Anna St. Louis If Only There Was a River (Woodsist) Woodsist calls this the “debut” of Kansas City native Anna St. Louis— odd, since they also released her First Songs […]
White Denim Performance (City Slang) The new record by Austin’s scraggle rock standard bearers opens with the tumble of a spinning radio dial. It sounds ironic but it could also […]
The Essex Green Hardly Electronic (Merge) I know I’m not alone in pronouncing this spring and summer a total bust—for every nice day, we’ve had a week of muggy, gloomy, […]
Jim James Uniform Distortion (ATO) Jim James takes enough chances that I gotta pull for the guy— usually from a distance, but hey. Uniform Distortion’s 11 squalling tracks walk the […]
Vince Guaraldi The Complete Warner Bros. -Seven Arts Recordings (Omnivore) In “Linus and Lucy,” Vince Guaraldi created one of the most universally beloved recordings of all time, but it’s hard […]
The Orb No Sounds Are Out of Bounds (Cooking Vinyl) The English ambient house legends have had an uneven if steady output since their landmark debut in 1991, but they […]
Golden Dawn Arkestra Children of the Sun (Nine Mile) While borrowing Sun Ra’s band name and giving songs titles like “Ra Horahkty” and “Wings of Ra,” Golden Dawn Arkestra comes […]
Melody’s Echo Chamber Bon Voyage (Fat Possum) Melody Prochet’s 2012 debut was produced by Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker and shared many stylistic markers with Impala’s Innerspeaker, which was just peachy. […]
Chip Wickham Shamal Wind (Lovemonk) Wickham, a flute-and-reeds player who has worked with artists from Badly Drawn Boy to Roy Ayers, relocated from Manchester to Qatar and emerged as a […]
Domenico Lancellotti The Good is a Big God (Luaka Bop) One of the most creative interpreters of traditional Brazilian pop, Lancellotti puts an odd foot forward on The Good is […]