It's the first batch of new releases for the summer, and highlights include the latest from Chicago-based artist Tom Krell, who records under the name How To Dress Well. KEXP Music Director Don Yates describes his third album, What Is This Heart?, as a "more expansive take on his intimate blend of spectral R&B and electro-pop, featuring a cleaner and more sophisticated sound accompanying his delicate, angelic vocals and deeply personal lyrics."
Philly band A Sunny Day In Glasgow are back with a fourth album filled with "a brighter, more melodic sound to the band’s shoegazerish dream-pop, cutting back on the heavy reverb of previous releases while putting lead vocals and melody more upfront."
Former Royal Trux guitarist/vocalist Jennifer Herrema is back with her new project, Black Bananas. Their sophomore release for Drag City Records is "a warped, sometimes chaotic blend of psych-rock, funk, metal, industrial, glam-rock and more, combining a dense, noise-addled sound with an abundance of potent song hooks." Louisville trio White Reaper share a new EP of "raucous, hook-filled garage-punk with buzzing guitars, urgent rhythms, occasional keyboards, half-buried vocals and bright pop melodies." Captured Tracks shares the debut album from Donovan Blanc, "a well-crafted blend of ‘80s dream-pop and ‘60s psych-pop and folk-rock with a moody, atmospheric sound combining jangly guitars, mellotron, hazy vocals and wistful melodies." And Congolese collective Kasai Allstars share an adventurous 2-CD set of "hypnotic West African grooves combining electric guitars and amplified thumb pianos with xylophones and traditional percussion."
With today being Canada Day and Friday the Fourth of July, the music industry world is kinda quiet this week, but there are still some stellar releases worth shooting fireworks for. Highlights include the comedy album 2776: A Millennium of American Asskickery, the brainchild of Conan/The Daily Show…
Brooklyn band The Antlers release their fifth album, Familiars, today, and KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it, "a gorgeous, deeply felt set of dreamy ambient-pop tinged with elements of elegiac jazz and southern soul on lengthy, slowly swelling songs featuring muted guitars, mournful trumpets, …