Featuring a trio of highly anticipated returns a long, long time in the making, April is a month when the old adage absence makes the heart grow fonder will be put to the test: The wait will finally be over for new albums by acts that have become iconic since we last heard from them, four years each for new Phoenix and Yeah Yeah Yeahs full-lengths, and a whopping seven since the Knife’s landmark Silent Shout. Going even further back, April sees reissues of fondly remembered modern-rock touchstones, with the twentieth anniversary of the Breeders’ Last Splash and the tenth anniversary of the Postal Service’s Give Up rightfully commemorated with the deluxe reissue treatment. But lest you think April’s release schedule is just about past triumphs, there’s plenty of timely new work by acts of a more recent vintage, particularly eagerly awaited efforts by critical faves like Kurt Vile and James Blake. Below are some April albums to keep an eye on by artists old and new, highly acclaimed and unsung, at least for now.
Album: Ride Your Heart
Label: Dead Oceans
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US Release Date: 2013-04-02
UK Release Date: 2013-04-01
Bleached
Ride Your Heart
On hearing the first razor-sharp hooks and punk edge of album opener “Looking for a Fight”, you might think you know everything you need to know about L.A.’s Bleached. They’re a brazen, lean rock band, but haven’t we heard that about Dum Dum Girls and Vivian Girls and whatever other rock band of women? Well, yes, but you haven’t heard Bleached. The songs may be pent up, but the resonate out into any West Coast desert or valley you can find. Not only that, but they’re hardly happy to glide on blistering power chords. Ride Your Heart is a rollercoaster, from the sweet echo of “Outta My Mind” to the dark shadowy grind of “Dead in the Head” to the surf-rock-gone-skronky “Dead Boy”. Unlike so many other so-called punk bands, Bleached isn’t hiding a lack of talent behind speed and noise. The songs here are certainly charged with an immediate fury, but they’re also built on sweet harmonies and subtly intricate hooks. The instruments don’t charge forward, all frothing flying-V style, but rather weave around and tangle with each other. The result is an immediately satisfying, yet lastingly complex album, and a full-length intro to a band that defies all the conventions you try to place on it, and you thank the band for being corrected. Matthew Fiander
Album: LSXX (Last Splash 20th Anniversary Reissue)
Label: 4AD
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US Release Date: 2013-04-23
UK Release Date: 2013-04-22
The Breeders
LSXX
It’s hard to imagine that the Breeders’ Last Splash is 20 years old this year, because this is one classic album that hasn’t aged at all. And the LSXX deluxe reissues only proves that, since 1993, Last Splash has been and continues to be the Gen-X soundtrack to an endless summer. In particular, the trifecta of singles still captures everything summery music should be all about, from the catch-a-wave cool of that iconic bass roll on “Cannonball” to the daydreamy booty call “Divine Hammer” to the hot-and-bothered anthem “Saints”. Indeed, the original recording is so timeless and perfect that LSXX, packaged with a seminal live performance and essential rarities, doesn’t come with a remastered version of Last Splash because it doesn’t need to. But it’s definitely worth your while to track down LSXX even if you’ve held on to your copy of Last Splash, because what’s collected here is hardly your typical special edition filler. Just grabbing the complete collection of album singles, the excellent pre-album Safari EP, and especially the vinyl-only Head to Toe 10″ makes LSXX a deal, and that’s before digging into the BBC session tracks and demos, the most time capsule worthy of which is “Grunggae”, the ancestor of “Cannonball” that documents for the ages the grunge-reggae vibe that the Breeders aimed for and hit. If spring break wasn’t long enough or you’re suffering thorugh another unseasonable snowstorm, the Breeders’ masterpiece proves summer is always ready when you are. Arnold Pan
Album: Cop Art
Label: Big School
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US Release Date: 2013-04-23
UK Release Date: Import
Graham Repulski
Cop Art
Since their sprawling, excellent Into an Animal Together, which saw lo-fi rockers Graham Repulski present their patchwork pop tendencies in a huge chunk, the band has gone back to small parcels. After the double-EP cassette release Lineman Poems/Liquid Pig Heart, the band’s new full-length, Cop Art is another exercise in concision. But just because we only have 13 tracks here — only four of which crack two minutes — doesn’t mean this isn’t another great step forward for the band. They continue to mine their hiss for new tangents and textures, like the jangling sadness of “Rip Van Winkle”, the brittle angles of “Why I Don’t Believe in Anything”, and the edgy rumble of “L.A. Grunge”. Cop Art delves into some darker corners than past records, but the sound also expands and grows in complexity here, proving that you can still use the restraint of lo-fi recording and push yourself to do new things. It also helps, by the way, that the band writes quick, quirky pop songs better than anyone going now. Cop Art is another great release from a band that proves that fidelity doesn’t have to be a fashion or a costume to hide behind. It doesn’t have to be a starting point either. Sometimes the most powerful hits come from clashing with restraints. Sometimes you hear someone the clearest when they’re shouting through the gauze. These tracks, for all their squalling hiss, ring out loud and clear, each one as fleeting and sweet (and thus re-playable) as the last. Matthew Fiander
Album: Haw
Label: Paradise of Bachelors
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US Release Date: 2013-04-02
UK Release Date: 2013-04-21
Hiss Golden Messenger
Haw
MC Taylor, formerly of the Court and Spark, has been quietly building an excellent discography of country-blues-soul-some-other-stuff-pop as Hiss Golden Messenger. Haw, his band’s newest record, is also its most clarified and beautifully bittersweet vision to date. The album owes quite a bit to the purposeful wandering of the North Carolina river that shares its name, shuffling through bluesy, thumping numbers like “Red Rose Nantahala” and the shuffling “I’ve Got a Name for the Newborn Child”. But just when you think you’ve settled in, the album can yaw sideways into the finger-picked darkness of “Hat of Rain”, the sun-drenched front-porch gospel of “The Serpent Is Kind (Compared to Man)”, or the airy, fragile space of “Cheerwine Easter”. These songs are subdued, even hushed, but never as laid back as they appear. There’s always some serious want or hurt or both roiling under the surface of Taylor’s sweet, soft vocals. The music too, with its drifting organs and warm guitar tones, may seem pleasant at first, until its edges show, or the seams stretch, and you feel the songs not luxuriating in the hard-won hope they aim at, but rather clinging to it tooth and nail. Haw is one of those albums that feels like it comes to you rather than you turning it on. It’s both journey and destination, full of feelings that seem both comforting and questionable. Hiss Golden Messenger isn’t new, and this isn’t the band’s first great record, but — if there’s any justice for great music — it’ll be the record that puts them on whatever map they want to be on. Because whatever path they forge on that map is worth following. Matthew Fiander
Album: Junip
Label: Mute
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US Release Date: 2013-04-23
UK Release Date: 2013-04-22
Junip
Junip
Most mentions of Junip begin by referring to it as José González’s band, which has helped get the Swedish trio on the radar, while also giving an impression of the group’s music that may or may not be entirely accurate any more. Although González made his name re-interpreting a Knife song in a neo-Nick Drake vein, he’s more inclined now with Junip to carry a bigger stick, even if he continues to sing softly. Indeed, Junip shows a band that’s breaking out of its fragile electro-folk shell and stepping out of the shadow that González’s solo work seemed to cast over the 2010 debut Fields. Perhaps going the self-titled route on the sophomore album suggests Junip has found its own identity and is hitting its stride, particularly on vivid, deceptively bold numbers that run the gamut of styles and textures, from the soulful electro-pop single “Your Life, Your Call” to the lo-fi-ish garage rock-techno hybrid “Villain”. Even the tracks that sound like they’re right in González’s folkie wheelhouse, like the insistent “Line of Fire” and the slinky “Baton”, feel fuller and sturdier with just the right touches to enhance his claim-to-fame approach. Arnold Pan
Album: Shaking the Habitual
Label: Mute/Brille/Rabid
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US Release Date: 2013-04-09
UK Release Date: 2013-04-08
The Knife
Shaking the Habitual
Shaking the Habitual isn’t so much the title of the Knife’s long-awaited new album, but a statement of purpose for the enigmatic Dreijer siblings. Clocking in at over 90 minutes with a majority of tracks eight minutes and (way) over, the album — if you can call it that — is anything but a listening experience that ears and minds are trained to hear, which is exactly the way the Knife wants it to be. Shaking the Habitual tests the limits of your preconceptions, be it of genres, of what a song might be, of what the Knife is: Of course, you’d be hard-pressed to call the Knife’s music something other than electronic, but Shaking the Habitual is somehow as organic as it is high-tech in its feel, especially in the way varied, asynchronic percussion, eclectic instrumental play, and atonal vocals stand out even more than the ingenious mechanized beats they’re known for. And while Shaking the Habitual is undoubtedly a single piece meant for absorbing as a complete whole, you could take any single track as a deep, rich experience all its own, each probably exploring more ideas than most full-lengths do. But lest you think the whole thing is just a philosophical exercise, there’s plenty on Shaking the Habitual to lose yourself in, whether it’s the rapid-fire rhythms, the sensory overload of layers upon layers of synthesized loops and eerie instrumentation, or the impeccable pacing with natural ebbs and flows that keep you engaged as much as immersed. Arnold Pan
Album: New Modern Warfare 3: To See More Light
Label: Constellation
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US Release Date: 2013-04-30
UK Release Date: 2013-04-29
Colin Stetson
New Modern Warfare 3: To See More Light
Colin Stetson pulls off the unlikely trick of consistently conjuring up sounds and musical combinations you haven’t heard before, a rare feat in this been-there-heard-that world. Stetson’s saxophone skronk is truly a signature sound and has made his New Modern Warfare work compelling and aesthetically challenging listens, never more so than with his genre-tripping third installment in the series, To See More Light. Yet despite having a go-to calling card, Stetson’s no one-trick pony, as he slips around between styles and somehow stitches them together, tackling everything from indie to jazz to modern classical to folk to soul to prog. On the fluttering “Among the Sef” and the tour-de-force title track, Stetson runs in an experimental art-scarred direction, but never so far that his warm imagination doesn’t maintain the upper hand on brainy abstraction. The hymn-like “And in Truth” and the meditative “Who the Waves Are Roaring For” make you think that special guest star Justin Vernon wouldn’t be led astray if he followed his Bon Iver collaborator Stetson’s high-concept tack. But it’s the gospel cover “What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?” that’s the most illuminating and ambitious offering on the album, begging the question if there’s such a thing as avant-garde soul music. If so, it’s in a category all its own, like Colin Stetson. Arnold Pan
Sterrenplaten 8 maart 2013 – Colin Stetson by Sterrenplaten on Mixcloud
Album: Desperate Ground
Label: Saddle Creek
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US Release Date: 2013-04-16
UK Release Date: 2013-04-15
Thermals
Desperate Ground
Indie rock needs more bands like the Thermals, old school vets who play the game the right way: Though they’ve spent their fruitful, productive career generally getting overlooked by a scene that’s always jonesing for the next big thing, there’s a lot to be said for a band as reliable and consistently good as Portland’s long-running power trio — just connect the dots between the Thermals’ uniformly strong Sub Pop albums reissued last month to their latest Desperate Ground, a concept-ish album about the evil that men do. You know what to expect with Desperate Ground, and that’s a good thing when it comes to the Thermals: There’s no time or patience for pacing yourself and catching your breath when you’re squeezing in 10 relentlessly catchy tracks into a runtime of less than half-an-hour, as Desperate Ground does cranking out one melodic punkish pop track after another. If anything, Hutch Harris’ strained vocals and rapid riffs plow headlong more ferociously than ever on vicious tracks like “Born to Kill” and “The Sword by My Side”, propelled ahead by Kathy Foster’s superball bass lines. Indeed, the title of the closing track says it best about the Thermals’ heart-on-sleeve craft and anyone who has a soft spot for it: “Our Love Survives”. Arnold Pan
Album: Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze
Label: Matador
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US Release Date: 2013-04-09
UK Release Date: 2013-04-08
Kurt Vile
Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze
There’s been a pervasive solitude to Kurt Vile’s work to this point. Sometimes he delves into it — as on the best parts of Smoke Ring for My Halo — and sometimes he retreats into a shaggy-haired, troubadour persona. But it’s always there. At least until now. Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze is expansive enough to seem like a next logical step, but in the end it feels more like a new chapter. There’s a calmness to the record that is still wandering and investigative, and never falls into the shadows of sadness or the plodding of complacency. In nearly 70 minutes, Vile feels more at home, and thus more revealing, than he has on any record to date. The album is bookended by “Wakin’ on a Pretty Day” and “Goldtone”, two ten-minute tracks that find Vile very much “in my zone.” He addresses hurt, but also perception of him, denying any druggy tendencies his music might hint at, and digging deep into the connection between his everyday life and music, whether he gives us a quotidian travelogue on the first song, or discusses turning his feeling into song in the last one. It’s an album both about process and arrival. There’s still darkness — see “Pure Pain” or “Shame Chamber” — but gone are tensed-up blues freak outs of past records. What we hear on this record is Vile growing into his skin as a songwriter. He’s still self-deprecating, still very much into the dust-on-the-boots songwriter persona, but these aren’t disguises anymore, they’re accents. So, in the end, Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze is remarkable for its breadth of sound and excellently wide open songs, but it’s the laid-bare honesty of it that may trump all that, that may be its most lasting quality. Matthew Fiander
Selected Releases for April 2013
(Release dates subject to change)
April 2
A Hawk and a Hacksaw, You Have Already Gone to the Other World / Music Inspired By Paradjanov’s Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (L.M. Dupli-cation)
Alkaline Trio, My Shame Is True (Epitaph)
Authority Zero, The Tipping Point (Hardline)
Barren Girls, Hell Hymns EP (Merge)
Besnard Lakes, Until in Excess, Imperceptable UFO (Jagjaguwar)
Biafra and Jello and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, White People and the Damage Done (Alternative Tentacles)
The Black Angels, Indigo Meadow (Blue Horizon)
Bonobo, The North Borders (Ninja Tune)
Charles Bradley, Victim of Love (Daptone)
Bring Me to the Horizon, Sempiternal (Epitaph)
British Sea Power, Machineries of Joy (Rough Trade)
Broaddaylight, Anniversaries: Reunions (Saint Marie)
Brown Bird, Fits of Reason (Supply & Demand)
Caveman, Caveman (Fat Possum)
Gerald Clayton, Life Forum (Concord Jazz)
Cold War Kids, Dear Miss Lonelyhearts (Downtown)
Dark Horses, Black Music (Last Gang)
Etienne de Crecy, Beat Crush (Pixadelic)
The Dear HunterMigrant (Equal Vision)
DJ Koze, Amygdala (Pampa)
Dutch Uncles, Out of Touch in the Wild (Memphis Industries)
EmptyMansions (Sam Forgarino from Interpol), snakes/vultures/sulfate (Riot House)
Generationals, Heza (Polyvinyl)
Marcello Giordani, Respect Yourself (Endless Flight)
Beth Hart, Bang Bang Boom Boom
Implodes, Recurring Dream (Kranky)
In the Valley Below, Hymnal (Oskar)
Io Echo, Ministry of Love (IAMSOUND)
Kinski, Cosy Moments (Kill Rock Stars)
Kopecky Family Band, Kids Raising Kids (ATO)
KPM Music Library, Music for Dancefloors. The KPM Music Library (Strut)
Letherette, Letherette (Ninja Tune)
The Lonely Wild, The Sun as It Comes (Ursa Major)
LostAlone, I’m a UFO in This City (The End)
Lower Plenty, Hard Rubbish (Fire)
Luxury Liners, They’re Flowers (Western Vinyl)
Mad Season, Above/Live at the Moore (CD/DVD) (Columbia/Legacy)
Matt Mays, Coyote (Sonic/Redeye)
Merchandise, Totale Nite EP (Night People)
Milk Music, Cruise Your Illusion (Fat Possum)
Maria Minerva, Bless EP (100% Silk)
Mudhoney, Vanishing Point (Sub Pop)
New Kids on the Block, 10 (The Block)
Ólafur Arnalds, For Now I Am Winter (Mercury Classics)
Beata Pater, Red (B&B)
Pick a Piper, Pick a Piper (Mint)
Port St. Willow, Holiday (Downtown)
Rilo Kiley, RKives (Little Record Company)
RxGibbs, Contact (Cascine)
Shanna Sharp, Silver Linings Under Grey (self-released)
Ben Sidran, Don’t Cry for No Hipster (Nardis)
Clay Swafford, Rooster (Lost Cause)
Telekinesis, Dormarion (Merge)
Toddla T, Worst Enemy (Ninja Tune)
Toxic Holocaust, From the Ashes of Nuclear Destruction (Relapse)
Tyler, the Creator, Wolf (Odd Future)
Various Artists, Music Is You: A Tribute to John Denver (ATO)
Various Artists, Dabke — Sounds of the Syrian Houran (Sham Palace)
Various Artists, Lord of the Mics IV (CD/DVD) (Lord of the Mics)
The Veils, Time Stays, We Go (Rough Trade)
Vondelpark, Seabed (R&S)
Xander Harris, The New Dark Age of Love (Not Not Fun)
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, Jama Ko (Out Here)
Zomes, Time Was (Thrill Jockey)
April 9
The Avett Brothers, Live: Volume 3 (American)
Carlos Barbosa-Lima & the Havana String Quartet, Beatlerianas (Zoho)
James Blake, Overgrown (Republic)
Boney James, The Beat (Concord)
Bored Nothing, Bored Nothing (Spunk/Cooperative)
Born Ruffians, Birthmarks (Yep Roc)
Broadheads, Broadheads (Dangerbird)
Jaimeo Brown, Transcendence (Motema)
Cobalt Cranes, Head in the Clouds (Anticc)
Como Asesinar a Felipes, Comenzara de Nuevo (Koolarrow)
Dawes, Stories Don’t End (Red)
Deadstring Brothers, Cannery Row (Bloodshot)
Deap Vally, Get Deap EP (Cherrytree/Interscope)
Fossil Collective, Tell Where I Lie (UK release) (Dirty Hit)
David Grubbs, The Plain Where the Palace Stood (Drag City)
House of Love, She Paints Words in Red (Cherry Red)
Keaton Henson, Birthdays (Anti-)
Steve Kuhn, The Vanguard Date (Sunnyside)
Little Women, Lung (AUM Fidelity)
Lauren Mann & the Fairly Odd Folk, Land & Sea (Wanderer)
Olly Mars, Right Place, Right Time (U.S. version) (Columbia)
Steve Mason, Monkey Minds in the Devil’s Time (Domino)
John Medeski, A Different Time (Okeh)
Charnett Moffett, The Bridge (Motema)
Morrissey, Kill Uncle and “The Last of the International Playboys” reissues (Parlophone)
Robin O’Brien, Dive Into the End of the Word (Luxotone)
OMD, English Electric (BMG/100%)
Brad Paisley, Wheelhouse Deluxe Version (Sony Nashville/Arista)
Paramore, Paramore (Fueled by Ramen)
The Postal Service, Give Up Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition (Sub Pop)
The Proclaimers, Like Comedy (429)
Pyyramids, Brightest Darkest Day (Paracadute)
Jonas Reinhardt, Mask of the Maker (Not Not Fun)
Todd Rundgren, State (Esoteric/Antenna)
Sad Baby Wolf (ex-Shins members), Electric Sounds (self-released)
Team SpiritTeam Spirit EP (Vice)
Jacky Terrasson, Gouache (Sunnyside)
Terror, Live by the Code (Victory)
Trek Life, Hometown Foreigner (MelloMusicGroup)
Various Artists, Delicious Peace: Coffee, Music, and Interfaith Harmony in Uganda (Smithsonian Folkways)
White Fence, Cyclops Reap (Castle Face)
White Prism, White Prism EP (self-released)
Yatha Bhuta Jazz Combo, Yatha Bhuta Jazz Combo (All City)
Young Man, Beyond Was All Around Me (Frenchkiss)
April 16
The 49 Americans, We Know Nonsense (Staubgold)
ADR, Chunky Monkey (Hippos in Tanks)
Art Brut, Top of the Pops (best-of collection) (The End)
Atom-TM, HD (Raster-Noton)
Aidan Baker, Already Drowning (Gizer)
Barn Owl, V (Thrill Jockey)
Raquel BittonRhythm of the Heart (RB)
The Brains, The Monster Within (Sailor’s Grave)
Charli XCX, True Romance (IAMSOUND)
Coma, In Technicolor (Kompakt)
Cough/Windhand, Reflection of the Negative (Relapse)
Dead Confederate, In the Marrow (Spiderbomb)
Disappears, Kone EP (self-released)
Donovan’s Brain, Turned Up Later (Career)
Dump (Yo La Tengo’s James McNew), I Can Hear Music (reissue) (Morr)
Steve Earle & the Dukes (And Duchesses), The Low Highway (New West)
Fall Out Boy, Save Rock N Roll (Island)
Feathers, If All Now Here (self-released)
Michael Feinstein & Andre Previn, Change of Heart: The Songs of Andre Previn (Telarc)
The Flaming Lips, The Terror (Warner)
Futurebirds, Baba Yaga (Fat Possum)
Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge, Twelve Reasons to Die (Soul Temple)
Go Jane Go, Go Jane Go (self-released)
Jason Grier, Clouds (Human Ear)
Iron and Wine, Ghost on Ghost (Nonesuch)
Jetman Jet Team, We Will Live the Space Age (Saint Marie)
Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood, Black Pudding (Ipecac)
The Laurels, Plains (self-released)
Life Coach, Alphawaves (Thrill Jockey)
Locust, You’ll Always Be Safe (Editions Mego)
The Marquis de Tren & Bonnie Prince Billy, Solemn EP (Drag City)
Meat Puppets, Rat Farm (Megaforce)
Midas Fall, Wilderness (Monotreme)
Allison Miller, No Morphine, No Lilies (The Royal Potato Family)
Willie Nelson and Family, Let’s Face the Music and Dance (Legacy)
Odonis Odonis, Better EP (Buzz)
The OK Social Club, Nothing in Common (The Music Elevator)
John Parish, Screenplay (Thrill Jockey)
Rainbow Arabia, F.M. Sushi (Time No Place)
Kim Richey, Thorn in My Heart (Yep Roc)
Shellshag, Shellshag Forever (Don Giovanni)
Shuggie Otis, Inspiration Information (Epic/Legacy)
Simian Mobile Disco, Live (Delicacies)
Solyst, Lead (bureau b)
Springintgut, Where We Need No Map (Pingipung)
Team Ghost, Rituals (Wsphere)
Tera Melos, X’ed Out (Sargent House)
Thee Oh Sees, Floating Coffin (Castle Face)
Thermals, Desperate Ground (Saddle Creek)
Frank Turner, Tape Deck Heart (Xtra Mile Recordings)
Tom Odell, Long Way Down (UK release) (Columbia)
Various Artists, Live From Festival au Desert, Timbuktu 2012 (Clermont)
Wampire, Curiosity (Polyvinyl)
Jessie Ware, Devotion (U.S. release with extra tracks) (Interscope)
Allison Weiss, Say What You Mean (No Sleep)
Andrew Wyatt, Descender (INGRID/Downtown)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Mosquito (Interscope)
April 20 — Record Store Day
For a complete list of Record Store Day special releases, visit the official Record Store Day site.
April 23
The Appleseed Cast, Illumination Ritual (Graveface)
Brass Bed, The Secret Will Keep You (Crossbill/Off the Air)
Chapin Sisters, A Date with the Everly Brothers (Lake Bottom)
Paula Cole, The Raven (675)
Coultrain, Jungle Mumbo Jumbo (Plug Research)
Dandy Teru, Adventures (Ubiquity)
Mia Dyson, The Moment (Co-op)
Fielded, Nine Thirty Thirty (Captcha)
Har Mar Superstar, Bye Bye 17 (Cult)
Karl Hyde (Underworld), Edgeland (Universal)
Daniel Johnston & Various Artists, Space Ducks (Feraltone)
Tom Jones, Spirit in the Room (Rounder)
Juno Reactor, The Golden Sun of the Great East (Metropolis)
Leroy Justice, Above the Weather (Elm City)
Kid Cudi , Indicud (G.O.O.D. Music/Republic)
Kobo Town, Jumble in the Jukebox (Cumbancha)
Legs, Pass the Ringo (Loglady)
Lilacs and Champagne, Danish & Blue (Mexican Summer)
Lucy and Wayne, Smokin Flames (Hymn for Her)
Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers (featuring Edie Brickell), Love Has Come for You (Rounder)
No Joy, Wait to Pleasure (Mexican Summer)
Pharoahs, Replicant Moods (100% Silk)
Phoenix, Bankrupt! (Loyaute/Glassnote)
Queensryche, Frequency Unknown (Cleopatra)
Rob Zombie, Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor (Zodiac Swan/T-Swan/Universial)
Snoop Lion, Reincarnated (RCA)
Syriana, The Road to Damascus (Realworld)
The Postelles, …And It Shook Me (+1)
Bill Ryder-Jones, A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart (Domino)
Smoke Fairies, Blood Speaks (Entertainment One)
Laura Stevenson, Wheel (Don Giovanni)
will.i.am, #Willpower (Interscope)
Luke Winslow-King, The Coming Tide (Bloodshot)
Victory, Victory Is Music (Reserva)
Vienna Ditto, Vienna Ditto EP (self-released)
Young Galaxy, Ultramarine (Paper Bag)
April 30
!!!, Thr!!!er (Warp)
Adventure, Weird Work (Carpark)
Akron/Family, Sub Verses (Dead Oceans)
Alessi’s Ark, The Still Life (Bella Union)
Beacon, The Way We Separate (Ghostly International)
Debashish Bhattacharya and Friends, Beyond the Ragasphere (Riverboat)
Bo Bruce, Before I Sleep (UK release) (Mercury)
Burnt Ones, You’ll Never Walk (Burger)
Jessica Campbell, The Anchor & the Sail (Rock Ridge)
Cayucas, Bigfoot (Secretly Canadian)
Ceramic Dog (Marc Ribot), Your Turn (Northern Spy)
Cherokee Red, Cherokee Red (self-released)
Kenny Chesney, Life on a Rock (Columbia Nashville)
Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Brooklyn Babylon (Circepithecine)
Dead Ghosts, Can’t Get No (Burger)
Hanni El Khatib, Head in the Dirt (Innovative Leisure)
Yola Fatoush, Up Out of It (Time No Place)
Frank Solivan & Dirty KitchenOn the Edge (Compass)
Guided by Voices, English Little League (GBV, Inc.)
Hands, Synesthesia (Kill Rock Stars)
Heliocentrics, 13 Degrees of Reality (Now-Again)
HIM, Tears on Tape (Razor & Tie)
Howl, Bloodlines (Relapse)
Rollin Hunt, The Phoney (Moniker)
Iggy & the Stooges, Ready to Die (Fat Possum)
King Tuff, Was Dead reissue (Burger)
Kitbuilders, You Trashed My Tracks (Vertical)
Lights, Siberia Acoustic (Lights Music / Last Gang)
Bob Marley, Kaya 35th anniversary deluxe edition (Universal)
The Melvins, Everybody Loves Sausages (covers album) (Ipecac)
Midnight Oil, Essential Oils (Columbia/Legacy)
Neon Neon (Gruff Rhys and Boom Bip) Praxis Makes Perfect (Lex)
Ola Podrida, Ghosts Go Blind (Western Vinyl)
Os Mutantes, Fool Metal Jack (Krian Music Group)
Pushmen (members of the Sword, Heartless Bastards), The Sun Will Soon Rise on the False and the Fair (The End)
Queens, End Times (Dial)
Rudimental, Home (UK release) (Asylum)
Secret Circuit, Galactic Tactiles (RVNG Intl)
Keaton Simons, Beautiful Pain (Best Revenge/ADA)
Tjutjuna, Westerner (Fire Talk)
Valleys, Are You Going to Stand There and Talk Weird All Night? (Kanine)
Vandaveer, Oh, Wille, Please… (Quack!Media)
Various Artists, Kitsuné America 2 (Kitsuné)
Various Artists, The Rough Guide to African Disco (World Music Network)
Various Artists, The Rough Guide to Latin Psychedelia (World Music Network)
Various Artists, Where the Wind Blows (Bpitch Control)
Wolf People, Fain (Jagjaguwar)
Youngblood Hawke, Wake Up (Republic)