Glenn Jones – Across the Tappan Zee (w/ Laura Baird)
My Garden State
[Thrill Jockey Records]
Out now
My Garden State was written in the New Jersey home where Glenn’s family moved in 1966, while he was caring for his mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s. The songs and sounds on the album are reflective, but never dour or sad. The songs are evocative and redolent, and serve as a testament to Glenn’s talent for conveying a wide array of emotions, many times in one song, without saying a word.
The Sveltness of Boogietude
[Thrill Jockey Records]
Out now.
The Svelteness of Boogietude is his debut on Thrill Jockey and Bryon Coley (from whom he aquired the Brother JT moniker) called it his “most oustanding effort yet”. The album is a typical of JT’s output in certain ways — rockers mixed with ballads, all of them crafted with casual elegance — but there are new elements here as well. In particular, there’s an attention to the legacy of later-period T. Rex, which results in tunes that kick total ass. Brother JT is a moniker that finds Terlesky’s songwriting and ample guitar skills taking a decidedly psychedelic form but never deviating too far from the classic song structure.
Alessi’s Ark – Tin Smithing
The Still Life
[Bella Union]
Out now.
To record The Still Life, Alessi returned again to America, to the small town of Athens, Georgia and the studio of producer Andy LeMaster, who has worked with everyone from Bright Eyes to The Drive-By Truckers. First Aid Kit publicist Amanda Pitts will helm album and tour press, bringing Alessi over for a February press junket of southeastern major markets. Mike Leahy of Concerted Efforts is booking agent, working on a spring/summer supporting slot and festival dates.
Prolyphic & Buddy Peace – GO GREEN
Working Man
[Strange Famous Records]
Out now.
Prolyphic teaming up with DJ/Producer extraordinaire, Buddy Peace, Working Man is a collection of blue collar anthems that eclucidate the trials and tribulations of working class people.
Wrekmeister Harmonies – Exclusive First Look
You’ve Always Meant So Much to Me
[Thrill Jockey Records]
Street date 6.11
J.R. Robinson has been writing and recording music as Wrekmeister Harmonies in various incarnations since 2006. In 2012 he brought together some of the most revered musicians in the black metal and experimental music worlds (Jef Whitehead of Leviathan, Sanford Parker and Andrew Markuszewski of Nachmystium, Jamie Fennelly aka Mind Over Mirrors, Mark Solotroff of Anatomy of Habit, Bruce Lamont of Yakuza, and more) to perform You’ve Always Meant So Much To Me at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago to much acclaim and a sold out theater. The collaborators for the live performance joined Robinson at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio later that year to record the composition in full. The 38 minute composition was written to accompany a film Robinson shot in decimated Detroit locations, the desert of Joshua Tree and decaying forests of Tasmania.
Life Coach – Ohm from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.
Life Coach – Ohm
Alphawaves
Out now.
[Thrill Jockey Records]
Life Coach is a collaboration. Following Phil Manley’s 2011 solo debut Life Coach, which Aquarius Records called, “a serious, and seriously kick ass slab of modern minimal krautrock,” Manley set about writing a set of songs that he could perform live. After writing and tracking guitar, bass, synth, and vocals on his own, he recruited his friend and former Golden band mate Jon Theodore (The Mars Volta, One Day As A Lion), with whom Manley has been playing music for two decades, as the drummer and second official member of Life Coach. The complimentary kinship between Manley’s tightly constructed songs and Theodore’s unrestrained playing was instant. Rounded out by the addition of Isaiah Mitchell (Earthless, Golden Void), who contributes lead guitar on several songs, Life Coach was born as an entity unto itself.
Frankie & The Heartstrings – Nothing Our Way
The Days Run Away
[Wichita Recordings]
Street date 6.3
The eleven-track album continues the pursuit of guitar perfection they began with their debut ‘Hunger’ released in February 2011. ‘The Days Run Away’ maintains the F&THs tradition of songs that refuse to outstay their welcome – a precise blend of passion and guitars, with enough new tricks to show that they’ve spent the last six months updating their book of indie nous.
