Tuesday Music News

08/08/2017

Jasmine Albertson

Dan Bejar is releasing his 12th solo album as Destroyer on October 20 via Merge, ken, and today he shared the lead single, "Sky's Grey," a genial jam that makes the bold claim, “I’ve been workin’ on the new Oliver Twist!” Bejar describes the name for his new album like this, "Sometime last year, I discovered that the original name for “The Wild Ones” (one of the great English-language ballads of the last 100 years or so) was 'Ken.' I had an epiphany, I was physically struck by this information. In an attempt to hold on to this feeling, I decided to lift the original title of that song and use it for my own purposes. It’s unclear to me what that purpose is, or what the connection is. I was not thinking about Suede when making this record. I was thinking about the last few years of the Thatcher era. Those were the years when music first really came at me like a sickness, I had it bad. Maybe “The Wild Ones” speaks to that feeling, probably why Suede made no sense in America. I think 'ken' also means 'to know.'" Well, that clears it up. [ Spin ]

The National will deliver their 7th album Sleep Well Beast next month and today we got another taste of it with the single, "Carin At The Liquor Store." The song follows "The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness" and "Guilty Party," and is accompanied by a video directed by Casey Reas at La Blogothèque. Sleep Well Beast is out September 8 and The National will make a two-night stop in Seattle on Tuesday, November 28 and Wednesday, November 29 at the Paramount Theatre. [ Consequence of Sound ]

Erika M. Anderson has a new album as EMA, Exile in the Outer Ring, to be released on August 25 and today she's shared the 4th single from the album, "Blood and Chalk." Anderson said this about the song, "'Blood and Chalk' was originally written for the #Horror soundtrack. I wrote the lyrics very quickly, with the idea that it was about the experience of being a 12 year-old girl, kind of right on the cusp between childhood and starting to grow up. But when I played it for Jake [Portrait] he said he thought it was about a police shooting. I was kind of shocked, but it also makes complete sense from that point of view. Makes me wonder if my subconscious mind was working on a different level, creating a double meaning." [ Under the Radar ]
The Shins put out Heartworms, their first new album in five years, earlier this year and today a video for "Half A Million" has been released. Created and directed by LAMAR+NIK, the clip animated the band members using 5,566 stickers, "hand cut from 4,868 frames and animated by them down on top of each other at each of the 40+ locations." The Shins will play Marymoor Park on Saturday, September 23 with Foxygen and Day Wave. [ Pitchfork ]

English indie rock band Daughter have an interesting new project about the be released, a video game soundtrack. A genre typically reserved for electronic artists, Daughter is breaking the mold by crafting a 13-song soundtrack album for the game Life Is Strange: Before The Storm. The game is a prequel to 2015's award-winning Life Is Strange by Square Enix that has the principal characters facing everyday issues such as bullying, suicide, teen pregnancy, love, and friendship. The album will be called Music From Before The Storm and today they've shared one of the tracks, "Burn It Down." Music From Before The Storm is out 9/1 via Glassnote. [ Stereogum ]

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