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10 Albums You Can Hear Now: Alkaline Trio, Mudhoney, Caveman, CHVRCHES, and More

alkaline trio, matt skiba, my shame is true

It’s Wednesday — you know the drill. Grab a pair of headphones and drift through the 10 ready-to-stream albums below.

1) Alkaline Trio, My Shame Is True.My Shame Is True [is] a sabre-toothed improvement on 2010’s back-to-basics, return-to-form effort This Addiction, as well as what sounds to be frontman and chief songwriter Matt Skiba’s most personal set to date.” (via SPIN)

2) Major LazerLazer Strikes Back Vol. 3. “The tropical-electro outfit has shared the third and final volume in their Lazer Strikes Back EP series. This time, Dutch house producer Vato Gonzalez, Los Angeles junglists CAMO UFOs, and big room wunderkind Avicii have remixed Major Lazer tunes. The free pack is rounded out by Major Lazer’s remix of No Doubt’s ‘Settle Down.'” (via FACT)

3) Caveman, Caveman. “Occasionally recalling a more languid incarnation of the Shins… Caveman smartly weaves in new-wave touches for shading, alongside hooks that linger without ever becoming overbearing. What Caveman’s self-titled second album lacks in overt grabbiness, it gains in inviting, atmospheric warmth; this is a band that, only two albums into its career, already understands the art of the slow burn and the subtle build.” (via NPR)

4) Mudhoney, Vanishing Point. “[Lead single] ‘I Like It Small’ is a genuine anthem to the indie lifestyle: ‘I’m good with Gladys sans the Pips,’ [Mark Arm] growls… ‘Now let me go down the list: / Minimum production, low yields / Intimate settings, limited appeal / Dingy basements, short runs / No expectations, wait I’m not done!’ And he’s not. Over some seriously satisfying shred, Arm continues to explain the myriad ways in which, ‘I’ve got big enough balls to admit that I like it small.'” — SPIN (via Pitchfork)

5) CHVRCHES, Recover EP. On “Recover,” the EP’s title track: “The Plinko synths from Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming‘s ‘Raconte-Moi Une Histoire’? Check. Sweetly precocious Karin Dreijer Andersson-like vocals? Check. An infectious indie-pop hook, sunny disposition, and danceable beat? Check, check, and check.” — SPIN (via Pitchfork)

6) Telekinesis, Dormarion. “[Michael Benjamin Lerner] infuses his compact, concise pop-rock nuggets with warmth and messy emotions that make them feel human. The fallible heart of Telekinesis’ infallible pop, Lerner’s vocals have a gee-whiz way about them that perfectly complements the music’s playful, snappy kick.” (via NPR)

7) Luxury Liners, They’re Flowers. “[An] ’80s-indebted opus… a collection of nine tracks that resembles a traditional singer-songwriter LP on paper — cue the drastically reimagined John Cale cover, the song title referencing Alex Chilton, and world-weary, pensive lyrics — but hews closer to sunlit, post-Tumblr bedroom-pop projects in practice.” (via SPIN)

8) Pick a Piper, Pick a Piper. “The eight-track effort blends watery, disembodied grooves and shimmering atmospherics with tight-wristed percussion and guest vocals (from members of the Ruby Suns, Enon and Brainiac, Born Ruffians, and Braids) that also keep your feet fixed firmly on the ground.” (via SPIN)

9) Cold War Kids, Dear Miss Lonelyhearts. “Well-tailored, drum-heavy tracks… offset Willett’s sometimes-mournful, sometimes-elated but always haunting voice… The album’s title track is an especially well-paced, almost elegiac masterwork that sounds like a slightly less ‘post’-rock take on Explosions in the Sky.”(via Huffington Post)

10) Lil B, P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thug). “At 27 tracks, it’s a whopping 97 minutes, and upon first listen it’s one of B’s more gem-packed releases in recent memory. Early super-standouts: the introspective ‘Complex Hate Crimes’ and ‘Giving Up,’ and the slow-dancing ‘Marry Me.'” — The FADER (via DatPiff)