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THESE NEW PURITANS
Field of Reeds

Brand new album from These New Puritans. In a way, it was completely unexpected. Pigeonholed as promising but limited indie rock types, These New Puritans decided to break down these barriers with their second album: released back in 2010, Hidden was a torrent of ideas, a stunning mixture of free jazz and left field rock, all delivered with an orchestral sweep. Since then, the band have played some very special live shows before heading back into the studio. And now Field of Reeds is born: a new path of flared and dilated indie-rock, inspired songwriting and, of course, nothing taken for granted.

ARTIST: These New Puritans
TITLE: Field of Reeds
LABEL: Infectious
RELEASE DATE: June 10, 2013
TIME: 53:13 min.
WEB: http://www.thesenewpuritans.com/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. The Way I Do [03:03]
02. Fragment Two [04:35]
03. The Light in Your Name [06:05]
04. V (island song) [09:18]
05. Spiral [06:05]
06. Organ Eternal [05:03]
07. Nothing Else [07:51]
08. Dream [04:16]
09. Field of Reeds [06:27]

PREVIEW: These New Puritans – Fragment Two

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THE BLACK ANGELS
Indigo Meadow

Indigo Meadow marks The Black Angels’ 4th full-length release, following 2010′s acclaimed Phosphene Dream. Once again the Austin-based band proves themselves the undisputed avatars of contemporary psychedelic rock, simultaneously exalting the genre’s kaleidoscopic past as they thrust it further into the future. Now a four-piece ably supported behind the board by producer/mixer John Congleton (David Byrne, St. Vincent, Explosions in the Sky, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) the band have brought new focus to their wide-ranging song craft, the righteous riffs and dogmatic drones gaining increased power as they fuel a more expansive emotional terrain. A 21st century trip as transcendent as any in the canon, Indigo Meadow masterfully affirms The Black Angels full-throttle commitment to the psychedelic ethos of creativity, community and boundless experimentation.

ARTIST: The Black Angels
TITLE: Indigo Meadow
LABEL: Blue Horizon Ventures
RELEASE DATE: April 2, 2013
TIME: 45:49 min.
WEB: http://theblackangels.com/
PURCHASE: special offer – ONLY 8.99$

01. Indigo Meadow [02:49]
02. Evil Things [03:44]
03. Don’t Play with Guns [03:43]
04. Holland [04:02]
05. The Day [02:37]
06. Love Me Forever [03:10]
07. Always Maybe [04:08]
08. War On Holiday [02:35]
09. Broken Soldier [03:36]
10. I Hear Colors (chromaesthesia) [04:03]
11. Twisted Light [03:21]
12. You’re Mine [03:40]
13. Black Isn’t Black [04:21]

PREVIEW: The Black Angels – The Day

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SAVAGES
Silence Yourself

Inspiration, not innovation, is what you should look for in Savages. You should take this four-girls London-based band, with their furious, high-velocity update of Joy Division, Simple Minds, British Sea Power, The Smashing Pumpkins, Einsturzende Neubauten, Bauhaus, The Birthday Party, Suede and so on over a thousand pallid boys who’ve managed, somehow, to divine an original sound at the end of post-modernism. Why? Because Silence Yourself is the manifestation of a formidable spirit, a sense that everything they do is done with great purity of intent, and a brilliant sex, life and death album of a kind rarely seen these days.

ARTIST: Savages
TITLE: Silence Yourself
LABEL: Matador
RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2013
TIME: 38:39 min.
WEB: http://savagesband.com/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. Shut Up [04:48]
02. I Am Here [03:20]
03. City’s Full [03:27]
04. Strife [03:57]
05. Waiting For A Sign [05:25]
06. Dead Nature [02:06]
07. She Will [03:27]
08. No Face [03:35]
09. Hit Me [01:41]
10. Husbands [02:50]
11. Marshal Dear [04:03]

PREVIEW: Savages – Husbands

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PORTFOLIO
We | Humans

Brand new EP from Reggio Emilia-based post-rockers Portfolio, featuring two unreleased tracks plus Beth Gibbons e Kim Novak, taken from their debut The Standing Babas, but here nicely re-worked. The first remixed by Silent Panda | Deadly Panda (a.k.a. Luca G from Julie’s Haircut), who plays guitars also on James Horses Chariot and Sion. The second one shows a wonderful different skin with less electronics and the introduction of a string quartet. An appreciated appetizer while waiting for their second full-length, sweetly enhanced by Laura Loriga‘s (Mimes of Wine, Giardini di Mirò) voice.

ARTIST: Portfolio
TITLE: We | Humans
LABEL: This Is the Land
RELEASE DATE: May 06, 2013
TIME: 24:54 min.
WEB: http://www.facebook.com/portfoliothesound
PURCHASE: special offer – NAME YOUR PRICE

01. James Horses Chariot [06:08]
02. Sion [07:17]
03. Kim Novak (with strings) [04:09]
04. Beth Gibbons (silent panda | deadly panda remix) [07:20]

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MUDHONEY
Vanishing Point

Mudhoney are still very much alive. The notion they’re not (or won’t be soon) is being bandied about by the band’s diehards who think the mere title of their new album, Vanishing Point (Mudhoney‘s 9th album, the first in five years) portends their end: no more grunge carnage and beer-guzzling hijinks? No worries about it: Mark Arm and his long-time friends’ groove-led-Stooges-acid-pop (with added screaming, of course) is still here. And it rocks hard as usual. Vanishing Point is filled once again with dread, psychoanalysis and Nuggets-on-fire riffs: the sort of uninhibited rock music that is harder and harder to locate these days.
Well, Mudhoney makes it easy.

ARTIST: Mudhoney
TITLE: Vanishing Poin
LABEL: Stickman
RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2013
TIME: 34:03 min.
WEB: http://mudhoneyonline.com/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. Slipping Away [04:45]
02. I Like It Small [03:40]
03. What to Do with the Neutral [03:29]
04. Chardronnay [01:36]
05. The Final Course [04:19]
06. In This Rubber Tomb [03:33]
07. I Don’t Remember You [02:34]
08. The Only Son of the Widow Nain [02:44]
09. Sing This Song of Joy [03:32]
10. Douchebags On Parade [04:19]

PREVIEW: Mudhoney – I Like It Small

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MOTORPSYCHO
Still Life with Eggplant

Roughly one year after the ambitious, orchestra-assisted collaboration with Ståle Storløkken entitled The Death Defying Unicorn, Norway’s most renowned psychedelic/hard rock act, Motorpsycho, delivers their 18th studio effort, Still Life with Eggplant. The music is almost as random as the title sounds, as the band is known for constantly shifting styles from one album to another. However, Still Life with Eggplant is one of their most accessible works, consisting of ideas Motorpsycho wrote in the past 3 years, but couldn’t find their place on their last year endeavor. As a result, there are various jazz traces, but most of material here has its’ roots in the hard rock sphere. The songs all aim for slightly different directions, none of them classifying as filler, while the melodic, sing-along vocals are usually catchy and memorable. This time, Reine Friske (Elephant9) was added as the second guitar player to the line-up to add some boost. Still Life with Eggplant is an enjoyable 45 minute ride that doesn’t consume the listener, it only wants him to sit back, bang his head to it and have a good time.

ARTIST: Motorpsycho
TITLE: Still Life with Eggplants
LABEL: Stickman
RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2013
TIME: 45:04 min.
WEB: http://motorpsycho.fix.no/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. Hell (part 1-3) [09:47]
02. August [04:53]
03. Barelycorn (let it come, let it be) [07:19]
04. Ratcatcher [17:10]
05. The Afterglow [05:57]

PREVIEW: Motorpsycho – The Afterglow

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THE NATIONAL
Trouble Will Find Me

Trouble Will Find Me is The National‘s highly anticipated 6th album. Formed in 1999, the Ohio-raised, Brooklyn-based band consists of vocalist Matt Berninger fronting two pairs of brothers: Aaron (guitar, bass, piano) and Bryce Dessner (guitar), and Scott (bass, guitar) and Bryan Devendorf (drums). Trouble Will Find Me is the most self-assured collection of songs produced by The National in its 14-year career: it is a tribute to fully evolved artistic vision and (somewhat less mystically), to sleep deprivation. Trouble Will Find Me is both dark and melancholic, uplifting and quietly euphoric: another masterpiece from The National.

ARTIST: The National
TITLE: Trouble Will Find Me
LABEL: 4AD
RELEASE DATE: May 21, 2013
TIME: 55:27 min.
WEB: http://www.americanmary.com/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. I Should Live in Salt [04:09]
02. Demons [03:33]
03. Don’t Swallow the Cap [04:47]
04. Fireproof [03:00]
05. Sea of Love [03:43]
06. Heavenfaced [04:25]
07. This Is the Last Time [04:45]
08. Graceless [04:37]
09. Slipped [04:26]
10. I Need My Girl [04:07]
11. Humilation [05:02]
12. Pink Rabbits [04:38]
13. Hard to Find [04:15]

PREVIEW: The National – Graceless

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ADULT.
The Way Things Fall

It’s been six years since the last full-length output from Detroit’s ADULT., who took a much needed and deserved hiatus, but nevertheless the husband-and-wife electronic team have returned. Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus survived several cycles of fashion, but their love of electro and kohl-eyed techno-pop is pure, unwavering and indefatigable. The Way Things Fall is filled with spiky electroclash, sparse disco-punk torch songs, pleasant enough in their own right, even if things get better when the going gets weirder: something like like an imaginary meeting of Siouxsie Sioux and Kraftwerk, or The B52s broken down and fed to Arpanet, ora again when Nicola stands her finest, most indolent/insolent vocal performances to a tough chassis of Aux88 style electro-tech.

ARTIST: ADULT.
TITLE: The Way Things Fall
LABEL: Ghostly International
RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013
TIME: 44:13 min.
WEB: http://www.adultperiod.com/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

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BIBIO
Silver Wilkinson

Stephen Wilkinson seems to occupy his own universe. Using his home studio, the producer is able to craft warped, woozy nuggets of electronic pop music which seem to break rules you hadn’t even considered were capable of being broken. 2011′s full length Mind Bokeh was a fantastic return, and since then Bibio has been busy performing live and playing with his near infinite supply of gadgets. Now the producer is ready to return, with new album Silver Wilkinson: filled with eastern harmonies and highlife influenced guitar lines, this is a wonderful piece of oddball sunshine pop.

ARTIST: Bibio
TITLE: Silver Wilkinson
LABEL: Warp
RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013
TIME: 48:59 min.
WEB: http://warp.net/records/bibio
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. The First Daffodils [02:57]
02. Dye the Water Green [05:26]
03. Wulf [02:10]
04. Mirroring All [05:39]
05. À Tout à l’Heure [04:10]
06. Sycamore Silhouetting [03:17]
07. You [05:29]
08. Raincoat [04:09]
09. Look at Orion! [07:38]
10. Business Park [05:00]
11. You Won’t Remember… [03:04]

PREVIEW: Bibio – The First Daffodils

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MISS KITTIN
Calling from the Stars

One of the enduring characters of electronic dance music, the formidable feline Miss Kittin gets expansive and expressive on her new double album, Calling from the Stars. The first disc boasts impulsively catchy tunes such as single Bassline but there’s also a broodingly romantic air on tracks such as Tears Like Kisses. Disc two reveals surprisingly trancey ambient electronica, with standouts including Sunset Mission. Overall, it’s a poppier contrast to this Grenoble star’s electroclash beginnings: even her characteristic deadpan vocals seem mellower. But don’t worry: it’s still commanding, though.
Miss Kittin hasn’t lost her sharp claws.

ARTIST: Miss Kittin
TITLE: Calling from the Stars
LABEL: Wagram / wSphere
RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2013
TIME: 1:49:35 min.
WEB: http://www.misskittin.com/
PURCHASE: special offer – ONLY 9.46$

01. Flash Forward [04:49]
02. Come Into My Eyes [06:11]
03. Bassline [03:37]
04. Calling from the Stars [04:46]
05. Life Is My Teacher [04:27]
06. Meneki Neko [02:49]
07. What to Wear [03:35]
08. Night of Light [04:48]
09. Tears Like Kisses [03:00]
10. Eleven [03:19]
11. Blue Grass [04:30]
12. See You [04:03]
13. Everybody Hurts [04:20]

14. Only You [05:04]
15. Cosmic Love Radiation [04:51]
16. Tamarin Bay [06:57]
17. Sunset Mission [05:39]
18. Mind Stretching [04:40]
19. Ballad of the 23rd Century [05:15]
20. What You See [03:49]
21. Sortie Des Artistes [02:18]
22. Silver Lake [05:20]
23. I Don’t Know How to Move [07:28]

PREVIEW: Miss Kittin – Bassline

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OFELIADORME
Bloodroot

It comes from Italy the strongest answer to one of the likely best album of the year, Daughter‘s If You Leave. OfeliaDorme are a 4-piece from Bologna and we’re sure they’recreate some of the most beautifully dramatic pieces of music you’re going to come across. Bloodroot follows their first full-length release in 2011 titled All Harm Ends Here and it’s an album you won’t hesitate a second to call it hypnotic. Because you won’t help stopping listening to it, that’s the fact. Indie-folk? Spacey-fuzz post-rock? It doesn’t matter.

ARTIST: OfeliaDorme
TITLE: Bloodroots
LABEL: The Prisoner / Audioglobe
RELEASE DATE: March 22, 2013
TIME: 30:07 min.
WEB: http://www.ofeliadorme.it/
PURCHASE: special offer – ONLY 8.91$

01. Last Day, First Day [03:24]
02. Bloodroot [02:29]
03. Magic Ring [02:18]
04. Pumpkin Girl [02:55]
05. Brussels [05:13]
06. Ulysses [03:58]
07. Predictable [03:19]
08. Stuttering Morning [02:23]
09. Otherwise [04:08]

PREVIEW: OfeliaDorme – Ulysses

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CRIMEA X
Another

Italian post-kraut-rock and cosmic-disco duo Crimea X have finished their second album, Another. It comes 2 years after their last effort, Prospective, and explores the same laidback yet spaced out sounds laced with intergalactic guitar riffs, wobbly pianos and skewed synth patterns that DJ Rocca (a.k.a. Luca Roccatagliati, producer for Daniele Baldelli, Ajello and Dimitri From Paris‘s partner in the Erodiscotique project) and Jukka Reverberi (Giardini di Mirò) have championed since first getting together. The album was produced by Norwegian legend Bjørn Torske who spent 10 days in the studio with the duo before returning home to mix it in Bergen. As a proof of value of Another, stands the fact that Prins Thomas likes the album so much he has decided to remix three tracks from it to release on his own label.

ARTIST: Crimea X
TITLE: Another
LABEL: Godfellas / Hell Yeah!
RELEASE DATE: March 26, 2013
TIME: 58:04 min.
WEB: https://soundcloud.com/crimea-x
PURCHASE: special offer – ONLY 7.99$

01. Essential [05:09]
02. Floordance Track [07:25]
03. Haunted Love [06:01]
04. Dream Is Gone [06:37]
05. Portable Water [04:58]
06. I Feel Russian [06:48]
07. Yev [05:09]
08. A Present [05:40]
09. Summer Rain [10:17]

PREVIEW: Crimea X – Yev

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THE FLAMING LIPS
The Terror

The Terror was produced by The Flaming Lips‘ long-time collaborator Dave Fridmann and the band itself at Tarbox Road Studios. It is comprised of a bunch of original compositions that reflect a darker-hued spectrum than previous works, along with a more inward-looking lyrical perspective than one might expect but then again, maybe not. It s up to you, the listener, to decide what it means to you. In our few words: bad vibes. The Flaming Lips have flirted with with them for a lengthy career. The Terror may be Wayne Coyne’s most concise statement to date. But it’s not clear whether The Flaming Lips are at the deep end of an oscillation or whether this is the logical end of all their work. There are few moments when love triumphs in the absurd back catalog, and when it appeared, Coyne always met it with questions and doubt. The Terror feels like certainty. It offers no hope but in terror: terror as joy beyond all reckoning, a junction of both fear and love, a purity that pours onto us after transgression. Wonderful, in a certain way.

ARTIST: The Flaming Lips
TITLE: The Terror
LABEL: Warner Bros. / Bella Union
RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2013
TIME: 1:03:16 min.
WEB: http://www.flaminglips.com/
PURCHASE: price – 10.00$

01. Look… the Sun is Rising [05:12]
02. Be Free, Away [05:13]
03. Try to Explain [05:00]
04. You Lust [13:03]
05. The Terror [06:22]
06. You Are Alone [03:47]
07. Butterfly, How Long It Takes to Die? [07:31]
08. Turning Violent [04:16]
09. Always There in Our Hearts [04:35]

01. Sun Blows Up Today [03:11]
02. All You Need Is Love [05:06]

PREVIEW: The Flaming Lips – Turning Violent

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JAMES BLAKE
Overgrown

2nd album from the British singer, songwriter and producer James Blake. Musically broad and emotionally deep, Overgrown as big as an advance on James’s eponymous 2011 debut. The growth is similar to the evolution that album evinced from the mercurial dubstep of his early EPs. It also reflects how much the 24-year-old Londoner’s life has changed in the past two years. His debut sold over 400,000 copies: quite a feat for a record so uncompromisingly introspective and experimental. Practically every song on this album is strong, and the only weakness of the record is the lack of experimentation on Blake’s part. The whole thing seems like a refinement on what he’s worked on so far. Perhaps the problem is that Blake’s first record was so revolutionary that the surprise factor of the whole thing just isn’t there anymore. Still, if that’s the only criticism to be had for the album, Blake can probably sleep soundly at night. If you haven’t started paying attention to him yet, this is the perfect time to start.

ARTIST: James Blake
TITLE: Overgrown
LABEL: Universal
RELEASE DATE: April 9, 2013
TIME: 39:31 min.
WEB: http://jamesblakemusic.com/
PURCHASE: price – 9.99$

01. Overgrown [05:01]
02. I Am Sold [04:05]
03. Life Round Here [03:37]
04. Take A Fall For Me [03:34]
05. Retrograde [03:44]
06. DLM [02:26]
07. Digital Lion [04:47]
08. Voyeur [04:18]
09. To the Last [04:20]
10. Our Love Comes Back [03:39]

PREVIEW: James Blake – Voyeur

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SUUNS
Images du Futur

Images du Futur builds upon the intensity of Suuns‘ 2010 debut, but often does so through new textures and subtler dynamic maneuvering: single bass lines repeated from which layers build and rise first drums, then a wash of white noise, echoes of guitar, then chanted vocals. These are not songs, these are stark, skeletal boogies and astral projections of sounds. Images du Futur is a heavy, slow rock album that will be jarring for those expecting big hooks, but it’s also rewarding for anyone willing to formulate their own interpretation.

ARTIST: Suuns
TITLE: Images du Futur
LABEL: Secretly Canadian
RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2013
TIME: 45:16 min.
WEB: http://secretlycanadian.com/artist/suuns
PURCHASE: price – 13.21$

01. Powers of Ten [02:53]
02. 2020 [04:13]
03. Minor Work [05:54]
04. Mirror Mirror [03:57]
05. Edie’s Dream [04:21]
06. Sunspot [04:36]
07. Bambi [04:57]
08. Holocene City [04:54]
09. Images du Futur [03:35]
10. Music Won’t Save You [05:56]

PREVIEW: Suuns – 2020

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PVT
Homosapien

PVT (formerly Pivot) have this crazy futuristic sound that brings to mind bands of the past. Wait. That makes no sense, someone could say. Well, regardless that’s the case: there’s a sense of future visions, all wrapped in a warm analog blanket. Elements of Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, and Depeche Mode float along in the DNA and chromosomal make up of Homosapien. But there’s also hints of PVT‘s peers. The Australian band continues the evolution of its sound. They create soundscapes that are dark, sensual, and mysterious. They create a world of purple skies and worm holes to the past and future. They create pop music for people that think they don’t like pop music. Homosapien is an indulgence of the senses.

ARTIST: PVT
TITLE: Homosapien
LABEL: Felte
RELEASE DATE: February 11, 2013
TIME: 43:14 min.
WEB: http://pvtpvt.net/
PURCHASE: price – 11.99$

01. Shiver [03:34]
02. Evolution [03:57]
03. Electric [03:33]
04. Cold Romance [05:15]
05. Love & Defeat [03:59]
06. Homosapien [04:22]
07. Vertigo [04:02]
08. Nightfall [03:25]
09. New Morning [04:01]
10. Casual Sucess [04:33]
11. Ziggurat [02:33]

PREVIEW: PVT – Electric

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