For the past six weeks or so, there have been many weekly Best New Music Releases playlists that made up for a so-so summer of new indie releases. They include recent albums by Grizzly Bear, Band of Horses, The Raveonettes, The xx, Mumford & Sons, Sea Wolf, Ty Segall, A.C. Newman, to name just a few. Fresh releases for the week of October 16th, for the most part, keeps this trend going. In an earlier post, IRC’s Album of the Week went to Ben Gibbard’s solo debut album, Former Lives.
There has been a lot of buzz around the first solo release of Death Cab For Cutie‘s frontman, and on the whole, good reviews. To kick off this week’s official new releases, here is the second single featured in our album review. Following Gibbard is the latest single from The Maldives’ newest album release, Muscle for the Wing, is yet another top album release this week, with the lead single, “Blood on the Highway,” drawing a stark contrast to Gibbard’s more sensitive and artistic sound.
“A Hard One To Know” – Ben Gibbard from Former Lives
Note: All of this past week’s new releases are available for fast, easy checkout with Amazon by clicking either the MP3, CD or vinyl links at the end of this post that correspond with the album(s) you wish to purchase.
“Blood on the Highway” – The Maldives from Muscle for the Wing on Spark and Shine
Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle’s New Solo Album, The Philistines and Sophomore LPs from Little Comets and Tamaryn
Like Gibbard, another respected indie musician, Grandaddy‘s founding member Jason Lytle, dropped a new solo album this week that features the title track, “Dept. of Disapperance.” Lytle continues to dazzle admirers with potent songs that are lyrically and musically astute. This album drops during a year in which Grandaddy fans are celebrating a band reunion.
“Dept. of Disapperance” – Jason Lytle from Dept Of Disappearance on Anti- Records
Next, Newcastle, England trio Little Comets‘ sophomore release, Life Is Elsewhere, is the follow-up album to the band’s widely regarded debut album In Search of Elusive Little Comets, released officially in January 2011. The first LP was proceeded by the 2009 debut single, “One Night in October,” which peaked at No. 3 on the U.K. independent music charts, thanks in large part to popular BBC Radio 1 deejays Huw Stephens and Sara Cox. However, the band’s second single, “Adultery” the following year failed to chart. Another track, “Dancing Song,” was used in a Radox ad this past summer.
The band has made a name for themselves by crafting energetic, hook-driven indie rock songs flourishing with synths, airy guitar licks and the perfectly complimentary vocals of the trio’s frontman, Robert Coles, whose voice has been often compared to Vampire Weekend‘s vocalist Erza Koenig. While that comparison has validity, the band surely has its own unique style – and the more we hear from them, the more we admire their skills as musicians.
On the peppy new single, “Bayonee,” the trio infuse elements of Phoenix-like sound effects, and a decidedly tropical-influenced reggae pop style – the kind of song you’d crank up at a sunny summer beach party, and easily one of the best new singles from this week’s top releases. And just to make it twice as nice, we’ve included another new single, “The Opus,” which, along with other songs on the new LP, adds even more credibility to support the narrative that, at least for U.S. indie music fans, Little Comets is a band to watch.
“Bayonee” – Little Comets – Life Is Elsewhere
The Philistines once again rocked and popped their way into our top singles of the week thanks to the spirited, and funny-named, new single, “Woo Hoo Hoo” from the album, Therewolves! The band doesn’t hold back on tastefully poking fun at a common chorus in pop music for years, “woo hoo hoo,” (and variations thereof), yet at the same time they make this light-hearted, jangle pop song work for them – leaving a short and sweet after taste.
“Woo-hoo-hoo” – The Philistines from Therewolves!
Next, the new single, “Heavenly Bodies,” from Tamaryn‘s latest album, Tender New Signs – dropped this week by indie label Mexican Summer – has created yet another deeply emotive, seedy shoe-gaze pop single, and album to boot, along with her long-time collaborator, San Francisco songwriter/musician Rex John Sheverton. Because we were not able to find a single, we’ve included the official video for “Heavenly Bodies,” which should pop up on your screen right away (via the embedded Yahoo Player!), and fit nicely with the flow of the other tracks in this week’s singles playlist.
“Heavenly Bodies” – Tamaryn from Tender New Signs on Mexican Summer
The Luyas’ Drop Sophomore Album; Times New Viking Release New EP
We were kind of surprised to see some of the top music blogs not include new releases this week from two great indie bands – The Luyas and Columbus lo-fi indie rockers Times New Viking. Both have been fairly popular bands in recent years. The Luyas’ Animator features the hook-driven single, “Fifty Fifty,” among other standout tracks like “Face” and “Crimes Machine.” The Luyas wax poetic throughout the album, much of which was written in response to the sudden death of a close friend. For the album, Arcade Fire’s Sarah Neufeld collaborated with Jessie Stein, Pietro Amato and the band. Amato also produced the album which, in the final analysis is more somber than the intricately woven, upbeat indie pop of the band’s previous albums.
Times New Viking released a six-song EP this week, Over and Over, as a follow-up to their excellent 2011 LP, Dancer Equired! The band’s new EP features a couple of notable tracks on it, including the driving indie pop rhythms of the short, but sweet track, “At The Bars” and the jangly, fast-moving post-punk/guitar pop of “Sleep In” (which is not a sleepy or dreamy kind of song at all). You may notice a hint of Sonic Youth influence in The Luyas’ music, especially on songs like “Sleep In.”
“Fifty Fifty” – The Luyas from Animator
“At The Bars” – Times New Viking from Over and Over EP
Double-shot: “Sleep In” – – Times New Viking from Over and Over EP
Volume Two for Week of October 16th Drops Very Soon and Quick-Click Album Purchases
Volume Two of the Best New Music Releases will be right up, and features new singles from fresh albums by Earlimart, Young Dreams, Shiny Toy Guns, Matmos, Pinback and DIY exclusives as well.
Don’t forget to leave observations of this mix of new singles in the Comments box below, as well as sending it out to your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter – the more people who like what we’re doing and take a minute to participate, the better we know what you want more of. Thanks for supporting Indie Rock Cafe.
Also, if you plan on purchasing any of this week’s new albums, we have direct links to click and buy from Amazon below in MP3, CD and vinyl format. IRC gets a few cents for every album you purchase with our Amazon direct-buy links – every little bit helps to pay our operating costs to keep bringing great new music to you every week.
Trey Anastasio – Traveler | CD Vinyl MP3
Arms of Tripoli – All the Fallen Embers [EP] | MP3
Beaten By Them – Kinder Machines | CD MP3
Blackbird Blackbird – Boracay Planet [EP] | CD MP3
The Bloody Angle – The Bloody Angle | MP3
Brandy – Two Eleven | CD Deluxe CD MP3 Deluxe MP3
Candidate – Psychic Dissonance from the Unself | CD MP3
Chaos Chaos – S [EP] | MP3
Correatown – Pleiades | CD Vinyl MP3
Dada Life – The Rules of Dada | CD MP3
Daphni – Jiaolong | CD Vinyl MP3
Death Rattle – HE&I [EP] | MP3
Mac DeMarco – 2 | CD Vinyl MP3
Double Naught Spy Car – Western Violence | CD MP3
The Doughboys – Shakin’ Our Souls | CD MP3
Earlimart – System Preferences | CD Vinyl MP3
Echoes de Luxe – Hold On [EP] | MP3
Ex Norwegian – House Music | MP3
Donald Fagen – Sunken Condos | CD Vinyl
Sky Ferreira – Ghosts [EP] | MP3
A Fine Frenzy – Pines | CD MP3
Rosie Flores – Working Girl’s Guitar | CD Vinyl MP3
Flowerland – Caffeine Disk [EP] | MP3
Dan Friel – Valedictorian/Exoskeleton [EP] | Vinyl
Ben Gibbard – Former Lives | CD Vinyl MP3
Glocca Morra – An Obscure Moon Lighting an Obscure World [EP] | MP3
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – ’Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! | CD Vinyl
Harlan – Night Loop | CD MP3
Anne Heaton – Honeycomb | CD MP3
Hey, Rube – Can You Hear Me Mutha? | CD MP3
Hot Fiction – Apply Within | MP3
Icona Pop – The Iconic EP [EP] | MP3
John the Conqueror – John the Conqueror | CD MP3
K’naan – God, Country or the Girl | CD Deluxe CD MP3 Deluxe MP3
Charlene Kaye – Animal Love | CD MP3
Bill Laswell – Means of Deliverance | CD MP3
Leogun – Leogun [EP] | MP3
Little Comets – Life Is Elsewhere | MP3
The Luyas – Animator | CD Vinyl MP3
The Lytics – They Told Me | CD MP3
Jason Lytle – Dept. of Disappearance | CD Vinyl MP3 Deluxe MP3
Majeure – Solar Maximum | CD Vinyl MP3
Matmos – The Ganzfeld [EP] | CD Vinyl
Mike McCarthy – The Lion’s Share | MP3
John McLaughlin and The 4th Dimension – Now Here This | CD MP3
Mean Creek – Youth Companion | CD Vinyl MP3
Mika – Origin of Love | CD Deluxe CD MP3 Deluxe MP3
The Philistines – Therewolves! | MP3
Grant Lee Phillips – Walking in the Green Corn | CD Vinyl MP3
Picture Book – Songs About Aimee [EP] | MP3
Pinback – Information Retrieved | CD Vinyl MP3
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez – Octopus Kool Aid | CD MP3
Santah – You’re Still a Lover [EP] | CD Vinyl MP3
Savoir Adore – Our Nature | CD Vinyl MP3
Kevin Seconds – Don’t Let Me Lose Ya | CD Vinyl MP3
The Sky Life – Caves | CD
Smoke & Jackal – EP No. 1 [EP] | CD Vinyl MP3
Star & Micey – I Can’t Wait [EP] | CD
The Swellers – Running Out of Places to Go [EP] | Vinyl MP3
Tamaryn – Tender New Signs | CD Vinyl MP3
Times New Viking – Over & Over [EP] | Vinyl MP3
Tkttsm – Tkttsm | CD MP3
Tussle – Tempest | CD Vinyl MP3
Bobby V – Dusk Till Dawn | CD MP3
Martha Wainwright – Come Home to Mama | CD Vinyl MP3
Walking Papers – Walking Papers | CD MP3
ZZ Ward – Til the Casket Drops | CD MP3
Widespread Panic – Wood [Live] | CD Vinyl MP3
Win Win – Double Vision | MP3
Patrick Wolf – Sundark & Riverlight | CD Vinyl MP3
Chelsea Wolfe – Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs | CD Vinyl MP3
Yakuza – Beyul | CD MP3
Michael Zapruder – Pink Thunder | Book+CD MP3a rel=”nofollow” href