na: edward sharpe, laurel aitken
Well, it’s definitely summer. The new release schedule has slowed a bit, and even a glance out across the horizon doesn’t reveal much until September. I spent the bulk of yesterday afternoon spot-listening to promos in the hopes of finding a diamond in the rough — a quest I will continue today. In the meantime, here are a few notable new releases on an otherwise sleepy Tuesday…
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes: In the US, this album is self-titled, while in the UK, it’s called Up from Below, and it has a different cover. Same tracklisting. Same band. Can I hypothesize? The US cover looks like an attempt to position the group as “psych-folk,” while the UK version skews Polyphonic Spree — a spin I’m not sure would be wildly successful over here. That’s all inside baseball, tho — what does it sound like? Well, kinda like if the Polyphonic Spree was a psych-folk band. That’s not a dis, though, and fans of sun-parched California pop (think late-period Beach Boys) will find much here to love. Track 3 — what, in the UK, is the title track — is particularly lovely. Give it a go if you like Surf’s Up and Wild Honey.
Georgia Anne Muldrow, Umsindo and Dudley Perkins, Holy Smokes: I wasn’t expecting these to show up on the site for at least another two weeks, so seeing them here this morning is a pleasant surprise. If you can’t tell from the cover art, these are two psych-soul records, in the same spirit as Erykah Badu’s latest. I’ve been super-excited by what’s been happening in neo-soul lately — it seems to be consciously shifting away from the coffeeshop lovers rock that characterized the movement in the early 90s toward a decidedly weirder and more original re-imagining of R&B. Both Georgia and Dudley put out relatively straightforward records on Stones Throw a few years back, but these two albums are a great leap forward in both vision and sound. Umsindo is built around strange chants and incantations, Muldrow wailing and proclaiming over the filthiest funk this side of There’s a Riot Goin’ On (aka, one of my favorite records ever). There’s not much in the way of hooks or choruses, but if you want pure spaced-out lugubrious jams, this is the way to go.
Holy Smokes is mildly more conventional, but Perkins’ flow is so bananas it can’t get too normal. This one is a little more hip-hop oriented, but the glitchy production recalls the Andre 3000 half of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (which I’d happily refer to as “the unbelievably overrated half of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” if it didn’t look like I was dissing Dudley in the process). If you can only take one, I’d go for the Muldrow, but Dudley has his charms, too. Both of these are out on a subdivision of E1/Koch called “SomeOthaShip,” which I can only hope will continue to specialize in this kind of awesomely tweaked-out R&B.
Laurel Aitken, The Fantastic Laurel Aitken, Original Cool Jamaican Ska, Scandal in a Brixton Market, Fire, The High Priest of Reggae: Man oh man oh man. We have a User’s Guide to Laurel Aitken that should be going up soon, but I had to point out these stone classic reggae albums. Aitken’s recording career lasted 50+ years and he is, by any estimation, a ska legend. The one to start with is The Fantastic Laurel Aitken, where Aitken’s scuffs up some astounding ska. I know this is a long album, but there are some essential jams on here. Give it a spin.
The others are solid, too: Scandal in a Brixton Market is a bit more toast-y than sing-y, Fire is almost lovers-rocky, The High Priest of Reggae is full, dank roots and The Original Cool Jamaica Ska is exactly what the title promises. Absolutely worth a sample.
The Fresh & Onlys, The Fresh & Onlys: The Fresh & Onlys are solid and scuzzy and totally my jam. I picked up one of their 7″s not too long ago and was instantly hooked — trashy garage, sub-basement recording quality, lots of bash and holler and beg and kick. It reminds me of the stuff Sympathy for the Record Industry was putting out right around the time the White Stripes broke. Grizzled & fun.
Alexis Stevens, Flood or Drought: Alexis Stevens is a singer-songwriter from Columbus, Ohio. I’ve just started working through this record, but it sounds lovely — piano-based pop not a whole lot different from, say, Carole King. Folks like me with a soft-spot for Maria Taylor will like this: the songs are tiny and unassuming, but never really teeter into kitsch. I’m liking this.
The Most Serene Republic, And the Ever Expanding Universe: I don’t know much about this band beyond the fact that they are on Arts & Crafts and people seem to like them. A cursory spin reveals that this is definitely not my jam, but fans of sunny, summery boy/girl pop might find something to like here.
La Coka Nostra, A Brand You Can Trust: OK, so La Coka Nostra is a “supergroup” consisting of Everlast, DJ Lethal, Danny Boy, Ill Bill and Slaine, and while it seems absolutely idiotic to refer to anything involving Ill Bill and Everlast as a “supergroup,” this is turning out to be surprisingly decent. That’s probably mostly to do with the production, which is grimy and dark and menacing. I have a pretty good idea that when I put this on at the gym tomorrow morning, I will realize that I was being far too kind. But for now, these beats sound much hotter than I could have expected. Worth checking out for hip-hop heads.
Suffocation, Blood Oath: Latest from NY death legends Suffocation — just as brutal as you might expect. There’s something to be said for consistency, and Suffocation still bring the post-thrash riffing and Cookie Monster vocals like few others.
Nadja/Black Boned Angels, Split EP: This is exactly what you might expect: awesome merchants of doom Nadja team up with Black Boned Angel for two tracks of absolutely haunting, menacing ambient. Both tracks are 20+ long, so I haven’t heard yet if the full metal onslaught Nadja is known for kicks in at any point, but those with darker tastes will definitely want to give this 2-track EP a listen. I’m still hoping Nadja’s awesome covers album When I See the Sun Always Shines on TV will show up here soon.
Slow Club, Yeah So: People seem to be getting excited by Slow Club these days. This sounds OK to me — wound-up, worked-up Britpop similar to the Woodentops. Hooky and cheery — I plan to spend a bit more time with it today.
Femi Kuti, Femi Kuti vs. KCRW Soundclash!: This is what the title implies: Femi songs cut-up and re-arranged by some KCRW DJs. I am not much on Femi’s records, but some of the jams here — especially “Tell Me” — sound totally solid. It skews electro, so beware, but it has its moments.
Malcolm Middleton, Waxing Gibbons: Latest solo record from croaky vocalist for Arab Strap. I feel like this dude puts out a new solo record every few months. Sounds like you might guess: tough Scottish brogue riding roughshod over gentle pop songs.
The Most Serene Republic’s Population was one of the best albums of 2007, but more than that, it convinced me that eMusic was worth a long-term go. So I am super-psyched for this one.
Thanks for the heads-up, Jonathan! Maybe I was being too dismissive — I’ll spend some more time with this one.
Releases I’m interested in are:
The Moonlighters are a kind of jazz-pop band with ukulele, lovely
http://www.emusic.com/album/The-Moonlighters-Enchanted-MP3-Download/11521482.html
Sally Shapiro, just a single, but it’s better than nothing, disco-pop from Sweden
http://www.emusic.com/album/Sally-Shapiro-Love-In-July-MP3-Download/11502621.html
Anna La Cazio, she was a member of Cockrobin, a band that was big in France in the 80s, I was under her charm in these days, it’s why I was happily surprise to find that she’s still singing, I don’t like all the samples, but the slower songs sound interesting like her cover of Boys don’t cry (by the way it’s the 15th track not the 14th)
http://www.emusic.com/album/Anna-LaCazio-Eat-Life-MP3-Download/11508165.html
The new Bird, is surely the album I’m most excited about, I liked her previous album and this one sounds good. Great cover of the Pixies.
http://www.emusic.com/album/Bird-Girl-And-A-Cello-MP3-Download/11502593.html
I’m pleased that Sacred Bones Records out of NYC popped up last week sometime. Every release of theirs is fantastic in my book. Most of what they put out is vinyl only so for those that don’t have record players anymore or people like me that don’t have USB turntables, this is a nice addition.
Sally Shapiro and Annie (from Norway) have both debuted singles here recently. I’m hoping that this means we’ll get both their albums when they are released later this year.
Whoah, thanks for calling out Sacred Bones, zak! I had completely missed that arrival, and I love that label.
The Anna La Cazio and Bird look great, too!
Gaaa! I just bought the Nadja covers album (really quite good) after waiting a while (in vain) for it to show up on eMusic. Sigh.
Hey Seth:
I’m still not sure it’s gonna show up — I asked about it a while ago, and we never heard back. So your purchase might not be in vain! It’s awesome, isn’t it? That cover of “Needle in the Hay” blows my mind, and I didn’t think it was possible to make “Only Shallow” even heavier.
It’s not on eMusic — or on any digital retailer in the states as far as I can tell — but if you can track down Funeral Mist’s Maranatha! — that record is in contention to be my #1 of 2009. Man oh man. Redraws the borders of metal.
Hey joe,
Sorry to go off-topic from this week’s NAs, but have you heard anything about the potential availability of St. Vincent’s latest album in Canada?
Thanks.
Yow, new Nadja! Very nice heavy drone … then as you suspected, the sledgehammer hits at precisely 06:35.
Hey Cottser — I asked about that and haven’t heard — I’ll ask again today!
The Fantastic Laurel Aitken is *exactly* the sort of release that i would be all over for 12 downloads, er, credits.
at 27 credits…. not so much.
I agree about the Laurel Aitken, just can’t spend half of my credits on one album no matter how good….
I can’t possibly say enough about Laurel Aitken.
This is an amazing new find. I happily gave up my credits for 3 of his albums.
Cottser: Keep an eye out! Should be any day now.
Oooh, I like The Fresh & Onlys. Looks like they’re touring with Thee Oh Sees. That’d be a great show to see.
Ok, this is tooooo ironic not to be mentioned.
someone please tell me that I shouldn’t be shing my head that track one on this album is requiring a full album download
http://www.emusic.com/album/United-States-of-America-Constitution-of-the-United-States-of-America-MP3-Download/11527059.html
You use the word “jam” way too often.
pure spaced-out lugubrious jams
there are some essential jams on here
totally my jam
definitely not my jam
but some of the jams here — especially “Tell Me” — sound totally solid
“Jam” is not my “jam.” Makes you sound like a patchouli-stinkin’ hippie, which is not a good thing.
joe: I see it now. Downloading momentarily. Thank you mucho!
Just wanted to weigh in on “… and the Ever-Expanding Universe.” It is definitely NOT Population. People saw Population as overstuffed, but I found it a heady mix of vocals, percussion, and dynamic mood and speed shifts, as if indie rock had fallen through a black hole and been compressed into four-minute songs that were once twice that long.
“Universe” seems like that band listened to a lot of Stars. Stars is certainly a decent band, but it’s kind of not what I expected from TMSR, since it’s a surprisingly relaxed album. There’s something to like about the album haveing space to breathe, but I was kind of hoping to hear another auditory assault, and instead I got a lazy Sunday afternoon.
georgia anne muldrow’s umsindo is EXCELLENT so far. “roses” is on right now and it really jumped out, but i know there are some other incredible tracks here. everyone should get it.