As fun as it is to complain about “music these days,” and how it’s all been downhill since The Chronic came out, it’s even MORE fun to listen to — wait for it — good music. Every Tuesday, a.k.a. Music Release Day, we’ll highlight five albums worth (legally) downloading or driving to the local Best Buy (lolz) for. (Banner via)
Today, we’ve got selections from How to destroy angels_, M.I.A., Youth Lagoon, and more.
Welcome oblivion by How to destroy angels_
Despite Trent Reznor already concentrating on the future of his other, slightly more famous band, Welcome oblivion, the first full-length album from How to destroy angels_, deserves to be more than a footnote in the book on his career. Though, to be fair, it does at times recall Nine Inch Nails, or a bizarro Nine Inch Nails inspired by the Postal Service and EDM. There are robotic bloops and bleeps, but thanks to Mariqueen Maandig’s sweet, cold voice and a welcome lack of outward rage, Welcome oblivion works on its own terms. Listen to it enough, and it creeps up on you, like a spider slowly inching its way up your spine, which is the vibe Reznor was likely going for.
Matangi by M.I.A.
For more on M.I.A.’s new eight-minute mixtape, check out the Smoking Section.
(The SoundCloud file won’t embed, so enjoy the “Bucky Done Gun” video.)
Wondrous Bughouse by Youth Lagoon
There was undeniable talent to be heard on Youth Lagoon’s 2011 debut The Year of Hibernation. Problem was, it was literally tough to hear him — Trevor Powers’s voice rarely rose above a distant echo. On the much improved Wondrous Bughouse, which sounds like the soundtrack to a creakier carnival than the one suggested in Nick Cave’s “The Carny,” Powers is more confident not only in his vocals, no longer buried beneath a blanket of noise, but also in his abilities as a synth-driven soundscaper. He’s not an off-putting loner anymore, the last human on Earth; Wondrous Bughouse, while still dabbling in dark, vivid imagery (“As I hear the horses drawing close/Over all the corpses we love most/I’ll never see them”), also (literally) pops and cracks with a passion that suggests hope. For what? No clue. But at least it sounds good.
Chelsea Light Moving by Chelsea Light Moving
Even without his Sonic Youth bandmates, this Thurston Moore’s still a pretty talented guy. Chelsea Light Moving is the name of both his new band and their first album, and while it won’t make you forget Thurston and Kim broke up, it’s also a decent representation of what made Sonic Youth so great. Namely, light lo-fi riffs at times, experimental, angry thrashing at others, and anxious snarls often. C’mon, though, you guys are going to work it out, right?
Nanobots by They Might Be Giants
Though this isn’t technically a “kids album,” play it for your kids, and they’ll thank you in five years when they’re not listening to Hawt Boyz Town.
