If you're hoping to spend St. Patrick's Day doing some record shopping, you are indeed in luck, as there are some great new releases at the end of the rainbow this week. Highlights include the latest from Modest Mouse. KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes, "the latest album (and first in eight years) from the veteran Issaquah-bred band is a vibrant, wide-ranging affair moving from jagged indie-rock and quirky dance-pop to feverish sea chanteys and campfire ballads, combining a dynamic, adventurous sound with Isaac Brock’s off-kilter melodies and sardonic, often-bleak lyrics."
Tobias Jesso Jr.'s debut release shines through this week, "an impeccably crafted set of intimate orchestral pop combining a warm, spacious and ‘70s-steeped sound with stately melodies, wistful vocals and lovelorn lyrics." King Khan & BBQ Show return with "a strong set of raw garage-rock blended with elements of soul, doo wop, hardcore punk and other styles, combining scratchy guitars and stomping rhythms with the duo’s soulful vocals and often-irreverent lyrics."
Two memorial albums come out this week. Seth Avett & Jessica Lea Mayfield share a loving tribute to Elliott Smith. Yates says, "While many of their versions of Smith’s songs are spare, intimate and haunting, there are also some jauntier pop-rock interpretations of Smith’s comparatively more sprightly material." And Glen Hansard releases an EP of Jason Molina songs in tribute to the Songs:Ohia songwriter.
Spring is springing with excellent new releases, including the highly-anticipated debut (of sorts!) from Melbourne, Australia artist Courtney Barnett. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls the release, "a masterful set that improves upon her promising early releases with even sharper songwriting and …
This week, soulster Matthew E. White unleashes his sophomore full-length Fresh Blood, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates describes as "a well-crafted set of soul-inflected pop, featuring a warm, full-bodied though intimate sound, impeccably arranged with lush strings, soulful horns, piano, soft vo…