Weekend Music Roundup

As it tends to do, the weekend has arrived once again. As I mentioned last week, there are a ton of new releases in the last few weeks from some of my favorite artists and I have begun to listen to them this past week. But as I always do, I like to mix in some surprises because music discovery is one of my favoritest things. This week are a few great albums that I'm excited about and make for a good start to the Fall music season. Hopefully you'll be as excited as I am about these. Enjoy.

Death From Above - Outrage! Is Now: The Toronto duo returns for their third album, the first since their return in 2014. They are back to their original name (dropping the 1979 which I assume was required because of some lawsuit which has since been settled). Thirteen years ago, they were one of the pioneers of Dance-Punk genre and though they have since morphed more into straight rock, they are no less intriguing. "Freeze Up," "Caught Up," "NVR 4EVR" and the title track are my personal favorites on one of the best albums of the year so far.

Tricky - Ununiform: Twenty two years after his solo debut, the Trip-Hop pioneer is still making interesting music that continues to explore the strange inner spaces that the genre has always seemed to infiltrate in my mind. This is one of his strongest albums, with varied influences and a pitch perfect mood that runs throughout. "New Stole," "Same As It Ever Was," "Running Wild," "Dark Days," and fantastic cover of Hole's "Doll Parts" were my personal favorites.

Daughter - Music From Before the Storm: The new album from the London is their third album is a soundtrack to the video game, Life Is Strange. It seems like an odd arrangement for a band that began to break through last year, but then again, there's nothing about the title that links it the video game, so I wonder if this wasn't simply their next album and was used as a soundtrack. Either way, this is another shoegazer art folk record, like their previous efforts, and like those, it's beautiful and subdued. "Burn It Down," "All I Wanted," and "A Hole in the Earth" were standouts for me.

Fleetwood Mac - London Live '68: The original incarnation of the British band was a British Blues band led by the phenomenal Peter Green. This version of the band ranks right up there with the best in the genre, and this archival release from 1986 captures the magic of that band. They run through a wonderful set of blues tunes that capture the sadness and despair in a way that was unique to the British bands of the time. Unfortunately the recording quality leaves a lot to be desired, keeping from being essential. But fans of the genre would do right by giving this a listen.

German Oak - Down in the Bunker: This instrumental heavy psych outfit released one album, way back in '72. It's recently been reissued in a three disc set that most likely includes everything the German band recorded. It's a psych jam that sounds like outtakes of UmmaGumma. Long extended ramblings that explore an interpretative idea of war as filtered through early '70s spack rock. An interesting listen, something that is good for a curious listen, but nothing that will really blow your mind.