Some uber-specific new releases
We’ve got everything this week. Garage band rock. Singer-songwriter softness. Dystopian club uneasiness. New releases from your favorite pop stars. It’s like picking a card for a magic trick but this time it’s picking your mood for the weekend.
Local
Griffin Knoll, Slpt
KBGA’s very own Griffin Knoll’s “Slpt” is dreamy. Knoll mixes floating vocals and simple instrumental backing to create a song that you can listen to while cooking dinner or laying in a field as you watch the clouds drift on by.
Thin Truk and Chuck Bones, Truk Bones Autotune Pop Star
Missoula’s hip-hop darling Thin Truk joins forces with Chuck Bones to make an album that matches Truk’s iconic aesthetic, but with a little extra flavor sprinkled in. This record amps up the idea of Soundcloud rap with Truk’s signature lyrics and production.
Clementine Hepburn, Sung Word Precipitate
Sometimes simplicity is key. Clementine Hepburn proves that we can make music no matter the circumstances or where we are. Even a tiny experimental concert recorded at home can be an experience.
New Albums
Music Band, Celebration
This record reminds us of long spontaneous road trips with friends. It’s something we would put on between stopping at dive motels and grungy gas stations. It would play in the background as we laugh with the people we love. It’s fun and energetic and makes us feel alive.
Laura Marling, Song for Our Daughter
Do you know those people who say they wish they lived in the 70s so they could have worn peasant skirts and been there for the start of Joni Mitchell and Carole King? Laura Marling is for them. The British singer-songwriter mixes evocative and insightful lyrics with a quivering voice that never seems to lose its strength.
Moaning, Uneasy Laughter
Moaning is just angry enough to get listeners hyped. “Uneasy Laughter” is a little sinister without feeling dangerous. Drum beats and electric guitar give us a swaying beat and repetitive lyrics create melodies we know by the end of each song.
Yves Tumor, Heaven To A Tortured Mind
“Heaven To A Tortured Mind” is sick (in a good way). This is the kind of record you’d listen to in the clubs in dystopian movies. You know, the ones where everyone is wearing pleather and dressed like they live on Mars? It feels underground with all the bells and whistles of a superstar record.
The Strokes, The New Abnormal
The Strokes have somehow made background music on “The New Abnormal.” This isn’t a diss though. After all, we can’t diss the band who made some of the iconic music of our childhood. This works hard at combining the old with the new.
New Singles
Voice Box, Why Bonnie
Why Bonnie gives listeners emotionally exposed lyrics over simple swaying instrumentals to create a track that is both jarring and a comfort.
“I know it’s easier to bury your uncertainties in a cloud of masculinity. Guess it’s the curse you bear to talk over me. And my voice grows hoarse from saying look at me.”
Unicorns at Heart, You’re a Mirror, Baby
“You’re a Mirror, Baby” feels like sitting at a skate-park with friends of friends. Wow, remember friends and outside? This is a headbanger you don’t quite understand but it works anyway.
Leon Bridges and John Mayer, Inside Friend
Two of our favorites are here for a velvety collab. Leon Bridges and John Mayer combine guitar solos with effortless vocals for a mild single. This is great, but let’s be honest, we’d probably love Leon Bridges and John Mayer singing a phonebook.
Phoebe Bridgers, Kyoto
Phoebe Bridgers takes us all over Japan through the lens of old fuzzy videos. Bridgers rides on top of a bullet train, saves us from Godzilla and smiles coyly at the camera. It looks like something we would make in middle school. But this is a lot cooler.
Assembled by music director Meghan Jonas.