So here we are smack in the middle of summer, a time notorious for a dearth of new music. Fear not, though: there are five records coming down the pike certain to quench the new music thirst, all of them worth getting worked up over. They are as follows!
August 4, Jay Reatard, Watch Me Fall
Coming to eMusic early! Jay’s latest is classic Jay: sped-up bratty punk rock, his voice warped and stretched to breaking, the guitars a mad distorted rush and organ and keyboard chiming and plinking away. Jay is like vampire punk to me — there’s a menacing edge to his voice that gives the songs and extra snarl and bite, and Watch Me Fall is just as bizarre and breathless as anything he’s done before.
Listen: “Ain’t Gonna Save Me”
August 4, Nurses, Apples Acre
We had this record for a hot minute back when the band self-released it, and it’s coming back in just a few weeks via one of my personal favorite label groups, Secretly Canadian. Nurses specialize in a kind of bizarro, skewed pop: high, pinched vocals and twinkling instrumentation (toy pianos, music boxes, xylophones and so on). Their music is odd and fantastic, sounding like it’s occurring inside some melting-clock surrealist fairy tale. A must for those with decidedly stranger tastes.
Listen: “Catterpillar Playground”
August 4, Lightning Dust, Infinite Light
Lightning Dust is Amber and Josh from Black Mountain indulging their goth-country impulses. I love this record. Very much. Amber’s got a wicked, witchy voice, full of ghostly tremolo, and the way it glides over the sparse, acoustic arrangements is enough to raise goosflesh. The below track, “I Knew,” is the band at their most nerve-wracked and energizing.
Listen: “I Knew”
September 22, Pastels/Tenniscoats, Two Sunsets
Two of my favorite bands unite for one gorgeous, breathtaking release. Scotland’s timeless Pastels, masters of the dour, rickety pop song meet Japanese popsters Tenniscoats, they of the ethereal, wordless and mistlike. You get a vague sense from this Jesus & Mary Chain cover, but it’s the original tracks on this one that take the cake.
Listen:“About You (Jesus & Mary Chain Cover)”
September 9, Mayer Hawthorne, Strange Arrangement
Personally pursued by Peanut Butter Wolf himself, Mayer mines the classic sound of R&B, primarily recalling Smokey & the Miracles, with a few dashes of Curtis Mayfield and even Sly & the Family Stone. When we first put this record on in the office, I actually stopped what I was going two minutes into the first song and said out loud, “Whoah, what the fuck is this?” The song below doesn’t quite to the record justice, but you certainly get an idea for what Mayer sounds like. I haven’t stopped playing it since I got it.
Watch:
If you’re looking forward through September 22, there are a lot of other albums to look forward to, I think:
Joe Pernice: It Feels So Good When I Stop (Novel Soundtrack) (08.04.09)
Sian Alice Group: Troubled, Shaken Etc. (08.04.09)
Brendan Benson: My Old, Familiar Friend (08.18.09)
Arctic Monkeys: Humbug (08.25.09)
Sally Shapiro: My Guilty Pleasure (08.25.09)
Drive-By Truckers: The Fine Print (A Collection of Oddities and Rarities 2003-2008) (09.01.09)
The Clean: Mister Pop (09.08.09)
HEALTH: Get Color (09.08.09)
Vivian Girls: Everything Goes Wrong (09.08.09)
Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs (09.08.09)
A Sunny Day in Glasgow: Ashes Grammar (09.15.09)
The Dodos: Time to Die (09.15.09)
Castanets: Texas Rose, The Thaw & The Beasts (09.22.09)
Twilight Sad: Forget the Night Ahead (09.22.09)
This list is limited to those discs I think may appear here. It has been a slow-ish summer, tho. I’m hoping for a blockbuster new release calendar in the fall and winter.
The Sian Alice Group record is really good! I just listened to it for the first time yesterday. The Clean record is good, too — I should have thrown that one in there.
Actually, the discs from my list that I’m most looking forward to are Sally Shapiro; Vivian Girls; and . . . well, Annie, if it ever is released (and if it turns up on eMusic!).
I am doing ten levels of happy dance for new music from Lightening Dust!!!!!!
Any chance we’ll see the new Mount Eerie show up on eMusic? I’ve been listening to samples online; it sounds epic.
Joe, Mayer Hawthorne is brilliant. Love it, will definitely be grabbing that one. I assume its on Stones Throw? Available in the UK? Please…
The Lightening Dust album I am also looking forward to. All the sample and free tracks I’ve heard around town sound lovely. Those Black Mountain peeps are epic in their output hey.
Mr Daniel Esq., you are encyclopedic my friend.
Are we going to get Nisennenmondai’s new album “Destination Tokyo” (UK) ?
(also interested in the new Lightning Dust & the Pastels/Tenniscoats)
Hey guys, sorry for the lag in response!
Mayer is on Stones Throw, and should be showing up in all territories! He is a great guy, and his love of soul music runs deep. I like this record a little more every time I hear it.
Ditto for the Lightning Dust — I should be interviewing them next week for a little feature for the site. I think the record is totally bewitching.
JTO: Lemme check on the Nisennenmondai — I’m not familiar with them. What label is it on?
Hi Joe,
Nisennenmondai are on Smalltown Supersound. Their EP compilation
Neji/Tori is already on emusic: http://www.emusic.com/album/Nisennenmondai-Neji-Tori-MP3-Download/11264261.html
They are an interesting Japanese all-girl instrumental trio.
jagjaguwar/dead oceans are amazing labels. all their bands are so talented…such as the nurses. indiepit did an article on them too..
http://blog.indiepit.com/2009/07/28/nurses-nurses-in-rhythm/
I love the whole Secretly label family — really consistently great.
Checking on Nisennenmondai for you right now, JTO.
Hi Joe,
Nisennenmondai’s “Destination Tokyo” was released on Monday (27th) by the way. So I thought it might appear this week…
Hey Joe,
Any news on the Nisennenmondai?
Thanks.
Hey JTO:
Should be worlwide!!
Thanks Joe! Found it & downloaded. Sounds great.