Monday Music News

11/21/2016

Janice Headley

After four years of silence, UK trio The xx are full-speed ahead, sharing a new track earlier this month, announcing a new album, and over the weekend, appearing as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Watch the group perform the Hall & Oates-sampling single "On Hold" below, featuring some endearingly-dorky dancing and vocalist Romy Madley Croft's excellent new Selma Blair-esque bob. The group's third LP, I See You, hits stores January 13th via Young Turks. [Under the Radar]

It's no secret that The Afghan Whigs slay a cover. (There's a reason frontman Greg Dulli was our 2015 Six Degrees nucleus.) Well, as the guys prepare to release a 20th anniversary edition of their 1996 LP Black Love, they've shared a soulful version of New Order’s 1993 single “Regret.” It's pretty fun hearing Dulli's throaty, smoky voice sing words we're used to hearing bright, boyish Bernard Sumner sing. Check it out below. Black Love (20th Anniversary Edition) hits stores November 25th via Mute, and will feature a remastered version of the album with nine previously unreleased demos, outtakes and studio jam sessions. [Stereogum]

From the back of closets up north, we've got a new (old) album on the way from The Microphones, the home-recording project of Anacortes-based artist Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie, D+). Early Years, 1996-1998 features just that -- old, pre-LP tracks compiled from various cassette releases. The physical copy will include "a poster with notes and reflections and context and lyrics and photos from the archives." Pre-orders are going on now, with the collection out December 9th via his own P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd imprint. [Pitchfork]

As KEXP's DJ El Toro debuted on his final show with us, Kate Bush has a new 3-LP live album on the way, titled Before the Dawn, recorded during her 2014 residency at London’s Hammersmith Apollo, her first and only live show in the past 35 years. For the track "And Dream of Sheep" off the 1985 album Hounds Of Love, the iconic artist shares this clip, filmed over three days from a water tank in Pinewood Studios. Always devoted to her craft, Bush actually contracted mild hypothermia during filming, and had to take a day off. She also re-recorded her vocals from the water tank, using those rather than the live recording. Listen and watch below. Before the Dawn hits stores December 2nd via Conchord. [Under the Radar]

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