New Music Reviews (2/15)

Each week, KEXP’s Music Director Don Yates (joined this week by DJ Alex) shares brief insights on new and upcoming releases. See what's coming up this week below, including reviews for new releases from Black Country, New Road, Django Django, Celeste, and more.

Black Country, New Road – For the First Time (Ninja Tune)
This London-based band’s debut full-length is a potent blend of adventurous post-punk and sprawling post-rock inflected with free jazz, klezmer and other styles, with a dynamic, sometimes discordant sound featuring shape-shifting, often tension-building rhythms, angular guitars, skronky sax, keyboards and violin accompanying Isaac Wood’s volatile spoken/sung vocals and acerbic, sometimes self-deprecating lyrics laced with an abundance of pop culture references. — DY

Django Django – Glowing in the Dark (Because Music)
This London-based band’s fourth album is an expansive blend of jangly psych-pop, dance-friendly electro-pop, driving post-punk and more, combining acoustic and electric guitars, bright synths and often-propulsive rhythms with soaring pop hooks and lyrics revolving around escape. — DY

Celeste – Not Your Muse (Atlas Artists/Polydor)
This London-based artist’s debut album is a promising set of retro-leaning, jazz-tinged R&B that’s reminiscent at times of Adele along with Amy Winehouse, featuring a warm, soulful sound with acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, horns, strings and more accompanying her dynamic, smoky vocals and lyrics of love, loss and autonomy. — DY

The Staves – Good Woman (Nonesuch)
This British sister trio’s impressive third regular studio album finds them recasting their delicate folk-pop with a more expansive and muscular sound. Produced by John Congleton, the album combines acoustic and electric guitars, synths and more prominent percussion with the sisters’ heavenly harmonies and intimate lyrics of love and loss. — DY

Farhot – Kabul Fire Vol. 2 (Kabul Fire Records)
An impressive set of instrumental music from German-Afghan producer Farhot bridging together the worlds of Afghan music and hip-hop, with a few vocal contributions including Nneka and Juju Rogers on "Check", as well as Tanzanian-born, London-raised vocalist Tiggs da Author on "Feel Ugly". Farhot describes the album as “his musical resistance, his personal tapestry to a country he loves but has no idea whether he will ever be reunited to.” — GT

John Carpenter – Lost Themes III: Alive After Death (Sacred Bones)
The legendary film director/composer’s third official studio album is another evocative set of horror-themed soundscapes with ominous synths, organ and piano, tension-building rhythms, occasional crunchy rock guitars and haunting melodies. As with the first two volumes, this one was made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies (who’s also son of the Kinks’ Dave Davies). — DY

(Various Artists) – Brighter Days Ahead (Colemine/Karma Chief)
Colemine Records and Karma Chief Records join forces to officially present this stacked compilation that collects one-off singles the labels released throughout 2020 in response to the pandemic. Both labels shifted their original release plans for the year to spotlight a wider range of artists with these singles and build a wider community through this strength-in-numbers rollout process. Brighter Days Ahead collects them all together to present a hopeful and high-quality compilation that proudly showcases the wide range of nostalgia-tinted genres the labels specialize in – R&B, soul, funk, reggae, jazz, blues, psych-pop, and more. — AR

Rick Reams & Def Dee – Suavé Tape EP (self-released)
Seattle rapper Rick Reams (aka Rik Rude from Fresh Espresso and Metal Chocolates) teamed up with producer Def Dee for this potent six-sing EP combining a variety of banging beats with Reams’ playful rhymes. — DY

Lael Neale – Acquainted With Night (Sub Pop)
This LA-via-Virginia artist’s second album is a haunting set of folk-tinged indie-pop with a spare, atmospheric sound featuring mainly Omnichord (along with occasional electronic beats and guitar) accompanying her aching vocals and lyrics revolving around isolation, yearning and mortality. — DY

R+R=NOW – R+R=NOW Live (Blue Note)
The second album from this jazz super group led by keyboardist Robert Glasper (and also featuring Terrace Martin, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Derrick Hodge, Taylor McFerrin and Justin Tyson) is a beautifully recorded live set culled from a month-long residency at the Blue Note in New York in October 2018, a few months after they released their debut album Collagically Speaking. The album features expansive versions of songs from their debut album, along with a cover of Kendrick Lamar’s “How Much a Dollar Cost,” which was co-written by Martin. — DY

Yeahman – Ostriconi (Wonderwheel Recordings)
The debut album from French multi-instrumentalist/producer Jean Dasso (aka Yeahman) is an excellent set of transportive electronic grooves that carry a dreamy worldly touch. Named for the Ostriconi valley in Corsica, France and inspired by his travels within the tranquil and picturesque region, Yeahman's sonic explorations revel in a lush, organic, and lightly pulsating zone. — AR

Rain Dogs – Rain Dogs (.jpeg Artefacts)
The debut EP from this Melbourne-based duo is a rad set of arty post-punk infused with No Wave, dub, synth punk, and psychedelic touches that sounds like a long-lost hidden gem from the 1980s. — AR

Erick The Architect – Future Proof EP (self-released)
Erick The Architect is a founding member and primary producer behind NYC-based hip-hop group Flatbush Zombies, an outfit that's also part of the supergroup Beast Coast alongside Joey Bada$$'s Pro Era collective and Brooklyn duo The Underachievers. Erick's solo debut release is an impressive set of expansive hip-hop with highlights that tap into a warm, soulful, emotional R&B sound. British rapper Loyle Carner appears on EP standout "Let It Go." — AR

Virginia Wing – private LIFE (Fire)
This British trio’s fourth regular studio album is a colorful outing of synth-soaked avant-pop with a densely produced sound featuring bright synths, horns, intricate rhythms and lyrics revolving around personal trauma and resilience. — DY

Hether – Sticky Thumb (ear slime/R&R Digital)
The second EP from this solo project of California-based musician Paul Castelluzzo is a strong set of melancholic guitar-pop and woozy psych-pop that recalls the likes of Woods, Real Estate, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. — AR

Mush – Lines Redacted (Memphis Industries)
This British band’s second album is a solid set of politically charted post-punk with angular guitars, juddering rhythms and biting lyrics aimed at a world falling apart. — DY

Shovels & Rope – Busted Jukebox, Volume 3 (Dualtone)
The third volume in this Charleston, SC folk-pop duo’s Busted Jukebox series of collaborative albums features them teaming up with an impressive lineup of other artists that are also parents for an album of covers chosen with children in mind (although not necessarily “children’s songs”). — DY

Jessica Manning – You Are Here EP (self-released)
This Minneapolis artist’s latest release is a solid five-song EP blending moody R&B and electro-pop, combining synths and electronic drums with her soaring vocals. — DY