i know it’s the summer, but you can’t just listen to “smooth” by santana feat. rob thomas whenever you want. yea, it’s a hot one, but please listen to these new releases below. i told myself that i’d only post about releases that i liked or that i thought were exciting, and yet… there are like 10 albums and 23 singles that came out in the past 48 hours that are worth your time and earspace:
early lover of mankind – early lover of mankind
jason rule (of crag mask and queen moo) has been teasing that he was “bout to drop 3 albums in the next 6 weeks.” but what he didn’t specify is that these three albums would come out on three consecutive fridays: 7/5 was faint sounds of us hanging out; 7/12 was bend; and now 7/19 is early lover of mankind. this album (and project) is probably the closest thing we’ve gotten of a solo project from rule, and it is a back-to-basics stripped-back record compared to his more recent work. if you are familiar with the early demos for this project that he released a few months ago, early lover of mankind expands and fleshes out those ideas.
the inside out – i want to wake up where you are
last week, i posted about the inside out’s new single “don’t stop”. i liked the song — it’s a cool, muscular rock song with a great melody. what i failed to appreciate, though, is the layered composition style. led by james howard, who serves as an engineer and producer for the record (along with nathan sage), the band serves up songs that are meant to get you on your feet, fist pumping, and singing along. i’ll definitely be spending time with this over the weekend. some of my favorites (so far) are “rope” and “sometimes”, but let me know which ones resonate most with you!
pet fox – rare occasion
ctscramble was awesome enough to snag the premiere of pet fox’s new record earlier in the week. i’ve been looking forward to this record –the band’s second — ever since i saw them play several songs from it at a standby release show. in particular, i love the third track “find me”, where morgan luzzi and jesse weiss’s rhythm section creates a perfect loop for theo hartlett’s stabbing guitar riffs. for reasons i can’t quite articulate, it feels a little like early U2, and i would never tell the band this to their face.
eel people – “we don’t have to die”
rex thurstan’s “thought i was misunderstood (but i misunderstood)” has been one of my favorite singles of the year. that song will appear on the album a posh and destructive cycle along with the new single “we don’t have to die”. what i like about the new single is that it is quite different from “thought i was misunderstood…”. firstly, you’ll notice the heavy use of loops and sequencing, with a bit of auto-tune for style. it sets the tone of an album that is awash in style and cool production wizardry. (i’ve heard the album and i can’t wait to tell you more about it). in the accompanying video, matt falkowski and thurstan wrestle with life, death, and the will to move forward.
night crew – “thousands of miles”
and last, but definitely not least, is henry+’s new song. whoops, i meant night crew. they’re the same band, right? they just changed their name, i think. actually, i don’t know. i’m just a dog anyways, so if i got that wrong, you can’t be too upset with me. anyways, “thousands of miles” is a cool, spacey (musically and lyrically) track that i’ve been more-or-less humming all day. they’ll be playing at the upcoming creator’s caravan event along with the aforementioned matt falkowski. and i bet if you ask nicely, they’ll crank out this song. actually, when you go, just listen out for me because i will be shouting “thousands of miles” until they play it.
