uk new arrivals: camera obscura, art brut, tons more

I’m here listening to the second Syd Barrett solo album and figure it’s a perfect time for a UK-focused edition of New Arrivals. Some of these are available elsewhere — I will make note of territories for albums that are more than just “UK-only.” It’s too interesting a batch to let it slide under the radar.

Herrrrrrrrrrre we go:

Camera Obscura, My Maudlin Career: A “logical step forward,” as they call it. A biiiiiit more orchestrated, which put me off a bit at first (a few borderline Peter & the Wolf moments), but ultimately it’s just really, really pretty. “French Navy” in particular. (WW minus US, JP)

Art Brut, Art Brut vs. Satan: I’ve kind of worn thin on these guys, not gonna lie. That song about still loving comics and milkshakes? Yeah, I dunno. (US version here)

The Breeders, Fate to Fatal: Yancey’s already sung the high praises. Satisfyingly great. Available worldwide too, so don’t sleep! (WW)

The Thermals, Now We Can See: Sounds like… the Thermals! Ya know, anthemic, smart nasally, indie guitar jams. If you liked the other ones, you’ll like this one. (WW)

Jeffrey Lewis, ‘Em Are I: I like and respect this guy more than I wanna listen to his albums front-to-back. Case-in-point: this fantastic Q&A with Lewis and eMusic’s Mark Kemp. I especially like the vague bits where you get stuff about “all creativity [being] surrealism” or whatever. It’s a long one, but well worth it. Andddddd I haven’t listened to the record yet. Whoops! (WW minus US, JP)

The Brakes, Touchdown: In the US, these guys are called brakesbrakesbrakes. eMusic perennial fave Michaelangelo Matos stresses the mix of punk and twang here, and listening now, this is definitely “rootsier” that I expected them to sound. (US version here)

Sébastien Tellier, Sexuality, La Ritournelle and others: Tellier is, somehow, France’s entry into the Eurovision contest and his star is certainly rising. I knew him originally for the seven-plus-minute piano-heavy broken beat of “La Ritournelle” (and accompanying, great Metronomy remix), but it was his sexed-up synth-pop album (Sexuality), made with Daft Punker Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, that was his true coming out party. (UK & Ireland)

The Big Pink, Velvet: NME darlings and Lily Allen-daters. They do not sound like The Band. Big and kinda Cocteau-y, it’s perfect for 4AD, especially when those buzzsaw guitars come in halfway through. Seem destined for big things. (WW minus US)

Aphex Twin, Richard D. James Album: !!!!!!!!! Ummm, yeah. (UK & EU)

Mamane Barka, Introducing Mamane Barka: One of the best African albums I’ve heard all year. To say I’m “not knowledgable enough” to speak about the intricacies of this record is to put it mildly, but I know is it’s everything I want to hear from this kind of music. Spindly and spare, heavily percussive and emotive. (WW)

Pete Seeger, American Favorite Ballads, Vols. 1-5: Brand new five-disc set. We have a ton of Seeger on the site, but this is a great little roundup. (WW)

Jacaszek, Treny: My slobbering, here. SO GOOD. (WW minus Poland)

Vivian Girls, Surf’s Up: The first release on the Girls’ own Wild World imprint. You know the drill: punky malt shoppe-pop, lots of reverb. (WW)

In Flagranti, Brash & Vulgar: Leftfield techno. Our old friend Todd would know a much better way to describe just what it is these guys do. Their first LP, Wronger Than Anyone Else was a pleasant anomaly: a house-not-house record with a bunch of three and four minute grooves. These guys always come up with something interesting. (WW)

Joker, Do It / Psychedelic Runway: Office favorite wonky guy — deep n’ heavy as usual, 8-bit not so much as usual. Good single, not his best.

(PHEW)

Man… that was intense. I’m sure I missed some stuff, though, feel free to tack some on in the comments.