Former Seattlites Band of Horses are readying the Infinite Arms LP for a May 18 release date. First available track "Compliments" sounds like you'd expect - they haven't shaken up their sound much, but it's not a bad start to what could be a very pleasant album.
Sage Francis is damn interesting, all of the time (a strong candidate for my favorite emcee). He writes with more intellect and emotion than you'd think possible while maintaining impressive rhyme schemes, and has penned essential screed after screed on love, life, politics and art. "Slow Man" is a bit of a change for him - not completely out of character, but it sounds to me like he is really channeling the blues here. He abandons some of his verbal acrobatics as a sing-songy tone enters his flow, pondering the pace of his life. When the album, Li(f)e, drops on May 11, you can bet I'll parse every lyric carefully, combing for bits of genius, and attend his Seattle show in early June.
The blues-rock traditionalists drop another (get the first one here) track from their upcoming Brothers LP (due out May 18). "Next Girl" sports a hefty dose of reverb and, when the vocals kick in at 0:38, a Jimi Hendrix-mimicking vocal style that suits their guitar swagger.
LCD Soundsystem wowed me with last release Sound of Silver, one of my favorite albums of 2007 peaking with one of my favorite tracks of all time (stay tuned for our Top 100 Tracks of the Decade countdown to find out which one). My hopes are high for This is Happening (due out May 18), but "Drunk Girls" sounds like a throwaway party song, certainly fun but not as gorgeous as when mastermind James Murphy slows it down and lets his songs build organically.
Another pair of tracks from Reflection Eternal, the all-star duo of Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek. Revolutions Per Minute is currently projected to drop on May 11, and "Back Again" sports their playful old-school vibe while "Strangers" matches Talib against Bun B with both adopting a slurred yet quick-firing Southern flow. Get previously linked tracks here and here.
Unbeknownst to me, CocoRosie released three albums this decade as a pair of American sisters recording in Paris. For their newest, Grey Oceans (due out May 11), the girls have moved to iconic Northwest label Sub Pop Records, but maintain their (other)worldly sound. While not a direct comparison, the closest reference I can give you for the two tracks below is Bjork, due to the sisters' siren calls, simultaneously fragile and overpowering, and their slow-paced, rhythmically adventurous songwriting style.
Tegan and Sara have put out a digital-only album consisting of 17 different artists remixing the same song, their very own track "Alligator." Other artists include Passion Pit, Four Tet, Dave Sitek (of TV on the Radio) and Ra Ra Riot (one half of Discovery). Toro y Moi treats it like one of his own tracks, giving it a glossy synth covering that comes and goes like clouds allowing you a peek at the sun and then storming back across the sky once again.
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