Out This Week 4/21

Before you even have a chance to recover from Record Store Day, the industry is spitting out even more awesome releases this week. You may have grabbed the vinyl version on Saturday already, but the long-awaited Built to Spill hits shelves today. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it "a consistently strong set of songs from Martsch with crunchy, inventive guitar riffs and solos, wistful melodies and melancholy, angst-ridden lyrics."

Other highlights this week include the latest from Alabama Shakes, "a more polished, confident and diverse sound to their second album, expanding upon the rootsy garage-soul of their debut by not only digging deeper into R&B and funk, but also incorporating lots of trippy psych-rock, some brash punk and more. Best of all, Brittany Howard’s gritty and dynamic vocals have never sounded stronger." Northampton, MA band Speedy Ortiz return with "another excellent set of ‘90s-steeped indie-rock reminiscent of Pavement, Helium and Bettie Serveert, though this time featuring a bit more polished and intricate sound with fuzzy, wiry guitars, atmospheric keyboards and jagged rhythms accompanying Dupuis’ honeyed, often-deadpan vocals and smart, poetic and emotionally cutting lyrics."

The third album from Brooklyn band Passion Pit is "an ebullient set of hook-filled electro-pop with a glossy, densely layered sound featuring bright neon synths, lots of hand claps and finger snaps, falsetto vocals, sunny melodies and deeply personal lyrics." San Fermin return with "a bit more of a darker, more urgent and song-focused take on the band’s arty chamber-pop. The album also features a revamped lineup, expanding to an eight-piece with alternating lead vocals between San Fermin regular Allen Tate and newcomer Charlene Kaye." And local singer/songwriter Rocky Votolato releases his eighth album, Hospital Handshakes. "Produced by former Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Chris Walla with accompaniment by Walla and other Seattle musical stalwarts, the album features a muscular, rock-oriented sound, catchy melodic hooks and lyrics dealing with spiritual longing and overcoming depression.

• Adam Torres – “Dusty Wing Spirit”
• from Nostra Nova on Misra
• Alabama Shakes – “Don't Wanna Fight”
• from Sound & Color on ATO
• As It Is – “Cheap Shots & Setbacks”
• from Never Happy, Ever After on Fearless Records
• The Atomic Bitchwax – “Sexecutioner”
• from Gravitron on Tee Pee
• Ben Williams
• from Coming of Age on Concord Jazz
• Birds of Night – “Dark”
• from Birds of Night on self-released
• Bob Moses – “First To Cry”
• from All in All on Domino
• Built to Spill – “Never Be The Same”
• from Untethered Moon on Warner Bros.
• Chick Quest – “Explain Yourself To A Bat”
• from Vs. Galore on self-released
• Death – “Relief”
• from N.E.W. on Tryangle
• Devendra Banhart / Joanna Newsom / Vetiver
• from The Family Jams DVD on Factory 25
• Drew Lustman – “Watch A Man Die”
• from The Crystal Cowboy on Planet Mu
• Girl Band – “Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage?”
• from The Early Years on Rough Trade
• Great Lake Swimmers – “The Great Bear”
• from A Forest of Arms on Nettwerk
• Jimbo Mathus – “Blue Healer”
• from Blue Healer on Fat Possum
• Larry's Rebels – “I Feel Good”
• from I Feel Good: The Essential Purple Flashes of Larry's Rebels 1965-1969 on Frenzy / RPM
• Lightning in a Twilight Hour – “The Memory Museum”
• from Fragments of a Former Moon on Elefant
• Low Cut Connie – “Hi Honey”
• from Hi Honey on Ardent Music
• Mavis Staples – “Your Good Fortune”
• from Your Good Fortune on Anti
• Miami Horror – “Love Like Mine feat. Cleopold”
• from All Possible Futures on Dine Alone
• Milky Wimpshake – “Le Revolution Politique”
• from Encore, un Effort! on Fortuna Pop
• Miniboone – “Erasure”
• from Bad Sports on Ernest Jenning
• Mirror Queen – “Strangers In Our Own Time”
• from Scaffolds of the Sky on Teepee Records
• Mylets – “Arizona”
• from Arizona on Sargent House
• Native Construct – “Mute”
• from Quiet World on Metal Blade
• Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers – “Only Always”
• from Loved Wild Lost on Little Sur Records
• OOFJ – “Don't Look”
• from Acute Feast on Ring the Alarm
• Passion Pit – “Where the Sky Hangs”
• from Kindred on Columbia
• Peach Kelli Pop – “Heart Eyes”
• from Peach Kelli Pop III on Burger Records
• Red House Painters
• from Red House Painters box set on 4AD
• Rocky Votolato – “Hospital Handshakes”
• from Hospital Handshakes on No Sleep Records
• Ryan Adams – “Kim”
• from Ryan Adams: Live at Carnegie Hall on Pax-Am/Blue Note
• San Fermin – “Jackrabbit”
• from Jackrabbit on Downtown
• Shark? – “Hangnail”
• from Becky And Debbie EP on Old Flame
• Sick Sad World – “Skateboarding Girl”
• from Fear and Lies on Help Yourself
• Speedy Ortiz – “Raising The Skate”
• from Foil Deer on Carpark Records
• Squarepusher – “Stor Eiglass”
• from Damogen Furies on Warp
• Wire – “Split Your Ends”
• from Wire on Pinkflag
• Yelawolf – “American You”
• from Love Story on Interscope
• Zombi – “Sequence 1”
• from The Zombi Anthology on Relapse Records