Gyða Valtýsdottir Epicycle (figureight) A veteran of Iceland’s experimental Múm as well as the St. Petersburg Conservatory, multi-instrumentalist Gyða Valtýsdottir delivers an absorbing hybrid of those two worlds on Epicycle. The instrumentation hews to the traditional, but the sensibility and choice of material are adventurous, as Valtýsdottir interprets Crumb, Partch and Messiaen alongside Prokofiev, Schubert and […]
Judy Dyble/Andy Lewis Summer Dancing (Acid Jazz) Summer Dancing is a triumphant turn for an undersung figure of seminal British psych-folk. Judy Dyble preceded Sandy Denny in Fairport Convention before working with Robert Fripp in his pre-King Crimson days—her range and tone are similar to Vashti Bunyan, though if Bunyan is the mysterious neighbor who […]
Downtown Boys Cost of Living (Sub Pop) “A Wall,” the opening track on Cost of Living, winds up like it could be a punk Springsteen cover—then vocalist Victoria Ruiz bursts through with the righteous, insistent bellow of Dog Faced Hermans’ Marion Coutts or holy Poly Styrene. Downtown Boys calls itself a “serious band from Providence,” […]
Moby & The Void Pacific Choir More Fast Songs About The Apocalypse (Mute) There may be a buncha riots going on, but on Moby’s More Fast Songs the apocalypse is personal, and it feels less like Armageddon than a sleepless night spent sifting and cycling through dire thoughts that are universal, but banal for that. […]
The Stevens Good (Chapter) The Stevens are from Melbourne, Australia, sharing a member with Twerps and sounding pretty similar. They invoke classic Aussie/New Zealand indie heroes like The Clean, cut with Pavement and Guided by Voices (and on “Purple and Grey,” Syd Barrett). It’s almost suspicious how effortlessly the 18 songs on Good unfold, but […]
Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie (Warner) It’s not fair to criticize Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie for going adult contemporary, since that’s what Fleetwood Mac has been for 40 years. And this is basically Fleetwood Mac, with rhythm section Mick Fleetwood and John McVie on board, sounding pretty great on “In My […]
James Elkington Wintres Woma (Paradise of Bachelors) When bashful guitar hero Steve Gunn played the Tea Bazaar in fall 2014, a lot of the crowd ended up buzzing about sous guitarist James Elkington, whose electric and lap steel provided endlessly dazzling settings and accents. On Wintres Woma, his solo debut, Elkington sticks to acoustic guitar […]
Dan Auerbach Waiting on a Song (Nonesuch) Gotta confess, The Black Keys always felt like a put-on, but Keys guitarist Dan Auerbach is starting to win me over. Last year he produced The Pretenders’ Alone, which was a pleasant surprise, and it’s possible that Auerbach’s other production gigs (Dr. John, Lana Del Rey, Ray LaMontagne) […]
Justin Townes Earle Kids in the Street (New West) Being Steve Earle’s son and Townes Van Zandt’s namesake unfairly provokes expectations of preternatural songwriting gifts. Happily, on Kids in the Street, oft-troubled Justin Townes Earle lives up to his lineage. It kicks off with the Stones-y stomp of “Champagne Corolla”—the band sounds great, horns nestling […]
Juana Molina Halo (Crammed Discs) Starting with her enchanting Segundo album, Juana Molina has cultivated such an indelible style that it might seem confusing if she deviated. Her music comprises repetitive acoustic guitar patterns, wavery keyboard tones, rubbery bass figures and rhythm tracks from homemade sources like hand claps and ticking clocks—and then, there’s Molina’s […]