Featuring songs inspired by the 2012 death of his mother (Carrie), Sufjan Stevens returns to his indie-folk roots for his newest album.
People seem to like Father John Misty. Perhaps you're one of them. Perhaps you don't know it yet, but if you check out the CD from the library and listen to it, you'll like him, too. It's worth a shot.
Owen Pallett's second album of Baroque pop garnered placement on numerous Best-of-2014 lists, and features guest contributions from luminary Brian Eno.
San Francisco's indie record store powerhouse Aquarius Records made Jaguya their record of the week, and had this to say, "Baba Commandant (aka Mamadou Sanou) and his band are from the West African state of Burkina Faso (formerly the Upper Volta), and in a true, underground, DIY style, mix up the traditional, tribal Mandingo music of their region with a more modern, electric approach. Baba Commandant, born in 1973, who sings and plays the ngoni (an ancient, traditional lute), has been an active and original presence on the music scene in Burkina Faso for many years. ... It's a cool discovery on the part of Sublime Frequencies, but we bet Baba Commandant & Co. would have been heard sooner or later over here, just due to the tons of rhythmic energy radiating from their music. Yup, they've got plenty of power (there's guitars to go with the ngoni, horns too, and they don't hold back), making for some pretty hot jams. The wide ranging vocals of Baba and his backup singers are crucial too, and together the group really casts a hypnotic spell."
Hey! There's a new Death Cab for Cutie album! Gotta love a band that named itself after a Bonzo Dog Band song.
Dylan does a covers album? Why not? I'd rather hear some original material, but if Bob Dylan wants to put out a whole album of songs most famously associated with Frank Sinatra, who am I to stop him?
The new Modest Mouse album is scheduled to hit streets/shelves/ears/whatever on March 17th.