El Perro Del Mar, Love is Not Pop: The big news today is the new El Perro Del Mar. In celebration of this excellent new effort, the El Perro back catalog is, for a limited time, on sale in the US. Of the new record, we can’t say enough great things. Melissa Maerz conducted an interview with Sarah, and eMusic’s Barry Walters sez:
Love Is Not Pop is a break-up-to-make-up album packed with paradox. It begins with a warning. “We’ve been together for so long/I’ve gotta get smart,” she tells herself and her beloved. Assbring no longer seems on the verge of perpetual tears, but she’s just as expressive. On “Change of Heart,” she seems resigned, but her words trip her up. “We will never stop,” she chants. Does she mean that she and her partner will forever together endure, or that they’ll hurt each other for eternity? When the shuffling drums cut out and the wordless choral part comes in to suggest a heaven packed with overdubbed Sarahs it’s beautiful and disturbing — like a great Lou Reed song, without sounding a bit like him.
Sufjan Stevens, The BQE: He’s back! eMusic’s Dan Weiss writes:
The movement labeled “Dream Sequence in Sub Circumnavigation” sounds like a dream sequence, yeah, and the one with the word “linear” in the title has a fairly straightforward pace, with the staccato violins comprising an insistent bed for the myriad of winds to flutter and toil over, almost Steve Reich-like for a couple minutes….The BQE definitely has rewards for the pop audience — “Traffic Shock” is a zap-happy techno intermission with nods toward both classical and jazz.
Annie, Don’t Stop: Delayed second record from Annie finally gets a release. Barry Walters sez:
Her voice may be soft, but her lyrics prove her a discriminating gal who doesn’t mince words: “Let’s do it once or maybe twice/That’ll be enough,” she qualifies in “The Breakfast Song.” Knowing this kinda sass is like a lit match on gasoline to hit-and-run rockers, she shows no mercy on the fifth track, “I Don’t Like Your Band.” “It’s not you, it’s your tunes,” she quips. Reuniting with Anniemal conspirators Richard X and Timo Kaukolampi, the newly Berlin-based singer expands her musical range with the UK’s reigning pop production team Xenomania and British indie-rock knob-twiddler Paul Epworth. Encompassing rock-disco on “My Love Is Better” with grinding guitar riffs courtesy of Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, vintage Gallic gloom via “Marie Cherie,” and ‘60s girl-group shuffle on her bittersweet “Heaven and Hell,” Annie mixes genres and collaborators without coming across as somebody’s puppet.
Atlas Sound, Logos: New Atlas Sound! eMusic’s Caitlin Dewey writes:
Bradford Cox, the polarizing giant behind both Deerhunter and Atlas Sound, has made a point of mentioning his ‘60s girl group and doo-wop influences in virtually every interview he’s ever granted. But those big-haired, harmonizing inspirations have never been as apparent as they are on Logos, Cox’s effusive second effort as Atlas Sound. In Cox’s world, of course, “pop” is more of a starting point than an actual descriptor — his takes are woozier and grittier than the word might imply, as if all of his songs were being run through badly broken speakers.
Pylon, Chomp More: Reissue of classic Pylon album on DFA — this one is a must-have. eMusic’s Douglas Wolk writes:
The rhythm section of Michael Lachowski and Curtis Crowe generates the kind of imposing post-punk, post-disco lurch that bands in London, Manchester and New York were working out in those days too (if you were a party band in Athens, your audience had to be able to dance); singer Vanessa Ellison wanders wherever her train of thought leads her, spitting out letters and numbers or just whooping and growling; Randy Bewley tugs dissonant sound effects and spindly spaghetti-western melodies out of his guitar, playing for texture as much as for tune. You can hear how Bewley’s crabwise guitar parts (and Ellison’s willingness to favor her words’ sounds over linear meaning) affected R.E.M., another young Athens band who idolized Pylon and recorded a cover of “Crazy.” Still, it’d be more than a decade and a half before the kind of brash, brittle low-end bump that’s all over Chomp really came back into style in rock.
Spiral Stairs, The Real Feel: Scott Kannberg will not be slowed down by any Pavement reunion. Of his first proper solo outing, eMusic’s Sean Fennessey writes:
Ramshackle guitar highlighted by bendy psych solos, subgenre dabbling, typically inconclusive lyrics, and a surprisingly appealing howl. Opener “True Love” is the cascading piece de resistance here, a tumbling, sad-eyed jaunt that recalls Richard Thompson at his string-ripping best. The propulsive “Stolen Pills” is a burst of punk fury, “Maltese T” dabbles in peppy ’60s sunshine rock, and the pained, eight-minute “Blood Money” is as straight-faced and crushing a song as he’s written. “Sometimes I just don’t know what to do,” he laments. It’s not so easy owning the spotlight. This time, Kannberg does it with grace.
Leonard Cohen, Live at the Isle of Wight: Live LC from 1970, loaded with classic jams (though the fidelity sounds a little shaky to me, and Cohen sounds positively flat on “So Long Marianne”). An interesting timepiece to be sure.
White Denim, Fits: Awesomely all-over-the-place noise blooz from WD, that doesn’t feel too long at 2 discs. I love how noisy and confrontational these dudes are, and this one ratchets up the anarchy factor by a good distance.
Editors, In This Light and On This Evening: New one from Editors. eMusic’s Craig McLean writes:
While 2007′s An End Has A Start seemed professionally gloomy, this third album makes Interpol sound like Alvin And The Chipmunks. Here are nine lean tracks alchemized from fizzing electronics and thrumming guitars into black gold. This, in short, is a brilliant album: impassioned, heavy, important, tuneful, head-nodding and heart-exploding.
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, Summer of Fear: eMusic’s Jessica Suarez writes:
Now on Saddle Creek, and with TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone producing (Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor helmed his debut), MBAR’s expanded folk palate now references Bruce Springsteen (“Shake a Shot”), Reckoning-era R.E.M. (“Death By Dust”), and Tom Petty, whom MBAR corrects on the beautifully rendered “The 100th of March”: “The whole damn thing is the hardest part.” So it’s no surprise that Robinson’s stabs at redemption come off as halfhearted and somber as ever. On album-closer “Boat,” his nihilism cuts through Malone’s swaths of organ hums, cymbal rolls and reverb as he mumbles out “There’s nothing lost ’cause there’s nothing there.”
Various Artists, Gozalo, Vol. 3: More outstanding latin funk from the good people at VampiSoul. Add this one to your collection — another serving of sizzling R&B-styled jams.
Franke Rose, “Thee Only One”: New Slumberland single upholds the label’s reputation for reverb. This sounds good to me — big, clanging guitars and retiring female vocals. Worth a listen.
themselves, Crownsdown: Abstract hip-hoppers are back — clattering electronic production with mad speedy motormouthed rapping. Pretty odd and abstract — sci-fi-ish production, and I’m amazed at how fast that dude can run his trap.
Jimi Tenor & Tony Allen, Inspiration Information: Latest in the series pairs legendary drummer for Fela Kuti with Finnish saxophone player Jimi Tenor. The whole thing skews Afropop in a really good way — I was pleasantly surprised by this. eMusic’s Chris Nickson writes:
Put them together for five days, fuelled by whiskey, powered by the members of Tenor’s Kabu Kabu band, and the result is music whose blood pounds in Africa, but whose spirit wanders the whole world. There are deep forays into hip-hop on the appealingly lascivious “Against The Wall” and the overtly political “Path To Wisdom” (both with MC Allonymous), while roots reggae forms the backdrop for the lyrically weird “Selfish Gene” – and it hasn’t sounded so good since Sly and Robbie were in their prime.
Belphegor, Walpurgis Rites: Hexenwahn: Belphegor follow up the outstanding Bondage Goat Zombie with another searing slab of demonic black metal. I write:
This record fucking rules.
Lovvers, Go Go Go Girls: Ignore the double-consonant. I like this — noisy clanging garagey stuff, really messy and fucked up and underproduced.
Black Market Militia Presents: William Cooper: NY rap “supergroup” comprised of Killah Priest, Hell Razah and others serve up guest-filled platter of 90s throwback rap. Samples sound promising, and the lineup is surprisingly solid for fans of the old school. Curious to check this one out.
Camp Lo, Another Heist: Camp Lo never really fully clicked for me, but I know other people dig them. This sounds like their usual blend of R&B and funk-inspired production with loose and laid-back flow.
NOTE: The second disc on that White Denim is actually their 2008 album “Exposion.” That is one of my most listened to albums in the past year. Fits (disc 1) didn’t grab me quite so much.
Thanks, p-clark!
Every once in a while I’m useful.
Album Title of the Day: “The Scottish Play: Wherein the Group Parenthetical Girls Pay Well-intentioned (if Occasionally Misguided) Tribute To the Works of Ivor Cutler” by the Parenthetical Girls. 8 tracks in under 12 min!
White Denim!! Totally having one of those days but I can’t even begin to gush enough over White Denim. They’re like a punch to the gut and they don’t ever let up. Love love love this band!!
I’d say the BIG news of the day is Annie and Atlas Sound, but to each their own.
Also: CRAZY! The REM version is great, too, BTW.
Also, also: A new compilation came in today from Mulatu Astatke (New York — Addis — London — The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965-1975), on the Strut label. This guy’s contributions to the Ethiopiques series are untouchable. The samples sound great. Link: http://www.emusic.com/album/Mulatu-Astatke-New-York-Addis-LondonThe-Story-of-Ethio-Jazz-1-MP3-Download/11676905.html
New Do Make Say Think in there as well. At least for Canada.
Elvis Perkins in Dearland has a new EP, “Doomsday.” His 2009 release was fantastic. Presumably the EP is too.
Whoah, I totally missed the Mulatu — good catch, Daniel.
BTW, this big set from Dâm Funk (Toeachizown) showed up today, too. It’s on Stones Throw Records, almost always a sure sign of quality. Sounds good! Link below:
http://www.emusic.com/album/Dâm-Funk-Toeachizown-CD-Version-MP3-Download/11676703.html
When do we El Perro Del Mar in the UK? No-doubt some stupid licensing nonsense. Why do labels bother these days with digital licensing outside of their own country, seems a pointless 20th century approach to a 21st century opportunity. Barmy.
Yo Gabba Gabba! Yo Gabba Gabba! Yoooooooo…http://www.emusic.com/album/Yo-Gabba-Gabba-Yo-Gabba-Gabba-Music-Is-Awesome-MP3-Download/11636234.html
Totally agree p-clark, that Fits just doesn’t have the raw energy the other two albums did. But still worth a listen.
And thanks for the Dam Funk, Dan! I completely forgot that it would be hitting the site and somehow missed it while perusing “Freshly Ripped”
Other than what was mentioned, there’s the new White Rainbow, New Clouds
The full length from Fashawn, Boy Meets World which has a lot of highlights and great guest rappers including Blu & Planet Asia. And “When She Calls” samples Joanna Newsom’s “Comsia”. Which is just really strange and awesome.
Aaaand, the new Slits, Trapped Animal which I haven’t really heard yet, but still excited for.
Checking on it, cw.
It’s a weird thing — a lot of times it’s a completely different label depending on the country. Arcade Fire is a good example of that — they’re Merge in the US, but I think they’re Beggars in the UK. It all depends on who signs who where and whatnot.
So as it turns out, El Perro is without a label in the UK right now, so there is no UK release date on any service as of right now… we’ll keep you posted.
Do Make Say Think! Love the track names.
Need some rock? Russian Circles – Geneva. Face-melting goodness.
http://www.emusic.com/album/Russian-Circles-Geneva-MP3-Download/11675903.html
Usually I think remixes are an afterthought, but in at least one case from the El Perro del Mar disc, it works surprising results. I’m only dealing with the soundscans here, so give me some latitude, but the original song “Let Me In” is a nice, lilting number with those whisp-y vocals used to nice, billowy effect. But the remix (by Nhessington (it’s the final song on the album)) is a different tune entirely, dominated by a lean, muscular acoustic guitar sound. It’s a night-and-day difference that shows how powerful a remix can be.
New Fuck Buttons? It was listed in new this month as coming soon 10/20 but hasn’t shown up and has disappeared from the coming soon listings altogether. Plenty of other great stuff including dam funk which i am super excited about, but had my heart set on f*** buttons : (
Don’t worry about Fuck Buttons…. turns out it’s not available in my country. Do you know if and when we will get Stones Throw ofshoot label Miserable Beast? There is a James Pants album I’m hanging out for. Thanks!
Joe, are we getting Small Color’s “In Light” album, I believe it was released yesterday (at least on CD), to follow up the single “Hikari No Hana”?
Hey JTO, thanks for pointing out Small Color…based on the freebie single I’m gonna keep my eye out for the album as well…great song!
Yup Ptole I really like the Small Color as well, however I’m still trying to figure out if they a partially glitch or if someone ripper a scratched cd (as happens sometimes)
fuck buttons
I like that Small Color song, too. Thanks for mentioning it.
While we’re waiting for Small Color, you might like to check out some of the albums on my list: Japanese female vocalists – http://www.emusic.com/profile/list.html?lid=36021198&p=
Particularly Piana & Tujiko Noriko. Enjoy.
Blues Fans/collectors (and hip-hop producers
)check this deal 60 Tracks=12 Credits http://www.emusic.com/album/Various-Artists-American-Roots-Blues-Boogie-MP3-Download/11680146.html
Just downloaded a lovely mini-album of Japanese female vocal, piano & guitar indie pop:
Machi Ni Tsuite by Haisuinonasa
http://www.emusic.com/album/Haisuinonasa-Machi-Ni-Tsuite-MP3-Download/11680847.html
What happened to the Annie album?
US release date for the Annie record is 11/17, so you might check back then…
On a related note, if I lived outside the US, I might keep an eye out for the new El Perro Del Mar very soon…
Small Color’s “in Light” is finally here:
http://www.emusic.com/album/Small-Color-In-Light-MP3-Download/11683417.html
WOO Hoo thanks JTO. Addded to my list