BEIRUT – Hadsel
Classic Beirut, you know, Casiotone beats – multitracked vox – unusual brass – other assorted unrock instruments – nice tunes. (7)
NIECY BLUES – Exit Simulation
One of those albums that get a “Best New Music” tag and an 8.7 from Pitchfork but I’m too thick to understand, like FKA Twigs or Bjork, where whatever fragments of actual songs exist are hidden as much as possible by all the “experimental” stuff going on around them. Just give me the fucking songs. (-)
JESSI COLTER – The Edge Of Forever
The “First Lady of Outlaw Country”, widow of Waylon Jennings and an acclaimed singer/songwriter in her own right, celebrates her 80th birthday with a new album produced by the “new Jessi Colter”, Margo Price. But neither her singing nor her songwriting are what they used to be. (6)
JOHN FRANCIS FLYNN – Look Over The Wall, See The Sky
This is music from another universe, an otherworldy transformation of 100-year old traditional Irish songs into a distorted lament about a Dublin long lost to gentrification. (8)
GREEN LUNG – This Heathen Land
Queen (first three albums) meets Uriah Heep meets Ghost for infinite awesomeness. (8)
LENHART TAPES – Dens
This guy’s from Belgrade and labels his music “ethno noise”. In essence this means he’s taking traditional Balkan sounds and giving them the sort of treatment 80’s industrial groups from ex-Yugoslavia, like Laibach and SCH, might have come up with. (8)
JEFFREY MARTIN – Thank God We Left The Garden
This album is a not-so-distant cousin of Joe Henry’s “All The Eye Can See” from earlier this year, in both sound and vibe. If you like really bleak, dark records you should definitely check this out and also remind me to never invite you to a party because you’re a miserable bastard. (8)
MELLOW CANDLE – Swaddling Songs (reissue)
A holy grail f0r 70’s prog-rock vinyl junkies, the sole album/lost masterpiece of this Irish progressive folk band was recently reissued by Decca at 1% the US$3,000 price tag people are paying for the original version on Discogs. (9)
TODD SNIDER – Crank It, We’re Doomed
World-class stoner and Nashville’s favorite underachiever finally got around to releasing a great album he recorded 16 years ago, I guess he couldn’t remember where he put it. Funny and sharp as always, and featuring guest spots by legends Kris Kristofferson and Loretta Lynn. (8)
CHRIS STAPLETON – Higher
Often grouped together with Jason Isbell but a very different animal, Stapleton is much more “traditional” in his approach to Southern-rock infused country music. Also, Isbell goes much deeper lyrically, but Stapleton’s got a voice for the ages! (8)
LOL TOLHURST X BUDGIE X JACKNIFE LEE – Los Angeles
Post-punk royalty with vocals provided by fans of their original bands like Bobby Gillespie and LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy. It sounds more like their guests’ bands than like The Cure or The Banshees. (7)
