The Albums You Need to Know About Every Week
Though we’re almost completely deaf from the roaring buzz that’s constantly engulfed Daft Punk’s fourth record, we’re still excited to fully experience their salute to the fathers of EDM and fab collaborations with Panda Bear, Julian Casablancas, and Pharrell Williams. Random Access Memories doesn’t seem to let up, meshing disco, funk, rock, pop, jazz and electronica into one big, tasty, hype-worthy record. The National does it yet again with their sixth, and also star-studded, new one featuring Sharon Van Etten, Sufjan Stevens, Nona Marie Invie (Dark Dark Dark) and Annie Clark (St. Vincent)! As if that weren’t enough, the moody rock and roll that they’ve churned out is probably their best effort yet, which is saying a whole lot.
NYC punk rockers, Japanther, are dropping their latest art fuzz outing, while Majical Cloudz goes in the other direction with clean, stripped electronics and heartfelt lyrics. Christopher Paul Stelling’s newest is a soulful, “gospel-folk” joyride down a dirty Americana road, and every second is full of passion and grit. Quite possibly the most interesting new release this week comes from Portland dream-pop band, Radiation City, whose light but varied textures, hushed harmonies, and danceable hooks will leave you love-stoned. My vote for biggest sleeper record this week, though, comes from Melbourne’s Alpine, whose pop debut is so catchy and so smart, you’re going to want to dig into the rest of their record ASAP.
