It's unquestionably the strongest week of new releases this year (especially since it's only the third week of new releases). Leading the pack is the highly-anticipated sophomore releases from UK group Savages. KEXP Music Director Don Yates says, "this British band's excellent second album features a more expansive take on the band's urgent post-punk with a visceral blend of serrated angular guitars, taut rhythms, commanding vocals and impassioned lyrics embracing love and life in all their messy, often risky glory."
Seattle trio Night Beats release their third full-length, "their strongest set to date, expertly blending fiery psych-rock with raw garage-rock along with elements of R&B, prog, Latin rock and more on a variety of sharply crafted songs with stinging guitars, hypnotic rhythms and potent song hooks." Austin-based veterans Shearwater share their ninth album, which "finds them continuing in the more immediate and uptempo vein of their previous regular studio album (2012's Animal Joy) with this expertly crafted set of majestic, '80s-steeped pop-rock featuring energetic rhythms, brooding vocals, anthemic choruses and often-politically charged lyrics."
King of KEXP's first in-studio, Ty Segall, releases "an uncompromising set of ultra-raw garage-punk with noisy gnarled guitars, pounding, sometimes tempo-shifting rhythmsand dark lyrics about instant gratification and warped emotions." Former Fiery Furnaces vocalist Eleanor Friedberger shares another "strong set of well-crafted folk-pop combining a warm, '70s-steeped sound with her honeyed vocals, wistful melodies and personal lyrics of love and loss." And LA-based producer/multi-instrumentalist Adrian Younge provides a sequel to his 2011 album, Something About April, "another strong set blending moody soul and funk with atmospheric psych-rock. The album features a dark, cinematic sound combining vintage analog keyboards and fuzzy psych-guitars with a variety of guest vocalists including Raphael Saadiq, Bilal and Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier."
February kicks off with plenty of new music for you to love, including the debut from Nevermen, a super group featuring TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe, Faith No More's Mike Patton, and rapper Doseone. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls the release "an adventurous blend of avant-rock, hip hop, so…
2016 is off to a slow start for music, so we've combined the past two weeks of new releases. One undeniable highlight is the final album from the late, legendary David Bowie, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, making it his first No. 1 album ever. KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes…