It may be the shortest month, but February has had no shortage of great new releases. Highlights this week include the latest from Dirty Projectors. KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes, "the eighth album from the now LA-based solo project of band leader David Longstreth is a powerful set of avant electro-pop inflected with R&B and hip hop, combining a glitchy, intricately arranged sound with pitch-shifted vocals and intensely personal lyrics revolving around his breakup with former bandmate Amber Coffman."
Other notable LPs include the latest from Welsh band Los Campesinos!, whose "sixth album is another excellent set of anthemic indie-pop ranging from boisterous, punkish rockers to poignant folk, with consistently strong songs juxtaposing soaring melodies and exuberant sing-along choruses with often-wry, anxiety-fueled lyrics." LA-based producer/bassist/vocalist Stephen Bruner -- aka Thundercat -- delivers "an adventurous, often-playful blend of spacy R&B ballads, slinky funk jams, woozy hip hop, cosmic jazz, psych-tinged pop and more."
On their 11th studio album, veteran Dallas band Old 97's deliver "another excellent set of sharply crafted roots-rock ranging from anthemic, locomotive rockers and driving power pop to rousing country-rock and moody, atmospheric ballads." The debut album from Vagabon (aka Cameroon-born, New York-based producer/multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Laetitia Tamko) is "an often-stunning set of diverse indie-rock ranging from emotive rockers to haunting dream-pop and stark indie-folk, highlighted by her powerful vocals and intimate lyrics." And the second solo album from Rhiannon Giddens (founding member of Carolina Chocolate Drops) is "a potent, mostly acoustic-oriented blend of folk, blues, soul, gospel, hip hop, Dixieland jazz and other styles, with often-poignant songs reflecting various eras of the African-American experience, from slavery to the civil rights era to our troubled modern times."
They say great art can come from sadness, and that seems to be true for the new album from Grandaddy. KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes, "the fifth album (and first in 11 years) from this reunited Modesto, CA-bred band led by Jason Lytle is an impressive return to form featuring consistently stro…
Highlights this week include the latest from Swedish singer/songwriter Jens Lekman. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls Lekman's fourth LP, "a smartly crafted set of buoyant orchestral dance-pop inflected with disco, calypso, samba and other styles, combining bouncy dance beats and a variety of ins…
