This is the first installment of our weekly digest of the best albums we were turned onto this week. Since it’s our first, we’ve gone back a bit further than one week and feature the new releases of Dungen, Kurt Vile, Helvetia and more.
What were your favorite albums released this week? Let us know in the comments!
Dungen – Allas Sak
Released Sep. 25, 2015
About the album via allmusic.com…
After almost 15 years of releasing gloriously expansive and tripped-out psychedelic jams, Gustav Ejstes and his band Dungen show no signs of flagging on their seventh full-length, Allas Sak. After a break of five years, the album finds them stretching their sound in new, more measured and arranged ways. Ejstes adds loads of piano (both acoustic and electric), many mellifluous flute solos, and Mellotron, all of which coat the songs in a soft-focus haze…read more
Kurt Vile – b’lieve i’m goin down…
Released Sep. 25, 2015
About the album via allmusic.com…
Kurt Vile scored a genuine word-of-mouth hit with his fifth album, Wakin on a Pretty Daze, its elongated rambles conjuring hazy half-memories of Laurel Canyon while feeling uniquely situated to modern confines. B’lieve I’m Goin Down…, released two years after that 2013 breakthrough, whittles away some of the excesses while retaining eccentricity, trading ten-minute sprawls with six-strings for woozy five-minute vamps on a piano. Electric guitars aren’t entirely absent but they’re used for coloring — arriving unexpectedly as a wash of distortion or perhaps a bit of percussion — on a record anchored by acoustic guitars and banjos…read more
The Cleaners From Venus – Rose of the Lanes
Released Sep. 28, 2015
Helvetia – Dromomania
Released Oct. 2, 2015
About the album via allmusic.com…
As with the rest of Helvetia’s many albums, there’s something more than a little bit off about Dromomania, but in a delightful way. While sticking to a standard guitar/bass/drums/vocals lineup, the group creates skewed, abstract indie pop songs that often include unpredictable time signatures or surreal transitions…read more
Girls Names – Arms Around A Vision
Released Oct. 2, 2015
About the album via allmusic.com…
After throwing their fans for a loop by shifting their outlook from their first album’s bright noise pop to their second’s gloomy post-punk, Girls’ Names’ third album doubles down on the somberness and despair, strips off a layer of studio gloss, and adds some tricky bits to the arrangements. Arms Around a Vision has a grittier feel and tougher sound, with jagged guitars and loud drums, while at the same time the band shows a more nuanced way of arranging the songs…read more
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