty, due August 19th via Ghostly International, his first since 2014's Ultima II Massage. Check out the album's opening track "Human Om" below. Fec tells Consequence of Sound, the song "is the first one I started as soon as I finished the last album, so it has a lot of elements of Ultima II Massage. It felt like a friendly way to open the new one. And, so nice like a summer breeze." [Consequence of Sound]

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