Windy City singer/songwriter Ryley Walker shares his third album this week, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls, "his strongest and most sophisticated set to date, combining fluid guitar lines, intricate rhythms and elliptical lyrics on expansive songs that masterfully blend elements of folk-rock, psych, jazz and more." Out of Colorado Springs, um, springs new music from Echo & The Eschaton, "a fine set of expansive psych-pop ranging from distortion-drenched shoegazer rock and motorik post-punk to Flaming Lips space-pop." On her fourth full-length, Lydia Loveless delivers "a well-crafted set of moody, roots-tinged rock with jangly guitars and mostly mid-tempo rhythms accompanying her emotive vocals and fiercely honest lyrics of love and loss."
New Zealand pop greats The Chills share a deluxe reissue of their 1986 singles compilation, Kaleidoscope World, a 2xLP and CD set featuring six bonus, b-sides, demos and live tracks plus an expanded gatefold cover with photos, posters, and liner notes from journalist Martin Aston. Here in the Northwest, Ages & Ages bring us "a more subtle and electronic-oriented take on their anthemic folk-pop, combining a more groove-driven sound featuring bright synths and a variety of other instrumentation with soaring harmonies and lyrics addressing the rapid gentrification of Portland." And, the soundtrack to the documentary Miss Sharon Jones! is in stores now via their own Daptone Records. It's a nice retrospective of the Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings discography, with the exclusive track "I'm Still Here."
While KEXP celebrated their landmark 1989 debut last Friday, De La Soul released their eighth album (and first in 12 years). KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it, "a lengthy, somewhat inconsistent set with a diverse sound ranging from funky hip hop and smooth R&B to hypnotic electro-pop and m…
LA-via-San Francisco band Thee Oh Sees return with their 11th album, a release KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls, "a more jam-oriented take on the band's adventurous blend of raw garage-rock, trippy psych-rock and motorik prog." Veteran Minneapolis duo Atmosphere release "a potent set of emotive …