The xx’s Oliver Sim has announced his debut solo album, Hideous Bastard, which will be out September 9 via Young.
The album includes previous singles “Fruit” and “Romance with a Memory,” and has just shared a third single, the lush, string-laden “Hideous,” which was produced by his xx bandmate, Jamie xx, and features Bronski Beat and Communards cofounder Jimmy Somerville. He’s also shared its striking video, by director Yann Gonzalez, that just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
In a statement about the album and single, Sim revealed that he’s been HIV positive since he was 17. “Two thirds in, having a good idea of what the record was about, I realized I’d been circling around one of the things that has probably caused me the most fear and shame: my HIV status,” Sim writes.
“I’ve been living with HIV since I was 17 and it’s played with how I’ve felt towards myself, and how I’ve assumed others have felt towards me, from that age and into my adult life.”
The Raveonettes‘ newest single, “She Owns The Streets,” was by far the most played and downloaded track on IRC in September, trailed by the second most popular song of the month, “Angels” by The xx. Other top singles of the month, in order, were the swaggering horn-laced romp ,”A Little Revolution,” by Firewater; the sassy duet, “Who,” from David Bryne and St. Vincent; the richly melodic “Old Friend” by Sea Wolf as well as the latest tracks, in order – top down from Stars, The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons, Band of Horses, and Django Django.
All tracks for the Top 10 Songs of the Month were first posted in the Best New Releases playlist mixes for the weeks of Sept. 4th and Sept. 11th (and Vol. II); Sept. 18th and Sept. 25th (click the links to view each week’s top singles from albums officially dropped that week) or a Fresh Tracks playlist.
There are dozens and dozens of spectacular songs in the Fresh Tracks series, as well as the Best New Releases from September. While this playlist features the Top 10 Songs of September – determined how many times IRC listeners stream and download a song – in the works are the week-by-week Top 10 Songs playlists which contain so many prime singles from the last month of summer. It takes time to put them together because we have to go through all the web logs to find out which songs were streamed and downloaded the most.
Much like last week’s stellar list of new releases, this is yet another blockbuster week for new albums, including highly anticipated releases from heavy-hitters like The Raveonettes, The xx, St. Vincent & David Byrne, and other popular artists such as Thee Oh Sees, Turbo Fruits, Seapony, Calexico, Amanda Palmer and The Grand Theft Orchestra. This is volume one of a two-part series. Volume Two provides at least a dozen more hand-picked singles from new albums by artist like Firewater, Field Report, Neal Halstead, Sea Wolf, Avett Brothers, Hello Echo, Solos, and Helvetia.
Denmark‘s celebrated indie rock duo, The Raveonettes, has made a name for themselves with a dark, fuzzy guitar-driven sound, that continues on their newest album release, Observator. But their new single, “She Owns The Streets,” is one of the duo’s most upbeat, pop-centric singles to date. The song has a feel-good, summertime pop essence, featuring layers of glistening guitars intertwined with soft vocals that echo bands like Galaxie 500 and The Cure. You can listen to Observator‘s first single the duo released in June, “Observations.”
“She Owns the Streets” – The Raveonettes from Observator on Vice Records
The xx Release The Long-Awaited New Album, Coexist
There was a tremendous amount of buzz leading up to this week’s official release of The xx’s new album, Coexist. After a whirlwind of worldwide success on the charts and on tour, The xx are back with new music, such as the stunning lead single, “Angels.” Most impressive is Romy Madley-Croft’s gorgeous vocals that are front and center, and which carry the song from start to finish.
The Pairing of David Byrne and St. Vincent Produces Ace New Single and LP
The new single from David Byrne and St. Vincent has an addictive beat with the pair exchanging turns taking the lead and coming together in perfect unison for the chorus. The song, “Who,” has been on repeat for the past week here in the cafe. Even in his later years, the frontman of the iconic Talking Heads, Byrne’s uniquely identifiable voice still sounds great. The video for “Who” is also a must-see for fans of Byrne and St. Vincent.
“Who” – David Byrne & St. Vincent from Love This Giant on 4AD/Todo Mundo
Notable New Singles from Indie Bands Seapony, Thee Oh Sees and Turbo Fruits
Seattle band Seapony offer up more dreamy, lo-fi beach pop melodies and hazy vocals backed by guitar surf rock on their sophomore album. San Francisco psychedelic rockers, Thee Oh Sees, drop Putrifiers II, this week, featuring an array of styles from the spacey psych-pop to hard-hitting garage rock as the single, “Flood’s New Light” clearly demonstrates. From Nashville, a band that broke out during the excellent year for indie rock, 2009, Turbo Fruits released their junior album this week, featuring a comparatively diverse album as Thee Oh Sees, with a set of songs that range from psych-pop with a 60’s flair and plenty of hooks to grove on, to crunchy garage rock that sounds awesome via a good set of speakers.
“Prove to Me” – Seapony from Falling on Hardly Art
“Sweet Thang” – Turbo Fruits from Butter on Serpents & Snakes
When an album cover artwork sucks, we just put in a photo of the band instead, which is the case for Helio Sequence's new release.
The Helio Sequence Drop Anticipated New LP, Negotiations
Two weeks ago, IRC featured The Helio Sequence’s new single, “Hall of Mirrors” in the latest Fresh Tracks Mix. Based on the number of streams and downloads from the post, and the numbers on Hypem and other aggregators, listeners really liked the song. Now, with the official release of the new album, Negotiations, another new single from the album, “October,” is out. This is one of the best tracks of the week and will definitely be included in a special playlist we’re putting together called Songs From The Calendar, which will highlight excellent songs about months, specific dates and days of the week. Keep an eye out for it. Check out the official promo video for Negotiations.
“October” – The Helio Sequence from Negotiations on Sub Pop
Calexico Returns with Dark Sound and Amanda Palmer Pairs with The Grand Theft Orchestra
As long-time Calexico fans, it took a few spins to connect with the band’s new single, “Para.” The song evokes a dark, haunting aura, with melancholic vocals and lyrics, a reverberating, spooky guitar, a Mexican funeral-like horn injection and a slow, deep percussion. “Para” sounds like a track that could have been on a Kill Bill soundtrack. Another song that is just in time for Halloween is the collaborative single, “The Killing Type,” from Amanda Palmer and The Grand Theft Orchestra. It’s more intense than “Para,” which is a stark contrast while also being alike in the sense that both songs are anything but upbeat and cheerful.
“Para” – Calexico from Algiers on Anti- There is also a deluxe edition via Amazon
“The Killing Type” – Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra from Theater Is Evil on 8ft. Records
Another single out this week that would be fitting on a Halloween mixtape is the song “The Dogs Howl, The Caravan Moves On” from the self-released album by singer/songwriter Ethan Daniel Davidson .
