This Week's Releases
Pixies, Sticky Fingers, Bon Iver, Slaves and more
Bon Iver — 22, A Million (Jagjaguwar/Inertia)
22, A Million will be "initially disconcerting", as it's miles away from "the lush layers of For Emma, Forever Ago and Bon Iver, Bon Iver" and "replaced by auto-tune, glitchy beats and largely incomprehensible samples". "The angular and scattered titles accurately reflect the songs themselves" and this will "challenge those listeners whose only relationship with Vernon is via Bon Iver". We gave it four stars and Album Of The Week.
Pixies — Head Carrier ([PIAS] Australia)
Head Carrier seeks to "make peace with Kim Deal's departure" and "[find] stability with new bassist Paz Lenchantin who finally jiggles into place like a slightly imperfectly sawn jigsaw piece". "Pixies' regrowth [has] seemed stunted," but this album proves "a reshaped Pixies can work even when they're ripping their own records off. Might be time for some new tricks though". We gave it three stars.
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Slaves — Take Control (Virgin/EMI)
Instead of "smoothing out the dents and applying endless lacquer", Slaves have "honed in on the aggression" in Take Control. It feels thick, hearty and distorted, "like porridge with chunks of indignation and social injustice floating in it". Highlights include Angelica, Consume Or Be Consumed and Lies and "fame seems to have grown on Slaves like a moss of conscience". We gave it four stars.
and the rest of the releases…
Amber Lawrence — Happy Ever After (Social Family Records)
Asphyx — Incoming Death (Century Media)
Banks — The Altar (Harvest/EMI)
Bob Weir — Blue Mountain (Sony)
Boston Manor — Be Nothing (Pure Noise/Sony)
Brain Tentacles — Brain Tentacles (Relapse)
Craig David — Following My Intuition (Sony)
Danny Brown — Atrocity Exhibition (Warp/Inertia)
Dave East — Kairi Chanel (Mass Appeal Records/Sony)
Deniz Tek — Mean Old Twister (Citadel)
Drive-By Truckers — American Band (ATO/[PIAS] Australia)
Epica — The Holographic Principle (Nuclear Blast)
Eric Clapton — Live In San Diego With Special Guest JJ Cale (Warner)
Erroll Garner — Ready Take One (Legacy/Sony)
EZTV — High In Place (Captured Tracks/Remote Control)
Friendships — Nullarbor 1988 — 1989 (Dot Dash/Remote Control)
Holy Serpent — Temples (Riding Easy Records)
Jenny Hval — Blood Bitch (Sacred Bones/Rocket)
Jimi Hendrix — Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show 12/31/69 (Legacy/Sony)
Lila Gold — Cure For The Pure (Role Model Artists)
Machinedrum — Human Energy (NinjaTune/Inertia)
Naked — Zone (LuckyMe/Inertia)
Nick Waterhouse — Never Twice (Innovative Leisure/Inertia)
Nicolas Jaar — Sirens (Other People)
Opeth — Sorceress (Nuclear Blast)
Pional — When Love Hurts (Counter/Inertia)
Regina Spektor — Remember Us To Life (Warner)
Solange — A Seat At The Table (Sony)
Sophie Ellis-Bextor — Familia (EBGB's/Sony)
Sticky Fingers — Westway (The Glitter & The Slums) (Sureshaker/Warner)
Suicidal Tendencies — World Gone Mad (Suicidal Records)
Survive — RR7349 (Relapse/Rocket)
The Clang Group — Practice (Domino/EMI)
The Growlers — City Club (Cult Records)
The Wytches — All Your Happy Life (Heavenly Recordings/[PIAS] Australia)
Thomston — Topograph (Sony)
Tor Miller — American English (Glassnote/Liberator)
Truckfighters — V (Century Media/Sony)
Van Morrison — Keep Me Singing (Caroline)
Void Of Vision — Children Of Chrome (UNFD)
Winterfylleth — The Dark Hereafter (Spinefarm/Caroline)
Yann Tiersen — Eusa (Mute/[PIAS] Australia)
Yellowcard — Yellowcard (Hopeless Records)
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