New Music Reviews (4/15)

Each week, KEXP’s Music Director Don Yates (joined this week by DJ Alex) shares brief insights on new and upcoming releases. See what's coming up this week below, including reviews for new releases from Fontaines D.C., Anderson .Paak, The Chemical Brothers, and more.

Fontaines D.C. – Dogrel (Partisan)
This Dublin band’s debut album is an excellent set of raw, energetic post-punk with slashing guitars riffs, driving rhythms, gruff vocals, and often-sardonic lyrics. — DY

Anderson .Paak – Ventura (Aftermath)
This LA artist returns to a sunnier, more soul-focused sound on his fourth album, stripping back the production gloss and smoothing the harder edges from last year’s more hip-hop-oriented Oxnard album for a warmer, more melodic sound that hearkens back to his 2016 breakthrough Malibu. — DY

The Chemical Brothers – No Geography (Astralwerks)
This veteran British duo’s ninth album is a potent set of big-beat club jams combining squiggling, squelchy analog synths and propulsive beats with a variety of sung and spoken samples along with guest vocals from Norwegian singer AURORA. — DY

Shafiq Husayn – The Loop (Nature Sounds)
The latest solo album from this LA producer/musician (and former member of Sa-Ra Creative Partners) is a potent set of woozy, atmospheric future soul-inflected with jazz, funk, hip hop and other styles, aided by an all-star guest lineup including Erykah Badu, Anderson .Paak, Bilal, Robert Glasper, Hiatus Kaiyote, Fatima, Jimetta Rose, and other notables. — DY

Zebra Hunt – Trade Desire (Jigsaw)
This Seattle band’s third album another sharply crafted set of jangly, ‘80s-steeped indie-pop reminiscent of classic New Zealand bands like The Bats and The Clean, along with similar bands from that era like The Feelies and The Go-Betweens. — DY

Broken Social Scene – Let’s Try The After (Arts & Crafts)
This Toronto band’s latest release collects their two recent EPs into one album for a strong set of driving, richly textured indie-rock. — DY

Control Top – Covert Contracts (Get Better)
This Philly trio’s debut album is a fierce set of politically charged songs ranging from driving post-punk to raging hardcore punk, combining buzzing guitars and pounding rhythms with Ali Carter’s fiery vocals and anxiety-fueled lyrics assailing sexism and inequality. — DY

Marvin Gaye – You're The Man (Motown)
This fascinating compilation collects songs from the soul legend’s mostly unreleased 1972 recording sessions, along with some previously unreleased ballads he recorded in 1969. It’s a mix of hard-hitting, politically charged songs in the vein of his landmark 1971 album What’s Going On, along with an abundance of love ballads and even some Christmas songs and an instrumental. — DY

Diane Coffee – Internet Arms (Polyvinyl)
The third Diane Coffee album from former Foxygen member Shaun Fleming is a dystopian concept album about humanity being addicted to and poisoned by technology, with the music ranging from shimmering synth-pop and bombastic sci-fi prog and muscular funk-rock. — DY

Kelly Finnigan – The Tales People Tell (Colemine)
The debut solo album from the lead vocalist of the Bay Area band Monophonics is a well-crafted set of ‘60s-steeped soul combining soaring horns, muted guitars, warm organ, aching vocals and intimate lyrics of love lost and found. — DY

Omar Apollo – Friends EP (AWAL)
This LA-based Mexican-American artist’s second EP is a diverse, well-crafted set ranging from gritty funk and uptempo R&B to aching acoustic folk. — DY

The Japanese House – Good at Falling (Dirty Hit)
After four EPs, London-based solo artist, Amber Bain releases her dream-pop debut that reveals deeply personal moments surrounding her past relationship with Marika Hackman (who's in the music video for "Lilo"), gender ambiguity, and learning how to exist by herself — all of which is tightly wound by effected vocals and intricate production. — AG

Bibio – Ribbons (Warp)
The 10th album from this British producer (aka Stephen Wilkinson) leans hard to the folk side of his sound, combining a variety of acoustic and electric instrumentation including guitars, violin, banjo, mandolin, harp, electric piano, sitar, Mellotron and clavinet with pastoral ambient textures and dreamy melodies, though it’s the pair of beat-driven songs that provide the highlights. — DY

Gurr – She Says EP (AWAL/Rough Trade)
Berlin garage-pop rockers return after their 2016 debut, In My Head, with fresh layers of nostalgic, Summer tinged guitars, subtle synth, and commanding duo vocals exploring loneliness, malls, and the weight of fallacious media. — AG

Emily Reo – Only You Can See It (Carpark)
This Brooklyn-based artist’s third album is a more fully produced and pop-oriented take on her colorful electro-pop, combining bright keyboards, propulsive beats, often-vocodered vocals, soaring harmonies, effervescent melodies and dark lyrics revolving around loss, heartbreak, sexism, and isolation. — DY

K!MMORTAL – X Marks The Swirl (Coax)
This Vancouver, BC artist’s latest release is a solid album of brooding hip hop combining an often-spacious sound with politically charged lyrics attacking sexism and inequality while celebrating autonomy and self-love. — DY

Pixel Grip – Heavy Handed (FEELTRIP)
This Chicago trio’s debut album is a promising set of dark, dance-friendly electro-pop combining shimmering analog synths, propulsive beats and Rita Lukea’s ethereal vocals with hypnotic song hooks. — DY

Norah Jones – Begin Again (Blue Note)
This New York-based artist’s latest release is a 7-song mini-album featuring some of the most adventurous music she’s made to date. The album features a moody, atmospheric sound ranging from rhythmic, stripped-down pop and brooding trip-hop to atmospheric dream-pop and psych-tinged folk. — DY

Witching Waves – Persistence (Specialist Subject)
This British trio’s third album is a fine set of energetic post-punk with angular guitar riffs, driving rhythms, declamatory vocals and lyrics revolving around personal conflict along with trying to survive in modern London. — DY

Bleu Nuit – Le Jardin Des Mémoires (Michel)
This Montreal post-punk trio releases their debut filled with analogue electronics, motorik percussion, metallic guitars, and whispered French vocals. — AG

Guided By Voices – Warp And Woof (Guided By Voices, Inc.)
The latest album from the prolific Robert Pollard & Co. isn't as strong as their previous release Zeppelin Over China, though there are still some worthwhile gems among the album’s 24 mostly brief songs, ranging from hook-filled power-pop and crunchy hard-rock to psych-tinged prog. — DY

Black Nite Crash – Conflict of Disinterest (Neon Sigh)
This Seattle band’s latest release is a solid set of dark shoegazer psych-rock with fuzzy, squalling guitars, driving rhythms, half-buried vocals, and hypnotic song hooks. — DY

Fanclub – All The Same EP (self-released)
This Austin trio’s debut EP is a fine set of ‘80s-steeped dream pop with shimmering synths, fuzzy guitars, driving rhythms, ethereal vocals, and bittersweet melodies.

Linda Guilala – Estado Natural (Sonic Cathedral)
This Spanish artist’s latest release is a solid EP ranging from driving shoegazer psych-rock to atmospheric dream-pop. — DY

Brass Box - The Cathedral - Dune Altar (4/4/2019)
The Los Angeles outfit deliver a velvet crushed sea of goth minimalism with whirring guitars, hypnotic percussion, and ethereal vocals. — AG