Out Today: Scott Walker, Vassals, Moonlight Bride, Ed Tullett
Every Tuesday is album release day (as well as video games, movies, etc.), but on a day so far from the weekend, it's a good feeling to wake up to some brand, spankin' new music.
Ed Tullett - Never Joy (Equal Vision)
Outwardly expressing a love for all things Bon Iver and indie-folk-pop (captured in a Bandcamp "Bon Iver" tag), Ed Tullett emotes a healthy balance of warmth and subtle darkness over acoustic instruments, harmonies, and pop melodies galore. Completely remastered, Equal Vision Records re-released Never Joy for a larger (and in these folk-revival days, more receptive) public. You don't even need to ask if there's a banjo.Stream it here.
Moonlight Bride - Dead Language EP (Moonlight Bride)
While connecting the mood of a record to a season has become cliche' and unoriginal, it's fair to say that some Winter releases do welcome the season of shut-ins. Moonlight Bride carries on a trend of darker ambiance, stripped down like leafless trees, but still with high hopes of the warmth from a lively fire. On this EP, the Chattanooga quartet plays to intimacy and thoroughly succeeds.Stream it here.
Vassals -In My Dreams I am a Sailor
A smaller band from the the monstrous musical depths of Brooklyn, Vassals released its debut via Bandcamp today, flaunting power pop seductive and aggressive enough to reel in your mother, father, and generally inactive beta fish. I think we all have dreams of being a sailor, but we're too busy thinking about music to pursue the open sea.
Scott Walker - Bish Bosch (4AD)
Scott Walker is the epitome of a "cult icon." He's a weird dude who sings about weird things, which is precisely why he's so admirable. A significant force in US avant-garde musiculture in the 50s and 60s, Walker migrated to the UK with John Maus and Gary Leeds to form The Walker Brothers and take part in the British Invasion. In his first solo record in about six years, Walker boasts his status as a less accessible Tom Waits (more of a Xiu Xiu-Waits) and hits you with things that make you feel real goofy inside, but in the best possible ways.
[embed]http://open.spotify.com/album/5EUAl341bOrY661zcYD2iV[/embed]