na: she & him, andrew wk

Back from Austin just in time for a healthy smattering of New Arrivals — here’s what we’ve got, let us know what you found in the comments!

She & Him, Volume Two: Mark Ruffalo and Katy Perry return for their second outing as She & Him. eMusic’s Barry Walters says:

Rather than altering what worked once, Deschanel and her Portland musical partner simply fine-tune the winning formula for the sequel. A little less lounge-y and a little more upbeat than its predecessor, Volume Two nevertheless opts for a laid-back vocal approach. Instead of the Beatles and Smokey Robinson, this time Deschanel and Ward cover NRBQ and Teresa Brewer, and do so with the casual charm of demo recordings.

Love is All, Two Thousand and Ten Injuries: Hyperactive Scandinavians bring forth their third record, on which they temper their winning formula only slightly. eMusic’s Matthew Perpetua writes:

Love Is All are at their most charming when they transform nerve-wracking anxiety into perky post-punk rave-ups. They’ve calmed down a bit on their third full-length, Two Thousand And Ten Injuries, but their songs still burst with manic, joyful noise. The album, written and recorded while the Swedish quintet had no label, is their most playful to date. Left to their own devices, the group have expanded their artistic range, yielding both sunny Turtles-esque psychedelia (on “Kungen”) and Slits-like punk-reggae (on “False Pretense”).

Mose Allison, The Way of the World: Latest from legend Mose Allison finds him just as wry and sardonic as ever. We’ve got a column on the way from Kevin Whitehead that explores Allison’s robust career. Of the new record, Britt Robson says:

Mose Allison has always been an innovative triple-threat, equally gifted as a songwriter, singer and pianist, and his first collection in a dozen years demonstrates that the skills of this 82-year old iconoclast haven’t eroded with age. His ivories still offer a succinct blend of blues, boogie-woogie and angular, Monkian bebop (check the lively instrumental, “Crush”). His vocals remain a droll deadpan, spangled with hipster jive rhythms. It’s the ideal vehicle for his wry ruminations, which are laced with such dry humor his compassion slides in undetected, a kind of verbal Trojan Horse.

Andrew WK, Close Calls With Brick Walls/Mother of Mankind: I have absolutely nothing bad to say about Andrew WK. That first record was bursting with hooks, and he is an enthusiastic, earnest, eager-to-please live performer. Close Calls was his third and final record for the Universal Music Group but, due to the usual contractual nonsense/label disappointments/etc etc, it was only released in Asia. It’s here now for the first time, supplemented with 20(!) outtakes and rarities. If you only want Close Calls, just grab Tracks 1-18. My gut reaction: this is Andrew WK’s Hold Steady record. eMusic’s Jess Harvell puts it a bit better:

Close Calls might be his best album. Now, packaged with outtakes and rarities (on this edition, tracks 19 through 39), it’s given a second chance to find a wider audience. Instead of the high-octane metal minimalism of I Get Wet and The Wolf, CCWBW is a goofy and grandiose exercise in musical maximalism. The songs are so dense with overlapping hooks and sound effects that they border on the psychedelic, suggesting AWK’s party hard philosophy pushed into the danger zone of drugged delirium. It also plays like a compendium of every idea — good and bad and plain hilarious alike — that AWK soaked up as a kid during the ’80s, the last time pop was this shamelessly overblown across the board. He’s probably the only pianist with the guts (or the range) to reference Joe Jackson’s ersatz jazz, Vangelis’ tear-jerking “Chariots of Fire” theme, and the pomp of blue-eyed Brit-soul. The fact that he manages to stuff all of this glam razzle-dazzle and melodramatic schlock into something that can still be called metal just makes it all the stranger.

Various Artists, Dengue Fever Presents: Electric Cambodia: It’s here! Dengue Fever-curated comp of rock music from Cambodia in the late ’60s and early ’70s is awesome, on par with the stuff released by Sublime Frequencies. Highly, highly recommended.

Donwill, Don Cusack in High Fidelity: Solo outing/mixtape from Tanya Morgan’s Donwill is based around (oof) High Fidelity. We’re going to overlook that, though, because Donwill is a great rapper and because most of this skews pretty old school boom-bap (though there are a handful of missteps).

Various Artists, I Saw the Light: White Spirituals and Country Gospel and Let My People Go: Negro Spirituals: Both of these compilations sound amazing. The former is a collection of country gospel music that boasts high, keening harmonies and rugged country guitar. All of these are stone religious classics, and Merle Travis’s ambling version of “I Am a Pilgrim” is a clear highlight. The second comp is on a similar theme, but this one focusing exclusively on gospel music. It’s raucous, determined and exuberant — check the rollicking version of “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel” for an indication. I’ll certainly be exploring other titles on this label today.

Radar Brothers, The Illustrated Garden: New one from the Radar Brothers seems full of the same low-wattage smolder as the last few. Slightly ghostly vocals and broad, strummed guitars — like alt-country, if the country you’re talking about is on the moon.

Drink Up Buttercup, Born and Thrown on a Hook: Trashy and screwed-up rock and roll, yelped and hollered vocals, a lot more ‘psych’ than I was anticipating. This is sounding kind of great to me: spaced-out and unhinged. I want to spend a bit more time with it, but fans of more experimental/weirdo pop should love this.

Fight the Big Bull, All is Gladness in the Kingdom: Latest on the Clean Feed label is rich and moody free jazz led by guitarist Matt White. There are moaning saxophones, baleful trombones and skittish rhythms, intriguing from the get-go and worth a listen.

Serena-Maneesh, SM2: Abyss in B-Minor: Rumor has it the most recent S-M record was recorded in a cave — you can kind of get an idea of the sonics from that. Spacey, shoegazey music as heavy on drones as it is on sugar-sweet melodies.

The Weakerthans, Live at the Burton Cummings Theatre: Live one from Canadian honeys, recorded at an exuberant show in Winnipeg where the group augmented their core sound with all manner of additional instrumentation. Fans who’ve never seen them live, this is your chance to live vicariously.

Super Rail Band de Bamako, Kongo Sigui: 2003 album from legendary West African group is as warm and rich as ever; mild, mid-tempo jams with ecstatic vocals — fans of contemporary African music will love.

Dead Meadow, Three Kings: Latest from stoner rock trio features a selection of live tracks and new material. There is supposedly an accompanying film, which seems incredible to me. I never paid this band much attention before, but am really liking what I hear here.

BACK AFTER A BRIEF HIATUS:
These are albums that we had at one time or another that vanished briefly, due either to being picked up by a different label, or the fact that they showed up too early. They’re back now, to stay!

Dillinger Escape Plan, Option Paralysis: Surprising no one, this is my “If you only download one record today…” pick. Dillinger was the best band I saw at SXSW, and they completely redefine conventional definitions of metal and hard core — skewing, honestly, closer to a kind of aggro-jazz than anything else (in sensibility if not in sound). Astonishing in it’s aggression and composition, DEP haven’t lost any of their skill or vision. A must.

Let’s Wrestle, In the Court of the Wrestling Let’s: Beloved British brat-punk outfit gets their most recent record reissued by the legendary Merge label — if you didn’t get it last time, don’t sleep.

Bettie Serveert, Pharmacy of Love: For real this time — grand, gritty guitar rock from Dutch group packs hooks galore inside garrulous guitar. Phenomenal.