We know you're probably hoping to catch your breath, and rest your wallet, after last week's budget-busting list of new releases, but we can't wait for you to hear the killer albums out this week. Topping the list are four albums already in KEXP's heavy rotation, including the anticipated debut LP from AlunaGeorge, who've been kicking up some blog buzz with a slew of singles, covers and remixes over the past year. Our Music Director, Don Yates, describes Body Music, the British duo's full length, as "a first-rate set of impeccably crafted R&B dance-pop, combining 2-step, UK garage, dubstep and other electronic dance grooves with glitchy textures, light, slinky vocals and sugary pop hooks." The increasingly popular Scottish group Franz Ferdinand return to form on their fourth album, "setting aside the more synth-driven experiments of their last album (2009’s Tonight) in favor of dance-friendly post-punk with angular guitar lines, taut, propulsive rhythms and lots of sharp pop hooks." KEXP faves Capsula realize a long-time dream by recording their latest LP with veteran producer Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T.Rex), and the result is "another excellent, high-energy set blending elements of raw garage-rock, aggressive psych-rock, Sonic Youth experimental rock and more". Don also calls it their "punchiest and most-focused album to date". And young British artist Archy Marshall, who performs under the moniker King Krule debuts with "a dark, often-stunning set of brooding, atmospheric songs featuring a spacious, haunting sound with trebly, often jazz-tinged guitar lines, hip hop-influenced rhythms, occasional horns, trippy dub effects and eerie samples accompanying his drawling baritone and sharply crafted, intensely personal lyrics of failed relationships, dead end jobs, societal alienation and general disillusionment."
Other excellent new releases this week come from San Fran's The Dodos, whose fifth album "injects a bit more electric guitar into their energetic folk-pop sound, combining wiry guitar lines with warm, wistful melodies"; rowdy Austin singer Black Joe Lewis, whose latest "brings a harder, more aggressive and punk edge to his gritty blend of garage-rock and high-energy soul"; LA duo Flaamingos, whose debut "is a fine set of dark post-punk with atmospheric synths, jangly guitars, drum-machine rhythms and gloomy vocals"; veteran Chicago songwriter Robbie Fulks, whose Steve Albini produced new album "finds him getting back to his musical roots with an acoustic-oriented blend of bluegrass, mountain folk and story songs"; and New Zealand Ghost Wave, whose debut on Flying Nun Records recaptures some that iconic Kiwi label's classic sound with its "well-crafted" set of "psych-tinged pop-rock with jangly guitars, organ, rolling, sometimes motorik rhythms, hazy vocals and big pop hooks".
You'll also want to check out new releases from Oakland band Lumerians, who just opened My Bloody Valentine here in Seattle; Mississippi songwriter Dent May, whose third LP is "a solid set of well-crafted indie-pop with a rich sound featuring a variety of instrumentation including guitars, synths, horns, strings, piano, pedal steel and more on catchy songs with summery, carefree melodies often-juxtaposed with melancholy lyrics"; Scottish twee pop pioneers Belle & Sebastian, whose latest collects B-Sides, remixes and rarities from the 2000's; Soundgarden bass player Ben Shepherd, submitting his solo debut in the wake of a Soundgarden revival; and an unearthed early album from the late Ohio songwriter Jason Molina and his high school punk band, Spineriders, giving a rare glimpse into a different part of his past.
You'll find all of these, plus multi-disc box sets of The Beach Boys and Sly and the Family Stone, and Volume 10 of Bob Dylan's The Bootleg Series. Be sure to check out the songs gathered here before you head out shopping... again...
AlunaGeorge - You Know You Like It
Belle & Sebastian - Your Cover's Blown (Miaoux Miaoux Remix)
Back to school, back to work, back to record shopping. This post-Labor Day week, it's time to get off your duffs and get back out into the world. To get you motivated is a handful of fantastic new releases, many of which you'll find getting major spins on the KEXP airwaves. Among them, is the lates…
Vacation's over, folks. Those last several weeks of light weekly lists with barely a handful of worthwhile new releases are no more. Time to get back to record shopping in earnest. And this week is a doozy! Topping the list is the tenth album from veteran Chapel Hill, NC, group Superchunk. Released…
