Highlights this week include the first new album in 16 years from veteran rockers, The Afghan Whigs. KEXP Music Director Don Yates describes their latest, titled Do To the Best, as "a strong return-to-form of brooding, soul-inflected rock with atmospheric guitars and keyboards and occasional strings accompanying Greg Dulli’s husky vocals and dark, often-ominous lyrics of degeneration and mortality."
Another highlight of the week comes from New York band Woods. Their eighth album, With Light and With Love, "finds them continuing to sharpen their song craft while polishing their sound on a consistently strong set of songs ranging from brightly colored pastoral pop to torrid psych-rock jams."
The latest album from Nashville artist Bobby Bare, Jr.'s Young Criminals' Starvation League is "a diverse, expertly crafted set of break-up songs ranging from distortion-drenched rockers and jangly power-pop to moody, tension-filled rock and melancholy roots-tinged ballads." (They'll be LIVE on KEXP on Sunday, June 8th.)
Jessica Lea Mayfield is back with a darker sound on her third album, Make My Head Sing..., "featuring a stripped-down, primal rock-band sound, the album combines thick, grungy guitars and muscular rhythms with Mayfield’s sultry deadpan vocals and dark, often-seedy lyrics."
And, as always, there's tons more new releases to check out below! What new albums are you most looking forward to this week?
Amps for Christ - "Earth Is Spinning" from Canyons Cars and Crows on Shrimper
Ben Watt - "Hendra" from Hendra on Unmade Road
Bikini Kill / Huggy Bear - "White Boy" from Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah [Bonus Tracks] on Bikini Kill Records
Bobby Bare, Jr.'s Young Criminals' Starvation League - "North Of Alabama By Mornin' (Radio Edit)" from Undefeated on Bloodshot
The Both - "Milwaukee" from The Both on Superego
Chet Faker - "Talk Is Cheap" from Built on Glass on Downtown Records / Future Classic
Chuck E. Weiss - "Boston Blackie" from Red Beans and Weiss on Anti
Cloud Cult from Unplug on Earthology / Rebel Group (more info here)
Deleted Scenes - "Songs of Leaving Behind" from Lithium Burn on Park the Van
The Dictators - "Baby Let's Twist" from Faster... Louder: The Dictators' Best 1975-2001 on Raven
Duck Sauce - "Goody Two Shoes" from Quack on Fool's Gold Records
Dylan Shearer - "Mold in the Fold" from Garagearray on Castle Face / Empty Cellar
Gordon Downie / The Sadies - "Crater" from Gord Downie, The Sadies, And the Conquering Sun on Arts & Crafts Records
Horse Thief - "Little Dust" from Fear in Bliss on Bella Union
Ikebe Shakedown - "The Offering" from Stone by Stone on Ubiquity Recordings
Ingrid Michaelson - "Girls Chase Boys" from Lights Out on Mom + Pop Music
Japanther - Do It (Don't Try) from Instant Money Magic on Seayou
Jessica Lea Mayfield - "I Wanna Love You" from Make My Head Sing... on ATO
Nas - "It Ain't Hard to Tell (Stink Mix)" from Illmatic XX [20th Anniversary Edition] on Columbia / Sony Legacy
Plague Vendor - "Black Sap Scriptures" from Free To Eat on Epitaph
Rodney Crowell - "Frankie Please" from Tarpaper Sky on New West
Ryley Walker - "The West Wind" from All Kinds of You on Tompkins Square
The Secret Sisters - "Lonely Island" from Put Your Needle Down on Republic
Shonen Knife - "Bad Luck Song" from Overdrive on Damnably
Slint - "Good Morning, Captain" from Spiderland vinyl reissue on Touch & Go
Sonic Avenues - "In Your Head" from Mistakes on Dirtnap Records
Stanton Moore - "Lauren Z" from Conversations on Royal Potato Family Records
Thee Oh Sees - "Penetrating Eye" from Drop on Castle Face (out 4/19 for Record Store Day)
Woods - "Moving To The Left" from With Light and With Love on Woodsist
In quite possibly the best music news of the day (IMHO), Parquet Courts have unveiled the music video to the track "Sunbathing Animal," starring the inspiration for that song, Frida, beloved cat companion to frontman Andrew Savage. The song is also the title track of the band's forthcoming album, …
The sun is finally out in Seattle, and so are lots of great new albums for your springtime soundtrack. Avey Tare of Animal Collective has teamed up with former Dirty Projectors bassist Angel Deradoorian and former Ponytail drummer Jeremy Hyman for the project, Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks. KEXP Music…
