New Music Tuesday 3/17

This week’s New Music Tuesday has a few albums we are really pumped about including a few covers albums:

We have long been looking forward to:

Modest Mouse: Strangers to Ourselves – The sixth studio album from the indie rock kings, their first since 2007’s We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. They have been teasing us with single after single for the last few months, and we are glad to finally have our hands on this one.

Houndmouth: Little Neon Limelight – The first two singles released “Sedona” & “For No One” were so good, that this album has been highly anticipated.

“New Albany, IN’s Houndmouth have released ‘Little Neon Limelight’ on Rough Trade. The follow-up to their “near perfect” (NPR Music) debut album, which saw them perform on Letterman, Conan, CBS This Morning, and tour with The Alabama Shakes, The Lumineers, and more, ‘Little Neon Limelight’ was recorded in Nashville with producer Dave Cobb (Sturgill Simpson). The 11 new, original songs on ‘Little Neon Limelight’ are the band’s best to date, blending their signature four-part harmonies with the gritty foot-stomping rock swagger of their live shows and a loose confidence in the studio. Highlights of ‘Little Neon Limelight’ include the live fan-favorites “By God,” “My Cousin Greg,” and “Say It,” and the acoustic track “For No One,” which recently premiered on NPR Music, and is unlike anything else Houndmouth have ever recorded. Ann Powers called “For No One” an “epic ballad, stuffed full of vivid imagery.” On “Gasoline,” Katie Toupin (keyboard / vocals) barbs the confessions of a perennial party girl with the specter of mortality (“Maybe I’ll meet my maker on a bedroom floor”). Shane Cody (drums / vocals) leads vocals on the album’s heartbreaker, “Honey Slider,” and the group embraces their garage-rock influences on the thrilling, needle-in-the-red cut, “15 Years,” which finds Zak Appleby singing one of the album’s most infectious refrains (“15 Years on the county line / Enough to make a man nearly lose his mind.”)”

Tobias Jesso Jr.: Goon – “In 2008 I moved to LA to play backup bass for a Pop singer. That job didn’t work out, but I ended staying in LA for four years. I returned to North Vancouver because my mother had been diagnosed with cancer (she’s better now). I wrote most of the songs on my album Goon about my time spent in LA. It was a reflection that included, like the most popular of love clichés, a tough break up.

In my haste returning to Vancouver, I had left all my instruments in a storage locker in LA. My sister had moved out and left her piano at my parent’s house, an instrument I had yet to explore. The first song I wrote on that piano was ‘Just A Dream.’ It was also one of my first attempts at singing. I have yet come to terms with my singing voice, but at the time I was left with no other option.

I recorded the demo, and then did a few more. Afterwards I sent the demos to JR White [Girls], someone who had produced one of my favorite records of the past few years (and was also signed to True Panther, the label I’m currently on). Soon after, he asked me to come down to San Francisco to record an album. After a series of visa issues and border complications, I finally met him and spent the next few months jumping from San Francisco to Los Angeles, recording in studios and bedrooms with friends.

After all that was said and done, I got offered to have a few more of my songs produced by Patrick Carney [The Black Keys] in Nashville, and Ariel Rechstaid in Los Angeles. I owe the sound of the record to the great effort of everyone involved, the producers and musicians doing and playing things I couldn’t and treating the production with the same reverence I treat my songwriting.
The writing will always be the most important to me; the production, playing and singing I am still figuring out. I still play a bit of guitar, but I’m mostly sticking to the piano these days.
– TJJR. December 2014”

Seth Avett & Jessica Lea Mayfield Sing Elliott Smith: Seth Avett. Jessica Lea Mayfield cover 12 Elliott Smith songs. Nuff said.

Glen Hansard: It Was Triumph We Once Proposed … Songs Of Jason Molina – ”

Glen Hansard will release ‘It Was Triumph We Once Proposed…Songs of Jason Molina,’ an EP of material in tribute to his friend and colleague Jason Molina. Jason Molina is the revered singer-songwriter behind the project Songs:Ohia, who passed away two years ago this March.

All profits will be donated to a charity in Molina’s honor.

Of ‘It Was Triumph We Once Proposed…Songs of Jason Molina,’ Hansard explains, “Jason Molina was a hero and a friend, I wrote him my first fan letter, I always loved his music and singing these songs is the only way to make sense of losing him.”

The EP also features their friends, the musicians Jeff Panall, Jennie Benford and Dan and Rob Sullivan. These four had known Molina since his days at Oberlin and had toured and performed with him on such key recordings as ‘Didn’t It Rain’ and ‘Magnolia Electric Co.’ Rob Bochnik joined this core group for the recording session with Glen.”

Two tributes to quite possibly two of our generations greatest song writers. Out today.

Warpaint: No Way Out / I’ll Start Believing – Warpaint has been building a huge following for a number of years including last year’s self titled album. Now they are back with a few new songs for your ears.

More new and interesting albums to check out this week:

AWOLNATION: Run – “Written, performed and produced by musical architect Aaron Bruno and recorded in the hills of Malibu, CA, RUN is a culmination of Bruno’s time and experiences following the release of breakthrough debut album Megalithic Symphony. The end result is a finely tuned musical masterwork that is at times, and all at once, sprawling, atmospheric, exuberant, earnest and refined with moments of a signature aggressive unease. “There is not one second on the record that hasn’t been thoughtfully placed,” said Bruno. “Every single element serves a purpose.””

Charlotte OC: Burning – Following her ‘Strange’ EP last year, (produced by Tim Anderson – Sia, Solange), Charlotte OC was named a ‘Breaking’ artist by Interview Magazine, “One.To.Watch” by Vice Noisey and proclaimed “about to blow up” by Paper Mag.

Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly – Kendrick’s second major label album after the great good kid, m.A.A.d city.

Marina and the Diamonds: FROOT – “Thundering, stellar electronic…magnetic, glacial vocals…whip-smart, womanly, lyrical wit…” this is their third album.

Mark Knopfler: Tracker – Mark Knopfler’s eighth studio album, Tracker, is out now worldwide.

Ólafur Arnalds and Alice Sara Ott: The Chopin Project – “Ólafur Arnalds, widely known for his powerful film and TV scores (including Broadchurch), is joined by pianist Alice Sara Ott for a haunting new take on Chopin’s music. Turning their backs on the traditional approach to piano recordings, they tracked down a number of old instruments and recorded them with beguiling warmth and intimacy—occasionally adding an atmospheric ambiance. You feel close to the piano and, strangely, closer to the music. Many tracks use Chopin as a starting point, which is magically interwoven with the rich instrumental language that Arnalds’ many fans will immediately recognize.” via iTunes

San Cisco: Gracetown – “San Cisco’s new album ‘Gracetown,’ out March 17 on the band’s own Island City Records, explores the hormonal tangle of postmodern sexual politics while expanding the sun-drenched indie pop sound of the six-time Aria Award-nominated Australian band’s 2012 self-titled album, which includes the AUS Gold single, “Awkward.” The album’s twelve new, original songs were recorded at John Butler’s Compound studio in Fremantle, West Australia, with singer Jordi Davieson and guitarist Josh Biondillo joining long-time producer, Steven Schram behind the boards.”

Twin Shadow: Eclipse – “In songs that go big and hit home, Twin Shadow sets his musical register to “epic” and only looks upward from there. As a default mode, it’s intense and unrelenting, occasionally disorienting for its outsize sense of scale. But then little details — a delicate synth sound here, an incisive lyric there — bring Eclipse back to matters reliably close to the heart.” via NPR

Full New Music Tuesday Spotify playlist to hear all the albums from today here: