Music - Album of the week - Page - 4
6th Feb 12
Woollen Kits - Woollen Kits
R.I.P. Society/Fuse
The debut album from Melbourne trio Woollen Kits successfully weaves elements of punk, lo-fi garage rock and pop into a beautifully unique sonic patchwork. The record's nine songs impress with their memorable melodies and dynamic, stripped back arrangements.
Past Albums of the Week
15th Jun 10
The Dead Weather - Sea Of Cowards
Third Man/Warner
The second album from Tennesee band The Dead Weather consolidates their position as premier purveyors of dark blues and gritty rock noir. With the combined talents of The Kills’ Alison Mosshart and Jack White, of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather again deliver a compelling selection of original, inimitable material.
7th Jun 10
Mountain Man - Made The Harbor
Spunk/EMI
Filled with mesmerizing harmonies and sublime melodies, the debut album from Vermont group Mountain Man is a striking and startlingly sparse record of folk and Americana music. The project of Amelia Meath, Molly Sarle and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, the trio craft evocative, antique acapella arrangements, accompanied occasionally by an acoustic guitar.
31st May 10
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
4AD/Remote Control
Initially the bedroom studio project of LA producer/musician artist Ariel Marcus Rosenberg, Ariel Pink has an extensive back-catalogue of hazy lo-fi/psych-pop songs, blending 60s harmonies, 70s soft rock influences and 80s punk trash culture. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti is the expanded musical ensemble of Ariel Pink and new collaborators, and the new record Before Today contains some of the band's cleanest and most focused tracks to date, albeit with strong elements of the degraded recording qualities characteristic of the band's former output.
24th May 10
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
Warp/Inertia
The latest full-length offering from Steven Ellison (aka Flying Lotus) is a genre-transcending astral excursion into the outer reaches of the known beat universe. Incorporating elements of hip hop, boogie, electro, orchestral, and soulful music styles, Cosmogramma is a digital jazz masterpiece that consolidates Flying Lotus' position as one of the leaders of the new guard of producers.
17th May 10
Cloud Contol - Bliss Release
Ivy League/Mushroom
Bliss Release is the highly anticipated debut album from the Blue Mountains quartet, following an EP release in 2007. Utilising the dual harmonies of Alastair Wright and Heidi Lenffer, creative bass lines and sharply crafted songs, Cloud Control deliver an album that successfully explores the broad horizons of pop.
10th May 10
The National - High Violet
(4AD/Remote Control)
The fifth album from Brooklyn's The National delivers subtle, layered, rock laments and the nuanced lyrical intensity familiar to fans of the band's previous work. A broader sonic palette, and the addition of sweeping horn and string arrangements throughout much of the record, heightens the impact of these new songs, and offers new details to admire from these skilled song writers.
3rd May 10
Faux Pas - Noiseworks
Sensory Projects/Inertia
The second album from Melbourne producer Tim Shiel, aka Faux Pas, is a fascintating exploration of the possibilities of electronic music. With a playfully experimental approach to sound design and manipulation, Noiseworks transcends genre on its space flight through arpeggiated synth-pop, anthemic crunk orchestrations, future funk and radiophonic workshop house.
27th Apr 10
Sally Seltmann - Heart That's Pounding
Shock/Remote Control
Acclaimed singer/songwriter Sally Seltmann has elected to drop her previous New Buffalo moniker, and here releases a collection of intricately arranged and masterfully constructed pop songs under her own name. Lyrically, the album reveals Sally's skill in balancing apprehensive introspection with tremulous optimism.
19th Apr 10
Caribou - Swim
Co-op/Shock
The latest album release from Caribou's Dan Snaith (formerly Manitoba) extends his electronic music explorations into sub-aqueous territory. The results of a self-described attempt to make ' dance music that's liquid in the way it flows back and forth', Swim reveals shades of Scandanavian disco, post-rave sonics, and ambient techno, in a cohensive yet dynamic pop recording.
12th Apr 10
Bonobo - Black Sands
Ninja Tune/Inertia
A stalwart of the modern downbeat scene, Simon Green aka Bonobo has been crafting intricate, jazz-inflected beatscapes for many years, releasing records on influential labels such as Tru Thoughts and Ninja Tune. Black Sands represents the latest stage in Bonobo's evolution as an artist, expanding his dense instrumental palette into textured electro-acoustic hip hop and post-garage rhythms, and showcases some outstanding vocal tracks with collaborator Andreya Triana.
5th Apr 10
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part II: Return Of The Ankh
Universal
Erykah Badu's fifth studio album is a seductive, soulful affair, filled with hip hop grooves and Rnb funk beats alongside Erykah's own lyrical poetry. The companion album to the more politicised 'New Amerykah Part I: 4th World Order', 'Part II:Return of the Ankh' is a decidedly more emotive, and organic sounding record, though no less inventive or dynamic. Like the earlier instalment, Part II also features masterful contributions from Madlib, James Poyser, 9th Wonder, Georgia Anne Muldrow and the late J Dilla.
29th Mar 10
Otouto - Pip
Two Bright Lakes/Remote Control
Formed by Hazel Brown, Martha Brown, and Kishore Ryan, Otouto is a Melbourne band specialising in artful pop music. Their songs blend vocal harmonies with layered melodies and fractured percussive elements in beautiful and occasionally dissonant arrangements. Produced by Nick Huggins and released on the Two Bright Lakes label, Otouto's 'Pip' LP is an incredible and exciting debut record.
22nd Mar 10
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - I Learned The Hard Way
Daptone/Shock
The Brooklyn nine-piece ensemble Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings return with another brilliant excursion into soul, funk, and jazz on their latest full-length album. Brilliantly arranged, expertly performed and skilfully produced in the signature analogue style of the Daptone Records' House of Soul studios, 'I Learned The Hard Way' echos the golden eras of Motown and Stax records, but reveals also the great originality and subtlety of the band's song-writing abilities, and Sharon Jones' unparalleled singing prowess.
15th Mar 10
Gonjasufi - A Sufi And A Killer
Warp/Inertia
A masterwork of psychedelic soul and acid rock esoterica, A Sufi And A Killer merges Sumach Ecks distinctive haunted blues vocal style with the grimiest and obscurest of breaks and samples to create a transcendent musical odyssey. Production duties are shared by some of Los Angeles's premier beat creators, with contributions from Flying Lotus, The Gaslamp Killer and Mainframe.
8th Mar 10
Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
Drag City/Spunk
The latest record from Joanna Newsom is a beautiful, ambitious triple album, with 18 new songs over about two hours of compelling music.
Joanna's distinctive vocal style and harp are still the focus of many recordings, although other arrangements feature restrained horn sections, piano and percussion. The traditional folk mode of many compositions is also tempered by some strong blues influences.
1st Mar 10
The Ruby Suns - Fight Softly
Sub Pop/Stomp
The third album for The Ruby Suns continues Ryan McPhun's exploration of global musical styles, layering world pop soundscapes with more prominent electronic beats and direct vocals.
22nd Feb 10
Pikelet - Stem
(Chapter/Love + Mercy)
Evelyn Morris, writing and recording as Pikelet with new band members Shags Chamberlain, Tarquin Manek and Matthew Cox, discovers and shares new modes of musical expression through a creative synthesis of folk, pop, electronic and orchestral styles. Stem, Pikelet's second album, follows from the self-titled debut of 2007 with an even more expansive and varied collection of songs; from the consonant casiotones of Toby Light, through to the percussive pop of Weakest Link.
15th Feb 10
Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Rush To Relax
Suppression Records/Shock
Melbourne's garage-rock stalwarts Eddy Current Suppression Ring have released their third, and most diverse, record to date entitled Rush To Relax. Demonstrating all the inventiveness, energy and charm of previous albums, Rush To Relax extends upon their back catalogue of short, sharp songs with the incorporation of a number of ballads and expansive jams.
8th Feb 10
Love Connection - Love Connection
Sensory Projects/Inertia
The debut full-length release from Melbourne musicians Dean Noble, Kobi Simpson, Nathan Burgess and Michael Caterer is a brilliantly conceived exploration of synth-pop, psychedelic, and electronic music styles. With their hypnotic and inventive compositions, Love Connection have created an entirely original, textured and satisfying work that reveals new sonic depths on each listen.
1st Feb 10
Four Tet - There Is Love In You
Domino/EMI
Kieran Hebden's latest full-length is an impressive combination of fractured folk, edited acoustica and propulsive rhythmic elements. Love Cry is the expansive house jam that preceded the album release, and numerous other cuts from 'There Is Love In You' explore a slightly more upbeat and dance inspired tempo than would be familiar from previous Four Tet full-lengths. Many of the tracks were conceived and refined during Kieran Hebden's recent DJ residency at London club Plastic People.
25th Jan 10
Various Artists - Stroke: Songs For Chris Knox
Spunk/EMI
This double CD compilation is dedicated to Chris Knox, the spiritual godfather of New Zealand's seminal Flying Nun label, who suffered a terrible stroke in 2009. On Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox, thirty two musicians and bands contribute cover versions of Chris Knox originals, paying tribute to Chris' enormous influence as a musician, artist and songwriter. Included on the release are recordings by Jay Reatard, Shayne Carter, The Mountain Goats, The Verlaines, Boh Runga, David Kilgour, Don McGlashan, and Will Oldham.
18th Jan 10
Beach House - Teen Dream
Mistletone/Inertia
The third album from Baltimore duo Beach House is an intricate, intimate record of sophisticated pop arrangements and advanced emotional engineering. Recorded over a month in a converted church with producer Chris Coady, Teen Dream weaves gently insinuating melodies and hazy soundwaves into an atmospheric record that will remain with listeners long after the last note fades.
21st Dec 09
Monkey Marc - As The Market Crashed
Omelette
The long-anticipated debut solo album from producer Monkey Marc is a fascintating blend of hip hop, jazz, blues, and globally influenced beat styles, with a heavy dub undertone throughout the second half of the record. Underscored with political messages, introduced through spoken samples, As The Market Crashed is an inspired record that illustrates the extensive production prowess and compositional creativity of Melbourne's Monkey Marc.
14th Dec 09
Songs - Songs
Popfrenzy
Champions of bold new-wave revisionism, Songs sculpt modernist pop music with a strong melodic sensibility and an edgy undertone. Inspired as much by the New York scene of the 70s as New Zealand in the 80s, the Sydney-based band present a compelling collection of, well, songs, with a strong universal appeal.
7th Dec 09
Various Artists - Hyperdub 5
Hyperdub / Fuse
Founded by London DJ and electronic producer Steve Goodman (Kode9), Hyperdub records is a leading label of the dubstep and post-dubstep movement. Over its five year history, Hyperdub has introduced some of the most influential artists associated with experimental urban UK music, including Zomby, Burial, and King Midas Sound, and showcased forward-thinking hip-hop and techno variations from international artists such as Flying Lotus, Samiyam and Rustie. Hyperdub 5 is a double-CD compilation featuring new material from the label roster as well as highlights from the impressive back-catalogue, presenting a fascinating survey of hybridised hip hop, dub, techno, and electronic sounds.
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