An Awesome Wave

Normally on Mondays, I feature Scattered's album Picks Of The Week. This week, my picks will have to wait until Tuesday. Today, I am compelled to write about the debut album by the British band Alt-J, which is one of the best albums that I have heard so far this year. Released in the UK on May 28th, An Awsome Wave is set to be released in the US on September 18th. 

Upon its UK release, the BBC called the album "a stunning and encompassing affair of both innovative and electrifying musicianship and exemplary song writing." The Guardian wrote that "the music is rich and quirky enough to match the imagistic literacy of the lyrics, from the majestic, cinematic sweep of 'Intro' onwards." For me, An Awesome Wave in an intelligent, innovative, frisky, and wildly engrossing album that I have not been able to stop listening to since I first heard it. 

While An Awesome Wave will not be available in the states until September, the band is streaming it for a period of time on SoundCloud, which is also embedded below. Enjoy!

ON ROTATION

Silversun Pickups, Neck Of The Woods
I was fortunate enough to meet the Silversun Pickups a few years back when they played in Seattle at the Paramount. It was the first real concert that my two older kids had experienced and the band invited us backstage before the show. Beyond being great and talented musicians, they are genuinely nice and down to earth people and I will always be appreciative for them taking the time to meet with my kids. At the time they were touring in support of their album Swoon, which was a killer album. Last week the band released their forth album, Neck Of The Woods. While the band does not break any new real ground in terms of their musical style, it is another fine album and one that finds the band continuing to expand and develop its sound quite nicely.
                                                        Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)  

Beach House, Bloom

The Baltimore due of Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand, better known as Beach House, have creating some of my favorite dream pop music since 2006. I was particularly enthusiastic about their 2010 album, Teen Dream. On their newly released, forth album, Bloom, the two extend their track record of producing outstanding music. Together, they are masters as at creating warm and lush songs that have great pop sensibility at their essence, but live in a dreamy state. This slows everything down and allows their songs to gently meander in time and space. With Bloom, they have achieved a new level of clarity with their vision of where their music lives. Songs are richer and perfectly textured with vocals that have a wonderful ethereal quality to them
                                                       which compliments the music beautifully. It all makes for an 
                                                       outstanding album.  
                                                       Myth   

Tindersticks, The Something Rain
Through twenty years and nine albums, Tindersticks has been creating music that is hard to pin down and not what I would call highly commercial. My kind of music. Their music has been called chamber pop by some, due to orchestral elements that the band often incorporates into their music. But that is really only part of the music's equation. Tindersticks' music is ambient, melancholy indi-rock that is soaked with emotional lyrics and heavy themes and is always interesting and always intriguing. On their latest release, The Something Rain, the band has created a dark, beautiful, and haunting album that really needs some quiet time to fully enjoy and absorb. When you do give it its due, you will be rewarded, having experienced
                                                       one of the more distinctive albums of the year. 
                                                       Medicine  

JACK WHITE, BLUNDERBUSS

What can be said about Jack White that has not already been written? There has always been so much to admire about White; his songwriting ability, his guitar playing, his music production, his showmanship. But what I have always most appreciated about him is the fact that he is a true student of music and its history. With this, when you hear him talk about music, you can sense the respectful that he has for all kinds of musical genres and periods. It helps elevate his approach to writing, creating, and producing music to a level that few other artists of his generation share. 

On his new release, Blunderbuss, White gives us a another great collection of songs and once again shows us why he is such a force to be reckoned with musically. Besides just being a collection of electrifying songs, White's approach to creating this album incorporates some very cool ideas and elements. Rather than me discuss them all, here is an interview that he did with All Songs Considered's Bob Boilen, explaining his approach to this album. Watching it is a must for any White fan.
                                                       Missing Pieces 

RUGUS WAINRIGHT, OUT OF THE GAME

Rufus Wainwright has been an artist that I have admired from afar for many year. I say afar, because while I have always appreciated him as an artist, I have not always cared for his art. That all changes for me with Out Of The Game, Wainwright's most straightforward effort to date. For almost two months now, I have been relishing every song on this album. Sounding like someone who's been spending time listening to classic mid-70's pop-rock albums by artists like Billy Joel, Wainwright has crafted a collection of timeless pop songs that are just so good. This is one of my favorite albums of the year so far.
Out Of The Game   

Michael Kiwanuka, Home Again

A few months ago, British soul singer Michael Kiwanuka's debut album, Home Again was released in the UK. The album's release had been highly anticipated, with Kiwanuka having won BBC's Sound of 2012 poll for best new artist. With critics and listeners hot for his album, it quickly jumped to #4 on the album charts. 

Fortunately for you, the album was finally released in the states last week. And as someone who has been listening to it for a few months now, let me just say that it is fantastic. 

I first heard the title track to the album back in January and I was immediately taken by the song. Kiwanuka, who has named Bill Withers, Otis Redding, Bob Dylan, and The Band amongst his influences, definitely has a retro soul sound. But he also has a keen sense of just how much to draw on these influences and how much to just be in the moment as a current songwriter. It makes Kiwanuka's songs and his new album feel current and timeless. 

Tell Me A Tale  

The son of Ugandan parents, Kiwanuka spent his early years in and around London absorbed in the music of bands such as Nirvana and Radiohead. When he was in his mid-teens, he stopped listening to guitar based bands when he heard Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice, It's All Right. In an interview with the Liverpool Daily Post, Kiwanuka said that it was the first song that made him want to be a musician. "I might not sound like Dylan, but as soon as I heard that, I switched from electric to acoustic guitar, and really starred thinking about the structure of my songs." As he began writing his own songs, his concern was whether there was a place for the type of music that he wanted to write in today's music industry. 

In an interview with Sabatage Times, Kiwanuka explained, “I didn’t know if people would take me seriously....I like a lot of soul but I also put a lot of folk into what I do, and with modern music the way it is I used to think people would just expect me to be a modern R&B singer, because I just can’t do that.” But he went on to say, “When I started going back and listening to older music and discovering artists again, seeing that people like Al Green played guitar, Curtis Mayfield played guitar, it made me think, you know, this can be done. It really encouraged me to keep pursuing it.”

Kiwanuka's pursuit has lead him all the way to this debut release which was produced by Paul Butler of The Bees. Staying true to his singer-songwriting approach to music, his songs are built around Kiwanuka's guitar and lyrics. Given this, the opening song, Tell Me A Tale, is not necessarily the best indicator of what to expect with the rest of his album. But the song pays tribute to the music and artists that most influenced Kiwanuka and it sets the tone for Home Again nicely. What follows is a quieter, soulful album that beautifully blends the older musical style of artists such as Withers with his own. Having come back to Home Again many times over the past few months, I will say that continues to be one of my favorite releases of the year.  

Home Again

ON ROTATION

I wish I could say that there is a good reason why Scatteredbaw has been kind of lying dormant for the past month. But there really isn't any. We'll just call it spring fever and the need to be outside.....but with lots of great music! So here is some of that music that has kept me company.

THEESatisfaction, awE naturalE
Being from Seattle, I try to keep my finger on the pulse of local music. How I had missed the duo of Stasia Irons and Catherine Harris-White, better known as THEESatisfaction, for so long is beyond me. Having met at the University Of Washington, Irons and Harris-While have been writing, producing, and playing together for a number of years now. On their new release, awE naturalE, the hip-hop duo more than impress with their unique mash up of soul, funk, rap, and jazz. This album is very creative and satisfying as they continually shift and blend rhythms, sounds, and beats.
Queens  

Alabama Shakes, Boys & Girls

Alabama Shakes' Boys & Girls has been getting a lot of attention since its release, and rightfully so. Boys & Girls is a very strong debut album and one of best that I have heard so far this year. Behind the amazing, huge, and soulful voice of Brittany Howard, the Alabama Shakes whip up rich, soulful, and groovy southern rock, that is just so good. While their are aspects to the band's sound that seem so familiar, the band is stepping on fresh ground by adding a Motown twist to their southern sound. 
Hold On   

Electric Guest, Mondo
Any album with Danger Mouse attached to it can only be good. Don't ya think? I do. With Danger Mouse, aka Brian Burton producing, Electric Guest have released one of the cooler albums that I have heard this year. The band has a strong affinity for the many sides of R&B that have come and gone over the decades. With Mondo they pay a kind of tribute to its many sounds and styles from those of the Supremes in the'60's to Michael Jackson in the early '80's to today's more electronica infused sound. I guess you might call it contemporary reto. I just call it a smart and entertaining musical journey.
This Head I Hold  

De La Soul, Plug1 & Plug 2 Present...First Serve
When De La Soul's new album came up on my radar, I found myself reflecting fondly on their debut album, 3 Feet High And Rising. It was such a classic hip hop album, but 1989 was a long time ago. For better or worse Dave, Maseo, and Posdnous, have been having to try and live up to that album for decades now. Perhaps that is why De La Soul has not released an album for 8 years. Fortunately for us, Dave and Posdnous (not sure where Maseo went..he was not involved with this new project) are back with a wickedly entertaining album that they quietly released last month. Conceived as a movie not on screen, First Serve is a concept album that tells the fictional story of two childhood friends who dream of making it big as a hip hop duo. I loved the two characters and the storyline that Dave and Pos have created. They had me completely engaged from the opening credits to the ending credits. I just loved this album.
We Made It (explicit)