THIS WEEK'S KEY RELEASES
Of Montreal _ "Innocence Reaches"
After nearly a decade of pushing his music in wildly disparate directions, Kevin Barnes has achieved a sort of equilibrium on "Innocence Reaches," Of Montreal's 14th studio album. The restless, album-length experiments that characterized records like "Skeletal Lamping," "Paralytic Stalks," and even the more accessible "Lousy With Sylvanbriar" (Of Montreal as late '60s rock) and "Aureate Gloom" (Of Montreal as '70s hard rock) have fallen away. Instead, "Innocence Reaches" combines a lot of those elements (both musical and lyrical) with the basic sound from Barnes' most high-profile era, the critically-acclaimed "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?" and the ultra-catchy "The Sunlandic Twins." _ Chris Conaton
Thee Oh Sees _ "A Weird Exits"
Playing with a three-person rhythm section has shifted the dynamic on "A Weird Exits." It's not a corrective. Their previous two records were great, tangled rock records. But there's a subtle, exciting shift on this record that breathes new life in Thee Oh Sees' sound, no small feat on the project's umpteenth album. _ Matthew Fiander
Brendan Canning _ "Home Wrecking Years"
A late-night, homespun feeling prevails across the 10 songs that comprise Brendan Canning's (Broken Social Scene) latest effort. Certain moments conjure images of Canning and his cohorts trying to keep the volume down so as not to wake the neighbors or summon suspicion that they're up to something quite amusing. Other moments feel loud, proud and unapologetically rock 'n' roll. Through and through there's a sometimes eerie, sometimes comforting fog of familiarity that wafts in over the tracks as well as a faint patina of the 1970s that reveals itself in several of the record's best moments. _ Jedd Beaudoin
OTHER NOTABLE RELEASES
Atmosphere _ "Fishing Blues"
Blind Pilot _ "And Then Like Lions"
The Moles _ "Tonight's Music"
The Pack A.D. _ "Positive Thinking"
Rae Sremmurd _ "Sremmlife 2"
Savoir Adore _ "The Love That Remains"
NOW HEAR THIS
Tattletale Saints _ "Big City Women"
Tattletale Saints make country as it originally was, an offshoot of blues angled towards the Old West. "Big City Women" is a tale of woe and disillusionment wrapped up in soft guitar and upright bass, a lament of the anonymizing power of the city in a homey package. The tale of the lost love has been told thousands of times, but it's powerful enough to keep spinning _ and "Big City Women" shows it's not dead yet. _ Will Rivitz
https://youtu.be/AG0Ey1UYAvw
The Dexateens _ "Teenage Hallelujah"
The Dexateens' "Teenage Hallelujah" is, as the title would suggest, an ode to the hedonism and stupidity that comes with being a teenager from the perspective of the older and jaded. Accentuating that hedonism is a guitar onslaught that rushes through the song's two minutes, ripping solos and broken-amp sound manipulation taking center stage. It's the quintessential Southern rock song, dusty and distorted and frenetic. Teenagers grow up fast, so this song speeds forth appropriately. _ WR
http://popm.at/2axO6LS
Megan Slankard _ "Bones Live Forever"
The video for "Bones Live Forever" shows two bands, representing the angelic and devilish halves of Megan Slankard, performing at each other. It's appropriate that the "good" side looks awkward and stilted when they perform while the "bad" one (the same musicians in different clothes and makeup) looks poised and alive: the song's sound skews towards hard-nosed alt-rock of the sort that's been decried as "devil music" in days of yore. Guitars yelp and wail over Slankard's affected snarl, purely-distilled verve animating their dizzying distortion. Pop purity and rock wildness coexist here, but the rock wins out in the end _ and the song is all the better because of it. _ WR
https://youtu.be/HAhT5WRuPGY
WATCH THIS
Teenage Fanclub _ "I'm in Love"
Hey, the Posies made a strong comeback album this year, why can't Teenage Fanclub? It's pretty much what you'd expect from these Scottish indie vets _ timeless college rock with an irresistible AM radio sheen. This love letter to sophisticated '70s pop works so well that it sounds like Gerry Rafferty crashing a Bread recording session. Short, sweet, and chock full of lovely melodies and chiming guitar licks. I'm sold. _ Chris Ingalls
https://youtu.be/FDOLKSp2AWU
Bastille _ "Fake It"
The second single from Bastille's forthcoming LP "Wild World," "Fake It" is a crepuscular, R&B-shaded synthpop ballad forged from heavyhearted nostalgia and gilded in flickering neon. Like the best Bastille tracks, lead singer Dan Smith's vocal is planted centerstage and, as always, it's a dazzling spectacle to behold: operatic, laden with heartache, capable of both anthemic bombast and nuanced impressionism, it's a voice that seems to reduce everything around it to mere ornamentation _ a curse, sometimes, but for "Fake It", a blessing. _ Pryor Stroud
https://youtu.be/JeiRRBs-dQE
M.I.A. _ "Go Off"
"Go Off" is the first single from "AIM," what M.I.A. claims will be her final LP. If this claim holds true, and "Go Off" presages what we'll hear from the remainder of the album, then Maya Arulpragasam plans to go out with a bang. Tinged with a pitched-up Middle Eastern vocal sample, trapeze-act percussion, and Skrillex's trademark synth squelches, it packs a lot of punch while retaining vast amounts of sonic detail. _ PS
https://youtu.be/kGDhHxgY6uo
