Welcome back to Sputnik’s weekly news! After a short break we’re happy to be posting for the first time in 2017, on the prowl for the year’s best releases in every genre. For each album, you’ll be able to peruse the artwork, genre(s), label information, and any existing full album streams. This is our list of major new releases for the week of January 13, 2017. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors. As our staff post reviews, links will appear below the art work so that you can read about the release, see how we scored it, and more. Enjoy!
Background:
The Flaming Lips just keep getting weirder, which in the field of music is a hefty compliment. The experimental band releases their follow-up to 2013’s The Terror this Friday, although the albums feel further apart in time than the four years that actually separate them. It’s been a dizzying time for fans – first there was the 24-hour track 7 Skies H3, then we witnessed them cover The Beatles’ iconic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album in its entirety, which featured a slew of guest musicians ranging from My Morning Jacket to Miley Cyrus in a cleverly titled homage With A Little Help From My Fwends. In short, this isn’t a group of musicians that are afraid to take risks. More often than not that has worked to their advantage, as they’ve crafted some of the most quintessential indie-rock albums in recent memory: The Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, and arguably others. While 2013’s The Terror was notably downturned, The Flaming Lips embraced their paranoia – crafting one of the darkest and most personal records of their entire discography. If the songs released in advance of Oczy Mlody are any indication, this record will be equally pensive and moody, just with more of an outstretched arm for that unpredictable, off-the-wall, weird as fuck element that has always made them one of the most interesting bands of all time.
Listen to “How??” and see their crazily weird (brilliant?) music video:
The Band of Heathens: Duende
Genre: Indie-Rock // Label: BOH Records
Stream Duende here.
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Bonobo: Migration
Genre: Electronic // Label: Ninja Tune
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Brandon Can’t Dance: Graveyard Of Good Times
Genre: Electronic Indie-Pop // Label: Lucky Number Music
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Code Orange: Forever
Genre: Hardcore/Sludge Metal // Label: Roadrunner Records
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Colony House: Only The Lonely
Genre: Indie-Rock // Label: Colony House, Inc
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Danny Gokey: Rise
Genre: Gospel/Christian // Label: Danny Gokey
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Dryjacket: For Posterity
Genre: Emo/Indie-Rock // Label: Hopeless Records
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The Flaming Lips: Oczy Mlody
Genre: Psychedelic/Experimental // Label: The Flaming Lips
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Half Japanese: Hear the Lions Roar
Genre: Noise Rock // Label: Fire Records
Stream Hear the Lions Roar here.
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The Infamous Stringdusters: Laws Of Gravity
Genre: Country/Bluegrass // Label: Compass Records
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Ignis Gehenna: Baleful Scarlet Star
Genre: Black Metal // Label: Séance Records
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Julie Byrne: Not Even Happiness
Genre: Folk/Ambient // Label: Ba Da Bing!
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Lancer: Mastery
Genre: Progressive Metal // Label: Nuclear Blast
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Lo-Pan: In Tensions
Genre: Stoner Rock // Label: Aqualamb Records
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Sepultura: Machine Messiah
Genre: Thrash Metal // Label: Nuclear Blast
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Sohn: Rennen
Genre: Electronic/R&B // Label: 4AD
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SUSTO: & I’m Fine Today
Genre: Indie/Alt-Country // Label: Missing Piece/Caroline
Stream & I’m Fine Today here.
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Victorius: Heart Of The Phoenix
Genre: Progressive Metal // Label: Massacre Records
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The xx: I See You
Genre: Electronic Indie-Pop // Label: Young Turks Recordings
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