VAYATmusic

Beach Fossils | Bunny (2023)

indie-pop, lo-fi
May 28, 2023May 28, 2023

Bedroom-pop trailblazers Beach Fossils’ new album ‘Bunny,’ is a triumphant return for one of 2010s most influential NYC bands. ‘Bunny’ delivers us 11 new classics–a precise blend of the dream-pop they notoriously pioneered, familiar post-punk vigor, & the sophisticated songwriting of seasoned musicians.
The record has Dustin Payseur’s most vulnerable lyrics by far. He’s pushed himself to be honest and give insight to his emotional world. From poignant words about a family member’s cancer battle, the joy of being a father, to smoking a cigarette out of a car window with friends-it’s the band’s most vivid and personal work to date. Bayonet Records

rock
May 28, 2023May 28, 2023

“More than anything, I wanted to make an album that was generous, that was useful,” says Ben Folds. “I want you to finish this record with something you didn’t have when you started.”
Indeed, Ben Folds masterful new collection, What Matters Most, isn’t so much a statement as it is an offering, an open hand reaching out to all those wounded and bewildered by a world that seems to make less and less sense every day. Recorded in East Nashville with co-producer Joe Pisapia, the album marks Folds’ first new studio release in eight years, and it’s a bold, timely, cinematic work, one that examines the tragic and the absurd in equal measure as it reckons with hope and despair, gratitude and loss, identity and perspective. The songs are bittersweet here, hilarious at times, but often laced with a quiet sense of longing and dread: a text message goes unanswered; an old classmate descends into the dark depths of internet conspiracies; a relationship unravels in the middle of a lake.

indie-rock
May 27, 2023May 27, 2023

Kevin Morby writes (and records, and imagines) at an almost incomparable clip, and his most recent album, This Is A Photograph, studies life, time and mortality through myriad lenses. It’s a dynamic, buoyant record on big, heavy themes, so it only makes sense that Morby found he wasn’t quite done with it on its completion. More Photographs (A Continuum) finds new nooks, corners and vantage points. “If This Is A Photograph is a house that you have been living inside of,” says Morby, “then More Photographs is, perhaps, the same home just experienced differently. As if you, its inhabitant, have taken a tab of something psychedelic and now, suddenly, you’ve replaced your eyeglasses with kaleidoscopes.” Here, Morby returns to his landmark album’s bottomless themes with new wisdom, new imagination, and the winking, looping callbacks that tie his full body of work together in uniquely special ways.

new wave, reggae, ska
May 26, 2023May 26, 2023

It’s been 43 years since the release of The Selecter’s seminal debut album Too Much Pressure and while it still inspires and resonates today, their new studio album Human Algebra keeps the fire burning with a stellar collection of hard-hitting tracks in the band’s own inimitable style. Human Algebra, released April 21st, is a word from the wise – from questioning ‘fake news’ (“Big Little Lies”), to pointing the finger at keyboard warriors (“Armchair Guevara”), and the scourge of knife crime (“Human Algebra”). Human relationships are also touched upon (“Boxing Clever”), along with a touching tribute to the late great Ranking Roger from The Beat (“Parade The Crown”).
As ever, The Selecter are led by their iconic frontwoman Pauline Black OBE and co-fronted by original member Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson with original drummer Charley ‘Aitch’ Bembridge. Human Algebra is produced by Neil Pyzer, who also contributes Sax, Guitar and keyboards. The rest of the band feature John Robertson on Guitar, Lee Horsley on organ and Andy Pearson on bass duties. The Selecter

art rock
May 17, 2023May 17, 2023

Funky Nothingness is the Frank Zappa “lost album” sequel to the iconic Hot Rats (1969). Primarily recorded at The Record Plant studio (1970) containing mostly unreleased compositions & jams featuring Don “Sugarcane” Harris & newcomer Aynsley Dunbar. Titled by Zappa himself, this compilation contains vintage FZ mixes with modern mixes by Craig Parker Adams. The expanded 3 CD, Mastered by John Polito, features audio not found on the 2LP & includes a 28 page booklet. Zappa Records
In the pantheon of jazz-rock, Frank Zappa’s 1969 LP Hot Rats is surely near the pinnacle. The primarily instrumental album recorded by Zappa, multi-instrumentalist Ian Underwood, and the top tier of L.A.’s session musicians melded the compositional and improvisational sophistication of jazz with Zappa’s gritty, searing, and blues-drenched electric rock style… The Second Disc

deluxe edition, rock
May 17, 2023May 17, 2023
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Little Feat’s Sailin’ Shoes have been newly remastered for upcoming Deluxe Editions that will introduce unreleased live and studio recordings that capture peak Feat. Released in 1972, Sailin’ Shoes was the second studio album from the founding quartet of singer-guitarist Lowell George, drummer Richard Hayward, keyboard player Bill Payne, and bassist Roy Estrada. Ted Templeman produced the record, which was the first to feature artwork by illustrator Neon Park, who created covers for nearly all of Little Feat’s albums. Sailin’ Shoes [Deluxe Edition] opens with a newly remastered version of the original album, which introduced signature tunes like “Easy To Slip,” the title track, and an updated version of “Willin’” a song that also appeared in 1971 on the band’s eponymous debut. Rhino

jazz
May 16, 2023May 16, 2023

Treasures: Solo, Trio and Orchestra Recordings from Denmark (1965-1969) is a set of never-before-released recordings of jazz piano icon Bill Evans, taped with excellent sound quality either live or in Danish TV and Radio studios in the mid-to-late 1960s. An official Elemental Music release in collaboration with the Bill Evans Estate, Treasures is truly a ’holy grail’ discovery culled from the private collection of Danish jazz musician Ole Matthiessen and being released for the very first time as a limited-edition 180-gram 3-LP set. Highlights of the collection include trio performances from 1965 featuring legendary Danish jazz bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen; the only solo piano version of “My Funny Valentine” by Evans known to exist; a 1966 orchestral suite performed with the Evans trio accompanied by the Danish Radio Big Band conducted by trumpeter/arranger Palle Mikkelborg; and much more!

synth-pop
May 14, 2023May 14, 2023

Synth-pop icon Alison Goldfrapp has released her eagerly anticipated debut solo album, The Love Invention, via Skint/BMG. The Love Invention was executively produced and co-written by Alison Goldfrapp and features collaborations with production mastermind Richard X (Pet Shop Boys, M.I.A.), James Greenwood (Daniel Avery, Kelly Lee Owens), and Toby Scott (The Gossip, Annie). The 11-track album is bursting at the seams with anthemic synth-led jaunts and unrivaled pop music innovation. From the infectious disco strut of recent single ‘Love Invention’, to the tantalizing electro stomp of ‘Neverstop’, and the acid-house tinged ‘So Hard So Hot’. All of the aforementioned tracks released alongside a video vignette directed in collaboration with Mat Maitland. BMG

jazz
May 14, 2023May 14, 2023

Jacob Young’s fourth leader-recording for ECM not only presents the guitarist’s first pass at the guitar trio format, but moreover offers a broader view of his compositional pallet, as he, bassist Mats Eilertsen and drummer Audun Kleive explore a wide variety of pulsations, temperaments and styles, all tied together by Jacob’s always melodic embrace. On his last effort, 2015’s Forever Young, the guitarist was joined by Trygve Seim and the Marcin Wasilewski Trio, performing what The Guardian called, “a set full of undemonstrative surprises and contrasts”, where “the quality of the composing matches the formidable powers of the band.” Eventually continues that record’s gentle lyricism, while Audun Kleive’s percussive injections add counterpoint to Jacob’s in turns balladic and more rhythmically overt elaborations, lending this set its sharp edge. ECM Records

Beach Fossils | Bunny (2023)

Ben Folds | What Matters Most (2023)

Kevin Morby | More Photographs (A Continuum) (2023)

The Selecter | Human Algebra (2023)

Frank Zappa | Funky Nothingness (2023)

Little Feat | Sailin’ Shoes [Deluxe Edition] (2023)

Bill Evans | Treasures: Solo, Trio and Orchestra Recordings from Denmark 1965-1969 (2023)

Alison Goldfrapp | The Love Invention (2023)

Jacob Young Trio | Eventually (2023)