In what’s been another bumper week for quality new albums, nearly 10 high profile releases, all hitting the shops next Mondays, were previewed online. Beginning by Gonjasufi, the yoga teacher, Flying Lotus collaborator and spiritual electronica purveyor that with ‘A Sufi & A Killer’ has got one of the most exciting albums of the year on his hands. It can still be heard in full at Clash magazine’s website.
MySpace is offering a few notable previews. Namely, Broken Bells’ debut album, the project formed by The Shins’ frontman James Mercer and Danger Mouse, already shaking alternative circles; Art-rockers Liars’ comeback with ‘Sisterworld’, hailed as a return to the peaks of ‘Drum’s Not Dead’ and energetic hardcore rockers Titus Andronicus with their second work ‘The Monitor’.
Damon Albarn’s and co animated popstars Gorillaz are back with a third offering, that on first impression sounds like the band’s most accomplished effort to date. A constellation of veteran stars –Lou Reed, Snoop Dogg, Mos Deff, Bobby Womack; Gruff Rhys; De La Soul, detc- collaborates. British newspaper The Guardian still has the premiere and the band is currently invading all audiovisual channels with all sorts of initiatives to support the launch.
Spinner’s listening post was humming and offering a bunch of interesting new albums including the latest from The Ruby Sun’ ‘Fight Softly’; The Besnard Lakes’ ‘Are The Roaring Road’ and Frightened Rabbitt’s ‘ The Winter Of Mixed Drinks’
Last, but not least, San Francisco indie pop craftsmen The Morning Benders have put together what is likely becoming their breakthrough record, ‘Big Echo’. Happy listening!
Not a week with big headlines to remember. We worried about the news of Guru’s being in a coma after a heart attack; luckily news of his evolution were positive and the rapper is allegedly recovering. Other than that, the first gig of Pavement’s long awaited reunion flooded the internet from Auckland. Videos of some of the concert highlights can be watched here.
Apart from the ones that already went to the top of our loops, among the tracks that have caught our attention this week we find most promising new band Rober nominees The Drums, following up their surftastic debut EP with a slice fine indie pop called ‘Just Friends’.
Devo announced their return to the studio after two decades and offered their rather good ‘Fresh’ while launching a curious colour study research through their website. On the other side of the coin, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim gave us a new taste of their Imelda Marcos inspired project. ‘Why Don’t You Love Me’ counts with Cyndi Lauper and Tori Amos as lead vocalists and it builds on the impression that the project is shaping up to be one of the year’s biggest disappointments.
Three returning bands were offering free goodies to their fans. British angular rockers Foals’ first taster from their second album ‘Spanish Sahara’ was unveiled this week. The Mount Kimbie remix of the track was given away in exchange for your email. Courtney Love did the same with ‘Skinny Little Bitch’. The first single of Hole’s controversial reunion comes years after Love’s career sank and looks a bit as a desperate attempt to rescue her career. Love’s former boyfriend and nineties alt-rock titan Billy Corgan, carried on his plan to slowly giving away his double new album –rumours of a ‘Mellon Collie’ soundalike abounds- free through the Smashing Pumpkins website. The first bits don’t look too promising either.
Elsewhere The Fader offered as usual a free download of their monthly podcast, including excellent stuff by new female rap sensation Nicky Minaj; Midlake; etc. and influential blog Gorilla Vs Bear offered a link to the new Rangers mixtape.
Many new and interesting videos also grazed the internet during the last seven days. Domino’s latest discovery Villagers; ‘Freak’, Estelle’s follow-up to ‘American Boy’; Crookers italo-bonkers ‘Festa Festa’ from the DJ duo’s imminent debut album ‘Tons Of Friend’
South-African trailer trash satire rappers are poised to be the next big novelty thing thanks to songs like the rather funny ‘Enter The Ninja’. And last, with certain delayed compared to the date their singles leaked, both Goldfrapp and Gorillaz have finally delivered their new videos. Goldfrapp’s ‘Rocket’ is an homage to the eighties sounds and clips that have inspired their fifth album. Meanwhile the biggest cartoon rock star ever have hired action star Bruce Willis to appear in their new promo ‘Stylo‘.