Once again, I’m pretty tardy with this thing, I’m not really sure why it takes me so long to post these, considering I only write this little paragraph (and I usually phone that in too). This week Drake tackles the latest from everybody’s favorite secret Scientologist, Beck and a new one from sludge metal veterans, Melvins. (That’s right, you waited a whole week for that little nugget.) -ed.
Drake’s Take: New Releases 07.08.08
After last week’s short showing, the crop this week more than makes up for it. The obvious release this week is the much anticipated team up of Beck with producer Danger Mouse (DangerBeck?) on the album Modern Guilt. Also this week sees new releases from Melvins, Albert Hammond Jr., Feral Children, Ratatat (poached last week,) Abe Vigoda and a strange collaboration between Patty Smith and MBV’s Kevin Shields.
Playlist: New Releases 07.08.08
Beck – Modern Guilt
Stream / Purchase [mp3]
Beck is dancing a jig at the end of the world… or maybe he’s the paranoid stoner on the look out for the cops at the party, either way, the juxtaposition of lamenting the apocalypse and the feel-good vibes that Danger Mouse provides is something to hear. The music is closer to Odelay, but the bummer feel behind it is all Sea Change. The one song that melds the sound with the lyrics is the stunning closer “Volcano,” and there’s a lyric in it that perhaps reveals a lot about Beck and a more personal theme of the album:
“I’m tired of people who only want to be pleased, but I still want to please you.”
Melvins – Nude with Boots
Stream
Appropriate for a new Melvins release to precede the Sub Pop music festival, as the band’s sludge-laden rock riffs anticipated Sub Pop’s meal ticket of grunge, and were a specific influence on Nirvana’s early sound (Nirvana’s first demo had Melvins Dale Crover on the drums). Melvins famously relocated to San Francisco in 1988, just missing the grunge scene’s breakthrough, leaving behind bassist Matt Lukin who then formed Mudhoney with Mark Arm and Steve Turner. Melvins have remarkably remained together all these years despite remaining mostly a footnote in the casual indie rock fan’s ledger. Nude Boots is the most straight ahead recording they’ve done, yet, like any other Melvins recording, it still pounds with the force of a thousand suns.
Free album stream from AOL
Download: “Nude with Boots” [mp3]
More on the radar this week:
Abe Vigoda – Skeleton (AOL stream)
Ratatat – LP3 / Free album stream from AOL / “Mirando” [mp3]
The Baseball Project – Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails (AOL stream)
Feral Children – Second to the Last Frontier / “Spy/Glass House” [mp3]
Matt Keating – Quixotic / “St. Cloud” [mp3]
Little Jackie – The Stoop
Saul Williams – The Inevitable Rise and Liberation Of Niggy Tardust / “World on Wheels” [mp3]
Patti Smith & Kevin Shields – The Coral Sea
Son, Ambulance – Someone Else’s Déjà Vu
Ron Sexsmith – Exit Strategy of the Soul / Free album stream from AOL / “Brandy Alexander” [mp3]
Killer Mike – I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind II / Free album stream from AOL
Old Believers – 8 Golden Greats / “There It Is” [mp3]
The Telepathic Butterflies – Breakfast in Suburbia
Jean Grae – Jeanius
Devin Lima – Mozart Popart
Willie Nelson/Wynton Marsalis – Two Men With The Blues / Free album stream from AOL
Totimoshi – Milagrosa
Vancougar – Canadian Tuxedo / “Obvious” [mp3]
Street Dogs – State of Grace
The Weeks – Comeback Cadillac
Kerli – Love Is Dead
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Have Another Ball
Kerli – Love Is Dead
The Gits – The Best of the Gits
Life Beyond Mars – Bowie Covered
Reissue
Billy Joel – The Stranger (30th anniversary deluxe edition)