MUSIC

New album releases for Dec. 9

Jon M. Gilbertson
Special to the Journal Sentinel
Neil Young and Lukas Nelson's band Promise of the Real close Summerfest 2015 at the Marcus Amphitheater.

The Colorist & Emiliana Torrini, “The Colorist & Emiliana Torrini” (Rough Trade). Icelandic singer-songwriter Torrini collaborates with the Colorist, a Belgian experimental ensemble she encouraged to reframe nine of her songs and then perform them with her live.

Maria Taylor, “In the Next Life” (Flower Moon). After moving to L.A., the co-founder of excellent alt-rock bands like Azure Ray and Little Red Rocket gets more into her solo career with a 40 year old’s perspective on life and music and with guests like Conor Oberst.

Neil Young, “Peace Trail” (Reprise). Utilizing just two other musicians and a quick recording process, Young’s second album of 2016 is part protest record, part experimental revamp, part satire and all the shaggy old guy’s quirks and qualities.

Circle of Dust, “Machines of Our Disgrace” (Fixt). Klayton, a.k.a. Scott Albert, has bought back the rights to the earlier material by this particular industrial-metal project and follows several reissues with 13 new songs of classicist industrial metal.

James Edge and the Mindstep, “Machines He Made” (Slanting Mounted Head). London folk band with progressive and alternative leanings puts out its second long-player, recorded in five days, partially improvised in the studio and making good use of Edge’s sweet voice.  

Flashback Caruso, “The Flashback Caruso Memorial Barbecue” (Autumnsongs). With a sound that makes it resemble psychedelic folk built on orch-pop songs by Bacharach and David, the first proper full-length from this Norwegian collective is disquieting and enchanting in equal amounts.

The Last Shadow Puppets, “The Dream Synopsis EP” (Domino). Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane continue their LSP “supergroup” project with an EP made up mostly of covers of songs by the Fall, Glaxo Babies, Jacques Dutronc and Leonard Cohen.

Madness, “Can’t Touch Us Now” (UMe). One of the most recognizable bands of the UK ska-pop revival of the early 1980s doesn’t sound too much different from those olden days on its latest disc, and co-producer Clive Langer was a key force in the hits Madness got decades ago.

Mako, “Hourglass” (Ultra Music). After plenty of singles and three EPs, the West Coast DJ duo of Alex Seaver and Logan Light drops its first official LP as Mako and eases into an indie-electronic style that builds up from the singer-songwriter base of piano and voice.

Donny Most, “Swinging Down the Chimney Tonight” (Summit). In a seasonal preview of the full-length “D Most: Mostly Swinging” out next February, the man still best known for playing Ralph on “Happy Days” puts some old-fashioned swing into four Christmas songs and “C’est Si Bon.”

Lisa Panagos, “Know My Soul” (Panagos Global Entertainment). Actress, dancer, singer and songwriter Panagos scored an international dance-chart hit with “Mind’s Eye” a couple years back and is hopeful about scoring more hits with her new album.

Post Malone, “Stoney” (Republic). Austin Post, who sings and raps as Post Malone, has worked with Kanye West, 50 Cent, Justin Bieber and more since getting a hit with last year’s “White Iverson,” and this week that single is one of 14 tracks on his introductory studio full-length.

Lir Shilton, “Nothing but a Ghost” (MishMish). Born and raised in Israel and currently based in London, Lir Shilton drops her introductory long-player of winsome indie-style pop that puts her somewhere among the Sundays and Colbie Caillat.

Alessandro Simonetto, “LeRoy Shield: Laurel & Hardy | The Original Piano Music” (Aavea). After tracking down the original sheet music for music very familiar to anyone who’s seen Stan and Ollie do their thing, Italian pianist Simonetto plays the material as Shield originally wrote it.

Various artists, “Fabric 91: Nina Kraviz” (Fabric Worldwide). Kraviz, a Siberian-born DJ and label founder, curates the latest Fabric compilation, using only unreleased music or rare older tracks to generate what she calls a “trippy acidic dream.”

Various artists, “Sing (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)” (Republic). Jennifer Hudson, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande are among the singing voices on the soundtrack for a forthcoming animated film with regular voice-work from Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, etc.

Zao, “The Well-Intentioned Virus” (Observed/Observer Recordings). Metalcore band that hadn’t put out a new full-length since 2009 has taken its time writing, recording and funding — mostly on its own — its newest collection of complexly tooled steamroller rock.

— Jon M. Gilbertson,
Special to the Journal Sentinel

For a complete list of new albums, visit jsonline.com/music.