We hope you had a successful and fruitful Record Store Day this past Saturday and that you've added many cherished discs to your vinyl collection. This growing movement has been a needed boon for ailing record stores as much as it's been a treasure trove for music fans worldwide. We'd love to hear what your highlights of the day were, but we're also eager to remind you that Record Store Day isn't meant to be merely one three-hundred-sixty-fifth of the year. Record Store Day should be any day or every day, and each Tuesday of the week, there are more new records available for you to pick up. Among the recommended albums out this week, the latest album from Phoenix is sure to bring fans back into the stores. Our Music Director, Don Yates, calls the French band’s fifth album "an impressive set of sleek pop-rock, featuring a more synth-heavy, intricately detailed sound with layers of fizzy synths, bombastic drums and sparkling pop hooks." Also topping this week's list is the second album from Swedish trio Junip, the led by Jose Gonzalez, how are releasing "another impressive blend of German prog-rock and jazzy folk-pop along with various African and Brazilian styles, featuring a slow-burning, atmospheric sound with cyclical guitar lines, haunting organ, hypnotic rhythms and Gonzalez’s soft vocals."
Other new albums you'll want to pick up this week come from the Finn Andrews-led group The Veils, whose fourth album is "an excellent set of dark, moody rock ranging from stormy rockers to atmospheric, reverb-drenched ballads"; Long Island singer-songwriter Laura Stevenson, whose third album "moves considerably beyond her lo-fi folk roots" and develops "a more muscular and cleanly produced sound" featuring "smart, eclectic blend of expansive folk-pop and crunchy indie-rock, highlighted by a variety of impressively crafted songs and Stevenson’s expressive vocals"; veteran Welsh singer Tom Jones, whose latest is a set of mostly sparse, stripped down covers of greats like Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Blind Willie Johnson and Bob Dylan; Toronto band Kobo Town, led by Trinidad emigrate Drew Gonsalves, whose second album "is a vibrant blend of calypso, soca, roots reggae and other Caribbean styles, with acoustic and electric guitars, punchy horns, dance-friendly rhythms and biting topical lyrics"; and Portland duo Lilacs & Champagne, a.k.a. Email Amos and Alex Hall, who return with "another fine set of trippy, psych-tinged hip hop, with a sample-heavy sound that’s heavily sourced from vintage Scandinavian porn and obscure ‘60s b-movies."
There's lots going on in record stores every day, so swing on my your favorite shop and check out all of these, plus two Louisiana bands, just in time for Jazz Fest -- Lafayette's Brass Bed, whose third album "is a fine outing of psych-tinged pop-rock with adventurous guitar textures and atmospheric keyboards along with warm harmonies and sunny melodies contrasted with melancholy lyrics of dreams dashed" and New Orleans-based artist Luke Winslow-King, whose third LP is "a well-executed blend of New Orleans R&B and jazz, Delta blues, ragtime, folk and gospel, combining a rootsy sound featuring guitars, washboard, piano, organ and horns with Winslow-King’s understated vocals." Get on down to your record shop today!
The Appleseed Cast - Great Lake Derelict
Brass Bed - I'll Be There With Bells On (MP3)
Whether you're feeling moody or in a mood to dance, you'll find what you need among this week's new releases. Topping the list of must-buys in record stores today comes from U.K. trio Daughter, who were a standout during our CMJ broadcast last year with their highly emotive and engaging performanc…
I hate to break it to you, but you're gonna be heading toward Record Store Day this Saturday at a deficit. Why? Because there are too many excellent new releases coming out today that you'll want to pick up right now. First and foremost: the latest from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, whose fourth album our Music…
