Photo courtesy of Walter Rosenblum via Royal Scourge
Hey, it’s rainin records! Or, as Joe just put it a minute ago: “We got some good, weird shit in today!” Let’s take a look, shall we? Spit-shined power-pop from Brendan Benson (aka The Raconteur who didn’t physically maul the dude from the Von Bondies), a dewy-eyed, trembly debut from some exquisitely sensitive Danes, sleepy-eyed indie-folk from Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star, Appalachian folk, bubble crunk, bar-band roots rock, Mike Myers-themed Southern rap, and, you know, other stuff, after the jump!
So today’s big one is the new Brendan Benson, My Old, Familiar Friend. Chugging, upbeat rock arrangements; fresh-faced, sweet vocals chirping sour nothings (”Take a seat because there’s something I wanna say/take it easy, don’t take it the wrong way/I feel a whole lot better when you’re not around” — thanks, Brendan! So glad we had this talk). Yup, this is a straight-ahead power-pop revival record, perfect for anyone who dug last year’s Army Navy record.
Choir of Young Believers, This Is For the White In Your Eyes — Sweetly over-the-top, celestial mope rock from Denmark. This dude’s falsetto feels like it has been drained of testosterone in a lab and injected with the same high-grade strain of twee they used when they made Loney, Dear. Luckily, the songs sound epic. This record might get me through winter; I’ll have to hold onto it till then. (PS: Barry Walters did a Q&A for us with the main guy, Jannis Noya Makrigiannis.)
Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions, Bavarian Fruit Bread — The first solo LP from the Mazzy Star frontwoman. Colm O’Ciosoig, of My Bloody Valentine, on drums.
Loudon Wainwright III, The Charlie Poole Project – Folk legend Loudon Wainwright’s epic two-disc homage to bluegrass great Charlie Poole, a largely forgotten pioneer of bluegrass banjo who died in 1931. Yeah, I’m definitely downloading this.
On the same tip: Red Fox Chasers, I’m Going Down to North Carolina — The complete recordings of the Red Fox Chasers, another Depression-era country/bluegrass outfit lingering unjustly in the shadow of the mighty Carter Family.
Paul Burch, I’m Still Your Man — Straight-ahead, decent-enough-sounding roots rock. Peter Blackstock sez:
Neither self-consciously contemporary nor proactively retro, Paul Burch makes timeless American roots music. Since the mid-’90s, the Nashville stalwart has parlayed his proficiency on a range of instruments — he plays guitar, drums, vibes, electric piano and harmonica here — into recordings that draw upon bluegrass, ragtime, swing and other early-20th-century sounds while keeping a foot planted firmly in the present day.
Rasheeda, Certified Hot Chick – Molasses-thick, crawling Southern crunk beats, fluttering trance synths, and a female MC who raps super-stupid, simple lines incredibly slllloooowwwwwwwwwly, with unshakable swagger — this is an excellent example of Southern pop-rap. Think Ciara’s “Oh!” (one of the greatest Ludacris guest verses ever, which is like picking awesome snowflakes out of a blizzard of hilarious), but extended out for an album’s length. If you have a car, this will sound good in it.
Free Loan Investments, The Last Dance EP — Really excellent-sounding indie pop on Magic Marker.
Poor Righteous Teachers, Holy Intellect — Five Percent-era hip hop at its finest. If you’re going to preach righteousness, it helps if you A) drop the po’ face once in awhile, and B) are actually a righteous MC. These guys firmly understand both of these points. A lot of this record was produced by the late Tony D, an unacknowledged force in East Coast hip hop from Trenton, NJ. This right here is a solid intro the man’s work on the mic.
Girls, Hellhole Ratrace EP – Uh, yeah, we don’t need to remind anyone here at this point how we feel about this.
Finally, as promised…..The Bud Guru.
Share more with us in the Comments! Ok…GO:
This is a hot toss to The Juan MacLean’s Happy House remixes collection on DFA: http://www.emusic.com/album/The-Juan-MacLean-Happy-House-Remixes-MP3-Download/11581137.html
VHS or BETA remix has given my brain strobe lighting.
Hello? The Cave Singers?
Whoops, hit submit before I was finished. The new Cave Singers is one of my most highly anticipated albums of the year. I’m on my fifth listen and I’m giving it a thumbs up. I still think Invitation Songs is superior…like many of my highly anticipated follow up albums this year (Dodos, Sunparlour Players, Megafaun) it seems to be missing the reckless abandon that made the previous album so special.
A few under-the-radar jams I found:
Caterina Valente, Vintage Pop: Some lovely swinging Pop a Paris from Caterina Valente — check out the way she sashays through “Fever” in the opening track.
Collisions, Villains Spirit: Am loving this so far — Collisions are a band from LA. This record is eerie and atmospheric, full of spacey songs that hover and howl. The singer almost sounds like Doug Martsch, and the songs have a gauzy quality I can’t get enough of. Highly recommended.
Gentleman Losers, Dustland: Really, really tiny music. Small pinpricks of guitar, nighttime slow and quiet — glimmering like constellations. The band is made up of brothers Samu and Ville Kuukka from Finland and — if the press is to be believed — this was recorded during a series of successive late nights at a house supposedly haunted by the ghost of the Grey Lady. Whether or not that’s true, it gives you a good idea of what this sounds like: small, shivery music for long, lonely nights.
The June, Magic Circles: This is so up my alley. Big, bright jangle-pop with yearning four-part harmonies — this, to me, is what all power pop should sound like. It’s definitely got a 60s pop quality to it, but it also (oddly) reminds me of early REM. Check out track 2 to see if this is for you.
Lo-Fi Culture Scene, “Waxwork”: This band has a terrible name, but its comprised of a bunch of 9th graders(!) from London and it’s got an appealing, cleaned-up Arctic Monkeys kinda sound. It reminds me of something, but I can’t put my finger on what. The right kind of Britpop — I’ll be paying attention to their next move.
Birdie Hilltop, Surround the Birthday: Some great slacker lo-fi indie. Birdie Hilltop is one guy, Pascal Troemel, who moved from Scotland to Pennsylvania to New York. Musically, he takes his cues from indie rock of the old school, writing charming, rickety 4-track pop that makes up in hooks what it lacks in production value. You should definitely have a soft spot for “busted” music, but if you do (like I do), you’ll love this.
Bleeding Heart Narrative & Gosia Winter, Wire and String: I take a shine to eccentrics, and that’s exactly what we have here. Oliver Barrett is a dude who sounds like a lady, and his songs are built from bells and wires, awesomely odd. Folks who go in for Efterklang or Colleen will dig.
Liking that Gentleman Losers, but I don’t think I’ll be able to give it a proper listen until the sun goes down.
Yeah, that Cave Singers record sounds better the second time around for me. And The Gentleman Losers album sounds like its waiting to consume me for the next couple of days.
There’s a pretty great 70s Chicago Blues Compilation from Chico Chism and the Cher-Kee label.
Chico Chsim’s West Side Blues Party
There’s a remastered Horizon Records release, Jim Helms & Art Podell Sing And Play A Folk Song
And why does this guy look familiar?
Also, new Mission of Burma 7″, w00t!
Woo Hoo Cave Singers (added to list)
Is Hellhole Ratrace the same version as on Selects?
congrats to RAA for kickstarter
Full Download of Loudon Wainwright is six free tracks :O
Thanks for recommends Jayson (and Alex for the XX article too) added (besides mentioned above) Hope Sandoval (love her voice), Echo Expansions comp. May be back soon with some recommends of m’own.
Boy Meets Girl Hidden in Soundtracks was this Gem (wow emusic is soooo like Crate Digging
) Stax presents Duets of Classic Soul Songs by Classic Soul singers (short List: Mavis Staple, Dusty Springfield, Eddie Floyd, Booker T, Issac Hays)
Still haven’t figured out the darn url tags so I screwed that last post up: the link is http://www.emusic.com/album/Various-Artists-Boy-Meets-Girl-MP3-Download/11563464.html
(Hate that My posts look like a 3ple post)
New Mochipet : http://www.emusic.com/album/Mochipet-Godzilla-New-Year-MP3-Download/11587651.html
The new Loudon Wainwright III isn’t available in my region, but even if it were I’d still get the hard copy b/c it comes with an 80 page booklet.
Also for country fans:
new Jim Lauderdale, yes its about his 10th record this decade but they are always good
http://www.emusic.com/album/Jim-Lauderdale-Could-We-Get-Any-Closer-MP3-Download/11527906.html
advance of Al Perkins’s Big Dog Three, legendary steel guitar player featuring guests like Emmylou Harris
http://www.emusic.com/album/Al-Perkins-Al-Perkins-Big-Dog-3-MP3-Download/11589142.html
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Thanks for all of your support.