It's been six long years, but the latest solo album from Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis is out today. KEXP Music Director Don Yates describes the album, The Voyager, as "a strong return to form steeped in classic West Coast ‘70s and ‘80s pop-rock with smartly crafted songs juxtaposing breezy melodies with incisive lyrics that cut deep. Produced by Ryan Adams along with Beck and Johnathan Rice, the album features a warm, lush sound that puts the focus on Lewis’s gorgeous vocals and consistently strong songcraft."
Speaking of Beck, today he releases a full-album version of his 2012 sheet music release, Song Reader, with each song recorded by a guest artist including Jack White, Jarvis Cocker, Laura Marling, Eleanor Friedberger, and many more. Beck himself appears on one track, "Heaven’s Ladder."
KEXP is also excited about the latest from local duo Shabazz Palaces. Their latest, Lese Majesty, is "another mind-blowing set of experimental hip hop with woozy beats and spacy textures accompanying Butler’s reverberating vocals and abstract raps." (You can read a more indepth review of the album on the KEXP Blog here, and tune in for a LIVE in-studio from the boys on Monday, August 4th at 3:00 PM PST.)Other highlights this week include the second album from New York band Hooray for Earth, "another expansive, beautifully constructed set of psych-tinged synth-rock with loud, rumbling guitars, bright synths, dramatic vocals and massive song hooks." Veteran UK (now L.A.-based) DJ Wildest Dreams releases his debut album featuring a "heady set of trippy psych-rock jams." San Francisco-via-New Orleans producer Jim-E Stack shares "a hypnotic set of expansive instrumental-heavy beats that straddle a fascinating line between experimental tendencies and pop sensibilities in a fashion comparable to Four Tet."
Oh, hey, did you hear there's a new album out this week from Spoon? KEXP has been, understandably, excited for the latest release from this veteran band (watch an exclusive nine-song set from the band that we aired on The Midday Show on KEXP earlier today). KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes, "thi…
Highlights for this sleepy summer week include the debut from Toronto-based band Alvvays (pronounced "always," if you were wonderin'). KEXP Music Director Don Yates describes the release as "a promising set of hazy, surf-inflected dream-pop. Produced by Chad VanGaalen, the album features a reverb-d…