Out This Week 6/3

What a great way to kick off June! Just look at this list of new releases. A clear highlight for KEXP has been the latest from indie rock veteran Bob Mould. KEXP Music Director Don Yates describes the latest from the former Husker Du/Sugar frontman as, "in the same vein as 2012’s excellent Silver Age, combining loud distorted guitars, punchy rhythms and anthemic pop hooks, though perhaps with even greater emotional impact, as Mould reflects on his father’s passing along with his own identity and legacy."

Another highlight of the week comes from Brooklyn-via-Denton, TX band Parquet Courts, which Yates describes as "a masterful set of sardonic post-punk that’s at times more aggressive and at others more expansive than their 2013 breakthrough album Light Up Gold, with sharply written songs revolving around themes of confinement and freedom that range from frenetic, jagged punk to hypnotic, slow-rolling jams." The second album from young Chicago band The Orwells is "a sharper, more confident and polished take on the band’s scruffy, hook-filled garage-pop."

The Walkmen frontman Hamilton Leithauser shares his debut solo album, Black Hours, "an impressive set of emotive, smartly crafted music ranging from jangly, classic-steeped rock to brooding, late-night orchestral ballads. Leithauser’s husky Dylanesque croon and often-dark lyrics." The second album from indiepoppers Gold-Bears is "a sharper, more aggressive sound that improves upon the band’s promising debut with more abrasive guitars and stronger, more indelible melodies for the band’s densely produced noise-pop juxtaposing euphoric pop hooks with regret-filled lyrics."

Echo & the Bunnymen are back in fine form with the release, Meteorites, combining the ageless vocals of Ian McCulloch with the distinctive guitar stylings of Will Sergeant. Speaking of the '80s, former Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy also returns this week with a dark new album, co-written by Killing Joke's Martin Glover.

This week in reissues, Morrissey celebrates the 20th anniversary of Vauxhall & I with a 2-disc "definitive" release. Local boys Soundgarden have also re-released their break-through album Superunknown on its 20th birthday. (Anyone feeling old yet?) And the rare album from Linda Martell (the first African-American woman to play the Grand Ole Opry, spotlighted by KEXP earlier this year) has been reissued by Real Gone Music.