New Music Reviews (6/10)

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 Jai Paul, Stef Chura, Richard Hawley, and more.

Jai Paul – Leak 04-13 (Bait Ones) (XL)
This London artist released a couple of acclaimed singles early this decade before disappearing after a collection of mostly unfinished demos were stolen in 2013 and illegally leaked online. He’s now surprise released those demos (along with two new singles), putting them out pretty much as is (though there are a few slight changes). The demos still sound startlingly fresh and innovative, adding up to an impressive set of avant R&B inflected with electro-pop, hip hop, Indian filmi music and more, combining woozy, off-kilter beats and murky, disorienting textures with his hazy falsetto. — DY

Stef Chura – Midnight (Saddle Creek)
This Detroit artist’s second album is a sharper and more expansive take on her visceral, hook-filled indie-rock. Produced by Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest, the album features a dynamic, live-wire sound with buzzing guitars, bright keyboards and punchy rhythms accompanying her warbling vocals and lyrics of anxiety, loss and resilience. — DY

Richard Hawley – Further (BMG)
This British artist’s eighth solo album is a diverse, well-crafted set ranging from feral garage-rock and driving psych-rock to lush orchestral folk-pop, with consistently strong songs featuring his deep, rich croon and reflective lyrics of loss and mortality. — DY

ex Licks – ex Licks (self-released)
This Seattle trio’s debut album is a potent set of anthemic post-punk with angular guitar lines and driving rhythms accompanying Alex Noble’s throaty vocals. — DY

Palehound – Black Friday (Polyvinyl)
The third album from this Boston trio led by Ellen Kempner is a well-crafted set of dreamy, folk-tinged indie-pop with an intimate, often-spare sound combining jangly guitars and atmospheric synths with hushed vocals and personal lyrics of love and loss. — DY

Mattiel – Satis Factory (ATO)
The second album from Atlanta artist Mattiel Brown is a potent set of ‘60s-steeped garage-rock inflected with psych-rock, blues, surf and other styles, combining stinging guitars, bright organ riffs, occasional horns and swaggering song hooks. — DY

Dylan LeBlanc – Renegade (ATO)
This Shreveport, LA-bred, Nashville-based artist’s fourth album features a more electric, rock-oriented sound with help from acclaimed producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Brandi Carlile), transforming his country-tinged folk-pop into muscular heartland rock reminiscent of Strand Of Oaks with ringing guitars, soaring harmonies and sparkling melodies. — DY

Lust For Youth – Lust For Youth (Sacred Bones)
This Danish duo’s latest album is a well-crafted set of ‘80s-steeped electro-pop with shimmering synths, propulsive rhythms, bittersweet lyrics and wistful melodies. — DY

Your Heart Breaks – Drone Butch Blues (SofaBurn)
The latest album from this local queer band founded by Clyde Petersen is a powerful set of intimate and idiosyncratic folk-pop highlighted by Clyde's brilliant songwriting. A conceptual record based on the writings of celebrated GLBTQI authors, Drone Butch Blues focuses on stories surrounding queer community and touches on topics of secret and forbidden love, the lives of hustlers, the impact of AIDS on homosexuals, historic events, and rebellion, all interwoven with Clyde's unique personal narrative. The album was produced by Karl Blau and features contributions by Blau as well as Kyle Field (Little Wings), Kelley Deal, Kimya Dawson, Lori Goldston, Dylan Carlson, and other local luminaries. — AR

Pixx – Small Mercies (4AD)
The second album from this London-based artist (aka Hannah Rodgers) is an edgier and more expansive take on her atmospheric electro-pop, with the sound ranging from driving post-punk and moody grunge to haunting dream-pop. While her debut was more introspective, this one looks outward with often-dark lyrics revolving around sexism, environmental devastation, love and religion. — DY

Yeasayer – Erotic Reruns (Yeasayer)
This Brooklyn trio’s fifth album is a groove-driven mix of electro-pop, funk and psych-rock, with lyrics blending the political and the personal. — DY

JR JR – Invocations/Conversations (Love Is EZ)
The fourth full-length from this Detroit duo formerly known as Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. is a solid double album of synth-driven indie-pop with rich harmonies and buoyant melodies juxtaposed with often-dark lyrics. — DY

Guards – Modern Hymns (AWAL)
The second album from this LA-based band led by former Cults member Richie Follin is a solid set of hook-filled pop-rock with fuzzy synths and guitars, propulsive beats and soaring song hooks. — DY

Bedouine – Bird Songs of a Killjoy (Spacebomb)
The second album from this Syria-born, LA-based artist (aka Azniv Korkejian) is an often-gorgeous set of orchestral folk-pop with an acoustic-oriented sound featuring gentle fingerpicked guitar, lush strings, serene vocals, wistful melodies and lyrics of lost love. — DY

Fujiya & Miyagi – Flashback (Impossible Objects of Desire)
This British band’s latest release is a seven-song mini-album blending disco, funk and motorik post-punk, combining hypnotic synths with propulsive beats. — DY

Silversun Pickups – Widow's Weeds (New Machine)
This LA band’s fifth album is a diverse set ranging from brooding post-punk and driving synth-rock to moody space-rock and anthemic grunge. — DY

WMD – Young Angry Love (Hush Hush)
The latest release from this Cashmere, WA-bred, Bellingham/Seattle-based electronic producer (aka Michael Erickson) is an evocative blend of beatific downtempo grooves and radiant ambient passages. — DY

Sam Gellaitry – Viewfinder Vol. 1: PHOSPHENE (viewfinder co)
Following his amazing Escapism trilogy of EPs for XL Records, young prodigious Scottish electronic producer Sam Gellaitry steps out on his own label for his debut full-length album of dynamic, cinematic, marvelous future club beats that continue to rest confidently alongside the works of his idol Hudson Mohawke. — AR

Froth – Duress (Wichita)
This LA trio’s latest album is a moody, atmospheric blend of psych-rock and post-punk with angular guitars, electronic textures and hypnotic melodies. — DY

DJ Seinfeld – Galazy EP (Young Ethics)
The inaugural release on his own label Young Ethics, Malmö, Sweden-based electronic producer Armand Jakobsson unveils his latest EP under the DJ Seinfeld alias and it finds him moving further away from his lo-fi house roots for a sharp set of crisp electronic rhythms that touches upon breakbeat, techno, and house. — AR

Slow Pulp – Big Day (self-released)
The second EP from this Chicago group now fronted by Emily Massey is a solid set of polished indie pop that sways between brooding atmospheric stormers (brief opening track "Do You Feel It") to emotionally dynamic grunge ("High") to pristine guitar-pop that ranges from good ("Young World") to great ("New Media"). — AR

India Jordan – DNT STP MY LV (Local Action)
India Jordan is a London-based DJ/producer that also co-runs the New Atlantis label that specializes in exploratory new age music. Her debut EP showcases her affinity for high-energy dancefloor jams that weave through rave, disco, ghetto-house, and breaks and finds a fitting home on the Local Action label. — AR