THIS WEEK'S KEY RELEASES
Grizzly Bear _ "Painted Ruins"
"Painted Ruins" is the best Grizzly Bear album to date because the band has turned away from previous tendencies to oversell folk-rock "ambience" or to crowd songs to alienating effect. The album begins like "Tracks and Traces" and ends like B-sides from "Amnesiac." As a whole, "Painted Ruins" is more concentrated than its predecessors, but at times it is also noisier, messier, and considerably more populated with hooks than any previous release by the band. _ Thomas Britt
A$AP Ferg _ "Still Striving"
Everything Everything _ "Fever Dream"
Ghostpoet _ "Dark Days & Canapes"
Ray Wylie Hubbard _ "Tell The Devil I'm Gettin' There As Fast As I Can"
KMFDM _ "Hell Yeah"
Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer _ "Not Dark Yet"
UNKLE _ "The Road Part 1"
Steve Wilson _ "To The Bone"
NOW HEAR THIS (new tracks from up and coming artists)
Christian Lopez _ "1972"
Americana up and comer Christian Lopez has already impressed us with his 2015 album "Onward," which he released at 19 years old. Now he's back with another album, "Red Arrow," which will be released September 22nd. Two years and Lopez's sound is maturing fast as his songwriting grows more and more accomplished with every new tune. Lopez's new single "1972" is shuffling country ballad painted as an ode to his 1972 International Scout truck that he owned during his teenage years. In this case, a truck is more than a truck as it served as Lopez's means of freedom as a young man and something that produced many great memories for the artist. _ Sarah Zupko
(https://youtu.be/xJG8rOUsmmQ)
Iglooghost _ "Bug Thief"
"Bug Thief" is just a flighty little wisp of a song, but that's fine because there's so much going on. Pretty-but-broken keyboards evolve into beats, which evolve into more complex beats, in which vocal samples are discovered and thrown over the top and in between the cracks. It's a fascinating piece that meshes machines with emotional outbursts in an extremely effective way. It's a lovely little bit of electronic mayhem. _ Mike Schiller
(https://youtu.be/2Y1rWasqPMA)
Eilen Jewell _ "Down Hearted Blues"
Americana music artist Eilen Jewell has a deep love of musical history, so much so that her record label head called her a musicologist. That's a good thing to be when your stock in trade is a broad range of American roots music. Knowing where different musical forms come from and understanding the traditions, makes for a better artist every time. And Eilen Jewell is indeed a real artist. For her new album, Jewell and her husband and musical partner Jason Beek dug deep into the history of the blues to find 12 old gems that could be polished into new Americana-influenced versions to give the songs new life. "Down Hearted Blues" is an old tune recorded by the legendary Bessie Smith back in 1922 that eventually racked up two million copies sold. It's a stone cold classic and a perfect center point for Jewell's thrilling new album. _ SZ
(http://popm.at/2uJUBAq)
WATCH THIS
Father John Misty _ "Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution"
Father John tackles the modern age and wins. It's hard to write an anti-consumerist tune and not come off as monumentally preachy, but he just about does it. "Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution" combines the "Instant Karma" drum sound with an early '70s Elton John piano part to great effect. This, ladies and gents, is a real piece of work and someone needs to get their body weight in awards for the stop-motion video that accompanies the tune. _ Ian Rushbury
(https://youtu.be/cIsT3dJ60Uk)
The Yawpers _ "Reunion"
For their third record, "Boy in a Well," Denver's the Yawpers crafted a concept album set in France just after World War I about a young mother abandoning her newborn child. It's an emotionally rich album full of plot that comes with an illustrated comic book illustrated by J.D. Wilkes of the Legendary Shack Shakers that details every twist in the story. Chock full of rocking blues, a bit of psychobilly, and garage rock underpinned with Americana aesthetics, "Boy in a Well" releasing August 18th, is a huge step forward for the band. _ SZ
(https://youtu.be/A5Dk5rJu8QI)
