As we celebrated on Friday with an exclusive interview, the new Father John Misty album is out now. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it, "his finest to date, combining an orchestral folk-pop sound with self-aware, often-cutting and sometimes hilarious lyrics aimed at narcissism, hypocrisy, instant gratification, modern ADD culture and other ills of the modern world, leavened with some hope for love and community."
The seventh album from Vancouver, BC-bred supergroup The New Pornographers "finds them rejiggering their soaring power-pop with a more motorik, prog-tinged sound featuring more driving rhythms along with more vocal interplay." On their debut full-length, New Paltz, NY duo Diet Cig deliver "a strong set of emotive garage-pop with crunchy guitars, energetic rhythms, yearning vocals, assertive, heart-on-sleeve lyrics and catchy pop hooks." Baltimore trio Future Islands bring us "another potent set of emotive, '80s-steeped synth-pop with driving rhythms, shimmering synths, atmospheric guitars and melodic bass lines accompanying Samuel T. Herring's dramatic vocals and impassioned, often anxiety-fueled lyrics."
LAKE -- the Langley, WA-based project led by the wife/husband duo of Ashley Eriksson and Elijah Moore -- bring a "a fine set of jazz-tinged dream-pop" on their eighth LP. The latest from Nashville-based artist Andrew Combs delivers "expansive folk-pop ranging from edgy rockers to wistful, country-tinged ballads with well-crafted lyrics blending the personal and the political."
Andrew Combs - "Rose Colored Blues"
from Canyons of My Mind on New West
Arca - "Saunter"
from Arca on XL
Cold War Kids - "So Tied Up"
from L.A. Divine on Capitol / Virgin EMI
Cory Branan - "Another Nightmare in America"
from Adios on Bloodshot
Deep Purple - "All I Got Is You"
from InFinite on Ear Music
Diet Cig - "Tummy Ache"
from Swear I'm Good at This on Frenchkiss Records
Falling in Reverse - "Broken"
from Coming Home on Epitaph
Father John Misty - "In Twenty Years or So"
from Pure Comedy on Sub Pop
Feature - "Schedules Align"
from Banishing Ritual on Upset the Rhythm
feedtime - "Any Good Thing"
from Gas on In the Red Records
Fujiya & Miyagi - "Solitaire"
from Fujiya & Miyagi on Impossible Objects of Desire
April ended strong with new releases from some of our favorite artists. It's been five years since the last album from Feist, and the Canadian songstress returns with what KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls "a powerful set of dark, intimate folk-rock. Recorded mostly live, the album features a sta…