The breadth of new 2013 music releases – albums, EPs and singles – that have been coming out in recent weeks, and those set to drop in the ensuing months, have been keeping us very busy, especially when you factor in all of the DIY releases that we receive on a weekly basis, which are not usually posted in the weekly Best New Music Releases (listen to top releases posts for 2013 and 2012) because this series focuses on more well-known and signed artists’ newest drops.
[zbplayer]The first album that caught our attention this week is the new release from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, followed by fresh albums from Atlas Genius, Beach Fossils, Iceage, Apparat, STRFKR, Flume, Mitzi, Matmos and many others. This week there is a lot of synthesizers and dance singles.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Atlas Genius, Beach Fossils, Iceage
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds return with album No. 15, Push The Sky Away, a brilliant experimental album of heady themes that is dark and eerily beautiful, and displays some of Cave’s finest song-writing and the Bad Seeds’ remarkable instrumentation, even though it’s the band’s first album without Cave’s long-time colleague Mick Harvey, who left the band in 2009.
“Jubilee Street” – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds from Push The Sky Away
Another indie artist, Atlas Genius, has signed to a major label for his latest release, When It Was Now. While it’s always difficult to stomach an originally ‘indie’ favorite abandoning the DIY or small label world to play in the majors, it happens so frequently nowadays that people have seemed to stop noticing. It appears that as long as the music itself remains unscathed by the label execs, and sometimes even when it’s manipulated by commercial pressures, that most music fans don’t notice or don’t care. But it’s always a risk too though, especially to the artists’ ‘street cred’ within the alternative and underground music scenes. Check out the lead track from When It Was Now, the dance-tinged, “Trojans.” If you dig da beats, you should find some keeper tracks in this playlist of singles from new albums out this week.
“Trojans” – Atlas Genius from When It Was Now (deluxe version) on Warner Bros.
“Careless” – Beach Fossils from Clash The Truth
“Coalition” – Iceage from You’re Nothing on Matador
“A Violent Sky” – Apparat from Krieg und Frieden (Music for Theatre) on Mute
“While I’m Alive” – STRFKR from Miracle Mile on Polyvinyl
“Chasing The Light” – Lust for Youth from Chasing The Light 12″ on Sacred Bones
“Evil Man” – Destruction Unit from Void on Jolly Dream Records
“Because I Care” – Pony Time from Go Find Your Own on Per Se Records
“Space Academy” – Eat Skull from III on Woodist
“Holdin On” – Flume from Flume on Mom + Pop
“Valleys” – Misfit Mod from Islands & Islands on Stars & Letters Records
“All I Heard” – Mitzi from Truly Alive on Future Classic
“Hurricanes, XO” – Beat Radio from Hard Times, Go! on Awkward For Life Records
“Fortune Teller” – Campfires from Tomorrow, Tomorrow on Fire Talk Records
“Primetime Clown” – The Howling Hex from The Best of the Howling Hex on Drag City
“Teen Paranormal Romance” – Matmos from The Marriage of True Minds on Thrill Jockey Records
“Dirty Mind Melt” – Natasha Kmeto from Dirty Mind Melt EP on Dropping Gems
“Devil Moon” – Bobby Long from Wishbone on ATO Records