Staff Picks for May 2017
May 31, 2017
The Regrettes' Feel Your Feelings Fool remains the best debut album issued in 2017 (so far). Their still in their teens but they possess an exceptional sense of songcraft and pop history, yet aren't too reverent: they still play with a giddy energy that keeps this fresh. To me, the best comparison to Feel Your Feelings Fool is Supergrass's I Should Coco: these are preternaturally gifted bands excited by the fact that they can create a great noise.
May 30, 2017
The third studio full-length from the Oxnard, California-based powerviolence/grindcore unit is a vital and unrelenting set of high-caliber hardcore ragers that celebrate the worst that humanity has to offer. The band's devotion to unadulterated sonic malevolence remains unchanged. They know that the darkest corners of the human psyche have deep closets, and they would like to show you what's in them.
May 29, 2017
Drawing upon such influences as Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, and Dizzy Gillespie, the trio (which also features bassist Omer Avital and drummer Nasheet Waits) makes frenetic, often explosive music. Taking their name from the Sanskrit word for the place where three sacred rivers come together, Triveni seem to very much perform with that collaborative philosophical notion in mind.
May 28, 2017
Some bands clearly reach to sounds of the past in their music, while others just seem like they'd fit comfortably into another decade without really trying. Cheat Sheet are a band that clearly falls into the latter category -- listening to their debut album, Songs To Yawn To, these guys sound like they'd be perfectly suited for a bill alongside Pavement, Sebadoh, or Nice Strong Arm, but at the same time they don't seem to be copying any of them, and there isn't a hint of 1980s or 90s nostalgia in their music.
May 27, 2017
Often overlooked by fans and critics, the French no wave chanteuse's fifth and final LP may be her slickest, but underneath the bright sheen of late-80's production are some vibrant songs and unusally strong performances.
May 26, 2017
A peak album in a long career that's stretched into the 21st century, the New Romantics' third LP featured the U.K., Ireland, and U.S. dance hits "Sunset Now" and "This Is Mine." With vocalist Glenn Gregory likely winning new fans on tour with Holy Holy, a band that has Woody Woodmansey, Tony Visconti, and friends performing David Bowie classics, it's a fine entry point for the uninitiated.
![Rock Around the Clock [1956]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0000326769/front/400/DJeSnxDVTa_HSqe_--cRCxyhM-OFI8zG4l-qVpXXB1I=.jpg)
May 25, 2017
History remembers Bill Haley as a well-meaning cornball who got pushed into the margins when Elvis Presley came along. History isn't 100% wrong about that, but the truth is, Haley and his Comets were a tight band that could swing hard as they made with the boogie, and their great early recordings are still a blast. These early Decca sides are a killer reminder of Haley's excellence before he became rock's first forgotten man.
May 24, 2017
Lobo is one of the least-celebrated of the major songwriting lions of the first Brazilian wave, and a talented performer in his own right -- which his first North American album makes stunningly clear. The backings strip the base of Sergio Mendes' Brasil '66 sound down to its rhythm section, fortified by the playful and enigmatic electric piano and flute multiphonics of Hermeto Pascoal, Airto Moreira's multifaceted percussion, and an occasional cello quartet.
May 23, 2017
Since there was no Tom Tom Club compilation available as of 2002, this double album served as both a much needed career recap as well as an enjoyable romp through their melange of hip-hop, reggae, Afro, and funk. It's a consistently effervescent, energetic, and upbeat live show, but the group's clever cover of Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing" is a showstopper.
May 22, 2017
2017 marks the 15th birthday of this early aughts classic from the dour New York crew. Start to finish, Bright Lights is a magical, expansive journey through the smokiest corners and darkest alleys of the city. Front-loaded with classics like "PDA" and "NYC," the end captures some of their most beautiful moments with "Stella...," "The New," and "Leif Erikson." Despite their uneven late-era output, Interpol will remain beloved by indie rock fans because of this iconic effort.
May 21, 2017
If Eternal Rhythm was Don Cherry's world fusion masterpiece of the '60s, then Brown Rice is its equivalent for the '70s. But where Eternal Rhythm set global influences in a free jazz framework, Brown Rice's core sound is substantially different, wedding Indian, African, and Arabic music to Miles Davis' electrified jazz-rock innovations. And although purists will likely react here the same way they did to post-Bitches Brew Davis, Brown Rice is a stunning success by any other standard.
May 20, 2017
Col. Bruce Hampton died on May 1, 2017, as he was appearing as part of a concert honoring his 70th birthday. While Hampton made plenty of memorable albums throughout his career, none are as gloriously strange and musically satisfying as 1971's Music To Eat, the first and only album from the Hampton Grease Band. It's a glorious exercise in Southern psychedelic surrealism that suggests a successful collaboration between the Allman Brothers Band and Pere Ubu.
May 19, 2017
The only full-length by The Clifford Gilberto Rhythm Combination appeared on Ninja Tune in 1998. It seems like a blatant rip-off of what Squarepusher had been doing for years by that point ("Earth Vs Me" seems to riff on virtually every track on Big Loada), blending jazz fusion with bugged-out drill'n'bass drum programming, but when the results are this enjoyable, it's impossible to complain.
May 18, 2017
2017 marks the 20th anniversary of some of groundbreaking albums -- Radiohead's OK Computer, Bjork's Homogenic -- but those weren't the year's only excellent releases. Case in point: Helium's The Magic City. For the band's second album, Mary Timony melded her guitar prowess with prog and synth-pop -- influences that were at best unexpected and at worst unfashionable in 1997. Twenty years later, those oddball choices feel a lot less dated than some late '90s indie rock, and Magic City might sound even better now than it did back in the day.
May 17, 2017
Eliminating the screeching vocals and distorted guitars in favor of acoustic instruments and the Norwegian Girls Choir, Mausoleum manages to make Myrkur's nature-inspired atmospheric black metal sound even more earthbound and haunting. A fine example of addition by subtraction, Mausoleum's sparse nature spotlights the underlying complexity and beauty of Amalie Bruun's music.
May 16, 2017
Despite the indulgent concept and sprawling tracklist, Amos' ninth LP remains an underrated highlight in her catalog. Split amongst four "doll" alter-egos and Tori herself, Posse is the hardest-rocking and most politically incendiary of her career, as applicable today as it was during the Bush era. On its tenth anniversary, revisit "Big Wheel" and "Bouncing off Clouds" and get to know the Zeppelin-esque "You Can Bring Your Dog" and the gorgeous "Beauty of Speed."
May 15, 2017
Featuring a pre-Rockpile Nick Lowe and future members of Graham Parker's Rumour and Ducks Deluxe, Brinsley Schwarz were the kings of the early-70s UK pub rock scene, though they probably would scoff at such a title. Playing easy going but full-bodied roots rock with unpretentious strength, the Brinsleys were the ultimate UK bar band, and this collection summarizes their down-to-earth perspective and superior songcraft.
May 14, 2017
As if holding the history of jazz in his hands, Monk's solo recordings and performances from every phase of his career remain pure. The components of what made Monk such an uncompromising composer, arranger, and especially bandmember are evident in every note he plays.
May 13, 2017
Donnie's first LP is an unapologetically conscientious and even righteously stinging declaration that can only be likened to the classic sociopolitical masterworks of Donny Hathaway and especially Stevie Wonder. It falls just short of brilliance only because it borrows a few tricks too many from its obvious musical models, but even with its flaws, the album is such a vivid, radiant outpouring of soul-stirring talent and passion that it could fill two hearts.
May 12, 2017
Recorded in Gothenburg, Sweden, the Brighton, England-based metalcore unit's seventh studio long-player is as relentlessly heavy and doggedly melodramatic as 2014's well-received Lost Forever, Lost Together. It's also much, much better. That the band conduct such sonic malevolence from a platform built on veganism and environmental activism is both refreshing -- this is a genre that's often swimming in neediness, non-specific rage, and self-absorption -- and compelling.
May 11, 2017
Belle & Sebastian didn't save their best songs for albums, the fourth song on a four song EP was likely to be just as strong as anything on an album. This double disc collection offers up plenty of proof of that, dropping tender and wise indie pop classics one after the other, all released over a prolific four year span between 1997 and 2001.
May 10, 2017
Not just Bob Marley's sidekick, the former Wailer was a first rate artist himself. His solo debut remains one of the most extraordinary albums of the roots period, a complex but instantly attractive and occasionally heartbreaking record that never rises above a whisper in tone but packs as much political and spiritual wallop as the best of Marley's work.
May 9, 2017
Some Deadheads have long been hailed it as the best Grateful Dead show and it's part of the Library Of Congress' National Recording Registry, but the Dead's May 8, 1977 at Cornell University's Barton University has never been officially available until this May. While I'm not sure if I'd go so far as calling it their absolute best--I don't know how you can quantify that, anyway--but I will say it's an absolute gas, the Dead at their good time best.
May 8, 2017
With their 2003 sophomore LP, John Roderick's power pop outfit hit its creative stride. Bursting with color, hooks, melodic songwriting and high-profile guests like R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Posies Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer, When I Pretend To Fall stands as the band's finest moment.
May 7, 2017
2017 marks the 20th anniversary of some of groundbreaking albums -- Radiohead's OK Computer, Bjork's Homogenic -- but those weren't the year's only excellent releases. Case in point: Takako Minekawa's second album, Roomic Cube. Co-written and produced with her friends in Buffalo Daughter, the album spans Minekawa's poignant, minimalistic songwriting as well as wilder arrangements and sound effects that balance the experimental and endearing sides of Shibuya-kei perfectly.
May 6, 2017
Various Artists
Aphex Twin's Rephlex label released a wide variety of music during its 20+ year existence, and its vast catalog is littered with as many inscrutable oddities as gems. 2001 compilation The Braindance Coincidence was pretty much the label's mission statement, and by far the best summation of their output on one disc. If you're a casual fan of Squarepusher and AFX, you'll find rare remixes by them that you probably haven't heard before, and you'll discover several other excellent artists such as Bochum Welt and Ovuca.
May 5, 2017
Ten years before Immortal's Abbath went truly solo, he released Between Two Worlds under the moniker I, with help from members of Gorgoroth and Enslaved. Not to be left out of the "black & roll" sound Darkthrone was playing at the time, Abbath and Co. get their Motorhead on with eight nasty ragers that don't shy away from being fun.
May 4, 2017
Eurythmics followed their 1982 breakthrough album Sweet Dreams with the superior Touch, which yielded three hit singles and kept the innovative duo at the forefront of the 1980s British new wave explosion and MTV phenomenon. Mixing cold, hard, synthesized riffs with warm, luscious vocals, the duo crafted some of the most unique and trendsetting music the 1980s had to offer.
May 3, 2017
Continuing the twisted pop explorations of Here Come the Warm Jets, Eno's sophomore album is more subdued and cerebral, and a bit darker when he does cut loose, but it's no less thrilling once the music reveals itself. Eno's richly layered arrangements juxtapose very different treated sounds, yet they blend and flow together perfectly, hinting at the directions his work would soon take with the seamless sound paintings of Another Green World.
May 2, 2017
In the '80s, the Plimsouls cut a pair of outstanding albums and one of the greatest power pop singles of the decade, "A Million Miles Away." But as good as they were in the studio, they were far hotter on stage, and this document of a 1983 gig in Huntington Beach, California takes the melodic smarts and superb songcraft of their albums and doubles the energy and excitement. Raucous fun from a band of true unsung heroes.
May 1, 2017
Best known for his scores for the Godfather trilogy and films by Federico Fellini, the composer's two numbered symphonies were virtually unknown until perhaps the turn of the century. They were written in the 1930s, when Rota was studying in Philadelphia on a scholarship. With performances by the Filarmonica '900 del Teatro Regio di Torino under Marzio Conti, both reflect the French neo-classic trends that flourished in the U.S. between the wars.