New This Week: Pet Shop Boys, Valerie June, Ghostpoet & More
Pet Shop Boys, Axis Produced by Stuart Price, former collaborator with Madonna and Kylie, the first track from the Pet Shop Boys’ 12th album is a strobe-lit synth workout that sounds like a sequel to Giorgio Moroder’s “The Chase”. The album, Electric, is due in July. We’re excited.
Valerie June, Pushin’ Against A Stone The hugely anticipated release from the dreadlocked Tennessee singer-songwriter is an intoxicating mix of Prohibition-era porch music and soulful Southern blues, sung in a voice that’s as rich and warm as old vinyl. June describes her sound as “organic moonshine roots music”, and you won’t hear a better example of it this year.
Public Service Broadcasting, Inform-Educate-Entertain After capturing the bunting-decked mood of the Olympics with The War Room EP last summer, PSB’s debut proper fulfills its brief nicely by exploring the time-frame between the Blitz and the Coronation, and evoking a world of ration books and black market silk stockings. Victoria Segal writes:
“Their make-do-and-mend approach to music comes from their victorious digging through the archives, salvaging scraps of public information films, news reel and propaganda and pairing them with some thoroughly modern music. There’s no smirking kitsch, here, however: these songs are fascinated by the human capacity for wonder, endurance and plain decency.”
Ghostpoet, Some Say So I Say Light The follow-up to Ghostpoet’s Mercury-nominated debut is not only a more focused and purposeful record, but also a braver one. Sharon O’Connell says:
“Gone are the Beck-ish blues, electro and indie elements of Ghostpoet’s debut; he’s now opted for a far more cohesive and dynamic style of post-everything hip pop. It’s one that allows for chip-tune freneticism with strings and heavily treated vocal loops (“Comatose”), surging and euphoric Afrobeat (“Plastic Bag Brain”, which features drumming don Tony Allen, and guitarist Dave Okumu of The Invisible) and an adventure in pulsing synth house (“Dorsal Morsel”). All represent the confident and considered pushing of his parameters by a distinctive talent who’s in it for the long haul.”
Little Boots, Nocturnes Victoria Hesketh’s 2009 debut Hands generated hit singles, a gold album, worldwide tours and topped the BBC Sound of 2009 poll, and Nocturnes, the long-simmering sophomore effort, isn’t a total break from her buzzy beginnings. It adds to her glossy pop veneer with more eclectic synth sounds, overseen by DFA honcho Tim Goldsworthy.
Van Dyke Parks Songs Cycled The first solo album in 24 years from the legendary Brian Wilson collaborator and composer sees him reinvent himself as a protest singer with songs about “America, warts and all”. Behind the antique arrangements – Parks has never been shy of banjos, accordions and calypso flourishes – it has an affecting emotional power.
Still Corners, Strange Pleasures Still Corners try to rid themselves of the dream-pop tag. Alex Naidus says:
“Greg Hughes smartly juxtaposes the more traditionally “dreamy” elements of Still Corners’ sound with some crisper textures and more insistent rhythms. His songwriting and production style still skews sweeping and epic: On single “Fireflies,” the synths stack — pillowy pads, twinkling upper-octave melody lines and punchy synth-bass — and are buoyed by Tessa Murray’s vampish vocals. With Strange Pleasures, Hughes has carefully crafted a set with songs that inspire grandeur while remaining taut and gripping — an impressive feat.”
I Monster, Swarf A new album of rare tracks recorded around the time of 2009′s A Dense Swarm of Ancient Stars.
Sam Sanders, Mirror Mirror Super rare R&B / soul / funk record (apparently the cover art had to be created from scratch, the original is that obscure). A nice, digging-in-the-crates find.
