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7 Albums to Stream: Spoon, Diplo, Gucci Mane, Twin Peaks, and More

spoon, they want my soul

A new week brings a new batch of albums to stream. Follow the links below to hear the latest releases from Spoon, Gucci Mane, Best New Artist honorees Naomi Punk, singer-songwriter Christopher Denny, and more. 

1) Spoon, They Want My Soul. “It doesn’t serve much function to ask where They Want My Soul fits into Spoon’s career-long worst-to-best rankings, partly because nobody can agree on what the best Spoon album is… and partly because every album is, in one way or another, of a piece with every other album. And that’s what you need to know the most about They Want My Soul: It’s a practiced and confident piece of power-pop from a band that plays every instrument like a drum, with a singer who can project swagger even through a hungover growl.” — Stereogum (via iTunes First Play)

2) Twin Peaks, Wild Onion. “The third single from Twin Peaks’ upcoming Wild Onion LP, ‘Strawberry Smoothie’ throws a dizzy nod to the Buzzcocks’ playfully rough-edged guitar-rock while frontman Caiden Lake James howls and pleads from the center of the mess.” — SPIN (via Pitchfork)

3) Christopher Denny, If the Roses Don’t Kill Us. “The offhandedly inventive turns of phrase and dreamed-up imagery of ‘God’s Height,’ ‘Million Little Thoughts’ and the title track bear unmistakable stamps of quirky individuality. [Denny’s] way of illustrating feelings of inferiority is to tell his lover that, to him, she’s grown as tall as God — and he’s reluctantly accepted that she can no longer fit in his bed. On the other hand, confessional tunes like ‘Our Kind of Love’ and ‘Wings’ are vehicles of tender regret, and nearly as broad in their sentimental impact as enduring country standards or selections from the Great American Songbook.” (via NPR)

4) Naomi Punk, Television Man. “Olympia, Washington isn’t all about grunge and K Records; there’s also the green paradise that’s bred the scuzzy Naomi Punk. The punk-laced trio doesn’t strum guitars but rather mauls them, creating bruised anthems that effortlessly growl and sneer. With the band’s forthcoming Television Man release, due out on Captured Tracks in August, their sound has shifted towards focusing on sharper instrumentals and taut songwriting. But, thankfully, the guys don’t skimp on any of masterful thrashes they’ve perfected along the way.” — SPIN (via Pitchfork)

5) Diplo, Random White Dude Be Everywhere. “Random White Dude Be Everywhere [is] a compilation of [Diplo’s] best tracks from the past couple of years, plus some new songs and remixes. (It was apparently named by an astute YouTube commenter.)” (via BuzzFeed)

6) Gucci Mane, The Oddfather. “Gucci Mane has returned with a new album, The Oddfather…His protégés — Young Thug and Scooter — fittingly appear on the mixtape alongside PeeWee Longway, OJ da Juiceman, and Keyshia Ka’oir. The album opens with Gucci phoning in the intro — presumably from prison while he was awaiting his sentencing for gun charges. In it, he lists off his next projects and proclaims that he’s “the only man who can make 5 mil sitting down — 20 mil on the first month I get back.” — Radio.com (via Audiomack)

7) Spider Bags, Frozen Letter. “What’s made Spider Bags such a worthwhile band to follow, aside from peeling back scalps with blistering fuzz when they want to, is [frontman Dan] McGee’s preternatural understanding of his niche. He writes songs that reach back to the canon but retain more personality than almost any in the garage spectrum, solely on his words and riffs, and he lands both with a lot of comfort and a little abrasion.” (via NPR)