New Music Reviews (7/13)

Each week KEXP's Music Director Don Yates and DJ Alex Ruder share brief insights on new and upcoming releases. See what's coming up this week below, including reviews for new releases from Jenn Champion, Florence + The Machine, Trust Fund, and more.

Dirty Projectors – Lamp Lit Prose (Domino) 
The eighth album from this New York band led by David Longstreth is a strong set of intricately arranged avant-pop inflected with R&B, jazz, West African pop and more, though notably warmer and more brightly melodic than last year's self-titled album. The album's often-joyful sound features radiant guitar lines, sprightly horns, a variety of keyboards and intricate rhythms fleshing out songs of finding new love during these troubled times. The impressive guest lineup includes Syd, Amber Mark, Empress Of, Robin Pecknold, Rostam and Dear Nora. - Don Yates

Wild Pink – Yolk in the Fur (Tiny Engines) 
This New York-based trio's second album is an excellent set of moody, '80s-steeped rock with shimmering synths, jangly guitars and steady beats accompanying John Ross's hushed, plaintive vocals, wistful melodies and finely chiseled lyrics of love, loss and resilience. - DY

Smokescreens – Used To Yesterday (Slumberland) 
The second album from this LA band featuring former members of Plateaus and Terry Malts in a well-crafted set of New Zealand-inspired power-pop with jangly guitars, driving rhythms, soaring harmonies and buoyant song hooks. - DY

Cold Soda – Cold Soda (self-released) 
The debut album from this Seattle band comprised of members of The Cave Singers along with Deep Creep drummer Jeff Alvarez is a potent set of hypnotic, psych-tinged rock ranging from fiery, driving rockers to atmospheric ballads. - DY

Sandrider – Armada (Good to Die) 
This Seattle trio's third album is another potent set of heavy stoner-rock with thundering guitar riffs, pummeling rhythms and howling vocals. - DY

Collections of Colonies of Bees – HAWAII (Polyvinyl) 
The latest album from this veteran Milwaukee band led by guitarist Chris Rosenau (Pele, Volcano Choir, etc.) is the first to feature vocals. It's an often-mesmerizing set of adventurous avant-pop combining intricate guitar textures and hypnotic rhythms with sometimes-manipulated vocals. - DY

Jamie Isaac - (04:30) Idler (Marathon Artists) 
The sophomore album from this London-based vocalist and producer is a strong set of moody, nocturnal, magnetic pop that blends soul, jazz, bossa nova, R&B, and hip-hop influences in cool, cohesive fashion. Reminiscent of the dimly-lit UK soul of Jamie Woon mixed with the sexy, mysterious, breezy vibes of Rhye, (04:30) Idler is a seductive late-night affair. - Alex Ruder

Okzharp & Manthe Ribane - Closer Apart (Hyperdub) 
Okzharp is South African-born, London-based electronic producer Gervase Gordon, formerly part of the production trio LV, one of the first acts signed to Hyperdub. Previously teaming up for the 2016 EP Tell Your Vision, he connects once again with South African vocalist, artist, and dancer Manthe Ribane for an intoxicating set of exotic global bass songs that blends progressive electronic rhythms with seductive R&B vibes and visionary Afro-futurism flourishes. - AR

The Jayhawks - Back Roads and Abandoned Motels (Legacy) 
The Jayhawks' frontman Gary Louris has found quite a bit of success writing for other artists since penning four songs for the Dixie Chicks' 2006 album Taking The Long Way Home. The new Jayhawks album mostly features new versions of songs Louris originally wrote for others to record, though it still makes for a fairly cohesive (and mostly low-key) album of the Jayhawks' reflective folk-rock. - DY

Luluc – Sculptor (Sub Pop) 
This Australian duo's third album is another solid set of hushed folk-pop with spare guitars, mournful keyboards, stately rhythms and somber harmonies. - DY

Tierra Whack - Whack World (self-released) 
Featuring 15 songs all clocking in at exactly 1 minute, Whack World is the brilliant breakout debut album from Philadelphia artist Tierra Whack. Although brief in its duration, each song is a memorable vignette, boldly displaying her refreshing, melodic, imaginative take on hip-hop and R&B. - AR

V/A - Stadiums & Shrines Presents: Dreams (Cascine) 
Stadiums & Shrines is a NYC website/blog that has long championed slower, intentional music that goes against the stream of today's current clickbait tendency of online music coverage. Originally beginning in 2012, Dreams is their ambitious multi-media project that pairs a musician, a visual artist (Stadiums & Shrines' Nathaniel Whitcomb), and writers (Stadiums & Shrines' Dave Sutton and Matthew Sage) to create a new body of work all inspired off each others' work. This compilation gathers 21 unique songs yielded from the project and it's a sublime set of atmospheric ambient, elegiac neo-classical, glacial dream-pop, and cinematic, electronic soundscape pieces from names both familiar and new. - AR

Hawks and Doves – From A White Hotel (Jullian) 
The debut album from this Portland band led by Kasey Anderson is a well-crafted set of anthemic roots-rock reminiscent at times of Steve Earle and John Moreland, combining a surging, guitar-driven sound with lyrics ranging from politically charged critiques aimed at bigotry and racism to clear-eyed depictions of his own destructive behavior. - DY

Earthboogie - Human Call (Leng) 
The debut full-length album from East London-based production duo Earthboogie (aka Izaak Gray and Nicola Robinson) is a knockout set of vibrant, exuberant, global grooves that impressively showcase their ability to twist a diverse range of international rhythms into hypnotic, ecstatic, epic dancefloor frenzies. Brazilian-born English vocalist Nina Miranda appears on two tracks. - AR

Umi Copper - Requiem (Black Acre) 
The debut release from this Los Angeles singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist is a stirring set of enigmatic, beautiful, haunting soul music that showcases his captivating voice atop dynamic, cinematic, orchestral-tinged backdrops. Reminiscent The title track and "All" are bona fide gems. - AR

Borussia - Se Vuoi Ballare (Ed Banger/Because Music) 
The third EP from this Parisian electronic DJ/producer is an impressive set of colorful house rhythms with a boisterous electro and disco streak, showcasing an upfront dancefloor-primed sound reminiscent of Para One, Mylo, and Siriusmo. Solid from start-to-finish, Se Vuoi Ballare kicks off with an undeniable highlight in "Vuole Ballare" featuring help from French vocalist Malvina. - AR

Bells Atlas – Be Brave EP (self-released) 
This Oakland's band's latest release is an expansive 3-song EP blending astral soul, ethereal psych-rock, cosmic jazz and more, combining a densely produced sound with Sandra Lawson-Ndu's light, soothing vocals. - DY

Kilcid Band – The Good Get Gone EP (self-released) 
This Seattle band's latest release is a solid 3-song EP of buoyant electro-pop with playful lyrics and breezy melodies. - DY

General Mojo's – All of the Greats EP (self-released) 
This Seattle band's latest release is a solid 4-song EP of breezy, '60s-steeped psych-pop. - DY