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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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SOUNDGARDEN
King Animal

Let’s state it first: King Animal is a modern take on vintage rock and a natural progression for Soundgarden, rather than a fancy comeback album. Then we must admit how difficult it is to write an objective review when your favorite band returns with an album after 16 years of absence and it sounds this good. But, to make it again perfectly clear, King Animal is not a throwback to past glory. It’s not Superunknown, nor is it trying to get anywhere close to that even if it could. King Animal sounds like what Soundgarden should sound like now. More importantly, the solid musicianship, the creativity and the energy of their youth is still there. and it’s the presence of their unmistakable signature sound that will shock you. It’s still there and it still blows your mind to bits: Soundgarden haven’t lost a step. They kept on rowing.

ARTIST: Soundgarden
TITLE: King Animal
LABEL: Universal
RELEASE DATE: November 13, 2012
TIME: 51:24 min.
WEB: http://www.soundgardenworld.com/
PURCHASE: http://www.amazon.com

01. Been Away Too Long [03:36]
02. Non-State Actor [03:55]
03. By Crooked Steps [03:58]
04. A Thousand Days Before [04:24]
05. Blood On the Valley Floor [03:41]
06. Bones of Birds [04:19]
07. Taree [03:39]
08. Attrition [02:47]
09. Black Saturday [03:27]
10. Halfway There [03:14]
11. Worse Dreams [04:52]
12. Eyelids Mouth [04:28]
13. Rowing [05:04]

Soundgarden – Taree

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SAINT-ETIENNE
Words and Music

Deluxe 2CD edition from the British electronic pop trio Saint-Etienne: their first album in seven years and their eighth studio album overall. Words and Music features collaborations from long-time Saint-Etienne associate Ian Catt, as well as producer Richard X and Nick Coler. Words and Music is an album about how music affects your life: how it defines the way you see the world as a child, how it can get you through bad times in unexpected ways, and how songs you’ve known all your life can suddenly develop a new attachment, and hurt every time you hear them. More than how it affects and reflects your life, though, the album is about believing in music, living your life by its rules. Pop begins here.

ARTIST: Saint-Etienne
TITLE: Words and Music
LABEL: Universal
RELEASE DATE: May 29, 2012
TIME: 1:54:06 min.
WEB: http://www.saintetienne.com/

01. Over the Border [05:05]
02. I’ve Got Music [03:47]
03. Heading for the Fair [03:45]
04. Last Days of Disco [03:36]
05. Tonight [04:38]
06. Answer Song [03:26]
07. Record Doctor [00:53]
08. Popular [03:24]
09. Twenty Five Years [03:41]
10. DJ [04:40]
11. When I Was Seventeen [03:38]
12. I Threw It All Away [03:28]
13. Haunted Jukebox [04:15]

01. Tonight (two bears remix) [07:18]
02. Last Days of Disco (erol alkan remix) [03:47]
03. DJ (stay+ remix) [03:45]
04. I’ve Got Your Music (golden filter remix) [07:09]
05. Popular (tom middleton cosmos remix) [08:18]
06. Heading for the Fair (the time and space machine waltzer remix) [07:57]
07. Tonight (club clique remix) [04:40]
08. Answer Song (white horses remix) [03:37]
09. Haunted Jukebox (summer camp remix) [03:27]
10. I’ve Got Your Music (kisses remix) [04:23]
11. DJ (muddyloop remix) [04:17]
12. Last Days of Disco (beat connection remix) [04:42]

Saint-Etienne – Tonight
Saint-Etienne – I’ve Got Your Music (golden filter remix)

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KEANE
Strangeland

Four years have elapsed since Keane‘s last album Perfect Symmetry, two since Night Train, the EP which followed its three full-length predecessors to the top of the British album charts. If Keane‘s feverishly loyal fan base wondered what the group’s next album would sound like, they weren’t the only ones. So now Strangeland is here: produced by Dan Grech (Radiohead, The Vaccines, Howling Bells) and recorded at Sea Fog, Keane songwriter/pianist Tim Rice-Oxley‘s studio in South Downs, UK.

ARTIST: Keane
TITLE: Strangeland
LABEL: Universal / Island
RELEASE DATE: May 4, 2012
TIME: 45:20 min.
WEB: http://www.keanemusic.com/

01. You Are Young [03:36]
02. Silenced by the Night [03:16]
03. Disconnected [03:58]
04. Watch How You Go [03:40]
05. Sovereign Light Cafe [03:39]
06. On the Road [03:57]
07. The Starting Line [04:12]
08. Black Rain [03:47]
09. Neon River [04:53]
10. Day Will Come [03:12]
11. In Your Own Time [03:44]
12. Sea Fog [03:26]

Keane – On the Road

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GRANDADDY
The Sophtmore Slump (deluxe edition)

Digitally remastered and expanded 2-CD edition of the 2000 sophomore album from one of the most seminal American indie-rock bands, including an entire second disc of bonus material selected by Jason Lytle and Jim Fairchild who also provide illuminatingly honest sleeve notes. Disc 2 rounds up non album singles, b-sides, and EP tracks plus two previously unreleased demos for Beautiful Ground and Hewlett’s Daughter and the original intro, discarded before release, of He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s The Pilot, the album’s magnum opus. These bonus tracks simply add to The Sophtware Slump‘s entrancing, breathtaking charm and offer a more complete picture of the band’s creative output during this important period in its history. Granddaddy‘s influence and originality is felt and made its mark on many of today’s most compelling artists: Midlake, Modest Mouse (which includes ex-guitarist Jim Fairchild), Conor Oberst and so on.

ARTIST: Grandaddy
TITLE: The Sophtmore Slump (deluxe edition)
LABEL: Universal
RELEASE DATE: August 30, 2011
TIME: 1:53:59 min.
WEB: http://jasonlytle.com/

01. He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s the Pilot [08:53]
02. Hewlett’s Daughter [03:07]
03. Jed the Humanoid [04:19]
04. The Crystal Lake [05:00]
05. Chartsengrafs [02:51]
06. Underneath the Weeping Willow [02:41]
07. Broken Household Appliance National Forest [04:34]
08. Jed’s Other Poem (beautiful ground) [03:25]
09. E. Knievel Interlude (the perils of keeping it real) [01:58]
10. Miner at the Dial-A-View [05:21]
11. So You’ll Aim Towards the Sky [04:43]

01. Discarded Pilot (intro) [01:53]
02. Our dying Brains [04:43]
03. L.F.O. [03:33]
04. Wives of Farmers [03:40]
05. Chartsengrafs (original demo) [01:50]
06. N. Blender [04:05]
07. Wonder Why in L.A. [04:32]
08. Air Conditioners in the Woods [00:07]
09. Moe Bandy Mountaineers [02:20]
10. First Movement / Message Send [08:08]
11. XD-Data-II [05:02]
12. Beautiful Ground (original cassette demo) [03:30]
13. Street Bunny [02:04]
14. She-Deleter [05:58]
15. What Can’t Be Erased (drinking beer in the bank of america with two chicks from tempe arizona) [04:28]
16. I Don’t Want to Record Anymore [01:51]
17. Aisle Seat 37-D [04:07]
18. Hewlett’s Daughter (original cassette tape demo) [04:33]
19. Rode My Bike to My Stepsister’s Wedding [04:43]

Grandaddy – Chartsengrafs
Grandaddy – Street Bunny

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YUKSEK
Living On the Edge of Time

By the time you’re a few numbers into this second album from Reims artist/producer Yuksek (aka Pierre-Alexandre Busson), several reference points will have sprung to mind (mainly fellow French electro acts Phoenix and Daft Punk but also The Knife and even Duran Duran). Familiarity doesn’t breed contempt, however, because Yuksek blitzes these ingredients into his own yummy concoction. Living On the Edge of Time sharpens the poppy songwriting hooks he revealed on his 2009 debut, Away From the Sea, with snappy stand-outs. These tracks apparently reflect Yuksek’s transient life on the road but they’re catchy enough to shake our asses: surely one of the best and underrated producers kicking around.

ARTIST: Yuksek
TITLE: Living On the Edge of Time
LABEL: Polydor / Universal
RELEASE DATE: July 12, 2011
TIME: 44:44 min.
WEB: http://yuksekmusic.tumblr.com/

01. Always On the Run [03:38]
02. White Keys [03:21]
03. Off the Wall [03:22]
04. On a Train [03:59]
05. Say a Word [03:05]
06. To See You Smile [03:05]
07. The Edge [05:50]
08. Fireworks [04:21]
09. 9-Miracle [04:05]
10. You Should Talk [04:00]
11. Dead or Alive [05:07]

Yuksek – Always On the Run

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SUEDE
The Best Of

Two CD collection from the britpop band led by vocalist Brett Anderson and featuring guitarist Bernard Butler, now a renowned producer. Features all of Suede‘s biggest hits showcasing the group’s early material with outstanding new production. This is the only Suede hits compilation that has been endorsed by the band. During the band’s early years, they effectively instigated a new focus on British guitar music which had been largely eclipsed by grunge before their emergence: their inexorable rise saw them become one of the biggest groups in the country, a success which was replicated in many countries around the world. In 1999, after five studio albums, the group split. They returned triumphantly in March this year, playing three incredible and critically acclaimed shows including London’s Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

ARTIST: Suede
TITLE: Best Of
LABEL: Universal
RELEASE DATE: November 9, 2010
TIME: 127:49 min.
WEB: http://www.suede.co.uk/

01. Animal Nitrate [03:29]
02. Beautiful Ones [03:50]
03. Trash [04:09]
04. Filmstar [03:29]
05. Metal Mickey [03:28]
06. New Generation [04:36]
07. So Young [03:42]
08. The Wild Ones [04:45]
09. The Drowners [04:11]
10. Stay Together [04:20]
11. Lazy [03:19]
12. Everything Will Follow [04:43]
13. We Are the Pigs [03:59]
14. Can’t Get Enough [03:59]
15. Electricity [04:42]
16. Obsessions [04:11]
17. She’s in Fashion [04:53]
18. Saturday Night [04:29]

01. Pantomime Horse [05:51]
02. My Insatiable One [02:58]
03. Killing of a Flashboy [04:06]
04. This Hollywood Life [03:31]
05. Europe Is Our Playground [05:38]
06. My Dark Star [04:24]
07. Sleeping Pills [03:53]
08. By the Sea [04:18]
09. She [03:40]
10. Heroine [03:21]
11. The Living Dead [02:50]
12. To the Birds [05:25]
13. The Big Time [04:29]
14. The 2 of Us [05:45]
15. The Asphalt World [09:27]
16. Still Life [05:19]
17. The Next Life [03:40]

Suede – So Young
Suede – To the Birds

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KEANE
Night Train

Following the worldwide success of their first three albums, Keane release Night Train. The band who has had three consecutive #1 albums in their native UK and have played sold out shows throughout the US is back with eight powerful new tracks which were written and recorded during the Perfect Symmetry world tour that saw them playing to packed arenas in 28 countries. The album takes its title from the band’s favorite mode of transportation during the tour, and includes Keane‘s genre-busting collaborations with Somali/Canadian rapper K’Naan, Stop For A Minute and Looking Back.

ARTIST: Keane
TITLE: Night Train
LABEL: Universal
RELEASE DATE: May 11, 2010
TIME: 31:21 min.
WEB: http://www.keanemusic.com/

01. House Lights [01:23]
02. Back in Time [03:52]
03. Stop for a Minute [04:06]
04. Clear Skies [04:53]
05. Ishin Denshin (you’ve got to help yourself) [03:56]
06. Your Love [04:36]
07. Looking Back [03:46]
08. My Shadow [04:49]

Keane – My Shadow (danny dance remix)

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THE NIROBest Wishes

Second album, following the good 2008 debut, for Davide Combusti, a.k.a. The Niro, who proves again to be one of the best italian musical expressions. Best Wishes is made of folk arpeggios, electric strikes, great Buckley-voice and never featureless melodies.
Check it out.

ARTIST: The Niro
TITLE: Best Wishes
LABEL: Universal
RELEASE DATE: Apr 16, 2010
TIME: 39:47 min.
WEB: http://www.theniro.com/

01. No Innocence [02:58]
02. In My Memory [04:07]
03. The Wrestler [03:48]
04. London Theatre [03:06]
05. Stop It [03:01]
06. Johnny [02:55]
07. Best Wishes [04:11]
08. When Your Father [03:06]
09. Circle [10:38]
10. He’s a Pray [03:55]
11. Post Atomic Dawn [04:48]

The Niro – Circle