2014 New Releases

[the captain]

The lyrics are good throughout. I get a Scott Walker Bish Bosch vibe at times, and John Parish's influence is obvious.

[halblaineisgood]

That new Leonard Cohen track is really good, isn't it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szYrXzEi0cg
Have we been talking about it?
I'm sure there's already been discussion on it - ya'll have your finger on the pulse much more than I do.


And the Weezer single is on next...
Ughhhh - I kinda have started to like this song. But I still hate it as well. To use another person's phrase - I don't remember whose it is , but- *it rings the pavlovian bell* . That Rivers Cuomo is an evil hard workin' guy. 

[the captain]

That new Leonard Cohen track is really good, isn't it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szYrXzEi0cg
Have we been talking about it?
I'm sure there's already been discussion on it - ya'll have your finger on the pulse much more than I - so I covered my ass there, didn't I...

Did you just put our fingers on your ass? Hello, nurse!

I love that song. It came out a couple weeks or so back and since then, it has been in my (in-progress) 2014 best-of playlist. Haven't gotten the album yet so I can't comment further.

[halblaineisgood]

That new Leonard Cohen track is really good, isn't it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szYrXzEi0cg
Have we been talking about it?
I'm sure there's already been discussion on it - ya'll have your finger on the pulse much more than I - so I covered my ass there, didn't I...

Did you just put our fingers on your ass? Hello, nurse!

HA! You wish!


I really thought The Darkness was a great lead off single for (the last album? ) , too..

Edit: I 'm not sure "Darkness" was the lead-off single from the 2012 album Old Ideas

[the captain]

That last album was a weird one for me, in that even now I don't think of it as great. Nothing blew me away. But the whole damn thing simmered as good. I suspect this one might be similar. For that matter, his entire catalog is like that for me, so I might not be the best person to talk about it.

On an entirely different note i want to briefly plug again Avi Buffalo, whom I mentioned a week or two ago in this thread. Really enjoying that album (At Best Cuckold). "Overwhelmed With Pride," "Memories of You," "She is Seventeen," "Oxygen Tank" and others are really good.

[alf wiedersehen]

On an entirely different note i want to briefly plug again Avi Buffalo, whom I mentioned a week or two ago in this thread. Really enjoying that album (At Best Cuckold). "Overwhelmed With Pride," "Memories of You," "She is Seventeen," "Oxygen Tank" and others are really good.

I checked him out not too long ago.
The songs are fine, but it sounds like so much other music being made that I just don't really have any time for it.

[the captain]

On an entirely different note i want to briefly plug again Avi Buffalo, whom I mentioned a week or two ago in this thread. Really enjoying that album (At Best Cuckold). "Overwhelmed With Pride," "Memories of You," "She is Seventeen," "Oxygen Tank" and others are really good.

I check him not too long ago.
The songs are fine, but it sounds like so much other music being made that I just don't really have any time for it.

I both see what you mean and wholly disagree. There is a quality--especially to his voice--that distinguishes it form the obvious touchpoints. In my opinion. Obviously. Or i wouldn't write it.

[the captain]

That new Leonard Cohen track is really good, isn't it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szYrXzEi0cg
Have we been talking about it?
I'm sure there's already been discussion on it - ya'll have your finger on the pulse much more than I do.

I just listened to the whole thing for the first time, though I'd downloaded "Almost Like the Blues" the day it was released and have listened to that several dozen times. It's not fair to say after one listen, but I think I like this more than Old Ideas. I'm not sure I'm fully on board with him speak-singing the same lines that the female background singers sing (but out of time with one another), but I like the melodies, like the production, and as usual there are plenty of great lines throughout. I decided to buy the whole album and just downloaded it.

[alf wiedersehen]

Has anybody listened to Jack White's new album? Dave Davies described this song as sounding like the Mothers of Invention and I am very confused.

[the captain]

I've listened to it and bought a few songs--including that one--but don't know what Dave Davies is talking about. Maybe the main riff--or at least its tone especially before the guitar that joins at :21--is almost kind of like "Hungry Freaks, Daddy?" But I don't hear MOI in "Lazaretto."

[the captain]

This week I bought one of Prince's two new releases, Art Official Age. (Sorry, Prince, I can't write the all caps thing. I struggle to do the whole 2 and U and 4 crap, too...ugh.) It's the solo album, as opposed to PlectrumElectrum, his band-album with 3rdEyeGirl (yep, there's the stuff I hate again), more funk and soul than the rock-jazz oriented PlectrumElectrum.

As one would suspect, it's not a return to the consistent brilliance and freshness of 1999, Purple Rain, Parade, or Sign of the Times, but the more I consider Prince's work, seriously, the more I think it's the lack of freshness more than the lack of quality that hurts. In the 1980s, his sound seemed perfectly in the moment. In fact, it created the moment. His sound wasn't out of nowhere: the influences of Sly Stone, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire and others were always obviously apparent. But their recombined, oversexed repackaging (all in a tiny little androgynous Minnesotan black man not lacking swagger) was just shocking and enthralling. These were my formative years--I was four to 14 in the '80s--and I remember it well. Whether it was parental nervousness as evidenced by Tipper Gore's PMRC or effusive praise from Paul McCartney, Prince just mattered. He was absolutely essential.

That started wearing off already by the beginning of the '90s, though he kept putting out interesting and sometimes hugely successful music. (People forget that Diamonds and Pearls, for example, had several hits, as did the symbol album and even the Gold Experience, by which time we're in the mid-90s. So it's not like he disappeared after Sign of the Times.) But he fell into the same trap that every long-term act falls into: new directions are considered a misguided abandonment of what got him there, while the same direction is considered rehashing, a retro act. There is literally no winning this game, and I can't think of someone who was consistently an exception. And naturally, there are only so many directions one can take even if the mindset to try them out is there.

Throughout, as MugginsXO and I have been discussing in the Prince thread, the man put out HUGE quantities of music: Emancipation, his first post-Warners record, was a 3-disc set in 1996; Crystal Ball was a 4-disc set in 1998. By my quick count, he put out something like 18 albums of new material in these past 18 years, several of them multidisc sets. And guess what: someone as brilliant as Prince indisputably was in the late '70s, '80s and early '90s doesn't just forget how to make good music. An obviously gifted singer and guitarist (and passable drummer, bassist, and pianist) can keep making do--he's not a flash-in-the-pan based on a cute haircut or seductive video. So this vast catalog is bound to contain something of merit, right?

Right. So, Art Official Age.

It fits into the pattern of what we've had on and off since at least Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic: recognizable "Princeish" moments intermingled with of-the-times production techniques. The guy can still build a groove and sing as well as, or better than, anyone else in the business. "Breakdown" shows what vocal chops on an aging voice can be, forget whether Brian Wilson can croak out an occasionally on-pitch Ab in "God Only Knows." "The Gold Standard" brings a familiar electric funk (and an annoying final few seconds of narrative crap, a weakness of Prince for decades now). "Breakfast Can Wait" is the inevitable seduction song, though the guy isn't as freaky as he was way back when. (He is in his late 50s, after all...) I suspect "Clouds" and "U Know" will get repeated plays.

Conversely, some of the album is just awkward. The almost-title track is just embarrassing, with the stadium-applause and spoken intro, even as the funky guitar-and-claps music that begins the song is catchy. It devolves into a four-on-the-floor dance beat and later a bit of rap-turned-choiresque section. It feels just...wrong. This is my taste, I guess. The "affirmation" spoken bits are more of the spoken bits I referenced earlier. I prefer an album to be music, not connected by dialogue or narration or scene-setting. Again, it's just me.

Anyway, my recommendation is that if you are or ever have been a Prince fan, you find it on Spotify or preview some tracks on iTunes or your service of choice. There truly are some good songs here, well worth a buck or so apiece. Just because he isn't blazing new trails or shocking people's moms anymore, that doesn't mean he isn't absolutely brilliant as a musician and putting out solid stuff.

[MugginsXO]

I actually quite like the science fiction-y spoken word stuff. I particularly like the transition from Time into the last track. It felt very LoveSexy to me. New agey, kind of bullshit but ultimately something that unifies the mood on the album. I'm also glad Lianna La Haves got a presence through the whole album. She is a bright spot of sort of under the radar new R&B/Soul people.

But he fell into the same trap that every long-term act falls into: new directions are considered a misguided abandonment of what got him there, while the same direction is considered rehashing, a retro act. There is literally no winning this game, and I can't think of someone who was consistently an exception. And naturally, there are only so many directions one can take even if the mindset to try them out is there.

I think that's about right though I reckon at least a part of that is that after a certain point an artist of his stature has so many fans who have decided that all they ever want from you is THAT ONE THING THEY LOVE and very often consider anything outside of that a desperate attempt to appeal to the kids or whatever. I love 90s R&B and in my opinion and to my ears Emancipation has aged best aurally of any of his 90s albums. It is of the time but also pretty full on Prince. Not a perfect album because of its length but I still think that's some of his most exciting post 80s stuff. He was really inspired and motivated on that album. I think Art Official Age is similarly engaging with the music of the time in a positive way. A rare thing after the 1980s. And even a touch of that competition while maintaining his character leads to a better bit of work.

[Lowbacca]

I can recommend both of these new releases:








Doran is mellow songwriter/folk fare.. exactly the right thing for having a decent cup of coffee on a Sunday afternoon. Like today.
The new album by Allo Darlin' is the 1st thing I've heard of them. Pleasant jangly indie-pop with great vocals and instrumentation that I can find nothing wrong with.

Either way, if you're that sort of thing respectively, give 'em a chance.

[Summertime Blooz]

I've been following (and enjoying) this guy since his first album about 14 years ago, but his new album may just be his best yet. This is hook-laden crunchy pop music of the highest order with amazing production. Early XTC comes to mind listening to the new single Bad Law:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkyUKXdFw_E

[the captain]

Probably not likely to be a favorite among the rock-band oriented members, but regular Odd Future collaborator Vince Staples released a 7-song EP, "Hell Can Wait." A few of the tracks are pretty impressive. I liked "65 Hunnid" and "Hands Up" in particular.

[MugginsXO]

Probably not likely to be a favorite among the rock-band oriented members, but regular Odd Future collaborator Vince Staples released a 7-song EP, "Hell Can Wait." A few of the tracks are pretty impressive. I liked "65 Hunnid" and "Hands Up" in particular.

I'll get on this.

[MaxL]

I've been following (and enjoying) this guy since his first album about 14 years ago, but his new album may just be his best yet. This is hook-laden crunchy pop music of the highest order with amazing production. Early XTC comes to mind listening to the new single Bad Law:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkyUKXdFw_E

I've loved Lerche's work for a few years and everything he's released from the lushly-orchestrated pop to the twitchy-sugary pop-rock stuff and everything in between. Very much looking forward to getting my hands on this album even if Bad Law took a few listens to get into. Will be seeing him live for the first time at the end of this month too.

[the captain]

I've been following (and enjoying) this guy since his first album about 14 years ago, but his new album may just be his best yet. This is hook-laden crunchy pop music of the highest order with amazing production. Early XTC comes to mind listening to the new single Bad Law:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkyUKXdFw_E

Thanks for calling this out! For a dozen years or so now, Sondre Lerche has inevitably fallen into the "oh, whose music is that? it's kind of nice? [followed by me forgetting and not buying it]" category. But the past few years I have really been working to break out of my musical ruts, neither buying nor not-buying artists' work because of what they've done before. So I figured I'd give it a listen on your recommendation (despite disliking XTC, whom you referenced as a comparison).

By track two, I knew I was buying this album. Not being conversant with his earlier music--as I said, he has always been pleasant background to me before, an afterthought--my impression of this is that it's more alive. This music has blood in its veins. And as has been my experience with him before, it's melodic and well crafted as well.

So thanks for the tip. I might have missed it otherwise. Ask Mr. Lerche for your commission.

[the captain]

On "Lucifer," Lerche sounds so much like Kevin Barnes of Of Montreal, it's uncanny. Not so much the track (though maybe in spots there, too), but the vocal. Funny. (And not a bad thing for this OM-lover.)

[the captain]

The new album by Allo Darlin' is the 1st thing I've heard of them. Pleasant jangly indie-pop with great vocals and instrumentation that I can find nothing wrong with.

This is finally on Spotify--just out in the U.S. yesterday, maybe?--and so I'm giving it a listen. I enjoy it. Sounds like a second-rate Belle & Sebastian, which isn't a bad thing to be. To be fair, I'm only four songs in, so it's possible they're a third-rate Belle & Sebastian, or that they're better than I'm thinking and I just need to hear more. But my first impression is that it's pleasant and probably has a few songs worth buying, but not the whole album.

Thanks to those posting ideas in this thread: in just the past few days, I've heard and enjoyed two albums I otherwise wouldn't have.

[Summertime Blooz]

On "Lucifer," Lerche sounds so much like Kevin Barnes of Of Montreal, it's uncanny. Not so much the track (though maybe in spots there, too), but the vocal. Funny. (And not a bad thing for this OM-lover.)

Of Montreal's Lousy With Sylvanbriar might have been my favorite 2013 release (after Bowie's at least).  

[the captain]

On "Lucifer," Lerche sounds so much like Kevin Barnes of Of Montreal, it's uncanny. Not so much the track (though maybe in spots there, too), but the vocal. Funny. (And not a bad thing for this OM-lover.)

Of Montreal's Lousy With Sylvanbriar might have been my favorite 2013 release (after Bowie's at least).  

Funny how a lot of their fans seem to hate it. I loved it and think it's among their best albums. Their next one is due in March and based on the new song the played live when I saw them last week, it's (yet another) new direction. Same band as Lousy, but more complex structurally. The word "prog" was tossed around in the green room.

[MugginsXO]

I mentioned it in the now listening thread but the new Tinashe album is really quite good. Perfect with ASAP Rocky is not representative of the sound or tone of the album. Worth it for folks inclined towards the new wave of R&B.

[the captain]

The past few years I've put together a year-end playlist that combines a) some favorite songs of the year; b) a broad range of artists I've enjoyed that year; all in c) a running order that's enjoyable on its own. I try to keep it to one, maybe two, songs per artist. And I try to keep it around the length of a double album.

We're a little more than 3/4 through the year, and this is what I have so far. If anyone has ideas on glaring absences, I would love to hear them. Doesn't mean I'll accept them, of course, but I'll listen (if I haven't already).

1. Can You Do This, Aloe Blacc (Lift Your Spirit)
2. All About That Bass, Meghan Trainor (Title)
3. Shake It Off, Taylor Swift (1989)
4. Breakdown, Prince (Art Official Age)
5. Happy, Pharrell Williams (G I R L)
6. Love Never Felt So Good, Michael Jackson (Xscape)

7. The Ballad of Mr. Steak, Kishi Bashi (Lighght)
8. Bad Law, Sondre Lerche (Please)
9. Slow Motion, PHOX (PHOX)
10. She Is Seventeen, Avi Buffalo (At Best Cuckold)
11. The English Softhearts, Literature (Chorus)
12. Requiem, Ramesh (The King)

13. Orange Juice, Stanley Brinks and the Wave Pictures (Orange Juice)
14. Temporary Ground, Jack White (Lazaretto)
15. Reverie on Norfolk Street, Luluc (Passerby)
16. Just One of the Guys, Jenny Lewis (The Voyager)
17. Nothing More than Everything to Me, Christopher Owens (A New Testament)
18. Don't Think Twice, Dolly Parton (Blue Smoke)
19. Did I Ever Love You, Leonard Cohen (Popular Problems)

20. The Trailer Song, Kacey Musgraves (The Trailer Song)
21. I'm Not the Only One, Sam Smith (In the Lonely Hour)
22. Night at Lake Unknown, Conor Oberst (Upside Down Mountain)
23. I Know, Sharon Van Etten (Are We There)
24. Good Luck, Good Night, Goodbye, The Secret Sisters (Put Your Needle Down)
25. Bless the Telephone, Kelis (Food)

[MugginsXO]

The Timbaland/JT mix of Love Never Felt So Good is bloody brilliant. I really loved that last album they put out. Miles away from the one they did right after he died. Sounded like a real album and not a collection of outtakes.