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It's the final week of new releases in May — and how this month has flown by with a ton of great music and a slew of intriguing releases. Info and links for the ones you want to know about most for this week below, plus some other ones you may not have heard of (but should know), with audio & video for your listening and viewing pleasure. Click here to see releases from the past several weeks…
1,2,3, Big Weather (American Hermitage)
This band is rather intriguing. The first song off their new LP riffs on John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane," then goes in a completely unexpected (and charming, and just plain good) directions. Check "Big Weather Part 1" below; it's like, big-beat electro-roots-psychedelia with jangly pop stuff happening int here, bright percussion and surf-tinged vocal harmonies.
7Seconds, Leave A Light On (Rise)
Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires, Dereconstructed (Sub Pop)
Bam Margera's Fuckface Unstoppable, FFU (Artery)
Matthew Barber, Big Romance (Outside Music)
Black Anvil, Hail Death (Relapse)
Clear Plastic Masks, Being There (Serpents & Snakes Records)
Hollie Cook, Twice (YSM)
Reggae music fleshed out with cinematic strings, Brazilian percs and the pretty coos and croons of British songstress Cook, a recent recruit of The Slits. There's something rather mesmerizing about her vocal quality and the swaying lush nature of her music. Check out "Looking for Real Love" after the jump, along with the rest of this week's releases.
Melanie De Biasio, No Deal (PIAS America)
Another compelling female artist from overseas, this one sultry Belgium jazz chanteuse De Biasio. Check out "The Flow" below.
Jerry David DeCicca, Understanding Land (Virtual Label)
[Of The Black Swans]
Eyehategod, Eyehategod (Century Media)
Marty Friedman, Inferno (Prosthetic)
A new recording from the former Megadeth guitarist.
Ben Frost, A U R O R A (Mute)
The Ghost Wolves, Man, Woman, Beast (Plowboy Records)
Haunted Hearts, Initiation (Zoo Music)
The first release from the collab by Dum Dum Girls' Dee Dee and Crocodiles' Brandon Welchez.
Hercules and Love Affair, The Feast of the Broken Heart (Big Beat Records/Moshi Moshi)
DJ Andy Butler's NYC-based dance-oriented project presents a brand new (third) LP.
Hundred Waters, The Moon Rang Like A Bell (Owsla)
Full album by this amazing electronic-driven Gainesville-bred band is now streaming on NPR. Surprisingly pretty and sweetly soulful and melodic vocals over intriguing and sometimes unexpectedly moody, then sparkling production. Impressive. Listen to "Xtalk" below.
Lust for Youth, International (Sacred Bones)
Cher Lloyd, Sorry I'm Late (Epic)
Madison, The Bright Light EP (G Rex)
Mariah Carey, Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse (Def Jam)
Austin Mahone, The Secret (Universal Republic)
Misery Index, Killing Gods (Season of Mist)
moe., No Guts, No Glory (Sugar Hill)
Owen Pallett, In Conflict (Domino/Secret City)
Popstrangers, Fortuna (Flying Nun Records)
POWERMAN 5000, Builders of the Future (T-Boy Records/UMe)
The Ready Set, The Bad & The Better (Razor & Tie Recordings)
Reuben And The Dark, Funeral Sky (Arts & Crafts)
Roll The Tanks, Broke Til Midnight (Epitaph)
Rush Midnight, Rush Midnight (Last Gang Records)
Russ Manning presents his solo full-length of disco funky indie dance music. Video for "In Your Room" (including red-lit bubble bath, no nudity included) below.
Serpentine Path, Emanations (Relapse)
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, A Long Way To The Beginning (Knitting Factory Records)
Second full-length of high-octane Afrobeat with a heavy dose of funk and politically-charged lyrics from alto-sax player and singer Seun Kuti, the youngest son of Fela and frontman of his late dad's tight band. In his statement about the album, Kuti called it "a soundtrack for the mindset of most young people in Africa today ... As African youth we have to stand for what we want."A Long Way to the Beginning was co-produced by Grammy winner Robert Glasper, and features appearances from Blitz the Ambassador, Nneka and M-1 of dead prez. The latter drops a verse in "IMF"— which stands for 'International Mother Fucker'— and the video below finds white-collared Kutis-turned-zombies with an unquenchable thirst for money.
They Might Be Giants, Idlewild (Idlewild Records)
The cheeky-quirky alt rockers present a new comp, their third. This one comprises tracks originally issued between 1999 and 2013. Described as "neither a 'best of' nor a 'rarities' set, it is an ultra - vivid illustration of the bands prodigious output and singular musical vision."
This Wild Life, Clouded (Epitaph)
Trash Talk, No Peace (Trash Talk Collective/Odd Future Collective)
Sharon Van Etten, Are We There (JAGJAGUWAR)
Some Ember, Some Ember (Dream Recordings)
Verma, Sunrunner (Trouble in Mind)
Watter, This World (Temporary Resident Ltd)
Yonatan Gat, Iberian Passage (Joyful Noise Recordings)
Anyone familiar with Tel Aviv garage act Monotonix is aware of just how raucous they can get. This new solo release from that band's guitarist shows off his own prowess amid a more exotic surf-vibing world-fused environment. "Escorpião" below.
Neil Young, A Letter Home (Reprise/Third Man)
Young And In The Way, When Life Comes To Death (Deathwish)