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10 Albums You Can Hear Now: Black Sabbath, Sebadoh, Gold Panda, and Jimmy Eat World

black sabbath, 13

It’s Thursday — you know the drill: We’ve collected 10 fresh new albums, all waiting to be streamed below. Enjoy. 

1) Black Sabbath, 13. “[13] is the band’s first studio effort to feature Ozzy Osbourne on lead vocals since 1978’s Never Say Die! In keeping with the throwback theme, the heavy metal legends have described the record as a ‘back-to-basics’ affair, a conscious attempt to recapture the bluesy, jammy feel of the band’s 1970 self-titled debut. Rick Rubin produced the upcoming full-length, and Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk stepped in for original percussionist Bill Ward, who passed on the would-be reunion, citing ‘contract disputes…’ Start worshiping the [collection] by heading to iTunes and navigating to Black Sabbath’s artist page.” — SPIN (via iTunes)

2) SebadohSecret EP. “Recorded over the last two years… the Secret EP and forthcoming Defend Yourself LP are both, as Barlow notes somewhat darkly, ‘yet another Sebadoh record made in a time of transition’: After separating from his wife and partner of 25 years, Barlow recently moved in with his girlfriend, the life upheaval leaving indelible marks on Barlow’s contributions to the records in particular. ‘The last time I had been through anything of this magnitude, was around the recording of The Sebadoh, our last record,’ he explains, pointing toward his new set of circumstances as the origins of what he calls ‘another batch of breakup songs.'” (via SPIN)

3) CSS, Planta. “The first track [to surface] from the follow-up to 2011’s La Liberación is ‘Hangover,’ which uses spaciously dubby horns, fuzzed-out guitars, and bloopy synths to make the post-breakup blues sound as festive as a boozy weekend outing. ‘Let’s get happy, drinkin’ Bloody Mary,’ CSS chirp.” — SPIN (via Pitchfork)

4) Surfer Blood, Pythons. “Launched as a bedroom side project for [singer John Paul] Pitts, Surfer Blood has long since balanced its fussy, studio-bound side with rich full-band chemistry and songs whose hooks pop into your thoughts days later. At various times recalling Weezer, the Smiths and Pixies (the two bands have toured together, and Pythons producer Gil Norton helped both find a slick studio sound), Surfer Blood pours real craftsmanship into 10 songs that sound effortless, but surely weren’t. By any definition, Pythons is more streamlined and straight-ahead than [2010’s] Astro Coast, but it’s still catchy as anything.” (via NPR)

5) Gold Panda, Half Of Where You Live. “In the three years between his debut and his latest album… Gold Panda seems to have gotten out of the house and turned into a world-beater, with the album acting as a travelogue of sorts; it name-checks the small Japanese island of Enoshima in one song and the British village of Flinton in another. Stemming from time Panda spent traveling through South America, ‘Brazil’ features a tocking woodblock alongside harps, canned handclaps and a sampled voice uttering that country’s name, the track growing in warmth and light as it whirs along. ‘The Most Liveable City’… balances field recordings of bird calls with a gorgeous synth melody and a skittering snare pattern that evokes Aphex Twin at his most hyperkinetic.(via NPR)

6) Fat Tony, Smart Ass Black Boy. “It’s refreshing, though, to hear [Fat Tony] now, still with a layer of baby fat on his vocabulary and traces of vulnerability in his writing. The production even echoes his state — the songs are dry and edited, made of hard surfaces and corners sharp enough to catch your sweater, but producer Tom Cruz has spun haunting incidentals around the bones: nostalgic melodies, high-pitched peals of binary code and anonymous vocals… The music here is for introspective cruising — listening solo.” (via NPR)

7) Case Studies, This Is Another Life. “Case Studies is Seattle’s loner poet Jesse Lortz, a specialist in the sort of excellent sad bastard blues that Magnolia Electric Co. did so well…  Lortz’s new album… finds the man letting the tiniest bit of sunlight into his beautifully bleak world. The organ on ‘Everything’ shimmers just so, the guitar glistens toward the end, and our host’s voice rings with the truth of having been there and done that — the wisdom of standing on the other side of some untold heaviness. Lortz sings about that event cutting ‘to the bone,’ but that also happens to be what he’s best at.” — SPIN (via SoundCloud)

8) Young Fathers, Tape Two. “Arriving as the young Scottish trio’s second EP, the nine lo-fi tracks spanning Tape Two showcases Young Fathers’ diverse multitude of vocal styles typical of everything from left-field rock and electronica, to ’90s R&B crooning and rap. Backed by eclectic percussive textures and darkly tender melodies, their emotive and at times ghostly sound moves between more tribal rhythms via ‘Only Child’ to trippy dystopic anthems like ‘Queen is Dead.'” (via Dazed Digital)

9) Jimmy Eat World, Damage. “‘I would say this album has a theme,’ [frontman Jim] Adkins [told Rolling Stone]. ‘I would describe it as an attempt at making an adult break-up record. The consequences to what the characters are going through are more significant. There’s just more to it. I’m 37 and the world around me is a lot different than when I was writing breakup songs in my 20s.'” — SPIN (via Jimmy Eat World’s website)

10) Lust for Youth, Perfect View. “A press release notes that while [2012’s] Growing Seeds was crafted after the disintegration of a destructive personal relationship, Perfect View was ‘written from a mind obsessed with thoughts of morality.’ The song cycle is said to be largely instrumental, focusing more on beats and samples than Growing Seeds, but the album apparently touches upon the dark fable of King Herod ordering the murder of his second wife. Despite this, the album is described as being warmer and more inviting than Lust for Youth’s previous LPs.” — Exclaim (via Pitchfork)