New Releases: May 2016

Round-up of the most interesting albums, singles and EPs released in May 2016:

Albums

CAR SEAT HEADREST - Teens of Denial
RADIOHEAD - A Moon Shaped Pool
WHITE LUNG - Paradise
KRISTIN KONTROL - X-Communicate
THE DUKE SPIRIT - Kin
MARISSA NADLER - Strangers
JULIANNA BARWICK - Will
TANYA DONELLY - Swan Song Series
OPERATORS - Blue Wave
PANTHA DU PRINCE - The Triad
DEATH IN VEGAS - Transmission
HOLY FUCK - Congrats
DEATH GRIPS - Bottomless Pit
JAMES BLAKE - The Colour in Anything
ANOHNI - Hopelessness
OSCAR - Cut and Paste
EAGULLS - Ullages
BLANEY featuring MARK E SMITH - Urban Nature
KID CONGO AND THE PINK MONKEY BIRDS - La Arana Es La Vida
RICHARD ASHCROFT - These People
BETH ORTON - Kidsticks
JOHN DOE - The Westerner
BRITTA PHILLIPS - Luck or Magic
MARK KOZELEK - Sings Favorites
MALCOM MIDDLETON - Summer of '13
BAND OF SKULLS - By Default
SERATONES - Get Gone
TWIN PEAKS - Down in Heaven
A GIANT DOG - Pile
SUMMER CANNIBALS - Full of It
MARK PRITCHARD - Under the Sun
GOLD PANDA - Good Luck and Do Your Best
SHIT ROBOT - What Follows
CHANCE THE RAPPER - Coloring Book
AESOP ROCK - The Impossible Kid
YONI AND GETI - Testarossa
HOMEBOY SANDMAN - Kindness for Weakness
AUTECHRE - elseq 1 - 5
TERMINAL GODS - Wave / Form
HEAD WOUND CITY - A New Wave of Violence
NOTHING - Tired of Tomorrow
SO SO GLOS - Kamikaze
METHYL ETHEL - Oh Inhuman Spectacle
YAK - Alas Salvation
THOMAS COHEN - Bloom Forever
DAN MICHAELSON AND THE COASTGUARDS - Memory
WILD BILLY CHILDISH AND CTMF - SQ 1

Singles & EPs

RADIOHEAD - Burn the Witch
WOLF PARADE - EP 4
GOAT - I Sing in Silence
DESTROYER - My Mystery
FUJIYA AND MIYAGI - EP1 
SPRING KING - The Summer  
MRS MAGICIAN - Eyes All Over Town / Do You Wanna Walk Around in the Dark?
EXPLODED VIEW - No More Parties in the Attic / Strange Coincidences
ART TRIP AND THE STATIC SOUND - Oxymoron EP
WILD BILLY CHILDISH AND CTMF - A Song For Kylie Minogue
DIANE AND THE GENTLE MEN - Motorcycle
FIR - Summer Wasn't There / Winter Doesn't Care 
THE HAYMAN KUPA BAND - Someone to Care For / What Happened
THE BIG MOON - Cupid
PUMAROSA - Cecile
BRYDE - EP1
HOLY GHOST! - Crime Cutz
PETER, BJORN AND JOHN - Breakin' Point
JEAN MICHEL JARRE / PEACHES - What You Want 
JARVIS COCKER - Theme from Likely Stories EP

Car Seat Headrest - Vincent

Live: The Underground Youth @ Fuzz Club (Athens, May 20, 2016)

The rise of The Underground Youth’s popularity among indie music fans in Greece is a bit similar to the rise of Leicester City F.C. in the English Premiership. I don’t think that many would expect it, when Craig Dyer’s psych rock band made its Athens live debut in the fall of 2012 at the tiny Six D.O.G.S club that four years later they would be headlining at the Fuzz Club, currently the city’s largest rock venue.

I have to admit that a casual listen to their latest album, last year’s "Haunted", did not prepare me for the intensity of the band’s live show. Thankfully there was the good word of mouth from their previous gig at An Club a year ago and the fact that there aren’t many interesting rock gigs in town lately that convinced me to give them a chance and now I’m at the very pleasant position to testify that the rumors are true: The Underground Youth really know how to rock a stage!

Craig Dyer has said in interviews that he prefers to work alone when creating The Underground Youth’s music, but the added power and intensity that his music projects when performed live as quartet that also includes Frankie on guitar, Max on bass and his wife Olya on the minimal drum set, which she plays standing up bringing in mind the "Psychocandy" era Jesus And Mary Chain, is a testimony to the fact that music can be much more powerful when it is a collaborative effort.

Where their live show really takes off is when first Craig, and then also Frankie and Max, jump off the stage and start to perform among their fans the last songs of their set, true to the punk rock spirit of breaking down the barriers between musicians and fans. The Underground Youth showed us how music can be all you need to communicate with like-minded individuals and made every minute count in a truly memorable 80-minute set where psychedelic rock and post-punk collided to create some wonderful noise!

Among the highlights of their set we have singled out "Morning Sun" (which you can watch below), "Collapsing Into Night", "The Rules of Attraction" and a great cover of Suicide’s classic "Ghost Rider".

The Underground Youth - Morning Sun (live @ Fuzz Club, May 20th, 2016)

The Underground Youth, live @ Fuzz Club (May 20th, 2016)

Another plus of the fittingly rainy night was Echo Train’s performance that preceded The Underground Youth’s set. The Athens rock quintet’s music takes inspiration from ‘60s psychedelia and ’70 progressive rock, and although the latter is not high on my list of preferences, their half-hour set left a good overall impression thanks to the excellent voice and stage presence of lead singer Ren and the dynamic sound of the group.

Echo Train, live @ Fuzz Club (May 20th, 2016)

Listening Habits 03-04.2016

The five years we had to wait from 2011's masterpiece "Let England Shake" to this year's "The Hope Six Demolition Project" is the longest between-albums period in PJ Harvey's astounding  24-year trajectory. It was certainly worth the wait as the new album may not achieve the impossible, which would be to surpass a record that stands among the best of this decade and is certainly one of Harvey's finest hours, but it does accomplish the next best thing; to be its worthy successor and another fascinating chapter in Harvey's ever-changing, constantly evolving musical career.

As on her previous album, PJ Harvey once again structures her songs as musical documentaries. The focus this time has shifted from the devastation of war and the tragedies it has caused in the last hundred or so years of English history and turns to the harsh social and political realities of today's world. Travels to far and wide places, from Washington, to Kosovo, to Afghanistan, provide the themes for her rock reportage, while the lyrics try to describe the hard facts adopting a journalistic approach. With a body of songs with such a difficult subject matter, the challenging task of the music is not only to convey the sentiments of its creator about the societal ills described in the lyrics, but also to give the artistic strength to the songs to become powerful, moving experiences. PJ Harvey and her stellar cast of musical accomplices have once again succeeded in taking on this challenge and as a result you'll probably find yourself humming along to lyrics like "Here's the highway to death and destruction, South Capitol is its name" or "They're gonna put a Walmart here" like it's the most natural thing in the world.

Our list of favorite albums for Spring 2016 also includes the mighty fourth full-length by psychedelic heavy rockers Black Mountain (another welcome return after a six year period), the third and best effort so far by Boston psych-rockers Quilt, the experimental electro-folk concocted by Thao & The Get Down Stay Down with the help of Tune-Yards' Merrill Garbus who produced their fourth LP, Poliça's politically charged "United Crushers", the third LP by the Minneapolis synthpop group led by Ryan Olson and Channy Leaneagh, the return of Animal Collective and The Last Shadow Puppets, as well as the fine debuts by New York-based indie-rockers Sunflower Bean and Mass Gothic (the new group led by Noel Heroux, formerly of Hooray For Earth). Here's the complete list of our favorite albums and songs for March - April 2016:

Top 12 Albums

1.  The Hope Six Demolition Project - PJ HARVEY
2.  IV - BLACK MOUNTAIN
3.  Plaza - QUILT
4.  A Man Alive - THAO & THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN
5.  United Crushers - POLIÇA

6.  Painting With - ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
7.  Mass Gothic - MASS GOTHIC
8.  Human Ceremony - SUNFLOWER BEAN
9.  Everything You've Come To Expect - THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS
10. Life Of Pause - WILD NOTHING
11. SVIIB - SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
12. Pool - PORCHES

Top 15 Tracks

1.  Florian Saucer Attack - BLACK MOUNTAIN
2.  Roller - QUILT
3.  Wedding - POLIÇA
4.  The Community Of Hope - PJ HARVEY
5.  Nobody Dies - THAO & THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN
6.  Every Night You’ve Got To Save Me - MASS GOTHIC
7.  Wall Watcher - SUNFLOWER BEAN
8.  Aviation - THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS
9.  TV Queen - WILD NOTHING
10. Be Apart - PORCHES
11. Confusion - SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
12. Vertical - ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
13. I Serve The Base - FUTURE
14. Psykick Espionage - JOANNA GRUESOME
15. Late 20s - BEST COAST

Listen to our Spring '16 playlist on Spotify:

Black Mountain - Florian Saucer Attack

Nothing compares to Prince, though, so here's a little something from his untouchable '80s period - R.I.P:

Prince And The Revolution - Let's Go Crazy

New Releases: April 2016

Our selection of the most interesting albums, singles and EPs released in April 2016:

Albums

PJ HARVEY - The Hope Six Demolition Project
PARQUET COURTS - Human Performance
BLACK MOUNTAIN - IV
WOODS - City Sun Eater in the River of Light
KEVIN MORBY - Singing Saw
THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS - Everything You've Come To Expect
WIRE - Nocturnal Koreans
SUUNS - Hold/Still
AUTOLUX - Pussy's Dead
FRANKIE COSMOS - Next Thing
BLEACHED - Welcome the Worms
SEPTEMBER GIRLS - Age Of Indignation
THE COATHANGERS - Nosebleed Weekend
GUIDED BY VOICES - Please Be Honest
KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - Nonagon Infinity
CATE LE BON - Crab Day
MISTY MILLER - The Whole Family is Worried
THE LIMINANAS - Malamore
SAM BEAM AND JESCA HOOP - Love Letter For Fire
ANDREW BIRD - Are You Serious
ADAM GREEN - Aladdin
XIU XIU - Plays the Music of Twin Peaks
DÄLEK - Asphalt for Eden
YEASAYER - Amen and Goodbye
DEAKIN - Sleep Cycle
FRIGHTENED RABBIT - Painting of a Panic Attack
NIKI AND THE DOVE - Everybody's Heart Is Broken Now
M83 - Junk
MOGWAI - Atomic
EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY - The Wilderness Album
AUDACITY - Hyper Vessels
CFM - Still Life Of Citrus and Slime
NEIL MICHAEL HAGERTY AND THE HOWLING HEX - Denver
MIKE AND THE MELVINS - Three Men and a Baby
EAST OF VENUS - Memory Box
THE POSIES - Solid State
DANDY WARHOLS - Distortland
WEEZER - Weezer (White Album)
ROGUE WAVE - Delusions of Grand Fur
STURGILL SIMPSON - A Sailors Guide To Earth
JOHN CONGLETON AND THE NIGHTY NITE - Until the Horror Goes
EDWARD SHARPE AND THE MAGNETIC ZEROS - Person A
ENSEMBLE DAL NIENTE / DEERHOOF - Balter / Saunier
SURGICAL METH MACHINE - Surgical Meth Machine
HORSE LORDS - Interventions
THE FIELD - The Follower
ANDY STOTT - Too Many Voices
TIM HECKER - Love Streams
MATT ELLIOTT - The Calm Before
PET SHOP BOYS - Super

Singles & EPs

LUSH - Blind Spot EP
THE CHILLS - Pyramid / When The Poor Can Reach The Moon
BEST COAST - Bigger Man / Late 20s
THE DUKE SPIRIT - Blue and Yellow Light / Here Comes The Vapour - Remix EP
HOPE SANDOVAL AND THE WARM INVENTIONS - Isn't It True
GRIS-DE-LIN - Your Ghost / Birthday
THE LIMINANAS - Garden's Of Love / Maria's Theme
CATS EYES - Chameleon Queen
FOALS - Rain / Daffodils
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE - Tractor rape chain
PINS - Trouble
WUSSY - Ceremony
SLOW RIOT - Trophy Wife
FUTURE OF THE LEFT - To Failed States and Forest Clearings EP
METZ / MISSION OF BURMA - Good Not Great / Get Off
METZ AND SWAMI JOHN REIS - Let It Rust / Caught Up
VANT - Fly By Alien
BLOSSOMS - You Pulled a Gun on Me
SPINNING COIN - Albany / Sides
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING - The Other Side
BEYOND THE WIZARDS SLEEVE - Diagram Girl
THE ANCHORESS - Popular
MALCOLM MIDDLETON - You and I
JIM JONES AND THE RIGHTEOUS MIND - Aldecide
MATTHEW E WHITE AND NATALIE PRASS - Cool Out
LOW / S CAREY - Not a Word / I Won't Let You Fall
THE FEELIES - Uncovered EP
THE FLESHTONES - End of My Neighborhood
BLONDE REDHEAD - Peel Sessions
THAT PETROL EMOTION - In The Beginning EP

PJ Harvey - The Community Of Hope