New Music Weekend: Yoko Ono, Rick Springfield, Simple Plan, Wolfmother, and More!!!

Hey there music lover! You like new stuff? Great! You’ve stumbled into the perfect corner of the internet.  Each week all sorts of audiolicious goodies are unleashed onto the masses and this is where they come to be judged. I’ll tell ya what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s a waste of your precious time. So strap on your headphones and let’s take a ride!

The Big News
Lots of stuff to get to this week,, so much that only have time to cover about half of the stuff I’m excited about. So, do we have time for some sort of lengthy preamble about how much the new Kanye record SUCKED?  No, we don’t. But, I’m gonna say it anyway – it SUCKED. Actually, I don’t know or care  I’m sure I’ll hear it at some point, but I feel like I should say something about it to avoid being sued by the West-Dashian connection for ignoring them.
So the big news? Nothing huge, just a ton of up and coming bands sprinkled in with a few old masters – exactly the kind of week we love ‘round these parts. May I first draw your attention to this awesome new album of Yoko Ono remixes featuring collaborations with bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Sparks, Cibo Mato, and others.  It’s volume two of the Yes, I’m a Witch series. Don’t wanna be a perv here, but you can’t help but dig that Yoko cleavage there, amiright?

Old Pros
Melodic Rock gave the new Rick Springfield effort, Rocket Science, a “100%” score, labeling it a “classic”. While I may be skeptical, you can’t deny a recommendation like this one from Melodic Rock: “Rocket Science features some of the most unbelievably catchy songs of Rick’s career. It’s quite simply one hook after another from start to finish.”

American treasure Mavis Staples returns with her fourteenth record (I think) and first since 2013, Livin’ on a High Note. It’s nice, a fine record. Plus it’s on Anti-/Epitaph so it’ll probably end up on my best of list at the end of the year.

And similarly returning with their first album in three years, experimental gurus Matmos unveil Ultimate Care II. In true Matmos fashion, it’s an album of one track composed entirely of sounds made by a washing machine. Seriously.

Canadian pop punk veterans Simple Plan offer up their fifth obnoxious release, Take One for the Team.

Aussie rockers Wolfmother return with their fourth release this week. Titled Victorious, our old friends at Consequence of Sound were not enthused describing the album as “a whole lot of drek to slough through”. Yeah, I have to say I concur, sir. And why is Bobby Goren in this video?

Angelic Upstarts

Let’s move on to a whole slew of up and coming artists releasing exciting new stuff this week.

LNZNDRF: (lynzynderf) noun. Being a musical group consisting of members of The National and Beirut. Described by Loud and Quiet as “hints of Joy Division abound, as does the mystic drone and hypnotic repetition of Föllakzoid – and there’s plenty of feed back and distortion”. I dig this. I really dig it.

Cavern of Anti-Matter is the dude from Stereolab. His second full length, Void Beats / Invocation Trex escapes the cave this week.

Seattle’s The Cave Singers return with their fifth release, Banshee.

RIP
This is the part of the show where we say goodbye to those who’ve played their last solo. Rest in peace and rock on, brothers and sisters.
Canadian R&B singer Vanity died pretty but young.

Composer Steven Stuckey.

Blues man LC Ulmer.

Asami Nagakiya, a steel pan player from Japan, was found strangled in a park.

This is quite the mystery, by the way.

And everyone from Viola Beach died in a car accident in Sweden.

My Recommendation
Virginia based indie dreamers Wild Nothing are back with their latest, Life of Pause.

Next Week
Tune in next week, same new music time, same new music channel, for new stuff from: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis!!