New Music 4/5/19

(re-post from Facebook, edited)

Completed New Music Week 14 through Tidal.

Each Friday release day, I’m going to download five albums with the only criteria being name recognition or the best pieces of cover art and review them. These are the releases of 4/5.

For some reason there weren’t many obvious choices on 4/5 to listen to but somehow I must have chosen the correct five as this ended up being my favorite week of new music so far.

• Album: PUP – Morbid Stuff
• Previous knowledge: None
• Chosen: Cartoon drawing of musical chairs with the participants holding knives.
• Review: Standing for Pathetic Use of Potential, PUP are anything but that.  They are labeled as punk rock and I don’t know their previous two records sound like but this really isn’t that.  There’s punk roots but if nothing else they are pop punk with a heavy dose of indie rock.   In fact, this album sounds very much like something I would have listened to at the tail end of the 90s while I was at WTSR or at least the start of the 2000’s, right in that Jimmy Eat World phase.  This is catchy indie rock at its finest – tons of energy even with you know, morbid stuff in the lyrics. 
• Rating: 10//10

• Album: Griz – Ride Waves
• Previous knowledge: None
• Chosen: Random
• Review: As I do with all artists I don’t recognize up front, I look them up on Wikipedia and with Griz I saw that he was a dubstep DJ. Since that really isn’t my thing, I wasn’t expecting much but hot damn, this is my favorite album of the year.  I will have to go back and listen to his previous five records but this record is a magnificent blend of motwon soul, electronica, dubstep and funk.  It’s danceable from front to back, funky as hell and a great ball of energy.  Did you like “Uptown Funk” a few years ago from Mick Ronson and Bruno Mars – think of that type of energy but with more of an electronic element to it.
• Rating: 10/10

• Album: Idlewild – Interview Music
• Previous knowledge: Random songs back in college
• Chosen: Name recognition
• Review: A third 10/10 in row!  No, I didn’t copy and paste and forget to change them.  Either I was just in some weird place this week or everything was brilliant but Idlewild’s eighth album is awesome as hell.  I know the name based on my time at WTSR in the late 90s and early 00’s – though I likely couldn’t tell you one song from them.   But if they were half this good back then, I probably should have paid more attention.  This is polished, indie rock from veterans that know how to craft a fine tune and sound modern and major label ready without compromising on the indie rock sound.  Hook filled and fully sing-along, this is what indie rock should be in 2019.
• Rating: 10/10

• Album: Circa Waves – What’s It Like Over There?
• Previous knowledge: None
• Chosen: Random
• Review: Although not a 10 finally, this record is still damn good.  This band of guys is from Liverpool and What’s It Like Over There? Is their third overall album.  Reminds me of a lot of the alt rock on the radio today in points, similar to Arctic Monkeys or maybe the Chainsmokers in many spots but also with quite a few songs led by piano melodies rather than guitar riffs.  Lots of anthemic alt-rock songs make this record something that you very likely could and should hear on your Sirius hits 1 channel for a long while – if someone promotes them correctly.

• Album: Girli – Odd One Out
• Previous knowledge: None
• Chosen: Cover art
• Review: This is the debut album from a London girl named Milly Toomey, who blends electropop, punk, rap and a bunch of harmonized vocals to create that kind of controlled chaos pop sound that made Ke$ha famous.  On Tidal they actually recommend her and Charlie XCX as similar artists and that’s spot on, especially if Ke$ha is your thing.  Maybe think Peaches or DNCE as well.   Fun, upbeat pop music that’s catchy from note one.
• Rating: 9.5/10

Albums ranked 10/10 in 2019 (ordered by release date)

1. Terror Jr. – Unfortunately, Terror Jr
2. Emily King – Scenery
3. Good Fuck – Good Fuck
4. The Claypool Lennon Delirium – South of Reality
5. UB40 – For the Many
6. Griz – Ride Waves
7. Pup – Morbid Stuff