You'll want to "march" yourself into the record store for this month's first batch of new releases. Highlights include the latest from Wussy. KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes, "the seventh album from this Cincinnati band led by former Ass Ponys frontman Chuck Cleaver and Lisa Walker is another first-rate set of smartly crafted songs ranging from crunchy, '90s-influenced rockers to spacious, atmospheric ballads."
The fourth album from San Francisco-based project Thao & the Get Down Stay Down "is a smartly crafted set of quirky, adventurous pop. Produced by Tune-yards' Merrill Garbus, the album features Thao & co. adopting a more beat-driven sound with inventive arrangements, funk-inflected rhythms, fractured textures and dark, more personal lyrics revolving around her long-absent father."
Portland artist M. Ward returns with his eighth album of "atmospheric folk-pop combining a gauzy sound inflected with doo wop and other rootsy styles with his ghostly vocals and breezy melodies." Brooklyn-based sister duo Prince Rama share "their most polished and pop-oriented release, with an anthemic, '80s-steeped electro-pop sound inflected with psych-pop, tribal rhythms and more, combining the sisters' pristine vocals with dystopian lyrics." Veteran New York band Nada Surf release "a solid enough set of genial pop-rock with mostly mid-tempo songs featuring jangly guitars," and La Sera blossoms into a duo with the addition of former Vivian Girls bassist Katy Goodman's husband Todd Wisenbaker, who plays guitar and also occasionally sings. Producer Ryan Adams "provides them with a bit more subdued and rootsy sound for their surf-tinged power pop."
(Various Artists) The Hammersmith Gorillas – “You Really Got Me”
from PUNK 45: Chaos in the City of Angels And Devils, Hollywood From X to Zero & Hardcore on the Beaches: Punk In Los Angeles 1977-81 on Soul Jazz
Adult Books – “Suburban Girlfriend”
from Running from the Blows on Burger Records / Lolipop Records
Anenon – “Petrol”
from Petrol on Friends of Friends
Anna Meredith – “R-Type”
from Varmints on Moshi Moshi
Ben Abraham – “Speak”
from Sirens on Secretly Canadian
Bill Pritchard – “Saturn And Co.”
from Mother Town Hall on Tapete Records
Chris Forsyth & the Solar Motel Band – “High Castle Rock”
from The Rarity of Experience on No Quarter
The Coral – “Chasing The Tail Of A Dream”
from Distance Inbetween on Ignition Records
Cub Sport – “Come On Mess Me Up”
from This Is Our Vice on Nettwerk
Elephant9 / Reine Fiske – “Occidentali”
from Silver Mountain on Rune Grammofon
Esperanza Spalding – “Good Lava”
from Emily's D+Evolution on Concord Music Group
Glitterbust – “The Highline”
from Glitterbust on Burger Records
Greg Laswell – “Out Of Line”
from Everyone Thinks I Dodged a Bullet on Concord / Vanguard
Guerilla Toss – “Grass Shack”
from Eraser Stargazer on DFA
Hotel Lights – “Everything Hurts You Now”
from Get Your Hand in My Hand on Bar/None Records
Jennifer O'Connor – “It's A Lie”
from Surface Noise on Kiam
The Knocks – “Kiss The Sky feat. Wyclef Jean”
from 55 on Atlantic / Big Beat Records
Krokofant – “C.O.T.A”
from Krokofant 2 on Rune Grammofon
Låpsley – “Love Is Blind”
from Long Way Home on XL
La Sera – “I Need An Angel”
from Music for Listening to Music To on Polyvinyl
Lionlimb – “Domino”
from Shoo on Bayonet Records
Loretta Lynn – “Everything it Takes ft. Elvis Costello”
from Full Circle on Sony Music
Luke Top – “Lucky Penny”
from Suspect Highs on Org Music/Grand Gallop
M. Ward – “Girl From Conejo Valley”
from More Rain on Merge
Matthew Bourne – “Daniziel”
from Moogmemory on The Leaf Label
Melaena Cadiz – “California”
from Sunfair on Misra
Miike Snow – “Heart is Full”
from III on Jackalope/Atlantic
Nada Surf – “Rushing”
from You Know Who You Are on Barsuk
Nick Krgovich – “Sunset Tower”
from The Hills on Tin Angel
Poliça – “Lime Habit”
from United Crushers on Mom & Pop/Memphis Industries
Prince Rama – “Now Is The Time Of Emotion”
from Xtreme Now on Carpark
Qluster – “Zweites Kapitel”
from Echtzeit on Bureau B
RNDM – “Ghost Riding”
from Ghost Riding on Dine Alone
Rob Crow's Gloomy Place – “Business Interruptus”
from You're Doomed. Be Nice. on Temporary Residence
Robert Pollard – “My Daughter Yes She Knows”
from Of Course You Are on Fire Records
Sego – “Stars”
from Once Was Lost Now Just Hanging Around on Dine Alone
The Snails – “Tea Leaves”
from Songs From the Shoebox on self-released
Sound of Ceres – “Hand Of Winter”
from Nostalgia for Infinity on Joyful Noise
Steven James Adams – “Togetherness”
from Old Magick on Fortuna Pop
Thao & the Get Down Stay Down – “Astonished Man”
from A Man Alive on Ribbon
Third Coast Percussion – “Music for Pieces of Wood”
from Third Coast Percussion & Steve Reich on Cedille Records
This past week, L.A. rapper Kendrick Lamar unleashed his latest, untitled unmastered, seemingly out of nowhere. The album consists of eight previously unreleased outtakes from his To Pimp A Butterfly recording sessions, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes "holds together remarkably well, comb…
This week's batch of new releases takes us from Seattle to Saint Petersburg, Russia, as Pinkshinyultrablast return with their sophomore full-length. KEXP Music Director Don Yates describes the album as "an even more impressive set of fuzzy shoegazer psych-rock, featuring a more complex and dynamic …
