Vince Staples FM! (Def Jam) Long Beach rapper Vince Staples’ third album is 22 minutes long—sadly. Staples sounds great, his humor veering from malevolent to nerdy on a dime; producer Kenny Beats offers a bunch of satisfying trunk rattlers; and guest spots—from E-40, Earl Sweatshirt, and Kamaiyah among others—are all on point. “FUN!” rides a […]
Kurt Vile Bottle It In (Matador) Caveat: I was a big fan of Kurt Vile’s 2013 album Wakin on a Pretty Daze until I went to his show and watched him basically perform the album note for note. What was entrancing became plain boring, and it’s been hard to hear his subsequent stuff without lingering […]
Prince Piano & a Microphone 1983 (Warner Bros.) In case you somehow missed it, the first posthumous release from Prince’s storied vault is out—the mere fact of which gives a shiver, because what could be next, and then after that, ad infinitum in gloria? Meanwhile, there’s this album of not-even-demos, basically Prince spitballing at the […]
Open Mike Eagle Brick Body Kids Still Daydream (Mello) Chicago’s late-but-beautiful bloomer Open Mike Eagle moved to L.A. in his mid-20s, joining underground hip-hop collective Project Blowed and founding the trio Thirsty Fish before releasing his solo debut in 2010. Since then he’s authored an NIH study on the cognitive effects of freestyle rapping (!) […]
Lambchop FLOTUS (Merge) Kurt Wagner might deserve this year’s indie Lifetime Achievement Award. While recording as Lambchop for more than 20 years, he has ably covered a waterfront of styles, from string-laden alt-country to hipster soul and mellow indie-pop. To boot, he’s given us a bounty of wry titles like “Cigaretiquette” and “The Petrified Florist,” […]
Devendra Banhart Ape in Pink Marble (Nonesuch) Devendra Banhart seems like a good idea. Handsome, talented and raised in Venezuela and Los Angeles by free-spirited parents, Banhart dropped out of art school at 19 to busk on streets, and subsequently came to the attention of Swans’ Michael Gira, who released Banhart’s home recordings to wide […]
Amber Arcades Fading Lines (Heavenly) A stereotypical indie-rocker might work as a barista or telemarketer; Utrecht songwriter Annelotte de Graaf is a legal aide for the international war crimes tribunal and the Dutch immigration office. As such, you could expect Fading Lines, her debut as Amber Arcades, to be full of ponderous downers, but it’s […]
Frank Ocean Blonde (Boys Don’t Cry) In the midst of all the think pieces analyzing Blonde as an event, it seems worth restating the bottom line: Frank Ocean is a brilliant songwriter, musician and producer, and Blonde is overflowing with sonic and compositional gifts; it’s almost embarrassing. So when I played this for my dad […]
Mark Roebuck The World and All Within (Fear of the Atom) In 1980s Charlottesville, The Deal was a shining power-pop group poised for success: a Musician magazine conferral of “best unsigned band,” a contract with Bearsville, sessions at Ardent Recording Studios with help from Big Star’s Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens and recordings with a […]