Monday Music News

04/13/2015

Janice Headley

Earlier this month, Sufjan Stevens released his long-awaited full-length, Carrie & Lowell, to rave reviews. Today, he shares the non-album track "Exploring Whale," which he's been selling on 7" during his current tour. Stream the track below, and get your copy on Wednesday, June 10th or Thursday, June 11th when he stops by The Paramount. [Pitchfork]

Record Store Day is right on the horizon, and Chicago garage rock quartet Twin Peaks will be sharing a limited edition orange vinyl 7" with one new track and one older one, titled "Got Your Money." In a press release, they explain, "It is one of the earliest TP songs, essentially a lost number from the Sunken days. It’s a song loosely born around the movie True Romance, but upon its revival was also inspired by current events in our country." Check it out below, and stay tuned to the KEXP Blog for more Record Store Day features throughout the week. [Stereogum]

The Godmother of Punk, Patti Smith, returns this fall with the follow-up to her award-winning memoir, Just Kids. Keep an eye out for M Train, scheduled for release on October 6th via Knopf. A press release states: "M Train is a journey through eighteen “stations.” It begins in the tiny Greenwich Village café where Smith goes every morning for black coffee, ruminates on the world as it is and the world as it was, and writes in her notebook... Woven throughout are reflections on the writer’s craft and on artistic creation, alongside signature memories including her life in Michigan with her husband, guitarist Fred Sonic Smith, whose untimely death was an irremediable loss. For it is loss, as well as the consolation we might salvage from it, that lies at the heart of this exquisitely told memoir, one augmented by stunning black-and-white Polaroids taken by Smith herself." [Spin]

Brooklyn duo Ratatat return this summer with their first new album in five years, appropriately titled LP5. Get a sneak peek with the track "Cream on Chrome" below, a sweet, soulful electronic groove that's surely a good sign for the rest of the release. Ratatat will be one of the headliners at this year's Capitol Hill Block Party, July 24th through July 26th. [Under the Radar]

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In honor of Record Store Day (April 18), Blitzen Trapper are putting out a special live cover album of Neil Young's 1972 classic Harvest. They've shared "Heart of Gold," the first single off the clevery titled, Live Harvest. Listen below. [Stereogum]