na: wavves, school of seven bells & more

Every Tuesday, the mix is fairly predictable: a number of long-anticipated new arrivals and a smattering of cool surprises. Today, however, we’ve got the reverse: there are a smattering of known quantities, and a whole barrage of under-the-radar stuff that sounds extremely promising. We’ll do the big stuff up here, the small stuff after the jump.

I will warn you: there is a lot. A feast for curious ears, some might say. I might say. I did say. Anyway.

The Avalanches, Since I Left You: This one gets bold, italics, everything. A modern classic. This has been unavailable digitally for years due to various disputes but, oh my God, it showed up today, and it sounds just as incredible as it did ten years ago. Soaring, soulful, un-toppable, everything that could possibly be right about sound-collage music. If you somehow do now own this, this is the record you need to buy today.

Wavves, Kind of the Beach: I pronounce his name so that it rhymes with “Aaaah,” and sometimes I like to shake my fist at the sky and just yell, “WAVVES!” in anger. I wasn’t buying the last one, but he’s stepped up his game on King of the Beach. eMusic’s Vvijith Assar says:

King Of The Beach gives the caked-on grime a much-needed power wash, and the change is remarkable — now the hostility cribbed from Nirvana and Yo La Tengo’s textural influences — previously obscured by distortion — ring through clearly. The signal-to-noise ratio has improved in a metaphorical sense as well — on Beach, Williams builds choruses by repeating moments that, in the past would have been fleeting. Most of them boast a newfound percussive propulsion, thanks to the recent addition of Jay Reatard’s former rhythm section.

School of Seven Bells, Disconnect from Desire: Second record from justly-beloved ethereal-pop outfit that remind me (and no one else) of Curve. Kinda. And a bunch of other bands from that era. Anyway. I should leave the talking to eMusic’s Alex Reynolds:

Disconnect From Desire, kicks off with the best My Bloody Valentine homage in years: squealing-banshee synth samples, futuristic, industrial sonics and droning, fuzzed-out guitar riffs. But this Brooklyn trio — featuring identical twin singers Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and ex-Secret Machines guitarist Benjamin Curtis — are more than just shoegaze purists; they’re one of the most exciting electronic-pop bands around, and they prove their mettle with a collection of 10 tuneful tracks that mix the forward-thinking sensibilities of Radiohead with the goth-romance of Joy Division.

Al Green, Love Ritual: WHOAH. Al Green rarities from the prime years, 1968 – 1976. Finding any information about this compilation online has been difficult to the point of being out-and-out puzzling. What gives? As you might expect, the music here is fantastic.

Admiral Radley, I Heart California: New project from Jayson Lytle and Aaron Burtch from Grandaddy and Ariana Murray and Aaron Espinoza from Earlimart. I haven’t listened to this yet, but eMusic’s Kyle Anderson loves it. He writes:

The album is a buffet of druggy guitar and aching melodies. While the hooks err more on the side of Earlimart’s latter day work (they definitely match the strength of the hooks on 2007′s overlooked Mentor Tormentor), the genre-bending schizophrenia is pure Lytle. The title track is an Elton John-piano-fueled ’70s AM radio relic, while “Sunburn Kids” turns MGMT’s freaked-out studio funk on its ear and “Lonesome Co.” manifests as a lazy alt-country jam.

Chatham County Line, Wildwood: eMusic faves Chatham County Line return. Our Peter Blackstock says:

Wildwood is squarely in keeping with the North Carolina ensemble’s four previous efforts, owing as much to folk-rock tunefulness as to bluegrass traditionalism. Banjo, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass and guitar help to lay down the foundation, but the key component of the quartet’s identity has always been its vocal approach. While high lonesome has its place in their aesthetic (as is clear when leader Dave Wilson reaches for the stratosphere at the end of the sorrowful “Alone In New York”), their singing is generally more likely to recall the SoCal ’70s country-rock heyday (as on “Crop Comes In”), or perhaps the backwoods soulfulness of The Band (see “Saturdays And Sundays”).

Crowded House, Intriguer: Hey now, heeyyy now. I always thought Crowded House were unfairly considered One Hit Wonders — Neil Finn is not a flash-in-the-pan, he’s a solid songwriter with a knack for subtle hooks. eMusic’s Melissa Maerz writes:

On their sixth album, [Crowded House] don’t really need the whole world anymore — they just want to play for one another. At least that’s the cozy vibe one gets from Intriguer, an intimate, old-friends set put together by Finn, his long-time collaborators Nick Seymour (bass) and Mark Hart (keys/guitar), and a few family members. Finn’s wife Sharon and son Liam even lend ethereal vocals and psychedelic guitar, respectively, to the highlight “Isolation,” which floats on ’50s-style earth-angel dreaminess. Much of the charm lies in the minor details, like the Korg microsynth on “Saturday Sun” or Liam’s pastoral guitar on “Falling Dove.”

Blue Giant, Blue Giant: Blue Giant are alumni of our eMusic Selects program but, in truth, they were stars before they ever got to us. Comprised of members of Viva Voce and the Decemberists, the apply the tunefulness of both bands to this country-rock project. eMusic’s Amanda Petrusich writes:

Blue Giant’s scrappy indie-rock is surprisingly countrified, a collection of knee-slapping, low-country laments infused with pedal-steel yawns and indebted, at least in part, to Gram Parsons’s enduring notion of “cosmic American music.” [They're] very much a West Coast band, and its endlessly addictive, self-titled debut mostly avoids the gothic foreboding — creeping kudzu, poisoned whisky, rising rivers — that animates its southern counterparts. There’s plenty of earned heartbreak here (“When my love is gone, it’s gone for good,” Kevin Robinson promises), but tracks like “Clean the Clock” and “Blue Sunshine” are also open, ecstatic stompers, as bright and burnished as the Pacific Ocean.

Kenny Rogers, Kenny Rogers & the First Edition: Last night, TBS showed the Seinfeld rerun where a Kenny Rogers Roasters opened up across the street from Kramer’s apartment and he couldn’t sleep because of the blinding red light from the sign, so he traded apartments with Jerry, which caused Jerry to start acting like Kramer, and which caused me to ask, “What the fuck ever happened to Kenny Rogers’ Roasters?” That was just one of many strange enterprises Rogers was involved in — the other was this (kinda?) alt-country/psych-country outfit that spawned a cult favorite, “I Just Dropped In to See What Condition My Condition Was In” (not on here) and “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” (on here). Definitely going to check this out today.

Carissa’s Weird, They’ll Only Miss You When You Leave: You may not have heard of Carissa’s Weird, but you absolutely have heard of the band they became: Band of Horses. This is Bridwell and Brooke at their chamber-pop finest, plying gentle melodies against lush orchestration. Can I go ahead and say that I like Carissa’s Weird a lot more than BOH? Take a spin through these delicate tunes and see if you don’t agree.

The Spires, Curved Space: This is great! California band does a kind of ragged, reverb-drenched pop music that swaddles easy-to-love choruses in buckets of echo. Really really great.

Busy Signal, D.O.B.: Busy Signal isn’t really below-the-radar, though he may be unfamiliar to eMusic Members. He’s a dancehall superstar, whose records are specifically engineered for summer. A quick spin through his latest finds him still doing fine work, dishing up breakneck dancehall tunes pepperd with quick singing and percolating rhythms.

Nicki Minaj, Sucka Free: I was super disappointed when I finally heard Nicki Minaj’s chart-topping love song, because it is nothing like the Minaj I’d grown to adore over the course of her badass, endlessly inventive mixtapes. This is a much better snapshot of Nicki, though it’s missing a number of her best songs. Still, her delivery and her deft ability to slip from one persona to the next, make this worth your time.

Stat Quo, Statlanta: Finally. This record was supposed to come out forever ago — like, 2003 — but got shelved and pushed back and rerouted due to the fact that record labels routinely panic and refuse to sell records if a single doesn’t take off on radio. Smart thinking, people! Good news is that it’s out today and, from a brief spin through, it definitely sounds like it was worth the wait: hard, determined, deliberate rapping with sturdy production. Recommended!

D.O. Misiani, The King of History: Classic 1970′s Benga Beats: If it’s Stern’s it’s gotta be good. And, boy oh boy, is it. eMusic’s Chris Nickson writes:

Benga, which became the music of Kenya, was the invention of D. O. Misiani, the King of History himself, and the leader of Shirati Jazz. Back in the 1960s, he’d created the new style by plundering Congolese rumba for the vibrant, multi-layered guitar work, South African mbaqanga for the deliciously active and elastic bass work, and put them with the lush singing of his native Luo tribe. It was a fresh, potent mix that he relentlessly honed to perfection and it made Shirati Jazz the most popular band in their homeland. The songs normally start off with a snappy guitar riff as introduction, followed by voices over lulling guitar work. Then, with the singing out of the way, the instruments get down to the serious business, galloping into double time as the guitars trade short, frantic phrases.

Futurebirds, Hampton’s Lullaby: Futurebirds are a group from Athens who ply something they call “cosmic country” — and a quick sample of these songs finds that description pretty much on the money. I think people here will really like this: weeping pedal steel, heavy atmospherics, ragged percussion and lonesome singing.

Big Troubles, Drastic and Difficult: Big Troubles’ Alex Craig used to intern in eMusic’s editorial department, so maybe I’m a little biased, but I love his band, and this four-song single splits the difference between industrial-strength scuzz and sweet, searching melodies.

Ernie Smith, The Best of Ernie Smith: Excellent compilation from VP profiling Smith, a singer that splits the difference between doo-wop and reggae. The songs here are all light, romantic and lovely.

El Guincho, Piratas De Sudamerica EP: Style-hopping collage artist returns with this brief EP that packs all of his various impulses in one tidy package. eMusic’s Caitlin Dewey says:

Like his first two albums, 2006′s Folías and 2007′s Alegranza!, Piratas draws heavily on Tropicália and Afro-Cuban influences, shading the gurgling psych-pop of Animal Collective’s “My Girls” with samba rhythm and rumba groove. But while El Guincho may have once been interested in dazzling us with his endless array of world music samples and his ability to make something new of the old, his focus here has reversed: you’ll hear some chanting and chirping on the kaleidoscopic “Cuerpo Sin Alma” and some Roland collages on “Frutas del Caney,” but El Guincho clearly wants to embrace these Latin American classics, not reinvent them.

Mitchell Museum, The Peters Port Memorial Service: No idea who this band is, but it sounds terrific: sweet singing against truly busted instrumentation: lots of groans and grunting, but the melodies are strong and solid. Cockeyed guitar pop — very cool.

Mystery Jets, Serotonin: New from the good people at Beggars’. Our Craig McClean says:

Serotonin, true to its name, delivers a straight rush of uplift and joy. The album is assembled from a patchwork of influences, but it manages to be considerably more than the sum of its parts — mostly because all of those parts are thrilling: “Its Too Late To Talk,” which rises to the blue sky on soaring harmonies and chiming chords, is Surf’s Up-period Beach Boys. “The Girl Is Gone” builds another wall of vocal overlap, this time throwing thunderclap drums into the mix. “Show Me The Light” is studded with an improbable — but wildly entertaining — disco throb. “Flash A Hungry Smile” is a particular joy, a real headphone treat: a torrent of psych keyboards ushering in artful and skipping British New Wave songcraft, and more sun-kissed West Coast singing. Surfin’ XTC anyone?

Gifts from Enola, Gifts from Enola: I’ve been singing the praises of the Mylene Sheath label for some time now, so I won’t do that yet again. All I’ll say is: they have, yet again, found a band that terrifically fuses the quiet/loud intensity of post-rock with the blistering aesthetic of metal. Fans of Explosions in the Sky should enjoy.

PS I Love You, EP: Another band I’d never heard of before, but sounds great — bright jangle of guitars and pained, pouting vocals. Check it.

Pigeons, Si Faustine: Another one on the excellent Olde English Spelling Bee label, this one kind of indie-folk-pop, tender female vocals and slight, spare instrumentation. Super engaging on first sample.

Play Guitar, Play Guitar: Volume seems a bit low, but this is pretty terrific guitar-based indie, lots of slack guitar strumming and everyman vocals — reminds me of the old days! Really like this.

Tall Tales & the Silver Lining, Fall In: This is nice! Really small music, front-porch folky with drawling vocals and keen melodic sensibilities.

Glasser, Apply EP: Glasser were featured on our Selected & Collected compilation. Here are 3 lovely songs from the ghostly electropop group fleshed out with a ton of remixes. Really like this.

Grasscut, 1 Inch, ½ Mile: Really lovely, subdued, electronic based chill-out music (not to be confused with fucking “chillout” music). Our Andrew Harrison says it much better than I can:

[Grasscut] builds ornate edifices of analogue synths, live drums and cellos, singing voices and dub effects around a selection of real-world snapshots: Hilaire Belloc and Ezra Pound reading their poetry, his own mother remembering the poverty of 1946 or just friends talking nonsense in the street. The resultant music is ambient and it isn’t; it’s breaks, and it isn’t. Chiefly, it’s poignant, pastoral electronic pop which Phillips and his bass-and-keyboards colleague Marcus O’Dair have rewired so thoroughly that it fits somewhere between Radiohead, Orbital and the film music of Clint Mansell (once of Pop Will Eat Itself and now writing scores for Moon and the movies of Darren Aronofsky).

The Innocence Mission, My Room in the Trees: The Innocence Mission used to be one of my favorite bands ever, and a quick spin through their newest reveals they haven’t lost any of what made me love them in the first place. Karen Peris still has a whisper-quiet voice, and it floats featherlike above husband Don’s delicate fingerpicking. So lovely.

Prisoners, Back in the USSA: SmogVeil is a very good garage label that doesn’t get as much love as it should. This is the debut from Cleveland’s Prisoners, and it sounds snide and sneering and has a wealth of grimy guitars to match. And couldn’t Cleveland use a little good news?

Miss TK & the Revenge, The Ocean Likes to Party, Too: This is some of the worst cover art I’ve ever seen in my life, but the music isn’t bad! Kind of ’80s post-electro with pouty vocals — I hear this and I picture legwarmers and jelly bracelets and teased hair. Lots of synths. Pretty decent.

Cineplexx, “Tiger Trap”: Cineplexx is, apparently, one Sebastian Litmanovich. The music on this single is lovely: floating, ethereal, bright bands of sound, gently surging percussion and high-arcing vocals. Check it out.

Jammer, Jahmanji: Where’s Alex when you need him? Jabbering grime — mile-a-minute vocals over top of heat-warped electronics.

Gallhammer, Gloomy Lights: Brutal, punishing, ice cold black metal from Japan. I just threw this one in here for me. Sorry.

Soilwork, The Panic Broadcast: This one is also for me. Look, Joe, the new one from Swedish metal band Soilwork! Awesome, Joe, thanks!

Wolvhammer, Black Marketeers of World War III: While I’m at it: awesome stoner/doom metal from Mnpls, formidable and rollicking. Going on my iPod tonight.

Zoroaster, Zoroaster: Nasty psych-metal, slow tempos, inventive arrangements, heavy and slow. Vocals are especially interesting: sound like a voice beamed in from another dimension.