January - February 2018 Playlist

We had several excellent new releases lately and there is a lot more cool new music coming our way in the next few weeks. Check out below 10 of the best new tracks that made their debut in the first couple of months of 2018:

Courtney Barnett - Nameless, Faceless (from the album "Tell Me How You Really Feel", coming in May)

Beach House - Lemon Glow

U.S. Girls - Rosebud (from the album "In A Poem Unlimited", out this week)

Belly - Shiny One (from the upcoming album "DOVE", the band's first in 23 years)

Car Seat Headrest - Nervous Young Inhumans (from the album "Twin Fantasy")

Frankie Cosmos - Being Alive (from the album "Vessel", coming at the end of March)

 Wye Oak - The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs (from the album "The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs", out in April)

 The Decemberists - Severed (from the album "I'll Be Your Girl" out in March)

Dream Wife - Hey Heartbreaker (from their eponymous debut album)

Goat Girl - The Man (from their eponymous debut album, out in April)

Listening Habits 01-02.2018

The collaborative effort between Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile as well as The Weather Station's eponymous fourth LP are at the top of our list of recommended albums for the start of 2018.

Although there are already several outstanding releases in the first couple of months of the year, our latest selection focuses on 2017 releases that we have come across between the end of the year and now, some of them already on our radar, like "Lotta Sea Lice" which made it in our Top 50 of 2017 at the last minute, and some of them discovered after going through the various other "Best of 2017" lists out there, as it was the case with The Weather Station's record.

The resulting Top 15 can be seen as an addendum to our Top 50 Albums of 2017 and a good soundtrack for starting the new year, until we have enough strong new material to compile our first 2018 list. In the meantime, check these out:

Top 15 Albums

1.   Lotta Sea Lice - COURTNEY BARNETT AND KURT VILE
2.   The Weather Station - THE WEATHER STATION
3.   How The West Was Won - PETER PERRETT
4.   Flat Worms - FLAT WORMS
5.   Strange Peace - METZ
6.   Polygondwanaland - KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD
7.   Big Fish Theory - VINCE STAPLES
8.   Hiss Spun - CHELSEA WOLFE
9.   Capacity - BIG THIEF
10. Phases - ANGEL OLSEN
11. Low In High School - MORRISSEY
12. V - THE HORRORS
13. Okovi - ZOLA JESUS
14. Humanz - GORILLAZ
15. The Witch - PUMAROSA

Top 15 Tracks

1.   Over Everything - COURTNEY BARNETT AND KURT VILE
2.   Thirty - THE WEATHER STATION
3.   Jacky’s Only Happy When She’s Up On The Stage - MORRISSEY
4.   An Epic Story - PETER PERRETT
5.   Shark Smile - BIG THIEF
6.   Special - ANGEL OLSEN
7.   Red Hot Sand - FLAT WORMS
8.   Cellophane - METZ
9.   Spun - CHELSEA WOLFE
10. BagBak - VINCE STAPLES
11. Andromeda - GORILLAZ
12. Something To Remember Me By - THE HORRORS
13. Priestess - PUMAROSA
14. Exhumed - ZOLA JESUS
15. Polygondwanaland - KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD

Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile - Over Everything

Live: Algiers @ Temple (Athens, February 10th, 2018)

Algiers, the gospel-punk quartet that last year unleashed its second album, the fierce, politically charged "The Underside Of Power" (one of our Top Albums of 2017), made its live debut in Athens on Saturday, giving a fittingly hell-raising performance that will certainly be one of the highlights of the year for everyone who witnessed it.

For 90 minutes Algiers raised the roof of the Temple club with a unique blend of electronic rhythms, post-punk noise and soulful melodies, delivering loud and clear the passion and fury of their explosive songs. "Walk Like a Panther", "Cry of the Martyrs", "Cleveland", "The Cycle/The Spiral: Time to Go Down Slowly", "Irony. Utility. Pretext.", "Blood", "Black Eunuch" and, of course, the ace "The Underside of Power" which they saved for the cathartic ending of the show, were some of the highlights of a truly memorable night.

The opening act of the gig was Glass Rebel, a new four-piece band from Athens that gave us a taste of their melodic electro pop sound, a calm and groovy beginning before the storm that followed soon after.

Glass Rebel, live @ Temple (Athens, Feb. 10th, 2018)

Check out below Algiers performing "Cleveland", live in Athens:

Algiers - Cleveland, live @ Temple Club (Athens, February 10th, 2018)

Algiers, live @ Temple (Athens, Feb. 10th, 2018)

New Releases: January 2018

Round-up of the most interesting albums and singles released in January 2018:

Albums

Freedom's Goblin

TY SEGALL - Freedom’s Goblin
NO AGE - Snares Like a Haircut
TUNE-YARDS - I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life
DJANGO DJANGO - Marble Skies
SHAME - Songs of Praise
SHOPPING - The Official Body
DREAM WIFE - Dream Wife
THE LIMINANAS - Shadow People
CALEXICO - The Thread That Keeps Us
BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB - Wrong Creatures
FIRST AID KIT - Ruins
THE GO! TEAM - Semicircle
HOLLIE COOK - Vessels of Love
PORCHES - The House
AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS - Big Attraction and Giddy Up
JEFF ROSENSTOCK - POST-
THE SPOOK SCHOOL - Could It Be Different?
STARCRAWLER - Starcrawler
HALF JAPANESE - Why Not?
KHRUANGBIN - Con Todo El Mundo
JOHNNY JEWEL - Digital Rain
XYLOURIS WHITE - Mother
NILS FRAHM - All Melody
THE SHINS - The Worms Heart
MUDHONEY - LiE

Singles & EPs

Connected By Love

JACK WHITE - Connected By Love / Respect Commander
THE VOIDZ - Leave It In My Dreams
MOON DUO - Jukebox Babe / No Fun
PANDA BEAR - A Day With the Homies EP
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN - How To Solve Our Human Problems (Part 2)
ARCADE FIRE - Put Your Money on Me
MGMT - Hand It Over
SUNFLOWER BEAN - Crisis Fest
DANIEL AVERY - Slow Fade EP
DATEMONTHYEAR - March
THE SHACKS - This Strange Effect / Hands In Your Pockets
PUSSYLIQUOR - 7 Inch Wonder
CHASTITY - Chains EP
SPORTS TEAM - Winter Nets EP
SYLVAN ESSO - PARAD(w/m)E

No Age - Send Me