Music Blog

Some old and familiar names resurface with this week's batch, all of which is relevant for new-ness, among other reasons. Download. Listen. Rinse. Repeat.

1- Seattle's Damien Jurado has consistently put out solid to brilliant releases over the past decade plus, changing up the formula just enough along the way to keep his catalog from sounding monochromatic. His ninth full-length album, Saint Bartlett,  was recorded in Cottage Grove last summer with Richard Swift and that seems to come through on this track, placing the sound near '50s prom territory without becoming campy about it. Expect orchestral sounds on the record, out May 25th on Secretly Canadian.
► Damien Jurado- "Arkansas"

2- Remember summer? And the sun? And tan lines? Yeah, that was nice. The aptly named Tanlines are bringing it back (with some help from the Earth's orbit)! The Brooklyn-based band (ok, technically a "production duo") specialize in the summery, creating dance numbers replete with bongos, horn lines and that tropical je ne sais quoi, dig? They'll also fit nicely on a mixtape next to Beach House, Surfer Blood, Best Coast, Surf City, Beaches, Washed Out, Wavves, and (why not) Lemonade. Yay! Their debut, Settings, comes out next week on True Panther.
► Tanlines- "Real Life"

3- Not gonna lie: don't know much about Alabama. Sure I have notions, associations and such, but nothing certifiably based in reality. Phosphorescent, the one-man band that is Matthew Houck, is here to set the record straight....sort of. Thing is, he's from Georgia and lives in Brooklyn, so keep that caveat in mind. Phosphorescent's follow-up to the Willie Nelson tribute To Willie is called Here's to Taking It Easy, and it's out May 10th on Dead Oceans.
► Phosphorescent- "It's Hard to Be Humble (When You're from Alabama)"

4- Hey, remember The Delgados? The Scottish band released five shimmering if overlooked albums from 1997 to 2004, ending with that year's Universal Audio. Emma Pollock was a founding member and the female voice of the band, and she's just returned with her second solo effort, entitled The Law of Large Numbers. It's a sound that isn't far removed from her Delgados days, out on the the band's own Chemikal Underground label.
► Emma Pollock- "Hug the Harbour"

5- Perhaps there's a last call (or two) in your weekend future. That's fine, you like to shut the place down. I'd hope, though, that no last call finds you in the same space as Elliott Smith's understood you protagonist in this song. kill rock stars is reissuing Smith's 1994 debut, Roman Candle, as well as the posthumous From a Basement on the Hill, on April 6th-- each in remastered forms. Based on the results with "Last Call," Roger Seibel and Larry Crane have done a remarkable job with the remasters, bringing out elements that were always there in the sixteen year-old 4-track recordings, and yet weren't. It's a portrait of the artist as a young-er man, beginning to find his solo voice on the side of his Heatmiser gig. It's rough, it's honest and it's moving, but we already knew that. It's nice to have a new reason to revisit.
► Elliott Smith- "Last Call"

To the weekend then!