Music Monday (9/22): This Week's New Albums + Videos
This week's new album releases
Each title listed below will go on sale beginning Tuesday, September 23 unless otherwise indicated.
Alt-J
. This Is All Yours
All eyes are on the English indie-rock band as they return with their first album since their Mercury Music Prize-winning debut, An Awesome Wave. The new album sees Alt-J reduced to a trio, following the departure of multi-instrumentalist Gwil Sainsbury at the beginning of their studio sessions. This stylistically diverse, Miley Cyrus-sampling sophomore set features appearances from Conor Oberst and Lianne La Havas.
Aphex Twin
. Syro
Richard James breaks his 13-year recording hiatus this week with his first proper album release since 2001's Drukqs ( though fans did get a chance to hear the "lost" (as in never released to the public) album Caustic Window earlier this year via YouTube). Filled with with catchy song titles like "fz pseudotimestretch+e+3 [138.85]" and "s950tx16wasr10 [163.97][earth portal mix]," Syro is also one of the electronic music legend's best-reviewed albums in a long and storied history. In other words, you probably want this.
Julian Casablancas + The Voidz
. Tyranny LISTEN (Rolling Stone)
Self-released on his own label, The Strokes frontman's second solo album (following 2009's Phrazes For The Young) finds him teaming up with a new backing band, The Voidz. Expect a wildly unfocused and intentionally underproduced set (sounding basically nothing like The Strokes), all available for the low, low price of $3.87. And, no, the solo outing doesn't mean that The Strokes are done; Casablancas hopes to record with his bandmates in the near future.
Kenny Chesney
The Big Revival
The massively successful country star returns tomorrow with his third album in three years. His 17th studio album altogether, The Big Revival features collaborations with Alison Krauss and Grace Potter, and is the result of an atypically lengthy recording process that saw Chesney scrap a full record's worth of songs at one point.
Leonard Cohen
. Popular Problems LISTEN (NPR)
We're guessing one thing you won't be doing on your 80th birthday is releasing a new album, but then again, you're not Leonard Cohen. Just two days after his 80th, the legendary singer-songwriter will release his 13th studio album and follow-up to 2012's well-received Old Ideas. As he did on that previous album, Patrick Leonard (Madonna) produces the new nine-song set.
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett
. Cheek to Cheek
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, together again. Actually, that's true: the pair recorded a version of the standard "The Lady Is a Tramp" for Bennett's 2011 album Duets II. If you liked that, you should like Cheek to Cheek, which is an entire album of jazz standards featuring both artists. Included are the pair's takes on classics like "Lush Life," "Anything Goes," "It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)," and "Sophisticated Lady." A PBS concert special is also on tap for the fall.
Perfume Genius
. Too Bright LISTEN (NPR)
Seattle-based solo artist Mike Hadreas (aka Perfume Genius) attempts to extend his perfect streak of 81+ albums when he releases LP #3, Too Bright, this week. The new set, however, represents a major change in approach, ditching the spare, fragile style of previous releases for something much bolder, bigger, and angrier. Recorded with Portishead's Adrian Utley, the album also features contributions from John Parish. Oh, and that streak looks safe; early reviews are mostly terrific so far.
SBTRKT
. Wonder Where We Land
London-based electronica/dubstep artist Aaron Jerome returns with just his second SBTRKT full-length this week. Wonder Where We Land features vocals from Jerome's longtime collaborator Sampha on four tracks, while other guests include Jessie Ware, A$AP Ferg, Raury, Warpaint's Emily Kokal, Chairlift's Caroline Polachek, and Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig.
Tweedy
. Sukierae LISTEN (NPR)
A funny thing happened on the way to Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy's first solo album. His son, Spencer, began playing drums on dad's demos, and pretty soon the solo act became a new duo, known simply as Tweedy. Their debut full-length arrives this week, and father and son will be joined by a band on the tour that follows. Aside from the fact that it could use a bit (or maybe a lot) of pruning, critics have few complaints about the new set.
Additional releases
- Aeges Above & Down Below
- Arp Pulsars E Quasars EP
- Marcia Ball The Tattooed Lady and The Alligator Man
- Big & Rich Gravity
- Joe Bonamassa Different Shades of Blue
- Bonnie "Prince" Billy Singer's Grave a Sea of Tongues
- Louis C.K. Oh My God Audio version of 2013 comedy special
- Gary Clark Jr. Gary Clark Jr. Live 2xCD LISTEN (NY Times)
- John Coltrane Offering: Live At Temple University 2xCD First official release of the oft-bootlegged 1966 concert includes the full 90-minute performance, newly remastered
- Dntel Human Voice LISTEN (Pitchfork)
- The Drums . Encyclopedia
- Dwarves Dwarves Invented Rock & Roll
- Empires Orphan
- Erasure The Violet Flame LISTEN (USA Today)
- Jackie Evancho Awakening
- Fiancé EP1 EP
- Foxes In Fiction Ontario Gothic LISTEN (Pitchfork)
- Gnarwolves . Gnarwolves
- GOAT Commune LISTEN (NPR) First Sub Pop release for the mask-wearing Swedish band, who earned strong reviews for their 2012 debut World Music
- Groundislava Frozen Throne
- The Growlers Chinese Fountain
- George Harrison The Apple Years 1968–75 6xCD+DVD The six remastered albums included in the set will also be released separately this week
- Kim Hiorthøy Dogs
- Holy Sons The Fact Facer
- Jennifer Hudson JHUD
- Information Society _hello world First album from classic 1980s lineup in over two decades
- Markéta Irglová Muna Second solo album from the Swell Season singer
- Keys N Krates Every Nite EP
- King Tuff Black Moon Spell LISTEN (NPR)
- Lenny Kravitz Strut
- Mary Lattimore & Jeff Zeigler Slant of Light
- Sondre Lerche Please LISTEN (NPR)
- LIGHTS Little Machines
- Lower Plenty Life/Thrills LISTEN (Stereogum)
- LVL UP Hoodwink'd LISTEN (Stereogum)
- Rob Lynch All These Nights In Bars Will Somehow Save My Soul
- Mapei Hey Hey LISTEN (NPR)
- Imelda May . Tribal LISTEN (NY Times)
- Lori McKenna Numbered Doors
- John Mellencamp Plain Spoken
- Mr Twin Sister Mr Twin Sister LISTEN (Pitchfork) New release for the band formerly known as Twin Sister
- Matty Mullins Matty Mullins
- Nada Surf B-Sides
- Night Terrors Of 1927 Anything To Anyone EP
- Pentatonix PTX Vol. III EP
- Poppy Red Hand Into The Fire
- Chuck Prophet Night Surfer
- Purling Hiss . Weirdon
- Brian Reitzell Hannibal: Season 2 OST Available in two separate volumes
- S Cool Choices New project from Jenn Ghetto, formerly of Carissa's Wierd
- Laetitia Sadier Something Shines New solo album for the Stereolab vocalist
- Silva Ocean View
- Sarah Silverman We Are Miracles Audio version of 2013 comedy special
- Smashing Pumpkins Adore 6xCD+DVD Reissue of 1998 album (available in multiple versions of varying sizes) adds rarities, demos, and live tracks
- Spray Paint Clean Blood, Regular Acid LISTEN (Stereogum)
- Stryper Live At The Whisky CD+DVD
- Suicideyear Remembrance LISTEN (Pitchfork)
- Terror Pigeon Live It Up Before You Die It Up!
- Tin Man Ode
- TOKiMONSTA Desiderium LISTEN (Stereogum)
- Various Hyperdub 10.3
- Weird Womb Laziness EP
- Whirr Sway LISTEN (Pitchfork)
- White Violet Stay Lost
- Dustin Wong & Takako Minekawa Savage Imagination
- Youth Code A Place to Stand EP LISTEN (Pitchfork)
Stream upcoming albums and new tracks
- Allo Darlin' TRACK "Bright Eyes" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Azealia Banks TRACK "Chasing Time" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Beat Connection TRACK "Another Go Round" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga TRACK "Nature Boy" streaming at YouTube.
- Buzzcocks TRACK "It's Not You" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Kat Edmonson ALBUM The Big Picture streaming until its 9/30 release at NPR.
- Electric Wizard ALBUM Time to Die streaming until its 9/30 release at NPR.
- Electric Youth ALBUM Innerworld streaming until its 9/30 release at NPR.
- Eminem TRACK "Guts Over Fear" (feat. Sia) streaming at YouTube (lyric video).
- Marianne Faithfull TRACK "Late Victorian Holocaust" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Flying Lotus TRACK "Coronus, The Terminator" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Godflesh TRACK "Imperator" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Jose Gonzalez TRACK "This Is How We Walk On The Moon" (Arthur Russell cover) streaming at YouTube.
- Iceage TRACK "How Many" streaming at YouTube.
- JEFF the Brotherhood TRACK "Gouge Away" (Pixies cover) streaming at Spin.
- Kele TRACK "Coasting" streaming at YouTube.
- Korallreven TRACK "Death Is Not For Us" streaming at SoundCloud.
- NehruvianDOOM TRACK "Caskets" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Angel Olsen TRACK "All Right Now" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Christopher Owens ALBUM A New Testament streaming until its 9/30 release at Pitchfork.
- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart TRACK "Poison Touch" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Peaking Lights TRACK "Everyone and Us" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Prince TRACK "FUNKNROLL" (Art Official Age version) streaming at YouTube.
- Restorations TRACK "Misprint" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Paul Smith & Peter Brewis TRACK "Exiting Hyde Park Towers" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Andy Stott TRACK "Violence" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Surfer Blood TRACK "NW Passage" streaming at SoundCloud.
- The Twilight Sad TRACK "Last January" streaming at SoundCloud.
- Underworld TRACK "Dark and Long (1struffid3A15512) edit" streaming at YouTube.
- The Vaselines ALBUM V for Vaselines streaming until its 9/30 release at Pitchfork.
- Jessie Ware TRACK "Kind Of...Sometimes...Maybe" (feat. Miguel) streaming at YouTube.
- Lucinda Williams ALBUM Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone streaming until its 9/30 release at NPR.
- Zola Jesus TRACK "Go(Blank Sea)" streaming at SoundCloud.
TRACK "Glassy Eyed, Dormant And Veiled" streaming at YouTube.
On TV this week (new episodes only)
Monday: Jason Aldean (Kimmel), Beck (Conan), The Black Keys (Fallon), Tweedy (Colbert)
Tuesday: Julian Casablancas + The Voidz (Fallon), Lenny Kravitz (Letterman), Tove Lo (Kimmel), Say Anything (Carson Daly), Paul Simon (Conan)
Wednesday: Kenny Chesney (Fallon),Dhani Harrison (Conan), Paloma Faith (Letterman), Young Jeezy (Kimmel)
Thursday: Norah Jones (Conan), The Script (Kimmel)
Friday: Robert Plant (Fallon)
Saturday: Erasure (Yahoo! Screen, 8p ET), Ariana Grande (Saturday Night Live)
Recent artist and industry news
Guided By Voices have broken up (again). The breakup is effective immediately, which means that an upcoming tour has been canceled. - Official GBV site
Finally, a reason for Kickstarter to exist: Run the Jewels will record an all-cat-sounds version of their upcoming album Run the Jewels 2 if you donate enough money to a Meow the Jewels campaign. (While RTJ didn't create the Kickstarter, El-P has committed to making the album and donating his proceeds to charity if it is funded.) You can also just buy the album outright if you have an extra $40,000 in your wallet.
Wolf in White Van, the debut novel by Mountain Goats leader John Darnielle, was named as one of 10 finalists for this year's National Book Award for fiction. - New York Times
U2 appears to be collaborating with Apple on a new interactive music format, though it is over a year away from launching. - Time and Billboard
Is Apple about to shut down its recently acquired Beats streaming music service? - Billboard
The latest music videos
Interpol, "Twice As Hard":
The Raveonettes, "Killer In The Streets":
Ryan Adams, "My Wrecking Ball":
SBTRKT, "New Dorp. New York":
Team Spirit, "Surrender":
Ariel Pink, "Put Your Number In My Phone":
A Sunny Day In Glasgow, "Double Dutch":
M83, "In The Cold I'm Standing":
Stars, "From the Night":
The Antlers, "Refuge":
Philip Selway, "It Will End In Tears":
In the studio / coming soon
Charli XCX has delayed her second album Sucker from October 21 to December 16 in the U.S. (and January 26 in Europe).
On November 24, Rick Ross will release Hood Billionaire, his second album of 2014.
Pink Floyd's previously announced new album The Endless River has been given a November 10 release date.
Garth Brooks' still-untitled new album will be out November 11th.
There's still no word on a release date for Kendrick Lamar's second album, but the LP's first single, "i," is expected to drop tomorrow.
Dr. Dre's mythical upcoming album Detox will no longer be called Detox. It will, however, continue to not exist. - Billboard
Metallica will issue a set of 27 live albums late this year, one for every 2014 concert performance. - Rolling Stone
A new DJ Quik album, Midnight Life, arrives on October 14. - Pitchfork
Visit Metacritic's Album Release Calendar for a full listing of upcoming release dates, updated daily.
