Listen Before You Buy

of Montreal have gone back to basics while at the same time developing a penchant for thick, overlong instrumentals, often doing both in the same song. The result is wonderful, terrible, fascinating, treacherous, glorious and ultimately frustrating album.

Sometimes he sounds straight out of a saloon, sometimes he sounds like a like a pulpit-pounding preacher, sometimes he could be a cheerful grandfather singing his grandchildren a silly ditty, and sometimes Leonard Cohen sounds like a veritable legend. Whatever your degree of contact and connection with this record, it becomes apparent even upon a cursory listen that, despite its flaws, this collection of songs is the work of a musical genius.

“Melt” is the highly-anticipated debut album by Young Magic, streaming here for an entire week before its release.

Listen to this EP that The Rapture recently released featuring remixes by Aeroplane, Cosmic Kids, and Cut Copy.

“Next In Line” is the first taste from Walk The Moon’s three song EP Anna Sun which comes out tomorrow.

While his direction isn’t necessarily original, Nacho proves that he’s able to wield his lyrics with a sense of humor. He may be under-appreciated in the latest wave of experimental hip-hop, with artists like Danny Brown, Tyler, the Creator, and Lil’ B around, but his talent is greatly complimented by Blue Sky Black Death’s beats. “Lord of The Fly” is a step in the right direction for Seattle’s hip-hop.

Chairlift bring a little more sonic muscle, as well many more nods to the 80s, to their latest album and it’s pretty much a dance-fest from start to finish.

“Ester” may not bowl you over completely, but it is definitely a winner for hazed out nights and early morning monologues.

“Let’s Go Eat The Factory” is an uneven album for sure, but it should please GBV fans with a retro hankering and suggests good things for them in future, especially if the whole band starts having as much fun as the returning Tobin Sprout clearly is.

Listen to Blonde’s self-titled debut album in full!

No need to beat around the bush with this one: “We Don’t Need” is an almightily good EP. It’s tempting to call Cheyenne Marie Mize promising because her career is so young, but that’s underselling it: this is a compelling record, equal parts fascinating experimentation and plain fun, and as exciting as Mize’s future will no doubt be, she deserves your attention right here, right now.

Maynard James Keenan’s continued evolution on “Conditions of my parole” is remarkable and well worth highlighting, albeit a little late!

“Attack on Memory” forgoes the “sophomore slump” and provides a valid argument for Cloud Nothings as purveyors of a rare brand of Rock with a capital R that exists beyond trends. This is one of the first truly great albums in a year that could be full of them.

Stream Dr. Dog’s new album, “Be The Void”, in full.

As formal introductions go, “Strange Weekend” is a pretty good one. In a flooded genre it stands out as an example of how far bedroom pop can reach.

The first in a series of looks back at great or underrated albums from 10 years ago. “Sea Change” doesn’t feel like a Beck album; it feels like a Beck Hansen album. It took us closer to the real man than ever before, and we’ll probably never get as close again.