Musicheads,
It’s been a busy month of September for the music industry. This week was no exception. Along with the kickoff of Autumn, there was tremendous buzz circling around this week’s releases. The first new music in 13 years from ambient legend Aphex Twin was released. Not only that, but the songwriting legend Leonard Cohen also released new music with his album Popular Problems. Blues guitar virtuoso Gary Clark Jr. also released a live album this week for all to enjoy. All this came out and still there’s more! One of the most talked about and awaited albums released this week was Mercury Prize winning alt-J and their sophomore effort now without one of their founding members (Gwil).
The result: This Is All Yours.
The album, although it doesn’t have the same mysterious appeal of the group’s début album (how could it though, really?), it still has a lot of kick to it. With its fantastic singles in Hunger Of The Pine, the bluesy Left Hand Free and Every Other Freckle, those tracks alone will sell the album. Each is wildly unique, with Every Other Freckle being the closest in style to their 2012 album, An Awesome Wave. Hunger Of The Pine has been harped about for its use of a Miley Cyrus sample throughout, but its quality lies in its growth. The track builds as the song progresses, coming to a climax right at the end that is aurally fulfilling.
Left Hand Free on the other hand, went in a completely different direction. The track is the Londoners unique take on infusing blues rock into their dark indie electronic stylings.
Last but not least of the singles is Every Other Freckle. This track has a nice progression is one of my favorites on the album. As i said before, of the three singles, it most closely resembles the music on their debut album. The lyrics are quirky and overly sexual all at the same time. They also got a little clever with the music video for this track and catered to both sexes by creating two similar, but separate gender-specific videos for the track.
The singles are not the only quality tracks on the album though. There are a few themes throughout the album, such as the tracks Arrival In Nara, Nara and closing track on the album Leaving Nara. Both the intro and outro tracks are fairly slow and sleepy and tend to fall into the category of background music more than anything, but Nara does have some liveliness to it. Once again, the band ‘hid’ a track on the album within Leaving Nara titled Lovely Day . The 14 track album also touts the chamber pop sounding Warm Foothills which introduces a female vocalist into the mix. The Gospel of John Hurt is a peppy little number that also catches your attention as a potential standout. I am also a big fan of the simplicity of Pusher with its repeated questioning, are you a pusher or puller? Lastly the group does offer up a companion piece track to An Awesome Wave track Bloodflood, Bloodflood pt. II. I highly enjoyed this 2nd part on the new album. After multiple listens to this album there are many observations that can be made. First, the album is much less dark than its predecessor. It also might be considered much more experimental, as numerous instruments are performed (Garden Of England – Interlude‘s primary instrument is a flute). Although I wouldn’t exactly call it a sophomore slump with the band’s newest album, it is a bit of a step back from their Mercury Prize winning début in terms of intensity. We ought to continue to hear the singles for a long time coming, but unfortunately the rest of the album doesn’t offer as much kick.
Also on the menu this week was the fantastic new release from King Tuff, Black Moon Spell.
This Sub Pop garage rocker has been a mainstay in the indie environment for years now. While I had never gotten into Kyle Thomas’ music prior (despite all the buzz he was receiving) I decided to give his latest album a try and have thoroughly enjoyed all of it immensely. The album kicks off with the title track Black Moon Spell which is a total romper of a fuzz rock song. It only continues on from there. With fuzz everywhere on the 14-track album one can’t help but feel that you are in a musical time warp. While the popular musical trend of the day is utilization of electronic and synthesizer elements and relying on incredibly crisply produced tracks, he has gone for a much more traditional rock sound. While the production is still top-notch so that any one effect or instrument does not drown out the others, the music is all about just rocking hard and having a good time. King Tuff’s influences are vast and can be heard throughout the whole album Tracks like Headbanger are a punk/garage rocker’s dream with a driving rhythm and constant sound. Beautiful Thing, the track that immediately follows Headbanger travels along similar lines, however the song has more of a pop feel to it and reminds me of early Weezer. Magic Mirror adds another facet to his music, with a somewhat trippy feel to it (I’d call it watered down Jefferson Airplane). The direct influence of punk rockers The Ramones is so thick you can probably reach out and grab it in the brief, yet intense track Demon From Hell. The lead single from the album is Eyes of the Muse. It was this track that truly drew me to purchasing this album. The track features fantastic vocal harmony and very clever guitar line throughout the entire 4:15 of the tracks run time. Be sure not to miss that track if you have yet to hear it.
I also picked up two other albums that had released earlier this year, the latest from Scottish native Paolo Nutini, and the début from Australian indie pop rockers The Griswolds. While vastly different in style and sound, both are quality albums worth giving a listen to or three. Make sure you do not miss either artists’ singles, Iron Sky and Beware The Dog respectively.
Finally, I will leave you with new music from another artist from yesteryear. Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music fame, recently announced he will be releasing a new solo album later this year with a little help from his famous music friends. The first track from the album was released this week and I am now sharing it with you.
And now, as always, here was everything acquired on this New Release Tuesday:
- Alt-J – This Is All Yours
- King Tuff – Black Moon Spell
- Paolo Nutini – Caustic Love
- The Griswolds – Be Impressive
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Spotify Playlists:
-Akwitz
Now Playing: Bryan Ferry – Loop De Li
Audiophile : Akwitz 