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 stark, raw sound with unconventional, shape-shifting arrangements framing her elastic vocals and introspective lyrics." It's been seven years since the last Gorillaz album, and "the fifth album from Damon Albarn & co. is a diverse, party-friendly blend of hip hop, funk, post-punk, R&B, dancehall, electro-pop and more, featuring an impressive guest lineup and often-politically charged lyrics." On his tenth solo album, former Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan delivers "one of his stronger latter-day albums, with a dark, expansive sound featuring atmospheric guitars, moody synths and driving rhythms accompanying his deep, gravelly vocals and often-dark lyrics."
Former Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore returns with a new solo release, "an impressive five-song set of exploratory post-punk combining adventurous guitar work and hypnotic rhythms with Moore's occasional vocals and spiritually minded lyrics." Durham, NC duo Sylvan Esso bring a "another sharply crafted set of propulsive electro-pop with sometimes celebratory, occasionally biting lyrics often revolving around the highs and pitfalls of music." And the second album from L.A.-based artist Los Angeles Police Department (aka Ryan Pollie) is "an often-gorgeous set of wistful, beautifully crafted psych-pop. Produced by Foxygen's Jonathan Rado, the album combines a spare, yet expansive sound with his fragile vocals and often-dark lyrics revolving around anxiety, love and loss."
It's a good week for comebacks. UK band Slowdive return with their first new album in 22 years. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it "a strong return-to-form of shoegazerish dream-pop with swirling, reverbed guitars, ethereal vocals, hazy harmonies and blissed-out melodies." It's been 17 years si…
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, insta…
