A rather thin week for new releases due to the Thanksgiving holidays, but there’s still some worthwhile drops to check out, including albums, EPs and singles from Goldenboy, Gospel Claws, Elbow, Sambassadeur, Bad Brains, Naomi Punks, to name a few. Tomorrow, we’ll feature Daylight Fireworks, MmMmMm, Remember Your Dead, Morning Harvey, and Adam George. Also, keep an eye out for the Album of the Week from one of IRC’s most popular DIY artists of 2012 who we think is a new Artist to Watch for 2013.
[zbplayer]More than a decade ago, singer-songwriter and guitarist Shon Sullivan started a musical project, Goldenboy, while he was a member of the legendary Elliott Smith’s band. Over the years, Goldenboy has released four albums full of songs about love and loss, heartache and joy. While Smith was still alive, and the two were on tour, Sullivan wrote the song, “Summertime,” that features Smith’s vocals. This will be a nice touch for fans of Sullivan and Smith. The new album is brimming with orchestrated songs that tug at the heart strings and may remind people of the Eels, and features the lead single, “Starlight Town.” The New Familiar drops only one month after the 10th-anniversary vinyl reissue of Goldenboy’s widely acclaimed debut LP, Blue Swan Orchestra, completely remastered and featuring bonus tracks.
“Starlight Town” – Goldenboy from The New Familiar
Bonus Track: “Summertime” (featuring Elliott Smith) – Goldenboy from Blue Swan Orchestra
Gospel Claws Drop New LP, Put Your Sunshine Away
The new album from Arizona indie band Gospel Claws is, as the blogger of Violent Success wrote “a mellow sock hop sound track.” That’s a good way of putting it. The album contains a largely enjoyable collection of sweet, doo wop songs, including the opening track, “Pale Horse Dry Cleaning,” that serves as “a toe-tapping vow of epic destruction in the name of love,” as well as the summery track, “I Move Around,” that channels an impressive Beach Boys-style vibe. Also, we like the the fun and spirited song, “Hambone,” clearly one of the stand-out tracks on the album, and the one that the band choose as the LP’s lead single.
“Pale Horse Dry Cleaning” – Gospel Claws from Put Your Sunshine Away
Double-shot: “Hambone” – Gospel Claws from Put Your Sunshine Away
Austin Arist to Watch Greg Reynauld, aka Midway in Wake, Drops Self-Released Debut Album
The track “Urban Vermin” by Austin artist Greg Reynauld‘s, otherwise known as Midway in Wake, is much more pleasant than the title may suggest; the song is dreamy, lo-fi indie folk consisting of an uplifting vibe, terrific acoustic melodies, pleasant, even a little quirky, synthesized sound effects and a near consistent drone, with well integrated vocal harmonies, and an all around fuzzy, warm feeling. What comes to mind when listening to this song is a golden fall afternoon outdoors where the air and sunshine are perfect – that awesome place in between summer and winter that you wish you could just make last forever.
Reynauld’s is no newbie to the music scene however. In fact, while still in high school, he formed a band with two friends called Short Hate Temper. After a few regional tours, the band was booked to tour in Europe and had a number of record deals sitting on the table. Some years later, Reynauld moved to Austin and started the electro band, Lovetron, with At The Drive-In guitarist Adam Amparan. Shortly after, the band broke up, but Reynaulds kept recording, even living in South Korea for a while to work on his music. By 2006, he formed Midway in Wake and returned to Austin to resume work on his newest project.
“Urban Vermin” – Midway in Wake from We Will Remain Sedate
“They Couldn’t Fill A Book” – Midway in Wake from We Will Remain Sedate
Naomi Punks’ New Single and Bad Brains Disagreeable New Album
The stop and go punk pop of Naomi Punk’s new single, “Burned Body,” is strangely appealing, with grinding guitars and the metered banging of drums. The latest album from Bad Brains is not getting the kind of praise that the band’s early albums enjoyed, with many, including long-time fans, disappointed. The blog, AudioCred, wrote: “Bad Brains’ new album is boring and stupid. Into the Future is a rehash of every tired rock, metal, and punk cliche of the last twenty years, performed drearily and mixed like a combination of Korn and Municipal Waste.” We couldn’t agree more – we didn’t even bother listening to it a second time. One highlight of the album is the song, “We Belong Together.”
“Burned Body” – Naomi Punk from The Feeling
“We Belong Together” – Bad Brains from Into The Future on Megaforce
New Sambassadeur 7″, Plus Elbow B-sides, Takka Takka’s New Album and Live LP from Dinosaur Jr.
Swedish pop band, Sambassadeur, released a new 7″ single this week, “Memories,” a cheerful song with a touch of Caribbean music infusion. Plus, Elbow released a set of B-sides on Tuesday that includes the excellent track, “Buffalo Ghosts.” As other 90’s bands like Mudhoney and Sonic Youth did last week, another 90’s alt rock super band, Dinosaur Jr., who’ve made a phenomenal comeback in recent years with a series of brilliant albums, dropped a new live album from 1978 this week. Seattle band The Pharmacy dropped their fourth album this week, Stoned and Alone, highlighting a great collection of lo-fi garage-punk, power pop and raw psych-pop songs.
“Memories” – Sambassadeur from Memories/Hours Away 7″ on Labrador Records
“These Broken Chairs” – Takka Takka from A.M. Landscapes on Ernest Jenning Record Co.
“Buffalo Ghosts” – Elbow from Dead in the Boot on Fiction/Cooperative Music
“Make Me Remember” – The Pharmacy from Stoned and Alone on Old Flame Records
“The Lung” – Dinosaur Jr. from Chocomel Daze (Live 1987) on Merge Records
Faunts New EP and Peter Broderick’s New Solo Album
For a total change of style from the two previous tracks, Faunts released a new EP this week, from which the sparse, dreamcore track, “What I’d Love To Hear You Say,” originates. The single is carried by mellow electric guitar riffs that are balanced by the overlay of an almost Spanish-style acoustic guitar playing at a lower volume, creating altogether the optics of a hazy, red and orange sunset on an August skyline.
“What I’d Love To Hear You Say” – Faunts from Left Here Alone
Peter Broderick, who is a member of the band Horse Feathers and was formerly a member of Efterklang, released a new solo album this week, These Walls of Mine, from which the kind of cheesy song “I’ve Tried” is taken; however, we think fans of both of those bands and his solo work, may find it interesting to listen to. How would the song even be classified? It’s closer to gospel than anything else. It’s not really a standout track of the week by any means, but fans of Efterklang may appreciate it more. Plus, Garrett Price’s new single, “Everybody Breaks.”
“I’ve Tried” – Peter Broderick from These Walls of Mine
“Tucumcari, NM” – Billy Wallace and The Virginia Blues from Tucumcari, NM and Other Songs
New Paris Girl Garage Punk Pop Band Drop Debut EP
This week, Paris girl punk pop band MmMmMm released their debut EP, Wir Sind MmMmMm, featuring the punk pop/garage rock single, “Get Ya!” and the follow-up track, “Un, Dos, Tres (Outro).” The two-year old band wrote in their submission to IRC: “Fresh and destroy, aerobic and metronomic, brutal and mechanical, our quest for automatic enjoyment is just beginning. And it’s now or never cause this is MmMmM debut EP. Let the fun happen.” Even though they sound like a garage punk pop band, they list their genre as “Hip Rock” and “Minimalistic Electro.” MmMmMm have previously opened for Jupiter, and list their major musical influences as Black Sabbath, Pavement, Kraftwerk, De La Soul, and Cameo. They are signed to the label, Boomboomtchak Records.
“Get Ya!” – MmMmMm from Wir Sind MmMmM
“Un, Dos, Tres (Outro)” – MmMmMm from Wir Sind MmMmM
MmMmMm Official Website