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Just Added - Jul 2016

Daniel Woolhouse – Map Of The Moon

Friday 29th July, by Louise Mason Team Laverne

Daniel Woolhouse (AKA Deptford Goth) is returning for a fresh start with a new name and an album to come later this year. To whet your appetite our Just Added today is his first single ‘Map of the Moon.’

Daniel Woolhouse – Map Of The Moon

This new record follows two album releases as Deptford Goth (2014’s Songs and 2012’s Life After Defo). With a fresh start, Daniel Woolhouse now returns with a new project promising a more fleshed-out and hook-laden collection. Released on 37 Adventures, Daniel explained that he “approached writing in a slightly different way, recording with a new energy and an extra sense of freedom.” ‘Map of the Moon’ is the new single - “it has some familiarity in relation to my previous releases, but I think also displays some different ambitions. It feels to me like a complete song and sound, one that was written earlier on in the process of making this album, which gave me the confidence to keep writing.” Lyrically, Woolhouse remains an introspective soul whose struggle with self-confidence has mostly prevented him from playing live (such as after Songs was released). His fragile mind-set threads all the way through the new record, and this new single. It’s a track of contemplation written “from the position of trying to find a steady train of thought and to get out of a pattern of behaviour and thinking that doesn't do any good.”

Massive Attack – The Spoils

Thursday 28 July, by Louise Mason Team Laverne

We’ve got the world exclusive first play of new Massive Attack for our Just Added playlist today. Snippets of two new tracks have been shared via the group’s Fantom app, described as a “sensory music player” designed to remix and reconfigure songs on each listen. We’ve stuck to the original for our Just Added though.

Massive Attack – The Spoils

In January Massive Attack released the Ritual Spirit EP, which was written and produced by the band’s Robert del Naja and collaborator Euan Dickinson. Today Massive Attack release two brand new songs, 'The Spoils' and 'Come Near Me'. As with the Ritual Spirit EP, you can listen to your own versions of the tracks on the Group’s Fantom app which will adjust the song according to things like your location and movement. Both songs are written and produced by Massive Attack’s Daddy G and collaborator Stew Jackson and feature vocals from Hope Sandoval (on 'The Spoils') and Ghostpoet (on 'Come Near Me'). 'Come Near Me' is accompanied by a video directed by Ed Morris and features Kosovan actress Arta Dobroshi. In July, Massive Attack headlined the first night of this year’s British Summer Time festival at London's Hyde Park. Massive Attack are performing live across Europe throughout the summer including on 3rd September with Primal Scream and Skepta at Bristol Downs.

Father John Misty – Real Love Baby

Wednesday 27 July, by Matthew Mills Team Laverne

Whether lecturing crowds on the state of the entertainment industry, or rejecting burrito money, Father John Misty seems omnipresent at the moment. In amongst the headlines, and touring one of the best albums of last year, yesterday he dropped a mastered version of Real Love Baby, and it’s going straight on our Just Added playlist.

Father John Misty – Real Love Baby

Josh Tillman AKA Father John Misty, shared this song back in May, his first piece of straight-up material since last year's I Love You, Honeybear. It features Tommy Brenneck of The Budos Band on guitar, and yesterday was given a fully mastered release on Sub Pop. For those hoping it’s the first taste of a new record, FJM confirmed that it’s not on there, it’s ‘just a thing’. But as he comes to the end of a huge world tour, we’re hoping album number three will be forthcoming. We’re sure we’ll be hearing from him in the meantime.

Jenny Hval – Conceptual Romance

Tuesday 26 July, by Matthew Mills Team Laverne

We’ve got the exclusive first play of new Jenny Hval for our Just Added playlist today. Her new LP explores blood, fed by fictitious characters and 70s horror film imagery, and yet this single could well be the most accessible release from the vital and experimental Norwegian artist.

Jenny Hval – Conceptual Romance

We Just Added ‘Female Vampire’, the first single from Jenny Hval’s latest project back in June, and now we’ve got another cut from her new record. Blood Bitch will be released on Sacred Bones on 30th September and it finds Jenny creating a poetic diary of modern transience and transcendence, as well as reconnecting with the goth and metal scene she started out in many years ago in Norway. “It’s an album of vampires, lunar cycles, sticky choruses, and the smell of warm leaves and winter,” she says, and from what we’ve heard so far, it’s challenging, engaging, enchanting and everything we’ve come to expect from her. Jenny plays End Of The Road Festival on 4th September, before returning to the UK in October; get yourself along to enter her unique world for a little while.

Regina Spektor – Bleeding Heart

Monday 25 July, by Matthew Mills Team Laverne

We kick off another week of new music on Just Added with the return of Regina Spektor. An upbeat opening makes way for an ominous finish as one of music’s best story-tellers is back and in the finest form.

Regina Spektor – Bleeding Heart

This is the first taste of Regina’s seventh album Remember Us To Life which comes out on 30th September on Sire & Warner Bros. It’s a record comprised entirely of newly written material and follows 2012’s What We Saw From The Cheap Seats. Written during and after her first pregnancy, Regina seems to be in a rejuvenated mood “I made more art and felt more inspired than I had in a long time.” Of late you’ll have heard her distinctive voice on the opening credits of Orange Is The New Black, and there’s been recent news of further soundtrack work, with a cover of George Harrison’s ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ for soon-to-be-released animated film Kubo And The Two Strings. But what her fans have been waiting for is a new record, so the latest news will have left a lot of people happy.

Nick Waterhouse – It’s Time

Friday 22 July, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Tape hiss? Check. Spector-esque backing singers? Check. Psychedelic organ freakout? Check. Yep, Nick Waterhouse is back. It’s about time, too (sorry).

Nick Waterhouse – It’s Time

On September 30th, Nick Waterhouse releases his third album of sun-faded rhythm and blues. Called Never Twice, the record finds Waterhouse channeling the lounge singers and house jazz bands of the 50s and 60s, and as ever, his approach is painstakingly authentic. Having lent his production skills to brothers-in-analogue, Allah-Las, for their first two albums, Waterhouse has perfected his own brand of revivalism, and with the growing popularity of artists like Leon Bridges – who features as a guest on Never Twice – he seems perfectly poised to cause a splash with his latest offering.

Cassius – Feel Like Me (feat. Cat Power)

Thursday 21 July, by Matthew Mills Team Laverne

Zdar and Boombass, otherwise known as electronic pioneers Cassius, are set to drop their latest album at the end of August, but they’ve sent us this little gem for our Just Added playlist in the meantime. It’s sees the duo bring in Cat Power for this softer cut from the record.

Cassius – Feel Like Me (feat. Cat Power)

‘Feel Like Me’ is lifted from Cassius’ forthcoming album which comes out on Polydor / Interscope on 26th August. Ibiformia is a portmanteau of Ibiza & California and an imaginary utopia that Cassius say is ‘inside every one of us’. The album is a panoramic extravaganza of disco, funk, house, soul, afrobeat, synth-pop, psychedelia, hip hop & gospel and along with Cat Power, features appearances from Pharrell Williams, Ryan Tedder and Beastie Boys’s Mike D. We can’t wait to get through it all.

Wilco – If I Ever Was A Child

Wednesday 20 July, by Matthew Mills Team Laverne

Just Added today sees the return of legends of off kilter indie, Wilco, who are back with a new album Schmilco. Having shared ‘Locator’ last week, this second taste again sees the Chicago sextet ditching the fuzz guitars of the last record for an acoustic spaciousness perfect for Tweedy’s lyrics of alienation.

Wilco – If I Ever Was A Child

Wilco are back with their 10th album Schmilco, out on the 9th September. It’s the 3rd release on their own dBpm Records, following Star Wars which they put out a year ago for free. The record is a mostly acoustic affair, and finds bandleader Jeff Tweedy in a mood both innocent and earnest “I think this record is ‘joyously negative’. It’s sad in a lot of ways but not in any that reach a conclusion of doom or hopelessness… I just had a lot of fun being sour about the things that upset me.” Recorded in the bands own studio in Chicago, it was produced by Tweedy and Tom Schick, whose previous credits include Rufus Wainwright and Ryan Adams. There’re a couple of live dates announced for November at Manchester’s Albert Hall (18th) and London’s Brixton Academy (19th) for your Wilco live fix.

De La Soul – Royalty Capes

Tuesday 19 July, by Matthew Mills Team Laverne

We’re inching ever closer to the new De La Soul album, and to keep us ticking over for another month or so, we’ve got a track from and the Anonymous Nobody on our Just Added playlist. Exclusive first play no less.

De La Soul – Royalty Capes

‘Royalty Capes’ features a sample of Days Of Our Lives actress Gloria Loring and is another cut from De La’s long-awaited album and the Anonymous Nobody out on A.O.I Records and Kobalt on 26th August. The creation of and the Anonymous Nobody has been several years in the making. De La Soul wanted to make another sample-based album in the vein of 3 Feet High and Rising; in order to do so, and avoid the legalities of sample clearance, they spent a few years recording more than 300 hours of live music, converging everything from bossa nova, soul and hip-hop to funk, disco and reggae, thus creating their own sample library. The album features appearances from Snoop Dogg (we’ve been spinning ‘Pain’ a good while now) David Byrne and Damon Albarn amongst others.

Crystal Castles – Char

Monday 18 July, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Crystal Castles have emerged at the other end of a four-year break (and a line-up overhaul) with their cyber-punk sensibilities intact. Buried amidst the punishing distortion of ‘Char’ are a delicate lullaby, a haunting voice, and the same instinct for digital soundscapes that characterised the earlier incarnation’s trilogy of excellent albums.

Crystal Castles – Char

Crystal Castles’ fourth album, and first without the gone-solo Alice Glass, arrives on August 19th via Fiction Records. Titled Amnesty (I), the new record saw Ethan Kath recruit mysterious new vocalist, Edith Frances – so mysterious (read: un-Google-able), in fact, that until her first on-stage appearance with Crystal Castles earlier this year, there was some speculation as to whether she actually existed. You can catch the Canadian duo live at Reading and Leeds festival this August and work it all out for yourself.

Jagwar Ma – OB1

Friday 15 July, by Matthew Mills Team Laverne

Aussie psychers Jagwar Ma announced their return yesterday with a brand new single and news of a new album. ‘OB1’ arrives with a swagger and low swung beat, intent on ushering in a third summer of love.

Jagwar Ma – OB1

This is the lead single from Jagwar Ma’s 2nd album, Every Now & Then which is due out on Marathon Records in the autumn. They’ve enlisted Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa on drums for this track, with production support from James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco, combining to create a hazy, compelling beat that underpins this infectious return. It’s been three years since Jagwar Ma (Gabriel Winterfield, Jono Ma and Jack Freeman) released their debut Howlin’ so we’re more than ready for another. They’ve been touring with fellow countryman Tame Impala and will be popping back to the UK for Green Man, Bestival and By The Sea Festival, followed by five dates across the country in October.

Justice – Safe And Sound

Thursday 14 July, by Matthew Mills Team Laverne

Just in time to own the airwaves this summer, replete with an English choir, slap bass and sweeping disco strings, Justice are back with new music, making our Just Added job particularly easy today.

Justice – Safe And Sound

This is their first release since 2011’s Audio, Video, Disco. After five long years Gaspard and Xavier confirmed last night that they were putting the final touches to album number three after being locked in the studio every day. If you were at Sonar Festival back in June then you may have heard Busy P of Ed Banger Records drop this as the opening track of his set, but thankfully Justice have released it for those of us unable to be there "It's just our impatience," Gaspard explained. "We thought it would be a shame not to give it to the world."

Las Kellies – Summer Breeze

Wednesday 13 July, by Matthew Mills Team Laverne

We’ve been long-time fans of Argentinian three-piece Las Kellies, so their latest single was a Just Added shoo-in. ‘Summer Breeze’, whilst not being a psyche cover of the Isley Brothers, is full of fuzzed-up South American sunshine and a glorious return.

Las Kellies – Summer Breeze

We jumped on board the Las Kellies train with their last album Total Exposure (back in 2013, remember ‘Boy, Sweet Boy’?) and this is the 1st single from their next. Friends & Lovers will be released on Fire Records later this year and sees the band move away from the heavily dub influenced previous record, and its subsequent EP Dubby Exposure. That being said, you can still hear the touch of producer Ivan Diaz Mathe (whose previous work includes Lee Scratch Perry & Mad Professor) in the propulsive percussion underpinning the shimmering guitars. There’s more album and tour info forthcoming we’re told, so for now just enjoy this.

Ultimate Painting – Bills

Tuesday 12 July, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

East London’s best-loved analogue revivalists are back with a new single, and dare we say it, a new sound. On ‘Bills’, Ultimate Painting undercut their trademark sunshine-pop with the driving bass of post-punk.

Ultimate Painting – Bills

James Hoare and Jack Cooper are gearing up to release their third album, Dusk, on the 30th of September. If ‘Bills’ is anything to go by, the end of summer will prove a fitting time for the arrival of the record – while the duo still borrow a laid back, sun-soaked atmosphere from the original era of Californian psych, their tone is becoming increasingly anxious and claustrophobic. If last year’s ‘(I’ve Got the) Sanctioned Blues’ was the first time we saw Ultimate Painting introduce a jarring and very British malaise into their lyrics, ‘Bills’ is the first time we’ve seen that discomfort reflected in their sound. Interesting stuff, indeed.

Blood Orange – Desirée

Monday 11th July , by Cheeka Eyers Team Laverne

Catching our attention today is a gentle disco treat from Dev Hynes. It’s from his new album ‘Freetown Sound’ that came out on Domino at the end of last month and is a perfect way to ease everyone back into the working week.

Blood Orange – Desirée

Written and produced by Dev Hynes himself, this track is more than it may appear. It features lines from ‘Paris Is Burning,’ the 1990 documentary about New York’s queer and transgender ballroom subculture. The album is a display of Hynes’ unpredictable music styles, embracing a number of genres to portray his life so far - he started musical career as frontman of Test Icicles and now he has relocated to the US, he’s working alongside fellow musicians including Kylie Minogue, Solange Knowles and Carly Rae Jepson to name a few. An incredible album and not only that, he released it 3 days ahead of schedule…

Roots Manuva – On a High

Friday 08 July, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Roots is back for a victory lap after last year’s critically lauded Bleeds. Never one to rest on his laurels, the game-changing MC has dropped heavy new track, ‘On a High’, ahead of the deluxe re-release of the album.

Roots Manuva – On a High

The deluxe edition of Bleeds is released on the 26th of August through Big Dada. Pulling together ten previously unheard tracks, including remixes from Kode 9, Pinch, and Champion, this collection reframes one of the best received albums of last year with club music in mind. ‘On a High’ takes its musical cues from the post-dubstep scene that birthed James Blake and Skream, but the bars are still unmistakably Roots Manuva.

Wild Beasts – Big Cat

Thursday 07 July, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Hot on the heels of the bombastic ‘Get My Bang’, Wild Beasts have given us the first play of their next single – an R&B-speckled slow jam that bubbles with the threat of violence. 'Big Cat' is today's Just Added exclusive.

Wild Beasts – Big Cat

Wild Beasts release new album, Boy King, on the 5th of August on Domino Records. Now five albums deep into a career peppered with curveballs, the new record finds the quartet exploring notions of masculinity and ego against a backdrop of sleazy, prowling pop music. The battling harmonies with which they won their reputation are present in abundance, but the soundscapes behind them have become increasingly expansive and electronic. If ‘Big Cat’ is more subdued than the explosive ‘Get My Bang’, it’s no less exciting for it – pent-up aggression lurks behind every twist and turn of this ostensibly soulful pop song.

Pixies – Um Chagga Lagga

Wednesday 06 July, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Stop what you’re doing; this will only take a minute – or two minutes and 50 seconds, to be precise. Pixies are back, and they’re not wasting any time with pleasantries. At a blistering pace, ‘Um Chagga Lagga’ picks up exactly where the godfathers of all-things-alt left off.

Pixies – Um Chagga Lagga

On September 30th, Pixies release new album, Head Carrier. Recorded in February and March of this year in London’s Rak studios, this is the first Pixies record to feature new bass player, Paz Lenchantin, who has toured with the band since Kim Deal’s departure in 2013. For the first time since their earliest days, Frank Black and co spent a long time in pre-production on this album, writing, arranging and rehearsing a plethora of songs – a luxury that a notoriously hectic touring schedule had always prohibited. Now, the band are ready to take the new record on the road. They play London’s Brixton Academy on Monday (11th of July), and have announced a European tour for November.

Angel Olsen – Shut Up Kiss Me

Tuesday 05 July, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

With her latest single, Angel Olsen further distances herself from the ethereal lo-fi recordings that first brought her attention. She may have forged a reputation on bare-bones vulnerability, but ‘Shut Up Kiss Me’ finds her at her most assertive.

Angel Olsen – Shut Up Kiss Me

Angel Olsen’s third album, My Woman, sees release on September 2nd through Jagjaguwar. Following on from her haunting 2011 debut, Half Way Home, and the harder rocking Burn Fire No Witness (released in 2014), the Chicago singer-songwriter appears to be in the process of striking a balance between heart-on-sleeve croon-outs, as typified by album taster track ‘Intern’, and something a little more playful. It’s the latter impulse at work in ‘Shut Up Kiss Me’; with its crashing guitars and country melodrama, the track dismantles any notions of self-seriousness that might be assigned to a singer of such staggering talent.

Slow Club – In Waves

Monday 04 July, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

With a little help from Matthew E. White and the Spacebomb session band, Slow Club have recorded an album of Southern gospel-tinged Americana – slide guitar and all. That’s right, Sheffield is going to the country.

Slow Club – In Waves

Next month, Rebecca Taylor and Charles Watson release their fourth album as Slow Club. The new record, entitled One Day All of This Won’t Matter Anymore, saw them put their faith in the very capable hands of Matthew E. White and his Richmond-based Spacebomb band, who provided some much needed direction for the shapeshifting duo. As Rebecca recalls, “We weren't as on the same page about what we wanted this time, and we were sort-of blindly going into it. We needed someone to come in and take control. Going in there with those guys leant itself to that. It was perfect.”

Vinyl Williams – Riddles of the Sphinx

Friday 01 July, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Vinyl Williams is back with new single, ‘Riddles of the Sphinx. It’s a freaked out cosmic jam; think Nuggets reimagined for the space age. Has anyone coined the term psych-fi yet? If not, we’re having that.

Vinyl Williams – Riddles of the Sphinx

‘Riddles of the Sphinx’ is taken from Lionel (see-what-you-did-there) Williams’ third album, Brunei, which comes out on Chaz Bundick’s Company Records on August 26th. The album was written and recorded over one month. To compose, “I get into a state of mind that is beyond control or knowing, and I let myself be free,” Lionel says. “On this new album, I tried to take as many risks as possible to represent my mental architectural spaces that are inconceivably vast and ever-changing.” Told you he was up in the stratosphere somewhere.