It’s a Drake double header this week (though not really a jumbo edition) and I must admit his choices have me a little bit puzzled. The Q-Tip release all but passed me by completely and I thought the Deerhunter record came out ages ago (I guess because it leaked sometime in June). Over on this coast, folks were buzzing about the new ones from Crystal Stilts, O’ death, Little Joy, Fight Bite, and Deerhunter too, I suppose. -ed.
PS It’s seems that the folks over P4K think Drake has chosen wisely.
Drake’s Take: New Releases 10.28.08 – 11.03.08
Dropped the ball last week on the new releases, basically running out of time in a very busy week, so I’m combining them, as I don’t want to let the new Deerhunter album slip by us without comment. Also from last week there’s new releases from Ryan Adams and Cardinals, Eagles Of Death Metal, Bloc Party and Crystal Stilts. This week sees the highly anticipated new release from Q-Tip (see earlier post on it,) along with a compilation from Danielson, and new releases from Black Moth Super Rainbow, Travis and Megapuss.
Playlist: New Releases 10.28.08
Playlist: New Releases 11.04.08
Deerhunter – Microcastle
Stream / Purchase [mp3]
Frontman Bradford Cox has had a very busy year, first releasing a fine album from his solo project Atlas Sound, and now the latest from his primary vehicle, Deerhunter. The timing of these albums contribute to the belief that perhaps the differences in his bands are getting to be a lot less, thanks in part to Microcastle relying more on pop conventions than past releases. There’s still plenty of noise and artful moments here to be sure, but the swing to convention is concrete to the ears, and the sound is thrilling. In fact, the two songs that have the biggest impact have less to do with Cox than previous albums, “Agoraphobia” features guitarist Locket Pundt on vocals, and “Nothing Ever Happened” was mostly written by bassist Josh Fauver. The album is supposed to be reliant on pop of the 50’s and 60’s, and it’s there if you look hard enough… like hearing The Everly Brothers through the ears of My Bloody Valentine.
Q-Tip – The Renaissance
Stream / Purchase [mp3]
“Where have I been? I was waiting for the time to be right.”
Q-Tip
I guess the right time is election day 2008, which is amplified by the early version of the album’s closer “Shaka,” which earlier versions contained snippets from a Barack Obama speech (not in released version). While many folks have been waiting for Guns n’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy, I’ve been eagerly awaiting Q-Tip’s latest, if for no other reason than to see if it actually saw the light of day. This is the third album QT has recorded since Amplified (1999) and the first to get a physical release (2002’s Kamaal the Abstract came the closest, getting shelved by his label at the last minute after deeming it uncommercial). Needless to day, the Bush years haven’t been too kind to Q-Tip. It’s no wonder that The Renaissance signals a return to QT’s A Tribe Called Quest days, specifically the jazz collage of Midnight Marauder, from the syncopated piano of the opener “Johnny’s Dead” to Norah Jones guest vocals on “Life is Better” (the best song she’s ever sang on, in my book,) it’s apparent that QT is back.
More on the radar (and in the mp3 player) this week (AOL Streams rollover 10/27)
Ryan Adams – Cardinology
Eagles Of Death Metal – Heart On
Bloc Party – Intimacy
Crystal Stilts – Alight of Night
The Darling Downs – From One to Another
Larkin Grimm – Parplar
Lucinda Williams – Lu in 08
Kaiser Chiefs – Off With Their Heads
School Of Seven Bells – Alpinisms
Snow Patrol – A Hundred Million Suns
Cobra Verde – Haven’t Slept All Year
The Damned – So Who’s Paranoid
I Am Robot And Proud – Uphill City
Juliette Commagere – Queens Die Proudly
Fight Bite – Emerald Eye
O’ death – Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin
OMFGG – Original Music Featured On Gossip Girl No. 1
REISSUE
Pere Ubu – Dub Housing
NOVEMBER 4
Danielson – Trying Hartz
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Drippers EP
Megapuss – Surfing
Travis – Ode to J. Smith
Dragonette – Galore
Eulogies – Eulogies
Little Joy – Little Joy
Paul Weller – Weller at the BBC
Tipsy – Buzzz
Prototypes – Synthetique
HushPuppies – Silence Is Golden
Curumin – Japanpopshow
Drew Andrews – Only Mirrors
Thunder Power – Love Yourself
Johann Johannsson – Fordlandia
The So So Glos – Toursim/Terrorism
For what it’s worth, both the albums I profiled here have since turned out to be the best reviewed albums during the designated period, and are going to be on a lot of critic’s year-end top 10 lists.
Just goes to show ya that I don’t know my ass from a hole in the ground. Admittedly, the Deerhunter record has many admirers, the Q-Tip record, not being in my main oeuvre, flew completely under my radar. It’s been all Crystal Stilts (and Crystal this and that) around here since CMJ.