Start the work week off the right way — by streaming new albums from YouTube Music Awards performers Eminem and M.I.A., as well as upcoming reissues by Lamb of God and the late Jason Molina‘s Songs: Ohia project. Find links to those records and more below.
1) Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP 2. “If rapping were a purely athletic competition, Eminem would be Michael Phelps and Mary Lou Retton combined: pure agility and flexibility, like an unstoppable bullet with only white-hot hate in his wake. His flow only gets more baroque and knotty and Nutrageous with age: syllable-cramming, unnecessarily complicated assonance, a Minaj-erie of silly voices, blink-and-you-miss-it punch lines that range from slow burners to total groaners.” — SPIN (via iTunes Radio)
2) M.I.A., Matangi. “Matangi is speckled with moments of dazzling production, mostly on the Switch-helmed songs: the crazed sound collage that occurs three-and-a-half minutes into ‘Bring the Noize,’ the mosaic of vocal elements in ‘aTENTion,’ the multidimensional sonics of ‘Exodus.’ The result is a rollercoaster of sounds that rarely goes where you expect it to.” — SPIN (via YouTube)
3) Various Artists, Inside Llewyn Davis — Original Soundtrack Recording. “Inside Llewyn Davis, the Coen brothers’ new movie, looks at… the early-’60s Greenwich Village folk scene… [the] soundtrack (produced by T-Bone Burnett, and due out Nov. 11) [functions] both as a stand-alone collection of frequently gorgeous music and as a companion piece to a movie in which many different strains of folk collide as part of a scene taking shape.” (via NPR)
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4) Cate Le Bon, Mug Museum. “It’s amazing how quickly Cate Le Bon’s new third album, Mug Museum, has come to feel like a new best friend… Of course, new friends often remind you of old ones, and… Le Bon’s music conjures a lot of Tom Verlaine and his band Television in late-’70s New York City… For all the comparisons, though, Le Bon is no follower: She’s a strong songwriter of often-sad songs about place and family and pets — dead ones in particular — and, of course, relationships.” (via NPR)
5) Songs: Ohia, Magnolia Electric Co. (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition). “[Jason Molina] died in March after a long battle with severe depression and substance abuse. He was only 39, but he’d already created a remarkable recorded legacy… For all its rambling rock arrangements — given his mournful, aching cries and all those guitars, Neil Young comparisons are apt and inevitable — [2003’s] The Magnolia Electric Co serves as a vessel for some of Molina’s most pulverizing words. [A] 10th-anniversary reissue of the album includes a pair of lesser-known studio recordings… [and] a bonus disc of Molina’s demo recordings. For fans who hadn’t already tracked them down… they’re essential.” (via NPR)
6) ILLLS, Hideout From the Feeders. “ILLLS is Steven Ross, an Oxford, Mississippi resident with an ear for semi-surfy, semi-stoned, totally dreamy soundscapes… While the man initially turned heads with last year’s Dark Paradise EP, the project was a bit more of a band then, and the vibes have changed accordingly. That’s not to say ILLLS’ debut album is an insular affair. Though Hideout From the Feeders likes to lurk the shadows from time to time, the warm glow of New Order shines through.” (via SPIN)
7) Night Terrors of 1927, Guilty Pleas EP. “Last year, former Rilo Kiley guitarist Blake Sennett teamed with Jarrod Gorbel — ex-frontman for Brooklyn outfit the Honorary Title — to craft darkly cathartic synth-pop under the moniker Night Terrors of 1927… Now, Sennett and Gorbel have shared their entire debut EP, Guilty Pleas, days before its official release on November 11 via Atlantic Records. Stream the whole five-track effort in all its open-hearted, high-drama glory right here at SPIN.” (via SPIN)
8) Lamb of God, As the Palaces Burn (10th Anniversary Reissue). “A decade after its original release, Lamb of God will reissue As the Palaces Burn on November 11th, appending three rarities and a video to their second album. The esteemed underground metal quintet’s remixed and remastered version of the disc [features] previously unreleased demos of ‘Ruin,’ ‘Blood Junkie,’ and the title track [and] should delight the Richmond, Virginia, group’s dedicated following.” (via Rolling Stone)
9) Flume, Flume [Mixtape]. “Australian beatsmith Flume is plotting a mammoth reissue of his self-titled debut album. Due November 12 in the U.S. via Mom + Pop, the deluxe edition of Flume spans four discs and includes a nine-track hip-hop mixtape… Flume has drafted Autre Ne Veut and Ghostface Killah (!!) to fill out his twinkling ‘Space Cadet’ instrumental. The alternate take spreads Autre Ne Veut’s slick vocals over Flume’s starry sonics, and then jettisons the airy falsetto and down-pitched clips in favor of Killah’s punchy boasts… Other guests who cameo on the set include Killer Mike, How to Dress Well, and Grande Marshall.” — SPIN (via Pitchfork)
10) Lydia Loveless, Boy Crazy EP. “Setting the scene for a new full-length album in 2014, Boy Crazy rolls the influence of Lucinda Williams, Kathleen Edwards and Exene Cervenka into a direct, defiant track list that twangs one minute and headbangs the next. Some people call it alt-country. We just call it good.” (via American Songwriter)
