Death Cab for Cutie with Low – Tower Theater (Upper Darby, PA) – April 25, 2012
Look for a review up soon!
The Mad Scene – Blip (Siltbreeze)
Less chaotic than their instrument-switching live shows, the new album from the New Zealand/New York collective led by The Clean‘s Hamish Kilgour is a nice album somewhat in the mold of his other band (or at least their earlier records) and the noisier spectrum of the Flying Nun catalog.
The Electronic Anthology Project of Dinosaur Jr – The Electronic Anthology Project of Dinosaur Jr (self-released)
David Musto‘s excellent review (which you can read here) pretty much sums it up. I was skeptical, but I really like this release.
The Raveonettes – Into the Night EP (self-released)
The new Raveonettes release contains 4 new songs (also released as a double 7” pack) very much in the mold of their early releases like Whip It On and Chain Gang of Love. Another 180 degree turn from last year’s excellent Raven in the Grave, perhaps these songs were inspired by the recent release of the excellent double Lp Rarities/B-Sides collection, much of which features material from their early days?
Allo Darlin’ – “Capricornia”
Though I like their previous, self-titled 2010 album and found it very comparable to Camera Obscura, this new track from the forthcoming album Europe on their new label Slumberland is something a bit different. This sounds like late ’80s Go-Betweens (especially the guitar playing) with Kirsty MacColl on vocals! More please!
The Avengers – The Avengers (Water Music/4 Men with Beards)
This won’t be out for another few weeks (May 15th is the official release date), but all I’ll say for now is that it’s nice to finally have this punk classic available officially. The bonus material on here is great, too!
I missed the boat on this band when Kanine released this fantastic indie-pop record last year, but discovered them recently when I found out that Coasting‘s Madison Farmer is a member of this band as well. Completely different from Coasting, this only features Madison on (absolutely gorgeous) backing vocals and the music is much more in the vein of Voxtrot, Slumberland, C86, et al. If you like any of those bands, labels or styles and haven’t heard this yet, you owe it to yourself to check this one out.
La Sera – Sees the Light (Hardly Art)
While I’m disappointing that their upcoming East Coast tour will not take them to Philadelphia, I am still enjoying the heck out of this fantastic sophomore album. If you missed it, here’s my review.
Bizarros – Complete Collection 1976-1980 (Windian)
I’ve long meant to check out this long lost Akron, OH band from the late ’70s and finally, the great Windian label does the world the favor of reissuing all of their known material (not just their album on Mercury from ’78 which was supposed to be released on Mercury imprint Blank before it folded). They were nothing less than Ohio’s answer to Richard Hell and the Voidoids if you ask me.
Killing Joke – “In Cythera”
This has been out for a little while (on new album MMXXII) and is a fantastic single very much in the style of their mid ’80s period (think 1985’s Night Time). The rest of what I’ve heard from the new record is much heavier and also great, but I find it very difficult not to play this 4 or 5 times in a row every time I hear it.
