Yann Tiersen "All (Mute)"
If you’ve somehow made it to 2019 without knowing what to expect from a new Yann Tiersen album, then shame on you. All (Mute) is the latest collection of unbelievably beautiful pieces. That’s right, I called them pieces, not songs. So you know it’s serious. Somewhere between classical music and more artistic electronic releases, this record continues along the path of his last release, writing songs about our connection to nature. Also, this is the first time he recorded an album at his newly built studio The Eskal, “built in an abandoned discotheque on the island of Ushant.” And that, friends, is the most Yann Tiersen sentence ever written. Check out the piano beauty of “Tempelhof.”
Bob Mould "Sunshine Rock (Merge)"
Check out the name of the new Bob Mould record! Does that mean Bob Mould is “happy”? Is he ever happy? Wait, is this a HAPPY ALBUM? With the title SUNSHINE ROCK you can start to think maybe, JUST MAYBE Bob has gone all Partridge Family on us. But alas, under the wall of churning guitars and power choruses is BOB MOULD. How does the guy do it? Album after album, song after song, the man has written more good words then Karl Ove Knausgård and more songs then Aleksander Vinter better known as Savant (yeah google it). Dig in to the title track, ”Sunshine Rock” and get ready for the next one!
Charlie Faye & The Fayettes "The Whole Shebang"
Hailing from Austin, Charlie Faye and the Fayettes return for The Whole Shebang. No second album syndrome here – The Whole Shebang is actually a step up in production, songwriting and–of course–back-up vocals. Are The Fayettes the new Pips? Will they take that midnight train to Georgia (Austin to Georgia? That probably isn’t a thing, maybe they should just Uber)? Well as Charlie proudly declares in “The Cream Rises To The Top” – “They can’t deny me now I’m blowing up, I’m never gonna stop”. Charlie and her “ettes” are at the top of the (I don’t always love using genre names but there’s no denying the sound) retro girl group thing. Check out “I Don’t Need No Baby” and the title track because Charlie Faye & The Fayettes have the whole shebang in the bag!
Xiu Xiu "Girl With Basket Of Fruit (Polyvinyl)"
Xiu Xiu is a reflection of us as a society. Their latest album, Girl With Basket Of Fruit (Polyvinyl), is “imbued with the agitation, tension, sorrow and anger that has permeated the daily lives of so many over the last few years.” Thanks PV PR for so succinctly putting into words the ideas that were forming in my agitated, tense, sorrowful, and angry brain. See! The band really IS a reflection of us! OR at least me… As weird and as wonderful as they have always been, with a bit more of an edge then they normally have. Xiu Xiu are as mad as hell, and they aren’t gonna take it anymore! Check out “Scisssssssors” and whatever you do DON’T RUN WITH THIS SONG!