Werewolf Diskdrive "Werewolf Diskdrive"
Look, the more you know about Werewolf Diskdrive, the more you are gonna love Werewolf Diskdrive. His origin is steeped in mystery (though you can learn more about it at http://werewolfdiskdrive.bigcartel.com/faq). But suffice it to say, Werewolf Diskdrive is a consciousness living in a disk drive at a store called Werewolf Diskdrive that recorded an album called Werewolf Diskdrive (with more than a little help from Eric Elbogen, of the now defunct band Say Hi). Most of the songs are about food or obsolete technology, and are a little bit rap, a little bit lo-fi pop, and a lot of fun. Imagine if Brother JT recorded a hip-hop album, and you are approaching the strange, strange world of Werewolf Diskdrive. Check out the ode to the basest of human desires, “Hamburgers & Hotdogs.”
Fever Ray "Plunge (Mute)"
Could a new Fever Ray record have surprised the world at any better a time? There we were, the Friday before Halloween, depressed as everyone else is in 2017 when we got word that the new Fever Ray record had just dropped (people still say records dropped, right?). Before we even had time to fully digest this experimental piece of pop mastery, Pitchfork had named the record “Best New Music.” Best new music indeed! On Plunge (Mute), her second album as Fever Ray, the Knife’s Karin Dreijer is as experimental, frank, and more transparent than ever. Gone is the vocal pitch-shifting of her first release, as her Bjork meets Annie Lennox vocals mix with the most modern of beats and heady, atmospheric soundscapes. Check out the first single from the album, the bubbly “To The Moon And Back.”
Godspeed You! Black Emperor "Luciferian Towers (Constellation)"
It’s not easy to be a political, revolutionary band while also being an instrumental post-rock orchestra. Somehow, Godspeed You! Black Emperor have figured out how to do just that with their latest, Luciferian Towers (Constellation). Full of their “most melodic and powerfully positive-sounding music to date” (Pitchfork) LT also includes political screeds via liner notes and press releases demanding “An end to foreign invasions. An end to borders. The total dismantling of the prison-industrial complex. Healthcare, housing, food and water acknowledged as an inalienable human right.” Not an easy trick to be hauntingly beautiful and mad as hell, is it? Well GY!BE certainly pull it off here on their latest majestic, atmospheric release. Check out the first single from the album, the sprawling “Undoing A Luciferian Towers.”
TRØN & DVD "Afraid Of The Dark (Kiam)"
Brothers Norvin and Darian Van Dunk, known here as TRØN & DVD, have been making rap music for as long as they can remember. But Afraid Of The Dark, their Kiam debut, is also their first proper album released by a label. Sys Norvin: ““When we went in [to Kiam Records Shop], we gave [Jennifer O’Connor] our CDs, and she liked it enough to help us out and sign us, which is cool, cause we were always doing everything ourselves.” Credit where credit is due, Nyack News and Views (Kiam Record IS from Nyack after all) said it best when they said “Afraid of the Dark’s paranoid sonic landscape stems from indie rock as much as it does Wu-Tang Clan or Eminem.” Get ready to fall in love with the mixture of TRØN’s easy, smooth flow mixed with DVD’s gravely, bellowing delivery. Not to mention guest turns from Kiam label mates Amy Bezunartea, Jennifer O’Connor, as well as co-production from Tom Beaujour. Favorite line on the record? “They be thinkin’ we went Paleo we go against grains.” #sogood Check out the vital “Vigilantes.”