Since we're celebrating Sub Pop 25th Anniversary, a.k.a. Silver Jubilee, this week, it's fitting that one of their new signees should top this week's list of new releases. Though the term does define him, Daughn Gibson is unlikely to be called a "singer-songwriter", at least not in the traditional sense, the Carlile, PA artist creates doomier stuff. His second album, Me Moan, is his first for Sub Pop and it carries on from his debut in what our Music Director, Don Yates, describes as "another impressive blend of dark electro-pop and dusty country and folk sounds, but this time he fleshes out his sample-based music with pedal steel, strings, horns, organ, bagpipes and more for a fuller, richer sound accompanying his deep baritone croon and often-dark lyrics". And what a deep croon it is! Late night listening, for sure. Read more about Daughn Gibson's Me Moan in our album review here.
The list of other new releases this week is pretty short, but on it you'll find interesting new albums from artists like the prolific Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard, whose latest solo effort Don Yates calls "one of his better latter-day efforts", and though the title and cover might fool you, its 17-songs, 34-minute entirety ranges "from lo-fi skeletal folk-pop to sparkling psych-pop and riff-heavy glam-rock". Other worthwhile new releases out this week come from LA-based bassist/producer/singer (and Flying Lotus pal) Stephen Bruner, a.k.a. Thundercat, whose sophomore album is "another top-notch set of fluttery R&B, bouncy electro, cosmic jazz, old-school boogie, and more styles that continue to showcase his virtuosic bass skills, blossoming production talents, and soulful vocal chops"; and from Sin City vets Preservation Hall Jazz Band, whose latest, co-produced by the band’s Ben Jaffe and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, is also their first album of all-original material yet "remains strongly rooted in New Orleans tradition from vintage Dixieland jazz to brass-band jazz-funk and New Orleans R&B".
You'll find all of these in stores today, plus new albums by long-time KEXP faves and Mercury Prize nominees Maps, popular rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z, the ever-entertaining experimentalists The Octopus Project, British emot-alt-rockers Editors, Irish indie group Bell X1, and Bay Area shoegazing sextet Whirr. Be sure to check out all of the samples below before heading out to your favorite local record shop this week:
Bell X1 - Careful What You Wish For
While it's a fairly slow summer week for new releases, there are definitely some terrific Northwest releases to get you shopping at your favorite record store today. In the past three years between their second and third albums, Seattle's Feral Children seem to have grown into men... wild men, sure…
It's a very short list of new releases this holiday week, so you can probably tie your record store shopping to your quest for 4th of July BBQ supplies. While you're stocking up on burgers, weiners, beer and soda, you might stop to grab the latest from British producer Zomby, whose third album, our…
