New Music Reviews (6/15)

Each week, Music Director Chris Sanley and Associate Music Director Alex Ruder share brief insights on new and upcoming releases for KEXP's rotation. These reviews help our DJs decide on what they want to play. See what we added this week below (and on our Charts page), including new releases from Kelsey Lu, LEENALCHI (이날치), CFCF, and more. 

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Kelsey Lu - So Help Me God (Dirty Hit)
Charlotte-born, LA-based polymath Kelsey Lu positively soars on her sophomore album. Within the first few measures, the classically trained cellist commands attention with a serene force. Across ten tracks, her transfixing, atmospheric art-pop holds listeners firmly in her grasp with breathtaking vocals, deeply emotional arcs, and cinematic arrangements featuring strings, horns, and piano. So Help Me God is a rich, immersive listen, showcasing a multifaceted artist who knows exactly how to harness her power. –CS

LEENALCHI (이날치) - Here Comes That Crow EP (Luaka Bop)
LEENALCHI instantaneously sucks you into their psychedelic wormhole on Here Comes That Crow, their new EP and Luaka Bop debut. Throughout six wild, innovative, and intoxicating tracks, the Seoul-based seven-piece crafts a singular interpretation of pansori, the traditional Korean style of musical storytelling. With spacey synths, playful basslines, and layered, theatrical vocals, they deliver a truly unique, unforgettable collection that demands undivided attention. –CS

CFCF - L.U.V. (BGM Solutions)
For his latest conceptual vision, chameleonic Montreal-based musician and electronic producer CFCF (aka Mike Silver) turns to the “low-brow, high concept, poor taste with sophistication” thrills of post-Y2K dance music soaked in the influential catalogs of early 2000s icons like Basement Jaxx, Ed Banger Records, Daft Punk, and Felix da Housecat. Flashy filtered synth squiggles on album opener “Kiss Me” instantly transport the listener to a bold, brash, and “defiantly electro-POP” party with CFCF’s immaculate, reverential, glitzy productions getting boosts from a colorful cast of guest vocalists along the way. An addictive run emerges late with the infectious grooves of “LUV (Is Easy 2 Lose)” and the sweeping 10-minute penultimate masterpiece “Love Hotel” before a smoothed-out “Euroversion” take of “Kiss Me” brings this all-night rager to a fitting, full-circle, crashed-out close. –AR

Fruit Bats - The Landfill (Merge)
Eric D. Johnson has been weaving the lush, dynamic sonic tapestry that is Fruit Bats for over two decades. For his twelfth studio album, he returns to his full band configuration, realizing ornate arrangements built from piano, guitars, synth, lap steel, organ, glockenspiel, vibraphone, strings, pedal steel, upright bass, and more, all illuminated by his distinct, expressive vocals. Exploring the duality of life through hopes and fears, successes and failures, and past and present, The Landfill is another warm, expansive offering from one of indie rock’s most beloved outfits. –CS

Ismay - Half Truth (Fossil Records)
Bay Area singer-songwriter Avery Hellman returns with their third Ismay album. Steeped in classic Americana with tinges of contemporary folk, psych, and indie pop, Half Truth is a tender and timeless set of heartfelt ruminations. With their poetic lyricism at its core (“I wanted the words to be in the forefront — not smooth, but raw.”), the record carries a calming, steady cadence as Hellman’s sweet vocals and vivid wordplay shines atop guitars, keys, and percussion, resulting in a charming and memorable listen.  –CS

La Sécurité - Bingo!! (Bella Union)
The sophomore album from Montreal art-punk quintet is exhilarating. Their playful, wacky vision explodes in full technicolour on Bingo!!, unfurling the quirky, kinetic energy that has become their calling card. With adventurous arrangements boasting bouncy basslines and dashes of disco, synth pop, and post-punk, La Sécurité have crafted a distinct, left-of-center sound that is wholly infectious. –CS

Terror/Cactus - Colapso (Share It Music)
The fifth album from Seattle-based Argentine producer and multi-instrumentalist Martín Selasco, aka Terror/Cactus, offers an inventive blend of electronic, cumbia, folk, chicha, and dub. Delicately balancing traditional and contemporary influences, as well as organic and synthesized sounds, Colapso is a vibrant and dynamic collection brimming with infectious rhythms and delicious textures.  –CS

Yea-Ming And The Rumours - Residue (Dandy Boy) 
The fourth studio album from Oakland’s Yea-Ming And The Rumours is a dreamy collection of sun-soaked indie pop. Yea-Ming Chen’s hazy vocals, awash in melancholy, drift through arrangements of guitar, lap steel, organ, and percussion as Residue explores themes of people-pleasing, vulnerability, and self-discovery. Equal parts nostalgic and fresh, these ten tracks offer a transportive, bittersweet listen.  –CS

All Them Witches - House of Mirrors (BMG)
The seventh studio album from this veteran Nashville band applies a more focused and direct take on their trademark blend of heavy psychedelic blues-rock and cinematic stoner-rock. –AR

Baauer - U (LuckyMe)
The third full-length album from Brooklyn-based electronic producer Harry Rodrigues (aka Baauer) is a euphoric, fast-paced, sample-happy set of high-energy dancefloor anthems that serves as an ode to the type of songs that kicked off his love affair with dance music as a teenager living in London. Executive-produced by fellow wide-eyed electronic/club music provocateur Hudson Mohawke, U cleverly plays out like a continuous DJ mix with quick transitions taking the listener on a giddy, dizzying rush through infectious rhythms, blockbuster beats, and soaring hooks for a non-stop nostalgia-fueled dance party. –AR

Eloise Pezzner - Apocoloco (Never Say Goodbye)
The debut EP from 14-year-old Seattle artist Eloise Pezzner is a promising set of youthful alt-pop that lyrically explores the uncertainties and anxieties of teenage life over backdrops that roam from brooding guitar-forward productions to dark, slinky, synth-led beats, the latter on prominent display on standout opening track “Head.” It’s an impressive introduction from a second-generation Seattle artist who’s the daughter of beloved Seattle electronic producer Dave Pezzner. –AR

Family Worship Center - Only Visiting (CorpoRAT)
The second album from this sprawling Portland-based collective that’s “probably a cult” is a fun set of 70s-soaked soulful, folksy, communal rock that leans into a nostalgic, sunny, symphonic AM Gold vibe. –AR

Jesse Welles - Masks Off (self-released)
Ozark, Arkansas-born folk singer and songwriter Jesse Welles continues his prolific ascent with his sixth full-length studio album of timely, incisive, clever protest songs that includes recent viral single “Join ICE” alongside a bunch of other meet-the-moment songs like “Meet the New Swap,” “Red,” and the title track. “Siddhartha” offers a notably low-key and introspective highlight. –AR

Paycheque - Paycheque (Mansions and Millions) 
The debut album from LA-duo Paycheque, composed of Allison Goldfarb and Jackson MacIntosh (TOPS, Drugdealer), is an infectious set of shimmering indie pop and new wave. With dreamy vocal harmonies, sparkling synths, and driving drum machines, this self-titled collection offers an excellent introduction to their irresistibly buoyant sound. –CS

Pussy Riot - CYKA (self-released)
Feminist art punk collective Pussy Riot unveil their debut album. Arriving after fourteen years of protest that has led to imprisonment and exile, CYKA employs punk, electropop, and indie rock to propel their pointed lyricism sung in both English and Russian, igniting a fire within listeners. The result is a brash, hook-laden rallying cry. –CS

Sports Boyfriend - Slice of Life (self-released)
Sports Boyfriend is a Chicago-based outfit led by Eileen Peltier. First emerging as a solo project back in the mid-2010s with some low-key, addictive, groovy bedroom indie pop, Sports Boyfriend have since evolved over the past decade into a full-fledged four-piece band and their debut album is a notable shift in sound as they deliver a stellar set of homespun alt-country and twangy indie rock with a '90s-steeped power-pop streak that’s all carried by Eileen’s sharp songwriting, her warm vocals, and the band’s steady, melodic, welcoming arrangements. –AR

THE BOBBY LEES - New Self (Epitaph) 
Woodstock, NY punk trio THE BOBBY LEES unfurl their urgent, cutting fourth studio album. Clocking in at just twenty minutes, New Self doesn’t waste any time showcasing the band’s raw, urgent lyricism, sharp guitar work, magnetic bass lines, and explosive percussion. Marked by their killer take on PJ Harvey with album highlight “50 Ft,” this fierce new eight track collection finds THE BOBBY LEES firing on all cylinders. –CS

Wiki - Ancient History (Wikset Enterprise)
The latest solo album from NYC rapper Wiki follows collaborative albums with kindred talents including MIKE, The Alchemist, Navy Blue, and Tony Seltzer and he stoically stays in his lane of gritty, introspective, slice-of-life hip-hop that’s defined by his raspy, woozy delivery. While it’s NYC through and through, “IHNY” is a standout ode to his love/hate relationship with the city that raised him. –AR