There are excellent new releases trickling out, including this week’s debut LP from Cold Beats. But the launch schedule is winding down for the summer. So, let’s take a look back at some of the best new releases over the past few months.
EMA – The Future’s Void. One of my favorite new albums is EMA’s sophomore release, The Future’s Void. Even the most quiet moments on this album are intense and EMA, aka Erika M. Anderson, will knock you over when she raises her voice. I was taken aback by Anderson’s 2011 debut Past Life Martyred Saints and this new album is great as well. If I have to pick the three artists that I hear the most in EMA’s songs, I’d say P.J. Harvey, St. Vincent and Annie Lennox. Just as Lennox was cutting edge in the ’80s, EMA is pushing boundaries today.
The Fresh & Onlys – House of Spirits. San Francisco garage rockers the Fresh & Onlys turn out reliably good albums. You can pick up a new release from these guys and be assured that it’s going be pretty decent at a minimum and potentially fantastic. House of Spirits falls somewhere in the middle of that range with moments of greatness throughout. The band draws from 1960s-era psychedelic rock but also from the many bands that reinterpreted the genre over the decades that followed. In fact, there’s a New Wave vibe that also dominates this new album. Whatever the formula, it’s working.
Sharon Van Etten – Are We There. It’s hard to follow up a career album but Sharon Van Etten does it gracefully on Are We There. While the album lacks a showstopper like Serpents (from 2012’s Tramp), this is a raw, emotional album full of lush tension. Once considered a folkie, Van Etten continues to shred that image.
All the Young Punks 