Bloc Party - “Four”: After electronic excursions and solo outings, the British indie rock ensemble is back, marrying its recent experiments with some downright grungy riffage. “Four” is a commendable comeback, if you feel obliged to use the word. It’s a record that’s more focused than the last two Bloc Party albums and one which finds the group in top fighting form, its fists balled up and its collective stare cold and unshakable. If rock is what you came for, there’s plenty to satiate you. Bloc Party’s approach for “Four” downplays the band’s ’80s post-punk debt and instead opts for modern metal riffing placed in grunge song structures. Perhaps unsurprisingly, “Four” functions best as a sustained listen (instead of as isolated tracks), where the looping dance beats, colossal riffs, and tender pinings can play off one another in long-form. - AJ Ramirez
Ry Cooder - “Election Special”: The guitar legend channels Woody Guthrie on his brilliant new album, which is as direct as its title. A political broadside aimed at the hostile takeover of America by Wall Street traders and greedy corporate raiders, it’s guaranteed to please anyone inclined to give it a sympathetic listen. The music is the same basic mix of folk and blues that Cooder made his mark with, not that far removed from touchstones like Guthrie and Johnson. The stories are likewise timeless, though they are very much of this time in their details. - Jeff Schwager
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - “Mature Themes”: “Mature Themes” is a record that could have come from another planet, which is the strongest selling point to anyone vaguely interested in music that challenges. By the time the album reaches “Baby” - which feels like a bit of an encore given its positioning in the track list, and a song that Pink clearly loves (he even contributed an audio interview to the recent reissue of the album “Baby” originally hails from) - you feel like you have experienced the music, rather than just be passively be moved by it. “Mature Themes” is a somewhat challenging record, one that makes every effort to repel and entrance listeners in equal measure. It is, after all, the album that Pink wanted to make before “Before Today” or simply, for that matter, before today. - Zachary Houle
Yeasayer - “Fragrant World”: “Fragrant World” continues Yeasayer’s fascination with dense, interlocking synths - but where are the hooks? Like 2010’s “Odd Blood,” “Fragrant World” is a clamorous shift away from the sunshine psychedelia (“2080,” “Wait for the Summer”) that marked the Brooklyn band’s first success. It’s heavy and impassably dense, which is “Fragrant World”’s most glaring fault. Much of the album feels swampy where “Ambling Alp” and “Madder Red” were direct and hooky, and too often the electro clutter weighs it down more. Wilder’s “Blue Paper” emerges plodding and directionless. And while there’s a strange, angular melody buried beneath “Folk Hero Shtick” (you can hear it in concert), you can hardly salvage it from the gratuitous samplers and processors. - Zach Schonfeld
Other notable releases this week:
- Michael Burks - “Show of Strength”
- The Darkness - “Hot Cakes”
- Bill Fay - “Life Is People”
- JJ Doom - “Key to the Kuffs”
- The Heavy - “Glorious Dead”
- Kiss - “Destroyer: Resurrected”
- Dylan LeBlanc - “Cast the Same Old Shadow”
- Lynyrd Skynyrd - “Last of a Dyin’ Breed”
- Taj Mahal - “Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973”
- Owl City - “The Midsummer Station”
- Six Organs of Admittance - “Ascent”
- Trey Songz - “Chapter V”
- Young Fresh Fellows - “Tiempo De Lujo”
EAGERLY AWAITING
Earlimart offers up new song, “97 Heart Attack”
From the opening guitar strum, the laid back simplicity of the tune is a trademark by this L.A.-based duo of Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray. Since their 2008 album “Hymn and Her,” the pair has kept busy touring and composing tracks for various film/ TV projects. They also collaborated with members of the band Grandaddy for the 2010 release of Admiral Radley’s “I Heart California.” Plus, Espinoza has produced artists such as Ben Gibbard, Port O’Brien and the Henry Clay People. “System Preferences” will be released on Earlimart’s own label, the Ship, digitally on September 18 and October 16 on CD and LP. - Jane Jansen Seymour
ON SCREEN
iamamiwhoami’s “Play” might be one of the best singles released this year
After several listens of iamamiwhoami’s new album “Kin,” the whole thing begins to feel like the best Bjork album that Bjork never made: sonically daring without sacrificing song structure or emotive impact. “Play” is a tune that features wheezing, failing synths, creating an extremely distinct sonic impression, the low bass sounds serving as a great anchor for Jonna Lee’s high-pitched, echoed vocals. While there are times where her lyrics are a bit hard to understand on this album, “Play” brings everything into focus, creating a remarkably sweet portrait of a one-sided romance in action. It’s potent stuff, and with the numerous vocal elements brought in (from the “la la la’s” after the chorus to the small harmonious add-ons in the second verse), it’s surprisingly evocative, that fine mix of cold electronics and a beating human heart at the center making something that’s completely distinct and endlessly fascinating. In fact, it might very well be one of the best tracks of the year. - Evan Sawdey
DOWNLOAD
The Orb - “Golden Clouds” (81Neutronz Remix) (MP3)
You are in for a big treat as the legendary electronic group the Orb has teamed with iconic reggae and dub master Lee Scratch Perry to produce the full-length album “The Observer in the Star House” releasing Sept. 3. The tune “Golden Clouds” is a reworking of the classic Orb tune “Little Fluffy Clouds,” which keeps the ethereal waves of synths, but ups the dub and adds vocals by Perry. The 81Neutronz remix that we present here builds the song out with layers of dubstep beats. The remixes are thoroughly compelling, building on the majesty of the original song “Little Fluffy Clouds” and adding new dimensions and elements. - Sarah Zupko
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