New Mix: Toro Y Moi, Courtney Barnett, Pops Staples, More
Clockwise from upper left: Courtney Barnett, Pops Staples, Toro Y Moi, Other Lives Courtesy of the artists hide caption
This week on All Songs Considered, we start the show with new music Bob's been waiting for two years to hear: the great first single from Courtney Barnett's debut full-length album. Don't miss the video for "Pedestrian at Best" off her album Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit.
Also on the show: Chaz Bundick is back with a Toro Y Moi track that's all '70s-flavored electro-disco dance jam. We also share the last recordings of Pops Staples, which he gave to his daughter Mavis before his death in 2000. NPR Music contributor Katie Presley offers a cut from the loud-and-proud Texas punk party band Purple, Robin takes the show for an acoustic turn with the Brooklyn trio Howard, which leads into Bob's selection of a new song by Other Lives called "Reconfiguration," from the band's upcoming album Rituals.
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New Mix: Toro Y Moi, Pops Staples, Courtney Barnett, More
Songs Featured On This Episode
Pedestrian at Best
- from Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
- by Courtney Barnett
Even the taste of talent Australian songwriter Courtney Barnett gave us on her first two EPs established her as one of the best lyricists in rock. Here new album, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, confirms it. On "Pedestrian At Best" Barnett and her band lays down a guitar heavy track perfect for following her insightful speak-singing stream of consciousness. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit comes out March 24.
Dmt
- from 409
- by Purple
Texas punk trio Purple just wants to have fun. On their screaming party track "Dmt," drummer Hanna Brewer sneers, "I like to drink and wear bikinis" while pounding out six minutes of hard, unapologetic punk rock. Named after the band's hometown area code, Purple's album 409 is out now.
Falling
- from Religion
- by Howard
Howard is a Brooklyn-based trio and one of our favorite new discoveries so far this year. The group's arresting new album, Religion, is built on layers of acoustic guitars, electronics and head-turning polyrhythms.
Reconfiguration
- from Rituals
- by Other Lives
Portland-by-way-of-Oklahoma band Other Lives is always exploring new textures and "Reconfiguration" is full of driving rhythmic layers anchored by a piano hook that serves as a skeleton on which to build their floating synth and vocal melodies. Its third studio album, Rituals, arrives May. 5.
Drown
- from Drown
- by My Midnight Heart
Backed by dreamy synths that compliment her airy, feminine voice, Puerto Rican songwriter Angelica Allen challenges listeners' expectations on "Drown" with her dark, introspective lyrics. Drown is the first of two EPs My Midnight Heart will release in 2015, beginning Feb. 3.
Empty Nesters
- from What For?
- by Toro Y Moi
After last year's dance-based album under the name Les Sins, Toro y Moi's Chaz Bundwick has returned to his best-known moniker with an epic pop record. "Empty Nesters" is a sweet dose of '70s nostalgia filled with tight melodies and nods to Supertramp, Big Star and even Talking Heads. Toro Y Moi's album What For? comes out April 7.
Somebody Was Watching
- from Don't Lose This
- by Pops Staples
Don't Lose This is a posthumous release of music by Roebuck "Pops" Staples, the guitarist, songwriter and preacher who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as patriarch of the Staples Family Singers. Pops died in 2000, while the album was still in production, and fifteen years later his daughter Mavis Staples took the tapes to producer Jeff Tweedy, who helped her finish the soulful guitar, vocals and percussion all over "Somebody Was Watching." Don't Lose This arrives Feb. 17.