Muzz - s/t CD/LP (Matador)

The debut album from Paul Banks (Interpol), Matt Barrick (The Walkmen) and Josh Kaufman (Bonny Light Horseman). 'We have a genuine, organic artistic chemistry together,' says Banks. 'It's partly a shared musical taste from youth, as with me and Josh, but then it's also the souls of my friends that resonate with me when expressed through music.' The resulting songs are dark and gorgeous, expansive and sparse, like Cormac McCarthy prose stretched across a cowboy painting of a sunset.

El Michels Affair - Adult Themes CD/LP (Big Crown)

This album takes the band's "Cinematic Soul" aesthetic literally and sends the listener on a journey through a whirlwind of moods and energies. In 2017 in between producing, playing, and recording on other artists' records Leon Michels began creating compilations of short interludes intended to be sampled by hip hop producers. Some of these wound up becoming songs by Jay Z & Beyonce, Travis Scott, and Don Toliver. These minute-long snippets were inspired by the dense moody work of 60s composers like David Axelrod, and Francois de Roubaix, as well as Moondog's brand of classical jazz. All of these tunes come together to make perfect backgrounds for dialogue and action.

Four Tet - Sixteen Oceans CD/LP (Text)

For two decades, Four Tet has stayed remarkably consistent. It's hard to think of another electronic musician whose work feels so tactile: Sampling acoustic instruments from folk and jazz recordings, his music revels in the physicality of sound—the way a plucked string quivers in the air or a drum brush tickles a snare head. His touch is unmistakable, and Sixteen Oceans is frequently gorgeous and sometimes gripping. Kieran Hebden's latest album of club-ready barnstormers and downbeat daydreams feels like a companion to 2017's New Energy.

Hinds - The Prettiest Curse CD/LP (Mom + Pop)

Each time they take the stage, the Madrid rock band create a kind of wild magic, a feel-good free-for-all. While the band's first two albums channeled the euphoric energy of their live show in their gorgeously punchy take on garage-rock, their latest full-length adds entirely new texture to their sound. The album takes its title from the sometimes- daunting experience of giving your soul to rock-and-roll. In its making, Hinds devised a brilliantly unpredictable vocabulary for communicating their most painful feelings. Unfolding in frenetic guitar riffs and buzzing basslines, powerful drumming and delicate piano work, the album endlessly delivers massively catchy melodies and vocals that growl and sigh with equal ferocity. Color vinyl while it lasts.

Shindig Magazine - Issue 103/104: Eric Burdon & the Animals / Judee Sill (Shindig)

New issue featuring: Amon Duul II, Bananagun, Blues, Children Of The State, El Michels Affair, Gloria, Greg Prevost, Hippies Vs Ghosts, Jon Anderson & The Warriors, Judee Sill, Kai Clark, Malcolm Goldie, Moura, Sam Burton, Sonic Boom, The Association, The Vapors, The Yorkshire Folk. Issue 103 featuring: Eric Burdon & the Animals, Paul Weller, Carole King and much more!

Also New This Week

Ambrose Akinmusire - On The Tender Spot Of Every Calloused Moment CD (Blue Note)
Stefon Harris & Blackout - Sonic Creed CD (Motema)
Sarah Jarosz - World On The Ground CD (Rounder)
Katie Malco - Failures CD/LP (6131)
Melenas - Dias Raros CD/LP (Trouble in Mind)
Prince - CD/LP reissues (Sony)
John Scofield / Steve Swallow - Swallow Tales CD (ECM)
Tenci - My Heart is an Open Field CD/LP/TAPE (Keeled Scales)
Varsity - Fine Forever LP (Run for Cover)