New releases 10 Feb 23

Strong week this week. What’s on your radar?

Quasi - Breaking the Balls of History

LOVED Quasi back in the day, so can’t wait to give this a listen. Indie rock from former spouses Sam Coombes and Janet Weiss (formerly of Sleater Kinney).

Kelela - Raven

Six years after ‘Take Me Apart’ we finally get a follow up. Electro-alternative-glitchy R&B.

Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World

Rave reviews for this one - looking like it could be their best in quite some time…

Kelly Lee Owens - LP8.2

Companion piece to last year’s LP8 - features 4 new tracks.

Laraaji - Segue to Infinity

Definitive collection of early career Laraaji - late 70s new age pioneer. Prepare for the long haul: 8 tracks come in at 3 hours…

Marlene Ribeiro - Toquei No Sol

Intrigued by this: debut solo album from Portuguese musician. Sun-baked, psychedelic, folky, and seriously atmospheric.

Nick León / DJ Python - Split

Two electronic giants with a split four track EP conjured up during a shared residency in Miami.

22 Likes

Black Belt Eagle Scout for me, lush singer-songwriter stuff. The singles have been excellent, and I’m hoping this is going to be to my 2023 what Cassandra Jenkins was to 2021. Great artwork as well

16 Likes

Really looking forward to this

1 Like

Just spotted Two Shell have a new EP out. Enjoyed their last one. Hyper techno pop, I guess?

7 Likes

Paramore

12 Likes

Pest Control - Don’t Test The Pest
Leeds crossover thrash bands debut album, they’ve released a few absolutely raging EPs, think this is going to be FUN. They remind me a bit of Power Trip but punkier.

11 Likes

Andy Shauf - Norm
Indie-folk

Another concept album of sorts, most likely full of brilliant storytelling. Loved The Neon Skyline from a few years ago

6 Likes

Narrow Head - Moments of Clarity
Alt-grunge/shoegaze/post-hardcore… Grunge-gaze-core?

Third album. Their second was rather good iirc

12 Likes

Been looking forward to this one for ages since I heard the first single from it. Was stopped in my tracks when it came on.

This one

13 Likes

Thats quite the op, so excited for Kelela.

4 Likes

Ahl Nana - L’Orchestre National Mauritanien

Reissue of desert rock ‘ground zero’ from 1971. FFO Tinawaren, Mdou Moctar, Ali Farka Toure.

7 Likes

the GOLDEN DREGS
Nice sad sort of sound, lovely deep hushed voice where the singer “delivers the sort of meticulously written lunar of Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner, or the tidy yet revelatory koans of Silver Jews’ David Berman”

Thomas Azier - The Inventory Of Our Desire
Dutch musician, delicate dreamy songs with piano and muted saxophone.

Bailey Miller - Love Is A Dying
Very hushed folky acoustic sounds. Also “swelling strings, synthesized stirrings, subterranean spirals, and screeching stillness” apparently.

Laboratorium Piesni - Hé oyáte
Polish female singers, FFO Dakha Brakha, with traditional polyphonic choral singing. “They sing a capella as well as with shaman drums and other ethnic instruments (shruti box, kalimba, flute, gong, zaphir and koshi chimes, singing bowls, rattles etc.)”

Minihi - Apparitions
A duo who “create a uniquely percussive take on contemporary instrumental music by blending mallets, piano and bell-like textures with earthy drums and bubbling synths.” They’ve also recorded on Thom Yorke’s Anima with the London Contemporary Orchestra.

Mi Mye - My Name’s Wimp
This was released physically late last year, but on streaming now. Lovely laid back Sparklehorse vibes which I listened to a fair bit last year.

El Ten Eleven - Valley Of Fire
Instrumental post rock sort of sound. Piccadilly Records say:
“Recommended If You Like: Godspeed… , Explosions in the Sky, Sigur Rós, This Will Destroy You, Do Make Say Think, Mogwai, Lymbyc System, Tycho, Ratatat, Positive/uplifting instrumental loopage ‘n riffage.”

Hollie Kenniff - We All Have Places That We Miss
Is “a chorus of cloudlike synths, seraphic strings, humming drones, and reverb drenched shoegaze guitars, all melding into an impressionistic story of remembrance, loss, family, and connection.”

Charlotte Brandi - An Den Alptraum
“We know Charlotte Brandi as singer an, guitarist and keyboardist in the highly successful Berlin indie duo Me And My Drummer”(?)
German sung indie dream pop.

Dan Levy - Pour La France
Soundtrack album from half of The Do, who also made a nice soundtrack album for I Love My Body.

and finally

The Notwist - Vertigo Days - Live From Alien Research Center
I’d obviously prefer an album of new music from The Notwist, but I’m still happy with a new live album from them with interpretations of their last album. I never get sick of his voice.

13 Likes

Experimental, jazzy RnB.

5 Likes

Looking forward to the previously mentioned Quasi’s first album in 10 years and Lisa O’Neill with an early contender for folk album of the year. Also:

Emily Breeze - Rapture
Bristol artist’s second album of slinky pop music.

Jessica Winter - Limerence EP
Funk This Up is an absolute banger so looking forward to the rest of this dancey electropop.

ZA! - ZA! & la TransMegaCobla
Experimental duo Za! team up with La MegaCobla, a traditional Catalan cobla wind quartet, and Catalan folk duo Tarta Relena for this, “Rowdy, worldly kitchen sink rock fusion by a triad of Catalan acts helmed by the prolific ZA!, touching on Gnawa trance, desert blues, psych-funk, and Catalan cobla - a traditional form of folk dance - with a playful garage punk attitude.”
Dunno what to make of this. I like it. It’s weird. I might not listen to it again, or it might become my album of the year.

Brian Jonestown Massacre – The Future Is Your Past
20th album. “Aside from plundering the darkest corners of psychedelic rock, Brian Jonestown Massacre have ventured into all corners of the sonic spectrum from rock’n’roll, blues, folk, country and pop through to blazing swirls of distortion and mesmerising fuzzed up soundscapes.”

Feral Five - Truth Is The New Gold
Feral Five are a duo: Kat Five and Drew Five (plus an AI version of Kat on some tracks) are Feral Five. This debut album (nearly 10 years after their first single came out) is electro-pop grooves, and it’s rather good.

Jad Fair and Samuel Locke Ward - Happy Hearts
DIY alt-pop. After completing 100 albums in 2021, founding member of Half Japanese, Jad Fair joined forces with fellow prolific artist Samuel Locke Ward to record one song each week, “producing an eclectic array of tunes that moves from bubblegum synth to capricious noise rock”.

8 Likes

Really enjoyed seeing her at Mutations Festival in Brighton a year ago. Will hopefully see her again at the upcoming Great Escape festival.

2 Likes

Tove lo has a new track co-written with Dua Lipa

1 Like

New YLT is excellent

3 Likes

Here’s the first release on the DiS singles club to add to your playlists etc

12 Likes

A couple for me today…

Lance Skiiwalker - Audiodidactic

First album since 2016’s Introverted Intuition (I think), includes features from his fellow TDE label mates Ab-Soul & Isaiah Rashad. Hip-Hop.

Tennis - Pollen

6th album from the duo, I really liked 2020’s Swimmer so am looking forward to giving this a listen. Indie Pop.

7 Likes

Having an early morning gym listening to this. It’s 21 minutes of absolute power. Love it. On my second spin already. 10/10 would mosh.

4 Likes