Info: How do you top an album like Freetown Sound? The science says just make a better one, which is just what London's Dev Hynes, aka Blood Orange has done with Negro Swan which was released last weekend (yes, we yet again shoe-horn an LP release from the very end of the previous month into our post). I'm at that rather exciting phase where my first listen was overwhelming and I'm looking forward to the idea of discovering my favourite songs on the album. The album has 16 tracks that should just never end, and is going to become my favourite, most listened to release, since Panda Bear in 2015.
Bristol neo-psychedelic band Beak> will release their sixth album, >>>, on the 21st of September, and I'm loving the combo of Jeff Buckley 'Nightmares By the Sea' sounding guitars and underworld sinister vibe, also a bit of a Beck / Eels thing going on I can't quite put my finger on, a weird and wonderful mix. Vancouver's Tim Hecker drops his eleventh album, Konoyo, on the 28th of September, single 'This life' is straight from the James Wan OST playbook (Insidious, The Conjuring), welcome to Hades, don't forget to pay the ferryman for your passage.
French tour de force (sorry) Héloïse Letissier, better known perhaps as Christine & The Queens releases the much anticipated follow-up to 2014's Chaleur humain, in album Chris. She has, until now, shared four very strong singles from her sophomore album, which points toward her debut being no flash in the pan. My personal favourites are 'La marcheuse' and '5 Dollars', catchy AF 80's retro pop bliss. Villagers and Conor O'Brien show no let up in writing beautifully thought-provoking pieces of music with The Art of Pretending to Swim which directly pings me back in terms of impact to the first time I heard 'Becoming A Jackal' (both the single and album) 8 years ago.
New discoveries (to me!) I'm excited about come via Philadelphia's Mirah and her new album Understanding, and bodiesofwater by Canada's Rae Spoon. There are also new LP's from Spiritualized in And Nothing Hurt, and Suede with The Blue Hour, fans of both like myself will find themselves having a love-filled re-acquaintance with both bands based on the singles released thus far. Finally Kildare's Aphex Twin will be popping out a new EP, Collapse, on the 14th of September, and track 'T69 collapse' is a gratuitously enjoyable piece of knee-jerking IDM.
Blood Orange - Negro Swan (out now)
7th September:
Mirah - Understanding
Spiritualized - And Nothing Hurt
Rae Spoon - bodiesofwater
14th September:
Aphex Twin - Collapse (EP)
21st September:
Beak> - >>>
Christine and The Queens - Chris
Villagers - The Art of Pretending to Swim
Suede - The Blue Hour
28th September:
Tim Hecker - Konoyo
Our previous 2018 New Album Releases:
