Pop punk will never die, but you will. The Moore Family Band‘s debut album “Missy” is only 22 minutes long but has more hooks than a fancy React application (sorry, no more front-end jokes in this space). That would be easy to explain with Jeff Rosenstock’s presence in a couple of tracks, but the Californian trio consistently delivers the goods elsewhere in the record.
Azniv Korkejian’s first album as Bedouine, drawing in equal parts from 60s folk music and the easygoing vibes of LA’s Echo Park (some sort of 21st century Laurel Canyon?), got us hooked for weeks. We can already tell the same is bound to happen with her second LP, “Bird Songs of a Killjoy”, finally released last week. Plus: new songs by The Hold Steady, Illiterate Light, Frankie Cosmos, Jesca Hoop, Mega Bog, Palehound, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Courtney Hartman, Erin Rae, Slaughter Beach, Dog, Los Retros, Bamboo, Chelsea Wolfe, Leslie Stevens, Honeysuckle, Rickie Lee Jones, Don DiLego, Jacob Faurholt, Paper Beat Scissors, Alan Power, Calexico and Iron & Wine, and Jamestown Revival.
Lambchop wants to tell you something. We think you should pay attention, even if you’re not a fan of Kurt Wagner’s experiments with vocoders that are carried from 2016’s FLOTUS. Under the surface, the classic Lambchop sound is still there. Plus: new songs by ANOHNI, Weyes Blood, Cate Le Bon, Dave Depper and Laura Gibson, Roosevelt, Altın Gün, Ex Hex, Nilüfer Yanya, Caroline Spence, Luther Dickinson & Birds of Chicago, Mavis Staples, Strand of Oaks, Damien Jurado, Calexico and Iron & Wine, TK & The Holy Know-Nothings, John Paul White, Dylan LeBlanc, A.A. Bondy, Orville Peck, and Bill MacKay.
Every week we try to focus on brand new music, if possible by newcomers that might or might not be semi-stars tomorrow. But, every now and then, we eventually cave in and cannot resist the urge to celebrate some of our favourite records’ anniversary editions. Songs: Ohia’s ‘The Lioness’ got its deluxe treatment through ‘Love & Work’, an extremely limited 2xLP boxset now sold out; in it, eleven outtakes from the same sessions that brought us one of the most heartbreaking albums of the last twenty years see the light of day for the first time.
Similarly, on its 20th anniversary, Calexico’s masterpiece ‘The Black Light’ got the same treatment and if anyone wants to donate the record our way, we’ll welcome it with open arms. Plus: new tracks from Angelo De Augustine, Shannon Lay, Josephine Foster, Grandaddy, Jens Lekman, Daniel Romano, Parker Gispert, Half Japanese, Piroshka, Nicole Atkins and Mark Lanegan, Gwenifer Raymond, Ryley Walker, Snapped Ankles, J Balvin, Ariana Grande, Little Dragon, and Foxwarren.
Bolachas Now Playing, 05/2018 (#132):
******** [The Drink] – Kinderpunsch
Gwenno – Tir Ha Mor
Laura Veirs – Everybody Needs You
Wye Oak – The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs
Fenne Lily – On Hold
Courtney Marie Andrews – Kindness of Strangers
Rhye – Waste
Johnny Greenwood – Sandalwood I
Red River Dialect – Open Sky (bell)
Red River Dialect – Campana
Yo La Tengo – You Are Here
Bonny Doon – I Am Here (I Am Alive)
Joshua Hedley – Mr. Jukebox
Anderson East – Always Be My Baby
Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats – Hey Mama
Kyle Craft – Exile Rag
The Wood Brothers – Laughin’ Or Crying
Calexico – Voices in the Field
Jonathan Wilson – Loving You
They Might Be Giants – The Greatest
Many Rooms – Which is to Say, Everything