New Music Reviews (6/17)

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 Bill Callahan, Bruce Springsteen, Calexico and Iron & Wine, and more.

Bill Callahan – Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest (Drag City) 
The latest release (and first in six years) from this veteran Austin-based artist is a masterful 20-song double album of reflective folk-pop combining a spare, acoustic-oriented sound with his soothing baritone and wise lyrics revolving around love, family and mortality. — DY

Bruce Springsteen – Western Stars (Columbia) 
This rock legend’s 19th studio album is his finest in ages, with an orchestral, western-tinged folk-rock sound rooted in ‘70s Glen Campbell countrypolitan and Laurel Canyon folk-pop, combining sweeping strings, acoustic guitars, keyboards, French horn and pedal steel with his grainy vocals and poignant lyrics of fading lives, loss and regret. — DY

Calexico and Iron & Wine – Years to Burn (Sub Pop) 
The veteran Tucson band Calexico and Sam Beam (aka Iron & Wine) follow up their 2005 mini-album In The Reins with this impressive 8-song set that seamlessly blends Calexico’s cinematic southwestern folk-rock with Iron & Wine’s hushed folk-pop. — DY

Julia Shapiro – Perfect Version (Hardly Art) 
The debut solo album from this Seattle-based artist (Chastity Belt, Childbirth, Who Is She?) is a strong set of hazy dream-pop with layered fuzzy guitars, resigned vocals, melancholy melodies and personal lyrics of uncertainty and dislocation. — DY

Fruit Bats – Gold Past Life (Merge) 
The seventh studio album from this project spearheaded by Portland-based artist Eric D. Johnson is a sharply crafted set of hook-filled folk-pop combining a warm sound with buoyant melodies and lyrics revolving around moving on. Special guests include Greta Morgan (Springtime Carnivore), Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), Neal Casal and other notables. — DY

Crumb – Jinx (self-released) 
This Brooklyn-via-Boston band’s debut full-length is a promising set of dreamy, jazz-tinged psych-pop combining an atmospheric sound and haunting melodies with Lily Ramani’s ethereal vocals and intimate lyrics. — DY

Peter Perrett – Humanworld (Domino) 
The second solo album from the frontman for The Only Ones is another well-crafted set ranging from driving, squalling guitar rock to brightly melodic power pop and dreamy, Velvet Underground-influenced ballads, with Perrett’s often-cutting lyrics moving from the personal to the political. — DY

The Minus 5 – Stroke Manor (Yep Roc) 
Scott McCaughey began writing songs for the 13th album from The Minus 5 while in the hospital recovering from a stroke. He was later joined in the studio by an impressive supporting cast including longtime musical partner Peter Buck along with Jeff Tweedy, Corin Tucker, Steve Wynn, Jenny Conlee and John Moen. They ended up with a diverse, often hard-rocking and poignant set of psych-tinged power-pop featuring often-surreal lyrics reflecting anxiety and disorientation. — DY

Jordan Rakei – Origin (Ninja Tune) 
This New Zealand-born, London-based artist’s third album trades in the mostly downtempo introspection of his first couple of albums for a brighter sound, a greater variety of beats and dystopian lyrics of a world gone wrong. — DY

Mike Adams At His Honest Weight – There Is No Feeling Better (Joyful Noise) 
This Bloomington, IN artist’s fourth album is a well-crafted set of hook-filled indie-pop with jangly guitars, bright keyboards, violin, bouncy rhythms, warm-hearted lyrics and swooning melodies. — DY

SadGirl – Water (Suicide Squeeze) 
This LA trio’s fourth album is a fine set of noirish torch-pop appropriate for the Twin Peaks Roadhouse, with echoes of doo wop and surf in their dreamy, atmospheric ballads. — DY

Robag Wruhme – Venq Tolep (Pampa) 
The latest album from veteran German electronic producer Gabor Schablitzki under his revered Robag Wruhme alias is a wonderful set of supremely elegant tech-house full of warm synths, refined rhythms, and his masterful crystalline production. While his instrumental prowess stands out on its own, a few tracks feature guest vocalists for more immediate highlights. — AR

Divino Niño – Foam (Winspear) 
This Chicago band’s third album is a well-crafted set of breezy psych-pop with woozy guitars, relaxed rhythms, wistful lyrics and sunny melodies. — DY

Plaid – Polymer (Warp) 
This veteran British duo’s 10th album is an adventurous set of electronic grooves featuring tricky rhythms and glitchy textures incorporating a variety of sampled and live instrumentation. — DY

Coach Phillips – Never Is Enough (Den Tapes) 
This Seattle band’s debut full-length is a fine set of mostly melancholy indie-pop combining acoustic and electric guitars and occasional violin and organ with unhurried rhythms, warm vocals, angelic harmonies and wistful melodies. — DY

Ben Zaidi & Budo – Abandonism (self-released) 
New York-via-Seattle artist Ben Zaidi teamed up with Seattle producer Budo for his latest release. It’s a well-crafted set of moody, R&B-tinged electro-pop with haunting keyboards, occasional horns, sampled audio clips, mostly downtempo beats and confessional lyrics. — DY

Konx-om-Pax – Ways Of Seeing (Planet Mu) 
The third album from Berlin-based Scottish electronic producer Tom Scholefield (aka Konx-om-Pax) is a strong set of evocative, progressive, expansive electronic beats that range from blown-out dystopian instrumental hip-hop to more propulsive electro/techno rhythms. Ways Of Seeing also features some of Konx-om-Pax's brightest and most joyful material in his catalog, the result of working on parts of the album in the Los Angeles home of his old friend Hudson Mohawke and intentionally going against the grain of the dark and noisy experimental music currently coming out of Berlin. — AR

14KT – For My Sanity (First Word) 
The latest album (and debut for UK label First Word) from Ypsilanti, Michigan's Kendall Tucker (aka 14KT) is a fantastic blend of jazz, hip-hop, and other soulful styles that finds the veteran hip-hop beat maker, former Red Bull Big Tune National Beat Battle Champion, and J Dilla disciple leaning into his love of jazz. For My Sanity is the first in 14KT's IAMABEENIE series of jazz influenced albums he's currently working on, and features guest appearances from Jimetta Rose, The Roots' James Poyser, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Stro Elliot, Muhsinah, and Masego. — AR

Orquesta Akokán – Orquesta Akokán (The Instrumentals) (Daptone) 
The latest release from this large Havana-based collective features instrumental versions of songs from their previous release (2018’s self-titled album), which was an excellent set of old-school Cuban mambo. — DY

Shinyribs – Fog & Bling (self-released) 
The sixth studio album from this Austin band led by former co-frontman for The Gourds Kevin Russell is a warm, soulful blend of roots-rock, swamp pop, vintage R&B and more. — DY

The Mattson 2 – Paradise (Company) 
The sophomore album from this California duo comprised of identical twin brothers Jared and Jonathan Mattson (also close collaborators with their friend Chaz Bundick aka Toro Y Moi) is their first to prominently feature their own vocals and it yields a nice set of breezy, dreamy, jazz-inflected psych-pop steeped with their jammy instrumental roots. — AR