As fun as it is to complain about “music these days,” and how it’s all been downhill since The Chronic came out, it’s even MORE fun to listen to — wait for it — good music. Every Tuesday, a.k.a. Music Release Day, we’ll highlight five albums worth (legally) downloading or driving to the local Best Buy (lolz) for.
Today, we’ve got selections from Titus Andronicus, Bat for Lashes, and more.
Local Business by Titus Andronicus
We’ll have more on Titus later in the week, but needless to say, you’ll enjoy Local Business, one of the year’s finest rock albums, if you like any of the following things: shouting; getting drunk, sweaty mosh pits, Thin Lizzy, wallowing in self-angst, suppressing said self-angst with cathartic sing-alongs, or the Replacements.
The Haunted Man by Bat for Lashes
As literally stripped down as its album cover, The Haunted Man, Bat for Lashes’ first album in three years, is all raw emotion, an unexpected delight considering Natasha Khan’s usual fascination (and occasionally off putting) with all things “quirk.” Yet despite the Haunted Man‘s “nude” aesthetic, it’s not minimalistic in the slightest — piano ballads (“Laura”) work beautifully alongside tracks that burst with electronic pops and sways from synths and drum machines alike (“Marilyn”). It’s Khan’s most accomplished, lush record to date.
Blak and Blu by Gary Clark, Jr.
Though Gary Clark, Jr. tries to do too much and attempts to appeal to too many niches with his major label debut (why the hip-hop, man?), at its best Blak and Bru viciously attacks its listeners, with blistering hot fuzzed-out blues licks and near-heavy metal riffs. If Gary can stick with what he does best on album two — namely, melt faces — it’ll be a classic.
We Don’t Even Live Here by P.O.S.
In any other week, people would be raving about We Don’t Even Live Here — it’s just that for this particular week, everyone’s so focused on that Kendrick Lamar guy (rightly so) that many other artists and their albums aren’t getting the respect they deserve, including We Don’t Even Live Here from Minnesota-based artist P.O.S. He’s a sharp, poignant rapper, who attacks the mic like a hardcore punk singer — in a recent interview, P.O.S. said that he wanted to make an anarchist dance party.” He succeeded. Also, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon shows up, which is just as odd as it sounds.
good kid, m.A.A.d. city by Kendrick Lamar
That Kendrick Lamar guy, about whom we wrote a lot about yesterday. Yup, album’s still great.
