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10 Albums to Stream: Future, Thee Oh Sees, Kelis, and Lefse Records’ ‘The Space Project’

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Close out the work week by streaming new albums from Future (who headlined our SPIN’s 2014 SXSW day party at Stubb’s), Thee Oh Sees, Kelis, and the late, great Jason Molina.

1) Future, Honest. “Featuring appearances from huge names including Drake, Kanye West, Pharrell, Pusha T and André 3000, the songs on [Future’s] follow-up to 2012’s Pluto is, in his own words ‘just a reflection of me…I stayed mysterious [with Pluto] because I wanted people to feel like they’re growing with me. There’s no room for growth if people already know everything about you. With Honest, I know what I’m doing much more.'” (via MTV U.K.)

2) Thee Oh Sees, Drop. “We all got a bad scare late last year when the prolific and consistently great garage-psych institution Thee Oh Sees announced their hiatus, but now here we are just a few months later and the band is back with a brand new album. We’ve already heard some killer singles from it like ‘Penetrating Eye,’ ‘The Lens,’ and the title track, but now you can stream the entire thing.” — Stereogum (via Pitchfork)

3) Various Artists, The Space Project. “Curiously, The Space Project‘s finest moments are its most terrestrial. Beach House suggests not so much the weightlessness of space as the sensation of floating in a warm pond in ‘Saturn Song.’ And space-rock master Jason Pierce and Spiritualized’s ‘Always Together With You (The Bridge Song)’ meanders about before swan-diving into the interplanetary noise of its source. Ever so subtly, it announces: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating on earth.'” (via NPR)

4) Kelis, Food. “Food is life. It’s the connective tissue between families, communities and cultures. At base, it’s sustenance, and at its most complex, like when it appears in song, it can evoke nostalgia, carnal desires and comfort. For Kelis Rogers, R&B’s resident provocateur, Food — her first album since 2010’s dance-heavy Flesh Tone — is the embodiment of what she has always contended as an artist: that she can’t be molded to fit inside one genre — one flavor, one dish, one cuisine.” (via NPR)

5) Jason Molina, Farewell Transmission: The Music Of Jason Molina. “Within the last year, Molina has already inspired two double-length tribute albums, each intended to help his family and spread word of his work… Farewell Transmission: The Music of Jason Molina is the newer of the two collections — the other is last year’s Weary Engine Blues — with proceeds split between the singer’s family and a charity called MusiCares, which battles Molina’s twin demons of alcoholism and depression. In 27 songs and just less than two hours, it provides a fine overview of the singer’s best-known work, highlighted by My Morning Jacket’s suitably epic take on the title track.” (via NPR)

6) TEEN, The Way and Color. “[In 2012, TEEN] specialized in a brand of psych-pop that marked a natural next step beyond Teeny Lieberson’s former project, Here We Go Magic. For their upcoming album The Way and Color, the follow-up to 2012’s In Limbo, TEEN went through a whole lot more evolution. The Lieberson sisters and new bassist Boshra AlSaadi have joined indie rock’s exodus to R&B-informed pop, and judging from lead single ‘Not For Long,’ TEEN is near the front of that particular pack. — Stereogum (via Pitchfork)

7) The U.N., UN Or U Out reissue. “Ten years ago the U.N., a rap group consisting of Dino Brave, Mike Raw, Laku, and most notably, Roc Marciano (before his solo career as the preeminent whispering, scowling rap hero), released a little record titled UN Or U Out. With production from heroes Pete Rock, Large Professor, and Roc himself (who took their sample-slicing heroics to an even more obsessive level), the release was never truly afforded the cult classic status it deserved.” (via SPIN)

8) The Menzingers, Rented World. “This time around, the Menzingers have enlisted the services of engineer Jonathan Low (known for his work with Kurt Vile and the National) and returned with a sleek, concise record that’s unafraid to ratchet down the gain or crank up the emotion. On the many occasions when [singer-guitarist Greg] Barnett and fellow singer-guitarist Tom May spill their guts, the lyrical viscera comes in buckets.” (via SPIN)

9) Vensaire, Perdix. “With eight tracks that ooze otherworldly vocals and exotic instrumentals — thanks to the band’s collection of tablas, sitar, erhu, and guzheng — Vensaire’s new LP is a mixed batch of complexly fluid compositions. Case in point is ‘See, I’m You,’ a daydream of a tune that transports listeners to a mystical place where glistening harmonies change pace in rollicking rhythm. If that wasn’t enough: The album’s last track (‘Wanderer Christened’) wreathes right back into the first (‘If’), allowing the record to be played on loop while showcasing Vensaire’s avant production techniques.” (via SPIN)

10) Thantifaxath, Sacred White Noise. “Thantifaxath are three anonymous weirdoes in grim robes who play technically ambitious, intensely heavy, oddly melodic atmospheric black metal. An obvious reference point here is Krallice, who pull off a similar trick, but Thantifaxath’s songs aren’t quite as dense as those of their neighbors to the south.” (via Stereogum)