Car Seat Headrest – Making A Door Less Open
Will Toledo's indie rockers return after a four-year break, but Toledo hasn't been idle - he's released seven albums and more on his own, and now likes to perform and be seen wearing as mask and hazmat gear. At times sneering, angry, postpunk-type material, but also mixing and fuzzy lo-fi and bigger-market mainstream styles, with a little bit of The Killers, Paramore, and echoing also the delivery style of James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem. But it is also full of idiosyncrasy, such as with light electronica on Weightlifters and Can't Cool Me Down, or rave beats on Deadlines (Thoughtful). It's hard to pin this new identity down, mixing the big time with the eccentric. Out on Matador.
Car Seat Headrest – Hollywood
Damien Jurado - What's New, Tomboy?
“I’m only living sentences / That were long before I got here,” says the singer-songwriter from Seattle in one of his best albums to date, of which this his 18th, as well as multiple EPs. Wry humour and melancholy abound, with a country-folk lilt on tracks such as Birds Tricked Into the Trees, Ochoa, Arthur Aware, Fool Maria or the slow and grisly When You Were Few. It appears at first as gentle porch-swing song, but below that there's much more. Barren beauty, frail, stripped-back and profound. Out on Loose Music.
Damien Jurado – Ochoa
Ghostpoet – I Grow Tired But I Dare Not Fall Asleep
The south London-born Obaro Ejimiwe's latest is gritty, atmospheric mixture of electronica, jazz, hip-hop and alt-rock, a self-produced and arranged 10-track affair that shows his decade-long career is finding a certain level of maturity and also diversity, with heavy basslines, lo-fi pianos bleepy sounds. But the record hangs under the weighty topic of depression and anxiety, fuelled by political concerns, from the rise of the right to the culture of hate, as shown, respectively on Rats In A Sack, and This Trainwreck Of A Life. There’s a self-absorbed dark humour laced throughout, such as on Humana Second Hand: “Though I canter through the valley of snakes/ I fear nothing but the VAT and the tax.” Ghostpoet is somewhat mumblingly pretentious at times, but his flashes of sound-mix inspiration and self-deprecation help make up for that, and there are parallels with the latest work by Baxter Dury. Out on PIAS.
Ghostpoet – Concrete Pony
Happyness – Floatr
The third LP from the lo-fi London band comes after more than a three-year gap of change and upheaval, but one of a fascinating kind, not least with drummer Ash Cooper's emergence from a supporting role into a fearlessly tall drag queen to co-front the project with singer Jonny Allan. Alt-rock anxiety and lush, ballad indie come thick and fast with a 90s retro feel, somewhat with echoes of Teenage Fanclub, especially on Ouch (Yup) and Vegetable. The latter is full of unpredictable references, from Chumbawamba to drag queen Jujubee, vaping to Scientology’s E-meter auditing process. But in between all the raw feelings and adjustment of identity, there's a dark, sensitive humour always lurking. Out on Infinit Suds.
Happyness – Vegetable
Michael J Sheehy – Distance Is The Soul Of Beauty
An exquisite piece of quiet acoustic guitar songwriting from Sheehy, Anglo-Irish frontman and one third of the blistering blues rock band Miraculous Mule and half of psychedelic electronic duo United Sounds of Joy. Intimate, sensitive, and still, reflective on the staying-in culture of the moment, raw emotions are wrought with consummate skill, from opener Tread Gently, Leave No Scar to the more upbeat Bless Your Gentle Soul. There are many moments throughout of heartbreaking beauty, such as on Blue Latitudes and Starless Skies a triumph of restraint in voice and guitar fingers wrestling with extreme emotions. Out on Bandcamp.
Michael J Sheehy – Tread Gently Leave No Scar.
Lavinia Blackwall – Muggington Lane End
The former singer from the Glasgow psych-folk band Trembling Bells proves she's no slouch with songwriting either between life as a teacher, with a wonderful debut solo LP. Initially she recorded two of the songs, Waiting For Tomorrow and All Seems Better with former bandmates Mike Hastings and Simon Shaw but then got a fresh band together with her partner and collaborator Marco Rea. There's an often cited 60s vibe to her voice and music, particularly Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention, but her modern reference points, from milk from Asda in the brilliantly droll but jaunty, Beatles-esque John's Gone mark out her distinctive talent, also on, for example, the sublime folk-pop of Troublemakers, typifying Blackwall's ability to marry catchy melodies with lyrical detail of local troubles such as broken windows and human insecurity. A fabulous mixture of folk past and present. Out on Bandcamp.
Lavinia Blackwall – Waiting For Tomorrow
The Soft Pink Truth – Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase
This is the fifth album side project by Drew Daniel, one-half of experimental electronica duo Matmos. It started as a dare from the other half of the duo, Matthew Herbert, that Daniel couldn't produce a house music record. But this latest is rarely that, an experimental, ambient record made up of nine songs, all but the last a single word that together create the title of the album. It moves between virtual rooms of sound, non-verbal vocals variously from Colin Self, Angel Deradoorian and Jana Hunter, snippets of R&B and soul, beats and ambient whorls. An absorbing work that offers escapism and intrigue. Out on Thrill Jockey.
Rose McGowan – Planet 9
Another girl, another planet? Something of an oddball debut album from the actor/director who has certainly led a colourful life, including being engaged to Marilyn Manson. Her style is declamatory talking delivery. "I stand for..." all kinds of people she declares on opener Lonely House, while Sirene is a synth pop cross between Pet Shop Boys and latter day Marianne Faithfull. Perhaps the big track is Green Gold, with whispers quoting Bladerunner. This is somewhere between utterly self-indulgence and breathy intrigue. Out on Bandcamp.
Rose McGowan - Lonely House
Ben Lukas Boysen – Mirage
Berlin-based composer and producer Ben Lukas Boysen returns with his third album to be penned under his own name proceeding his Hecq moniker. This is atmospheric and transcendental electronica and live instrumentals, attempting to convey energy and chaos and kaleidoscopic journey into inner and outer space. Contrasting styles range from the minimal, soft focus Clarion the more energised, elemental, dark depths of Medela, and the single note voice of Lisa Morgenstern splitting into different chords on Empyrean. All very cinematographic, like an optical illusion of sounds. Out on Erased Tapes.
Ben Lukas Boysen – Medela
Various – Songs for the National Health Service
A special one-off collection of exclusive, unreleased tracks by different bands and artists, with all profits funding the supply of underfunded specialised PPE for staff of UK hospitals during coronavirus. Donated tracks included from artists Foals, The Vaccines, The Big Moon, Sports Team, Wolf Alice, Baxter Dury, The Wombats, The Magic Gang, Nilüfer Yanya, Spector, Swim Deep, The Orielles, Pixx, Jessica Winter, Oscar Lang and Alfie Templeman with limited edition vinyl pressings. Available here.
This week's selection is by The Landlord.
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