New Music Reviews (11/17)

Each week, Music Director Chris Sanley and Associate Music Director Alex Ruder share brief insights on new and upcoming releases for KEXP's rotation. These reviews help our DJs decide on what they want to play. See what we added this week below (and on our Charts page), including new releases from Austra, Bad Colours, FKA twigs, and more. 

Austra - Chin Up Buttercup (Domino)
The fifth studio album from Toronto-based singer, songwriter, composer, and producer Katie Stelmanis, known as Austra, was born from a period of profound heartbreak. Deeply inspired by Madonna’s 1998 album Ray of Light, Stelmanis and co-producer Kieran Adams weave an intoxicatingly tangled web of '90s dance, indie pop, and electronica with vibrant synths, emotive vocals, pensive keys, and propulsive beats. The result is a vivid expression of grief and healing that offers catharsis for anyone moving through heartache. –CS

Bad Colours - Promise (Bastard Jazz)
The third solo album from Brooklyn-based DJ/producer Bad Colours (aka Ibe Soliman) continues to spotlight his kinetic, soulful, groovy house sound that’s frequently infused with hip-hop and R&B flavors. Fresh off knockout collaborations with Seattle’s Jarv Dee and LA’s Cor.Ece, who both appear here, Bad Colours invites a handful of friends to contribute vocals over his magnetic rhythms. –AR

FKA twigs - EUSEXUA Afterglow (Atlantic/Young)
The companion piece to this year’s ‘EUSEXUA’ finds FKA twigs exploring deeper, darker corners of her irresistible experimental pop. Blending R&B, electronic, dance, and avant-pop soundscapes, EUSEXUA Afterglow celebrates club culture, sexuality, and innovation through eleven new intoxicating tracks. This impressive fourth album proves that twigs just can’t miss. –CS

Juana Molina - DOGA (Sonamos)
The eighth studio album from Argentine singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Juana Molina is an expansive collection of spellbinding experimental art pop, and her first new full-length release in nearly a decade. Conceived over five years, primarily at her home in Buenos Aires and emerging from a deep well of improvisational jams, DOGA boasts intricate textures, dynamic arrangements, and Molina’s signature hypnotic vocals, drawing listeners into a trance-like state throughout this immersive, transcendent opus. –CS

Nightmares on Wax - Echo45 Sound System (Warp)
Over three decades into his career as Nightmares on Wax, Leeds-based DJ and producer George Evelyn returns with his tenth studio album and a star-studded guest list including Yasiin Bey, Greentea Peng, Sadie Walker, Liam Bailey, and more. This new collection plays like a biopic, melding the past with the present while showcasing Evelyn’s captivating fusion of hip-hop, electronic, dub, and soul. The result is a sound that feels both fluid and structured, always anchored by a bona fide groove. Sit back and get lost, and found, in Echo45 Sound System. –CS

Sam Gellaitry - ANYWHERE HERE IS PERFECT (Major Recordings/Warner)
The latest solo album from innovative Scottish artist Sam Gellaitry continues to find him evolving his sound and expanding upon his prodigious production talents by leaning further into a vocal-laced club-pop sound that was exhibited on his excellent 2022 mixtape VF VOL II, and this solidified direction consistently delivers addictive results. His growing confidence as a vocalist and songwriter shines bright over his intricate production wizardry and exceptional, glistening, funky synth-heavy beats, proving Sam’s not just a captivating producer, but a bonafide progressive pop artist.  –AR

the Mountain Goats - Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan (Cadmean Dawn Records)
On their 23rd studio album, the formidable John Darnielle leads the Mountain Goats through a harrowing tale of a crew surviving a shipwreck on a desert island. With ornate, theatrical soundscapes featuring woodwinds, strings, keys, harp, guitars, French horn, pedal steel, and synths, Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan highlights Darnielle’s unmatched storytelling and Matt Douglas’s inventive arrangements, revealing one of the band’s most lush and ambitious undertakings to date. –CS

CAPYAC - Sobbing Ecstasy (Nettwerk)
The latest album from this Berlin/LA queer trio is a euphoric set of colorful dance-pop infused with tasty funk, sassy disco, and glittery synth-pop. Their first album as a trio with CAPYAC co-founders Delwin Campbell and Eric Peana recently welcoming Obie Puckett as a full-time member, Sobbing Ecstasy carries an infectious pulse and feel-good attitude that sets to capture their joyful, zany, antic-heavy live performances. –AR

Dazy - Bad Penny EP (Lame-O Records)
The new EP from Richmond, VA-based James Goodson’s Dazy project delivers an infectious blend of fuzzy indie rock and noise pop. With one foot firmly in the ‘90s and the other in the present, Bad Penny is another bright, catchy, and undeniable collection of power-pop rockers. –CS

Helado Negro - The Last Sound On Earth EP (Big Dada)
Following a steady run of releases on Asthmatic Kitty, RVNG Intl., and 4AD, renowned Brooklyn-based musician Helado Negro (aka Roberto Carlos Lange) makes his debut on London-based label Big Dada with a woozy, immersive, kaleidoscopic set of psychedelic dance-pop. With the ominous question, “What will be the last sound I hear before I die?” sparking the EP’s original inspiration, The Last Sound On Earth is bathed in anxious reverb-heavy grooves, and filtered through his adventurous, exploratory, unpredictable aural instincts. –AR

Jonathan Jeremiah - We Come Alive ([PIAS] Recordings)
The sixth studio album from British musician and producer Jonathan Jeremiah feels beamed directly from the 1970s as he delivers a fascinating set of nostalgic, soulful, symphonic folk-pop songs that’s distinguished by his deep, rich, velvety baritone voice. While he’s long found inspiration in legendary American acts like Carole King, James Taylor, Lee Hazlewood, and Scott Walker, We Come Alive taps into a Euro-centric tone influenced by the likes of Serge Gainsbourg and John Martyn, and it yields a distinctive timeless-sounding record. –AR

Kennebec - The Water Wheel (Rainwatch)
The third album from Portland-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer Eric Phillips (aka Kennebec) is another beautiful set of warm, lush, cinematic songs that folds downtempo, soul, ambient, neo-classical, hip-hop, and jazz into its delicate, free-flowing sonic world. “An album that’s a settling, cathartic celebration of life, meant as a balm for our chaotic times,” The Water Wheel spotlights Kennebec’s gorgeous arrangements full of strings, woodwinds, harp, trumpet, and more, with guest appearances from Portland-based neo-soul singer Aléa Lorén, Charlotte, NC-based rapper MESSIAH!, British-Bahraini trumpeter/composer Yazz Ahmed, and LA-based composer Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. –AR

Leon Thomas - PHOLKS (EZMNY/Motown)
The latest release from this breakout Brooklyn-born musician and actor is a strong set of versatile and addictive R&B with a burst of scorching psychedelic funk (“Baccarat”) that consistently spotlights his sharp songwriting, smooth vocals, and masterful production, the latter largely helmed by guitarist/producer Rob Gueringer aka Freaky Rob, an artist who’s worked closely with Kendrick Lamar and SZA. –AR

Midlake - A Bridge To Far (Bella Union)
The sixth studio album from this veteran Denton, TX band is another consistently solid set of warm, lush, melodic folk-rock sound that’s pastoral and psychedelic, full of robust, richly-textured instrumentation, and adept at balancing dreamy, delicate passages with more propulsive, prog-infused moments. –AR

Mini Trees - Slow It Down (self-released)
The second full-length album from LA-based musician Lexi Vega (aka Mini Trees) is a consistently strong set of buoyant yet vulnerable indie pop that continues to spotlight her sharp songwriting talents, glistening vocals, and knack for crafting super addictive hooks. –AR

Mira Ló - Stronger EP (Pont Neuf)
The third EP from Paris-based queer DJ and electronic producer Mira Ló (aka Ana Lopez) is another stellar showcase of her addictive house grooves infused with a sharp pop sensibility, smart vocal accents, and touches of UKG, R&B, and funk. Inspired by a very dark period in her life, all four songs here are bursting with bright energy, as Mira “chose to turn pain into strength, to stand back up through music, and to reconnect with joy, intensity, and the collective.” –AR

PONZI - A Long Way Through EP (self-released)
The debut EP from Seattle outfit PONZI is a bold introduction to their dynamic sound. The band’s compelling blend of indie rock, post-punk, shoegaze, and post-grunge features alternating lead vocals between Roger Clemens and Liv Victorino, offering varying perspectives and levels of theatrical delivery. A Long Way Through showcases their hook-filled arrangements propelled by densely layered guitars, keys, synths, and drums, pulling listeners into the atmosphere they’ve built. –CS

runo plum - patching (Winspear)
The debut album from Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter runo plum is a breathtaking display of intimate indie folk. Featuring delicate guitars, bittersweet lyricism, and rich, affecting vocals, patching introduces an artist with a fully formed vision who wears her heart on her sleeve. –CS

Sword II - Electric Hour (section1)
The sophomore album from Atlanta trio Sword II delivers a haunting blend of indie rock, post-hardcore, and experimental soundscapes. With expressive guitars, layered and emphatic vocals, and heavy undertones, Electric Hour explores themes of surveillance, paranoia, repression, and revolution, presenting a tight, confident outfit.  –CS

Westerman - A Jackal’s Wedding (Partisan)
The third studio album from London-born, Greece-based singer-songwriter Westerman is a charming and textured slice of indie pop. Featuring syncopated rhythms, playful synths, guitars, drum machines, and his signature rich vocals, A Jackal’s Wedding finds Westerman creating in a more fluid, present state, recording the album in a fraction of the time it took to complete its predecessor. Co-producing with Marta Salogni, the pair achieve an organic, enchanting soundscape that feels lush and welcoming.  –CS