All the buzz last week was around the much anticipated and long-awaited follow-up to Surfer Blood‘s wildly popular and successful 2010 debut, Astro Coast. The buzz was well earned as most people who had not downloaded leaked copies found out over the past few days. In fact, Pythons is already easily one of the top albums of 2013, and it is almost predictably going to be high up on many year-end Best Albums of 2013 lists. As IRC contributor Devin William Daniels pointed out in his album review of Pythons, the band achieved one thing in particular – making the guitar the centerpiece of their catchy indie pop sound. The guitar is also the centerpiece of the sound of another artist we featured this week – Rob Eldridge, the founder and frontman of Pittsburgh band, Steelesque, IRC’s latest Artist of the Week.
In addition to Surfer Blood, another top album for our listeners this past week was yet another sophomore album, this time around from British producer Gold Panda, and Scottish brother duo Boards of Canada‘s first album in eight years, the dark and dense, Tomorrow’s Harvest. Another switch in mood would be the hard rock ‘journey’ of Deafheaven‘s Sunbather, which contributor J. Hubner wrote about in his review of the album. Other than those releases, there was not much from last week’s releases. Last week was probably was one of the thinnest weeks of the year for new releases.
“Beach Demon” – Surfer Blood from Pythons on Sire Records
“We Work Nights” – Gold Panda from Half Of Where You Live on Ghostly International
“Reach For The Dead” – Boards of Canada from Tomorrow’s Harvest on Warp Records
“Dark Corners” – Sonny & The Sunsets from Antenna To The Afterworld on Polyvinyl
“Raw Wood” – John Vanderslice from Dagger Beach on Tiny Telephone
“Cape Fear” – Estrangers from Season of 1000 Colors on Phuzz Sounds
Graham Repulski, The Human Natures, and The 88
Graham Repulski is a lo-fi indie musician and the CEO of Shorter Recordings in New Jersey. However, his new album, Cop Art, recorded with his band, was released via Big School Records. In fact, Repulski and his band are a “mysterious home recording act out of New Jersey [that] channels legends of lo-fi past, like Sebadoh, Guided By Voices, and Grifters, slathering on warped guitar noise a la Polvo, never shying away from all a cheapo production flourish.” There are also other DIY albums that dropped in the past week that warrant checking out, including The Human Natures and The 88.
“Why I Don’t Believe In Anything” – Graham Repulski from Cop Art
The Human Natures is a punk/chillwave one-man band of singer and songwriter Steve Beres from Cressona, Pennsylvania who self-released his new album that is “dense and sparse, noisy and meditative. Blues patterns collide with found sound and panicked talk-singing.” He writes that the LP, The Art of Standing Up, isn’t for everyone. “It is not a pop album and it doesn’t have hooks,” but is a “soundtrack” meant for “solitary drives and sleepless nights.”
“Two Cents” – The Human Natures from The Art of Standing Up
“I Saw The Light That Day” – The 88 from Fortune Teller