Alternarock icons Dinosaur Jr. return with their eleventh album, their fourth together since reuniting in 2005. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it "another strong set of muscular, psych-tinged rock with fiery, fleet-fingered guitar solos, pounding rhythms, drawling vocals and potent song hooks."
London-based artist Nao releases her full-length debut, "a strong set of adventurous R&B inflected with funk, UK bass and other styles, combining rumbling synths, occasional funk guitars and stark beats with her high, elastic vocals and sharply crafted lyrics of love and resilience." Chicago trio Russian Circles return with their sixth LP, "one of their finest sets to date of brooding post-rock instrumentals incorporating elements of prog-rock, metal, shoegazer psych-rock and more on a consistently strong set of dynamic, tension-filled songs." Philly/Brooklyn band Field Mouse defy their name, returning with "a more aggressive, '90s-influenced guitar-pop sound on their latest album for their sharpest, most confident set to date."
Brooklyn band Cheena debut with "a strong set of grimy, '70s-steeped New York glam-punk with blaring guitars, driving rhythms, sneering vocals, seedy lyrics and potent song hooks." And Baltimore duo Wye Oak share the physical version of Tween, featuring "eight songs dating from the time between their previous two albums (2011's Civilian and 2014's Shriek), and they show the band in that transitional state between the more guitar-oriented sound of Civilian and the more synth-dominated sound of Shriek."
(Various Artists) Im & Dave - "Soul Brother"
from Money Maker on Studio One
(Various Artists) Downtown Boys - "Wave Of History"
from Start Your Own Fucking Showspace compilation on Famous Class
(Various Artists) Grimes - "Medieval Warfare"
from Suicide Squad: The Album compilation on Atlantic
Andrew Leahey & the Homestead - "Little in Love"
from Skyline in Central Time on Thirty Tigers
Angie Stone - "Smiling Faces Sometimes"
from Covered in Soul on Goldenlane
Arkells - "A Little Rain (A Song For Pete)"
from Morning Report on Last Gang Records
The B-52s - "Strobe Light"
from Live! 8-24-1979 on Real Gone
Blues Pills - "Lady In Gold"
from Lady in Gold on Nuclear Blast
The Cadillac Three - "Drunk Like You (Static Version)"
from Bury Me in My Boots on Big Machine Records
Cheena - "Car"
from Spend the Night With... on Sacred Bones
Chinx - "Like This" (feat. Chrisette Michele and Meet Sims)
from Legends Never Die on Entertainment One
David Fair / Jad Fair - "Shake (This Damn Place Up)"
from Shake, Cackle and Squall on Joyful Noise
David West - "Dream On Dreamer"
from Peace or Love on Tough Love
Delroy Edwards - "Soldier Boy"
from Hangin' at the Beach on L.A. Club Resource
Dinosaur Jr. - "Tiny"
from Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not on Jagjaguwar
Elliott Smith / Pete Krebs - "Shytown"
from Shytown b/w No Confidence Man 7" (reissue) on Suicide Squeeze
Field Mouse - "The Order Of Things"
from Episodic on Topshelf
Garden Gate - "Ten Of Swords"
from Dark Harvest on Golden Brown
Ghost Wave - "HONEYPUNCH"
from Radio Norfolk on Flying Nun
Gov't Mule - "Just Got Paid"
from Tel-Star Sessions on Evil Teen
Haley Bonar - "I Can Change"
from Impossible Dream on Gndwire
Health&Beauty - "Wartime"
from No Scare on Wichita Recordings
Hieroglyphic Being - "Sepulchral Offerings"
from The Disco’s Of Imhotep on Technicolour
Holy Balm - "Fashion"
from Activity on Chapter Music
Jonah Tolchin - "Thousand Mile Night"
from Thousand Mile Night on Yep Roc
Kllo - "Walls To Build"
from Well Worn on Ghostly
Mats Eilertsen - "BluBlue"
from Rubicon on ECM
Moose Blood - "Honey"
from Blush on Hopeless Records
Nao - "Girlfriend"
from For All We Know on RCA
Nels Cline - "I Have Dreamed"
from Lovers on Blue Note
Nonkeen - "diving platform"
from Oddments of the Gamble on R&S
O.A.R. - "I Go Through"
from XX on Vanguard
O'Connor Band - "Coming Home"
from Coming Home on Rounder Records
Prinze George - "Freeze"
from Illiterate Synth Pop on Sounds Expensive
Rival Consoles - "Lone"
from Night Melody on Erased Tapes
Rolf Trostel - "Two Faces"
from Inselmusik/Two Faces/Der Prophet (reissue) on Bureau B
Russian Circles - "Vorel"
from Guidance on Sargent House
Sonna - "Kept Luminesce"
from Keep It Together on Temporary Residence
Tig Notaro
from Boyish Girl Interrupted on Bentzen Ball Records / Secretly Canadian
LA-via-San Francisco band Thee Oh Sees return with their 11th album, a release KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls, "a more jam-oriented take on the band's adventurous blend of raw garage-rock, trippy psych-rock and motorik prog." Veteran Minneapolis duo Atmosphere release "a potent set of emotive …
August kicks off with some strong new releases, like the latest from local group Iji. KEXP Music Director Don Yates says, "the latest album from this Seattle band led by Zach Burba (and currently also featuring members of Sick Sad World, Pill Wonder and Neighbors) is a fine set of wistful, '80s-ste…
