It's a good week for comebacks. UK band Slowdive return with their first new album in 22 years. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it "a strong return-to-form of shoegazerish dream-pop with swirling, reverbed guitars, ethereal vocals, hazy harmonies and blissed-out melodies." It's been 17 years since the last from reunited El Paso-bred band At The Drive-In, and their latest is "a ferocious return-to-form of metallic, prog-tinged post-punk with blistering, complex guitar work, rapid-fire, tempo-shifting rhythms, urgent vocals and dystopian lyrics." Minneapolis rapper Brother Ali returns with his sixth album and first in five years (not quite as up there in years), bringing "a strong set of hip hop combining a warm, soulful sound courtesy of Ant of Atmosphere with his exhortatory delivery and empathetic lyrics ranging from love and spirituality to racism and police brutality."
On his third album, LA-based Canadian artist Mac DeMarco delivers "a darker and more dreamy take on his psych-tinged folk-pop, featuring a spare, relaxed sound with warm acoustic guitar, pillowy synths, unhurried rhythms, wistful melodies and often-melancholy lyrics." Portland's Moon Duo release the companion to Occult Architecture Vol. 1, which "contrasts Vol. 1's cold, dark tone with a more light, airy and summery one for their hypnotic space-rock." And Will Oldham (aka Bonnie 'Prince' Billy) "pays tribute to country legend Merle Haggard on his latest Bonnie 'Prince' Billy album with a wide-ranging, idiosyncratic selection of Haggard songs (and songs associated with him) from throughout his illustrious career, with most of them being fairly obscure."
(Various Artists) Megan Sue Hicks - "Hey, Can You Come Out and Play "
from Follow the Sun on Anthology Recordings
Alice Coltrane - "Om Rama"
from World Spirituality Classics 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda on Jowcol Music / Luaka Bop
At the Drive-In - "Continuum"
from in•ter a•li•a on Rise
Avishai Cohen - "Declectic Jazz"
from Cross My Palm with Silver on ECM
Bill MacKay - "Aster"
from Esker on Drag City
Black Lips - "Can't Hold On"
from Satan's Graffiti or God's Art? on Black Lips / Vice
Blondie - "Doom Or Destiny"
from Pollinator on BMG
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - "Bad Actor"
from Best Troubador on Drag City
Brother Ali - "Own Light (What Hearts Are For)"
from All the Beauty in This Whole Life on Rhymesayers Entertainment
Café Tacvba - "Disolviéndonos"
from Jei Beibi on self-released
Carl Craig - "At Les"
from Versus on Infine
Chris Stapleton - "Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning"
from From a Room, Vol. 1 on Decca / Mercury Nashville / Now!
Delia Gonzalez - "Horse Follows Darkness"
from Horse Follows Darkness on DFA
Diana Krall - "Night and Day"
from Turn Up the Quiet on Decca / Verve
Djustin - "Dancing"
from Voyagers on Labrador Records
Doug Tuttle - "Bait The Sun"
from Peace Potato on Trouble in Mind
Faust - "Fresh Air"
from Fresh Air on Bureau B
Fazerdaze - "Take it Slow"
from Morningside on Flying Nun
The Flaming Lips - "Listening to the Frogs with Demon Eyes (Live)"
from Onboard the International Space Station: Concert for Peace on The Flaming Lips / Warner Bros.
Föllakzoid / J. Spaceman - "Electric"
from London Sessions on Sacred Bones
Forest Swords - "The Highest Flood"
from Compassion on Ninja Tune
Grateful Dead - "Dancing In The Street"
from Cornell 5/8/77 on Grateful Dead / Rhino
Hoops - "On Letting Go"
from Routines on Fat Possum
Jesu / Sun Kil Moon - "Twenty Something"
from 30 Seconds to the Decline of Planet Earth on Caldo Verde Records
Joan Shelley - "Where I'll Find You"
from Joan Shelley on No Quarter
John Moreland - "Sallisaw Blue"
from Big Bad Luv on 4AD
Juana Molina - "Cosoco"
from Halo on Crammed Discs
Keb' Mo' / Taj Mahal - "All Around The World"
from TajMo on Concord
Mac DeMarco - "This Old Dog"
from This Old Dog on Captured Tracks
Moon Duo - "Lost in Light"
from Occult Architecture, Vol. 2 on Sacred Bones
Motionless in White - "Eternally Yours"
from Graveyard Shift on Roadrunner Records
The Mountain Movers - "Angels Don't Worry"
from The Mountain Movers on Trouble in Mind
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
from Lovely Creatures: The Best of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, 1984-2014 on Mute
Ozomatli - "La Bamba" feat. Kyl McDonald of Slightly Stoopid
Older acts dominated this week's batch of new releases, but a standout LP from a new band is the sophomore release from L.A. duo Girlpool. KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes the album "finds them recording with a full band for the first time, and the end result is a more muscular and fully realize…
April ended strong with new releases from some of our favorite artists. It's been five years since the last album from Feist, and the Canadian songstress returns with what KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls "a powerful set of dark, intimate folk-rock. Recorded mostly live, the album features a sta…
