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

Jack White - Blunderbuss

I have a complicated relationship with the White Stripes.  Hearing it for the first time on the radio alongside songs by Creed and Staind, I was instantly enamored with "Fell In Love With a Girl" and still like it to this day, but on the whole I wouldn't identify myself as a White Stripes fan.  I found their self-imposed old-timey recording limitations pointless and their music frequently boring (how many times can they recycle the chord progression of "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground"?).  However, they would almost always have one or two moments on each album that made wading through the other stuff worth it.  

Unlike his work on other projects (The Raconteurs; The Dead Weather), this Jack White album is very much in keeping with the White Stripes tradition.  If you like the White Stripes, you'll find stuff on here to like too.  I actually think I may like this more than most of the White Stripes albums: there's far more varied instrumentation (it's pretty piano heavy), which keeps the songs from running together.  I doubt this makes my best of list, but it's certainly solid.

Selections

Missing Pieces

Sixteen Saltines

The Dandy Warhols - This Machine

The Internet seems to hate the Dandy Warhols.  I think it's because they're ironic or something.  Whatever.  I like them well enough: they're consistently inconsistent, but their good songs are pretty damn good.  This album is a little more muted than some of their previous releases, which actually seems to elevate the throwaway material a bit while inhibiting the band's usual high points.  This album is hardly essential, but it passes by agreeably enough.

Selections

SETI vs. the Wow! Signal

Slide

Death Grips - The Money Store

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I guess.  This is certainly one of the more unique sounding albums I've heard this year, although I am not sure if that uniqueness is interesting or alienating.  Death Grips is a loud, aggressive, offensive hip hop act with rock-ish beats.  I probably would have dismissed them fairly quickly, but something about listening to this reminded me of listening to Sleigh Bells debut, another album that was so unique I couldn't find a path into at first.  I don't know if Death Grips has similar populist-pleasing ability, but I'm definitely going to need some further listens to make up my mind.  I suspect most of you will hate this album; hell, I may hate this album.  

Selections

I've Seen Footage

Get Got

A couple of singles I'm also digging:

Ball Park Music, "It's Nice to be Alive" - A pleasing catchy breezy summer pop song with casual swearing.  This group doesn't appear to have an LP out in North America yet, but I will be monitoring closely.

AWOLNATION, "Not Your Fault" - I heard this song awhile ago, so apologies if I've already mentioned it.  The rest of their album is largely forgettable electro-pop, but this song, with its rocking singalong chorus, is pretty great.  Also, the video has Rankin-Bass style stop-motion animation.

Mark Ronson, "A La Modeliste" - Mark Ronson and Erykah Badu doing a New Orleans music tribute?  How could I not love this?  I just wonder why I'm just hearing about it now, several months after it's been available.  

Mark Foster, A-Trak, and Kimbra, "Warrior"- The lead singer of Foster the People, Kanye West's DJ, and the girl who sings on Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" (and has her own very good solo album coming to the United States in a few weeks) have collaborated on a song.  I like it.