Welcome the weekend by streaming new albums from Julian Casablancas + the Voidz, the Drums, King Tuff, Leonard Cohen, and many more. Find links and details below.
1) Julian Casablancas + the Voidz, Tyranny. “The former Strokes frontman is now backed by a band called the Voidz — Jeramy Gritter and Amir Yaghmai on guitar, Jeff Kite on keys, Jake Bercovici on bass and Alex Carapetis on drums — and together, they are ready to release an incredibly eclectic new album, simply titled Tyranny.” (via Rolling Stone)
2) The Drums, Encyclopedia. “Encyclopedia finds the Drums in new territory — less sunshine, and more shadows. It’s the duo’s gloomiest effort yet, albeit with the occasional bright spots: dreamy synths and a glockenspiel bittersweetly dance around each other on ‘U.S. National Park,’ pitch-bending guitar riffs drive ‘Deep In My Heart,’ and calming, watery loops carry Jonny Pierce’s melancholic voice throughout ‘I Can’t Pretend.'” (via SPIN)
3) Perfume Genius, Too Bright. “The album closes with the words, ‘I don’t need your love / I don’t need you to understand / I need you to listen.’ If you’re a musician, that attention is the only thing worth asking for, and on Too Bright, Mike Hadreas’ awe-inspiring, magnificent arrival, he earns it with every note.” (via NPR)
4) King Tuff, Black Moon Spell. “On his third full-length album, Kyle Thomas re-brands himself as some sort of demonic teenager, out for kicks, laughs, and maybe a little mailbox baseball, as opposed to bloodshed and the apocalypse. It makes for a fun, evocative ride through four dimensions of rock music, paired by decade-straddling jumps through nostalgia loops: the ’70s glam scene’s repurposing of ’50s greasers, JDs, and teenage sci-fi/comic-book culture, as well as ’60s psych and garage sounds re-evaluated through ’80s metal.” (via NPR)
5) Sondre Lerche, Please. “An expert, jazz-trained guitarist and renowned stage-banterer, Sondre Lerche can tiptoe right up to the line separating amiability from preciousness, but he’s long since perfected the art of staying on the correct side. Plus, as fizzy and friendly as he can sound, his songs spit acid when necessary.” (via NPR)
6) Alt-J, This is All Yours. “Plenty of bands have stumbled into success by standing out then made the mistake of trying to maintain popularity by blending in. If such thoughts ever crossed Alt-J’s minds while crafting This Is All Yours, the sophomore LP they’ll release next week, it’s safe to say they went all the way in the opposite direction. This Is All Yours is a weirder, darker, more intensely singular piece of work — and better to boot.” — Stereogum (via iTunes)
7) Leonard Cohen, Popular Problems. “Popular Problems flies by, with only nine songs in 36 minutes. Yet the music creates a space for reflection that expands with each listen. Produced by and co-written with Patrick Leonard, known for his work on many of Madonna’s best albums, Popular Problems lands musically somewhere between Cohen’s synthesizer-heavy excursions of the early 2000s and his wonderfully varied 2012 album Old Ideas.” (via NPR)
