Beloved Brooklyn band The National are back with their seventh album. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it "another masterful set of brooding rock that injects a bit more electronic experimentation along with an occasional welcome return to rock aggression. As beautifully crafted and intricately arranged as always, the album is a powerful depiction of crumbling relationships and middle-aged regret." Seattle-via-Bellingham duo ODESZA release "another potent set of emotive electronic grooves with shimmering synths, mostly downtempo beats, occasional guest vocalists, treated vocal samples and dreamy melodies. The impressive guest lineup includes Leon Bridges, Regina Spektor and RY X."
Legendary west coast band The Dream Syndicate return with their first new album in 29 years. Yates notes the band, "were one of the more notable bands to emerge from LA's '80s-era Paisley Underground, which featured bands with a variety of modernized takes on '60s psych-rock," adding the new LP "is a strong return-to-form that finds the band more explosive than ever, combining expansive, distortion-laden guitar leads and driving rhythms with Steve Wynn's deadpan vocals and often-dark, noirish lyrics." Ted Leo returns with his first new album in seven years, "one of his more diverse outings, ranging from hook-filled anthemic rockers to dark and brooding ballads, with sharply crafted lyrics revolving around personal loss and political dysfunction."
Our neighbors to the north deliver some great new music this week. For his sixth album, Calgary artist Chad VanGaalen releases "a smartly crafted blend of soaring psych-pop, cosmic space-rock, jangly folk-rock, chugging glam and more, juxtaposing bright pop hooks with often-dark lyrics revolving around anxiety, alienation and mortality." And Toronto-based band Alvvays deliver "another impressive set of breezy dream-pop with fuzzy guitars, atmospheric synths, driving rhythms and wistful melodies with Molly Rankin's ethereal vocals and melancholy lyrics."
L.A. artist Ariel Pink returns this week with an album "dedicated to '60s-era LA cult songwriter Bobby Jameson, a promising artist whose career fizzled out early in a haze of management and label troubles, drug abuse and depression." KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes the release is "a bit of a th…
LCD Soundsystem is back! James Murphy and company emerge from early retirement with their fourth studio album (and first in seven years). KEXP Music Director Don Yates declares it "a powerful return to form featuring some of Murphy's finest, most deeply felt songwriting with anxiety-fueled lyrics r…
