Musicheads,
It’s been three weeks since the last New Music Tuesday post and this week’s post is both delayed and long due to the conglomeration of the missed weeks. I only say that, because last week I was residing in the exotic locale of Urbandale, Iowa for a work trip. This week’s post was delayed a day thanks to more out-of-towners, with vendors flying in from Tennessee for more work-related events. Well, now that the excuses are out of the way, let’s get down to the business of music.
Two weeks ago ended with a number of stand-alone tracks being released from artists like M83 and Third Eye Blind (check them out here), but outside of that, it was a relatively slow release week, highlighted only by the third album from Ohio duo Twenty One Pilots, Blurryface.
The album is actually quite long, coming in with 14 tracks and just under an hour in overall playtime. The album is led by the single Tear In My Heart, but has a number of sleepers to find as well, including the likes of Fairly Local, Stressed Out and The Judge. While it is a far cry from the level of their 2013 breakout album Vessel, it still maintains the kick from that release, with additional production and a delving into newer sounds and studio technology.
Last week happened to be packed to the gills with a variety of musical genres and sub-genres. Whether the music was coming out on the Indie front from Tanlines, Du Blonde or Hot Chip, or the solo acts in Brandon Flowers or Shamir, there was a very similar outcome from all parties; lots of music to get your body groovin’.
We will kick things off with the newest album from the dance group Hot Chip and their latest album Why Make Sense?.
The album is the UK group’s first new music in two years and what an excellent set of new music it is. Partnered with a unique marketing campaign that included a live stream paired with a retina color distinction challenge and wholly unique pressings of the album in hundreds of colors. The new album Why Make Sense? is 10 tracks and 44 minutes long with music of varying speeds and styles of dance tracks but includes plenty of quality music. Kicked off with the lead single Huarache Lights the album starts on a high note and just keeps on delivering.
This is followed by further strong tracks in Love Is The Future and Started Right. The group gets quite funky on Easy To Get and reminds me of Daft Punk in Dark Night which probably are two of my favorites on the album. I was thoroughly surprised at how good this album turned out and it will definitely get a number of spins the rest of this year.
The front man of Las Vegas stadium rock band The Killers has crafted a fabulous pop album with his latest solo release, The Desired Effect.
The album features a fantastic lead single in Can’t Deny My Love, but there is much more than just the single.
Much along similar lines of Nate Ruess’ solo work outside of Fun. and earlier band The Format, Brandon Flowers utilizes his unique voice with excellent outcomes. The album blends a lot of styles from various generations and genres across the 10-track album. Tracks like I Can Change and Lonely Town feature big 80’s-era synth-driven tracks and familiar pop lyrical themes, while Still Want You has a very Killers feel to it (but also reminds me of Edward Sharpe) and the track Between Me And You reminds of Bruce Springsteen.
All-in-all, the album is surprisingly strong and enjoyable to listen to throughout. It is pop all the way, but sometimes pop isn’t pure bovine scat. This is one of those examples.
Shamir’s début full length album Ratchet last week may have been the surprise best album of the week in last week’s release class, and that’s saying something considering everything that came out.
Another Las Vegas native, Shamir Bailey blends 90’s house and R&B with a smooth falsetto for fantastic results. His opening track Vegas is a fabulous kickoff track and it is followed up with the catchy pop culture-centric tracks Make A Scene and lead single from the album On The Regular.
The second single (and my personal favorite) is Call It Off. The video features a rad 90’s beat and puppets, so there is no way it could go wrong!
Another excellent track comes late on the album, Darker, with the aptly named track being a somber, more reserved and soulful ballad.
The album is chocked-full of surprisingly excellent music and you shouldn’t sleep on this creative blending of genres that make Shamir’s music stand out.
I will also briefly touch on the début LP from UK artist Du Blonde (formerly Beth Jeans Houghton), Welcome Back To Milk as it should not be overlooked.
The lead single from the album also doubles as the album opener, Black Flag.
Mind Is On My Mind is the second to last track on the album and boy it is a burner! It features Samuel T. Herring (from Future Islands) and is a high-energy, fast-paced romp.
Hunter would probably be considered the third single behind the two previously mentioned tracks and worth a listen or three.
I will note that all of these albums above were from last week, and really nothing noteworthy came out this week (sorry Unknown Mortal Orchestra, you really didn’t make the cut even though I like your single Can’t Keep Checking My Phone).
Lastly, I will then leave you with a group out of Brooklyn who seem to be making a real breakthrough this year, Wet, with their latest track released about a week ago.
And now, as always, here was everything acquired on this New Release Tuesday:
- Du Blonde – Welcome Back To Milk
- Hot Chip – Why Make Sense?
- Brandon Flowers – The Desired Effect
- Shamir – Ratchet
- Twenty One Pilots – Blurryface
and be sure to follow on Facebook and on Twitter @AudiofileAkwitz to get even more music updates that don’t make the posts.
Spotify Playlists:
-Akwitz
Now Playing: Wet – Deadwater
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