New Music Roundup 4/24

A highly anticipated (at least by me) debut finally came out this week, as well as some releases by some more established acts.  Oh, and a truly bizarre album that I have no idea if I love or hate.

Electric Guest - Mondo

Finally, it's here.  I had been looking forward to this album for months now, all on the strength of the single "This Head I Hold."  I describe a lot of music here as catchy, but there's catchy, and then there's the I-can-listen-to-this-20-times-in-a-row-on-repeat nature of a song like This Head I Hold.  Couple that with the fact that this album was going to be produced by Danger Mouse, and you have an album that is right in my musical taste wheelhouse.

Having listened to the entire thing, I have to say, it doesn't disappoint.  It may have made questionable career sense to enlist Danger Mouse as the producer of your debut album (if it's good, it's because it's produced by Danger Mouse, and if it's bad, then you're the band so bad even Danger Mouse can't fix), but it was a home run in the music sense: the album is a combination of electro-pop, soul, funk, and R&B with a retro sensibility, but unlike some other throwbacks to the same era, it's never a direct homage (i.e. "Oh, they stole that bass line from a Curtis Mayfield song" or "He's sings like he's Marvin Gaye"), which keeps the music fresh.  I really, really like this album.  Fans of Beck, Gnarls Barkley, or Foster the People probably will, too.

Selections

This Head I Hold

Waves

Electric Guest – Waves

American Daydream

New Music

The recurring email feature that needs no introduction. Except this introduction about how it needs no introduction.

Dry the River - Shallow Bed

Do you like Snow Patrol? Do you like Mumford and Sons? No? Oh. Yeah, that's reasonable. Then nothing to see here, I guess.

Actually, this debut album by yet another indie-folk group, this one from England (or Britain), has its moments. It meanders a bit, but I do think the band has some potential. What separates them from the countless other indie-folk groups is that these guys aren't afraid to break out some crunchy guitars to give them a little more muscle. As a result, the better songs are probably the more rocking ones. But even at their least awesome, this band still does anthemic folk pretty decently. I could see this album growing on me a bit (I've only listened to it once), or I could see me getting sick of it (at which time this band will probably become a massive success and appear all over the radio dial). At the very least, expect to encounter the song "No Rest" in the future, and all things considered, I'm pretty ok with that.

Selections

No Rest

Weights & Measures (Is Grey's Anatomy still a thing? Because if this song isn't featured in that show I'll be shocked)

The Chambers & the Valves (oh, I get it. The heart. They're talking about the heart)

New Music

It was a pretty weak week (homophones!) so this will probably be a brief brief (homonyms!) of new music.

Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls

I'd been looking forward to this album for a while now. This is the debut album of a fantastic Southern band that mixes soul, R&B, and rock. Everybody should check this band out, if only to hear the lead singer's voice, which isn't like anything in music right now: capable of switching from Janis Joplin to Aretha Franklin, she's just got a ridiculously powerful voice. Critical response to the actual album seems a little muted, which may be a function of the ridiculously high expectations brought on by some really strong live performances the band has given. Some of the complaints are valid - the production on this album isn't the greatest - but I suspect after the initial slight letdown, this album will be viewed more favorably, as this band is just too good. Oh, and you heard it hear first, this band's inevitable horn section-accompanied album (I'm guessing it will be their third album) is going to be goddamn mind-blowing. These guys are definitely the winner of the week.

Selections

You Ain't Alone (this is actually one of those aforementioned superior live performances)

Hold On

New Music Roundup

Housekeeping: ok, so I'm still dicking around with the format, but here's what I'm currently thinking. I'll email out the same text I always have, since 1) I don't trust any of you to actually click any links, and 2) there's nothing lamer than emailing nothing but a "here: look at my blog" email. Rather than including all those youtube links in the email that I'm pretty sure none of you actually use, though, I'll just include a link to my blog, where all the videos will hopefully be embedded, provided I am technologically able to do that. I still view this as an email list email more than any sort of website, but it just seems easier to have all the videos on one web page. Anyway, feedback on this system is welcome.

There were a couple decent finds this week, although technology has been my adversary today, so I haven't listened to as much as I would have liked.

Of Monsters and Men - My Head is an Animal

I think this came out today. It was the first time I was able to download it from amazon or stream it on spotify, but it doesn't seem like any critics are writing about it, which is strange, because I feel like I've encountered the single "Little Talks" everywhere, and this album is pretty damn good. The lack of coverage may be because the album came out so long ago in Europe. Anyway, I've talked about this band a little before: they're from Iceland, they have names that have things like the empty set sign as a letter, and they do a really catchy version of indie-folk. The way the band was first described to me was as an Icelandic Arcade Fire, but I see them more as an interesting synthesis of Florence + the Machine (the lead female singer's powerful voice and the use of some "mystic" instrumentation), Mumford and Sons (the love of a good soaring anthemic chorus), and The Head and the Heart (the folkiness and some male-female singer interplay). If you like any three of those bands, or even Iceland in general (remember: Iceland is green, whereas Greenland is full of ice), you should definitely check the album out. It will be considered in my best-of year-end list.

Selections

Little Talks

Slow and Steady

Six Weeks