It's uncanny that yesterday just happened to be Australia Day, and the highlights of this week's new releases are dominated by the down under! Merge Records release the latest from Melbourne pop quartet Twerps, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes is, "a masterful album of jangly indie-pop reminiscent at times of Yo La Tengo, The Go Betweens and a host of classic Flying Nun bands, combining jangly guitars and driving rhythms with gentle harmonies, bittersweet melodies and emotionally frank lyrics." Perth psychpop band Pond (featuring current and former members of Tame Impala) also release their latest this week, "a more polished and pop-oriented take on the band’s adventurous psych-rock, with a diverse variety of songs ranging from fuzzy glam-rock and psych-addled funk to epic space-rock ballads."
Other highlights this week include the debut from Natalie Prass, a "Virginia-bred, Nashville-based artist" who also happens to be a member of Jenny Lewis’s band. Yates says Prass, "offers up an excellent debut album of orchestral, soul-steeped pop. Co-produced by Matthew E. White and Trey Pollard, the album features a lush sound and sophisticated arrangements with swelling strings, soaring horns, bright piano and soulful guitar licks accompanying her delicate, understated vocals and melancholy lyrics of love and loss." Minneapolis collective Doomtree return with "a solid set of underground hip hop with a densely produced sound featuring buzzing, edgy synths, booming hip hop beats, energetic deliveries and often-politically charged lyrics." LA-based band Dengue Fever (fronted by Cambodian expatriate Chhom Nimol) return "with one of their most adventurous blends of ‘60s Cambodian pop and psych-rock, inflected this time with hip hop, various Latin and African elements and more." And Bay Area duo The Dodos share "another well-crafted set of percussion-driven folk-pop with intertwining guitar lines, shifting time signatures and energetic rhythms."
- Africa Express – “Terry Riley's In C Mali (5 Minute Edit)”
- from Africa Express Presents… Terry Riley's In C Mali on Transgressive
- Alasdair Roberts – “Artless One”
- from Alasdair Roberts on Drag City
- Amason – “Duvon”
- from Sky City on Fairfax Recordings
- American Wrestlers – “I Can Do No Wrong”
- from "I Can Do No Wrong" b/w "The Rest of You" 7" on Fat Possum
- Aphex Twin
- from Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments, Pt. 2 EP on Warp
- Beat Spacek – “I Wanna Know”
- from Modern Streets on Ninja Tune
- Bettye LaVette
- from Worthy on Cherry Red
- The Body / Thou – “Terrible Lie”
- from You, Whom I Have Always Hated on Thrill Jockey
- Bonnie "Prince" Billy – “Blindlessness”
- from "Mindlessness" b/w "Blindness" 7" on Drag City
- Chandos – “Rats in Your Bed”
- from Rats in Your Bed on Carpark Records
- The Charlatans UK – “So Oh”
- from Modern Nature on BMG
- Cotillon – “Before”
- from Cotillon on Burger
- Danny James – “Lydia”
- from Pear on Burger Records
- Dan Kroha – “Run Little Children”
- from Angels Watching Over Me on Third Man Records
- Dengue Fever – “No Sudden Moves”
- from The Deepest Lake on MRI
- The Dodos – “Competition”
- from Individ on Polyvinyl/Morr/Dine Alone
- Doomtree – “Gray Duck”
- from All Hands on Doomtree
- Emmy the Great – “Swimming Pool”
- from S EP on Bella Union
- Gaz Coombes – “20/20”
- from Matador on Hot Fruit
- Gov't Mule – “Tom Thumb”
- from Sco-Mule on Evil Teen
- Half Japanese – “Charmed Life”
- from Volume Two: 1987-1989 reissue on Fire
- Herbert – “The Wrong Place”
- from Part 8 EP on Accidental
- Howlin' Rain – “Big Red Moon”
- from Mansion Songs on Easy Sound
- Invisible Familiars – “Heavenly All”
- from Disturbing Wildlife on Other Music Recording Company
- Jan St. Werner – “Miscontinuum Album Medley”
- from Miscontinuum Album (Fiepblatter Catalogue #3) on Thrill Jockey
- Jessica Pratt – “Back, Baby”
- from On Your Own Love Again on Drag City
- Jib Kidder – “Dozens”
- from Teaspoon to the Ocean on Weird World/Domino
- The Lone Bellow – “Then Came the Morning”
- from Then Came the Morning on Descendant/Sony
- Nadastrom – "House Shoes" [ft. Nina Kinert]
- from "House Shoes" [ft. Nina Kinert] [single] on Friends of Friends
- Napalm Death – “Cesspits”
- from Apex Predator - Easy Meat on Century Media
- Natalie Prass – “Bird of Prey”
- from Natalie Prass on Spacebomb
- Ne-Yo – “Coming With You”
- from Non-Fiction on Compound/Universal Motown
- Noveller – “Into The Dunes”
- from Fantastic Planet on Fire
- Oorutaichi – “Jimaji”
- from Drifting My Folklore (US release) on Drag City
- Packway Handle Band / Jim White – “Not A Song”
- from Take It Like a Man on Yep Roc
- The Phantom Band – “Clapshot”
- from Fears Trending on Chemikal Underground
- Pinkshinyultrablast – “Umi”
- from Everything Else Matters on Shelflife
- Pond – “Waiting Around For Grace”
- from Man It Feels Like Space Again on Modular
- The Primitives – “Earth Thing”
- from Galore on Cherry Red
- Punch Brothers – “Julep”
- from The Phosphorescent Blues on Nonesuch
- Supreme Jubilees – “Do You Believe”
- from It'll All Be Over on Light in the Attic Records
- Twerps – “Back to You”
- from Range Anxiety on Merge
- Tyga – “Manny”
- from The Gold Album: 18th Dynasty on Last Kings
- Ty Segall Band – “What's Inside Your Heart”
- from Live in San Francisco on Castle Face
- You Blew It! – “Lanai”
- from Pioneer of Nothing EP on Jade Tree
- Young Ejecta – “Your Planet”
- from The Planet EP on Driftless
- Zs – “Corps”
- from Xe on Northern Spy
