Every day we’re faced with an onslaught of album announcements so we thought we’d start sharing the soon-to-be-released love by putting together a list of the most notable and exciting album announcements on a weekly basis.
Rat & Co
Binary
Release Date: 30th May
Label: Caroline
Why You Should Care: The world is yet to be graced by Rat & Co’s second album but we need not wait much longer. Taking us away on an expedition where languages are foreign, it’s an exploration of alternative universes knowing no boundaries or rules, it’s ambient atmosphere is a trip through space and time going well beyond the known confines of the solar system. Supporting soul pin-up boy Chet Faker on his near sold out national tour, the first cut ‘Vocal Insanity’ has an accompanying video that projects mind altering visuals and showcases the cut up house beats with hip hop breaks, melding itself into the surroundings. A true listening experience, the quartet emerges from the underground with a huge atmospheric LP propelled by futuristic chapters in an ever-evolving story.
Tracklisting:
1. Samurai
2. Free Town
3. Studio Jam
4. Calculated Movements I
5. Calculated Movements II
6. The Farm
7. Robes
8. UVB-76
9. THX
10. Vocal Insanity
11. Calculated Movement III
12. Fault
Sia
10 000 Forms Of Fear
Release Date: 7th July
Label: RCA / Monkey Puzzle Records
Why You Should Care: Having spent many a year in the foreshadows of mainstream pop writing for the likes of Beyonce and Katy Perry, the limelight will now shift to focus on the Adelaide born singer/songwriter, particularly on the back of the smash single ‘Chandelier’. Australians are dominating the international music scene at the moment and the adored songstress will be joining her kinsman / women back with her sixth studio LP. Featuring production from Diplo and The Weeknd, this long player also holds The Hunger Games soundtrack contribution ‘Elastic Heart’.
Tracklisting:
1. Chandelier
2. Big Girls Cry
3. Burn The Pages
4. Eye Of The Needle
5. Hostage
6. Straight For The Knife
7. Fair Game
8. Elastic Heart Feat. The Weeknd and Diplo
9. Free The Animal
10. Fire Meet Gasoline
11. Cellophane
12. Dressed In Black
Straight Arrows
Rising
Release Date: 13th June
Label: Rice Is Nice
Why You Should Care: Hairy fuzzed out psychedelic garage punk that’s fun, reckless and meant for dancing. Sorry, did someone say punk was dead and buried? It may have been three years (can you believe it’s been three years?) since It’s Happening dropped but it’s been worth the wait! A hectic tour schedule has seen the Sydney group travel the USA and the UK and amidst all the madness, quality time was spent writing and recording their upcoming release with first release ‘Petrified‘ now available for streaming. Interestingly enough, the album was half recorded at front man Owen Penglis’s house and the newly built Goliath Professional Recording Studio after an angry neighbour got fed up with the racquet. Pre-order it now through iTunes and catch them throughout June as they set out on tour.
Tracklisting:
1. Introduction
2. Fruit Of The Forest
3. Can’t Stand It
4. Petrified
5. Continental Son
6. Don’t Tell Me
7. Rotten Teeth
8. Make Up Your Mind
9. Without Ya
10. Don’t Call My Name
11. Breakdown
12. Changing Colours
13. Never Enough
The Antlers
Familiars
Release Date: 20th June
Label: POD / Inertia
Why You Should Care: Picking their way through a labyrinth of fear, doubt love and loss one chord at a time, the Brooklyn group swoon a sound of human frailty and emotional detachment on their fifth album over seven years spent together. Calling on the production subtleties of Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grizzly Bear, Beach House) the dreamy highlight track ‘Hotel’ is a familiar emotional and spiritual odyssey, expressing the unseen and forming the basis of a persistent force that drives the album forward in an atmosphere were all appears lost. “If there was ever a time when you felt completely lost and you were able to appear, give yourself advice and shed light on your situation, what would that look like?” asks Peter Silberman (vocals / guitar), providing the perfect segway into the release set for June.
Tracklisting:
1. Palace
2. Doppelganger
3. Hotel
4. Intruders
5. Revisited
6. Parade
7. Surrender
8. Refuge
Shabazz Palaces
Lese Majesty
Release Date: 1st August
Label: Sub Pop / Inertia
Why You Should Care: What is a creation of experimental hip-hop if a sophomore album is just a repeat? The 18 new tracks from the Seattle duo will again twist and bend the boundaries of modern day hip-hop, what it is, and what it can sound like. Lead culprit Ishmael Butler had his say on the sound the group were aiming for stating, “I don’t know. I doubt it’ll sound much like it [Black Up]. It will probably sound, I don’t know.” Having announced the drop of their highly anticipated follow up to Black Up and having just premiered it, in true Shabazz style, with a rad laser light show at the Seattle Pacific Science Centre Laser Dome it’s marked itself as one of the most watched releases of 2014. First single ‘They Come In Gold’ is out now and a haunting video has emerged of album opener ‘Dawn In Luxor‘ used in a video for Parisian fashion line KENZO.
Tracklisting:
Suite 1: The Phasing Shift
1. Dawn In Luxor
2. Forerunner Foray
3. They Come In Gold
Suite 2: Touch & Agree
4. Solemn Swears
5. Harem Aria
6. Noetic Noiromantics
7. The Ballad of Lt. Major Winnings
Suite 3: Palace War Council Meeting
8. Soundview
9. Ishmael
10. Down 155th in the MCM Snorkel
Suite 4: Pleasure Milieu
11. Divine of Form
12. #Cake
Suite 5: Federal Bureau Boys
13. Colluding Oligarchs
14. Suspicion of a Shape
Suite 6: High Climb To The Gallows
15. Mind Glitch Keytar Theme
16. Motion Sickness
Suite 7: Murkings On The Oxblood Starway
17. New Black Wave
18. Sonic Myth Map For the Trip Back
Boyeur
Gold Street EP
Release Date: 30th May
Label: Independent
Why You Should Care: Rich layers of classical strings and hip-hop beats complemented by the smooth vocals of Hugh Middleton and Tim Ischia, the long lasting friends who form the Melbourne based indie pop duo. Brimming with lush and detailed layers lead single ‘Cupid’ is a song about “using your head when you should be following your heart” said Ischia. To accompany the release, on top of a huge East Coast tour, is a cheeky little vid filmed and directed by award winning Melbourne filmmaker Matthew Chuang (known for ads for The Australian Open and Chrysler) that was impressively filmed in a single, continuous shot. Playing six instruments between them and utilising the production forces of DJ Reflux (Illy, Funkoars) and One Above (Hilltop Hoods, Chance Waters, Mantra), they’re super excited to hit the road and present their music to fans across the continent.
Tracklisting:
TBC.
