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10 Albums to Stream: Doug Paisley, Against Me!, Mogwai, and More

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We’ve got your weekly fix of fresh album streams. Scroll down to find new, must-hear releases by Doug Paisley, Against Me!, Warpaint, and more.

1) Doug Paisley, Strong Feelings. “Though he’s historically written guitar-driven folk tunes, Doug Paisley has a penchant for letting his creativity meld with that of collaborators’, a dimension he believes adds depth to his body of work. He enlisted the talents of Chicago-based guitarist (and Cairo Gang leader/longtime Will Oldham collaborator) Emmett Kelly, Garth Hudson on keys, and the vocal stylings of Mary Margaret O’Hara. Additionally, Paisley drew inspiration from a recent trip to Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s legendary Black Ark studio in Kingston, Jamaica, where pivotal works by Bob Marley & the Wailers and the Clash were recorded.” — SPIN (via CBC Music)

2) Against Me!, Transgender Dysphoria Blues. “This is a coming-out record first and foremost, from its opening line — ‘Your tells are so obvious / shoulders too broad for a girl’ — through songs that channel her fears and characteristic defiance. At times joltingly profane, Transgender Dysphoria Blues doesn’t let up for 29 brisk minutes, but real tenderness and vulnerability surfaces in the melee.” (via NPR)

3) Warpaint, Warpaint. “The L.A. group’s swirling sound is full of mysterious buzzes and coos, and there’s a sense of everything-in-its-right-place grace and impeccability to it, yet the songs themselves never feel icy or distant. Warpaint’s self-titled second album feels fashionable, sure, but not at the expense of approachability.” (via NPR)

4) Mogwai, Rave Tapes. “A press release describes [the album] as a ‘lustrous collection mined from the same quarry as its predecessors, wreathed in painterly textures underpinned by increasingly electronic beats,’ adding that ‘the guitars on which Mogwai built their reputation still remain, if for the most part less overtly belligerent this time round. With Rave Tapes, Mogwai’s mastery of sound and space is firmly at its apex.'” — Consequence of Sound (via the Guardian)

5) Major Lazer, Lazer Strikes Back Vol. 6 – The Last Chapter. “Diplo-led dance project Major Lazer are back with another installment of their Lazer Strikes Back remix series, though this sixth volume appears to be the final entry… Once again scouring the stems of Major Lazer’s 2013 LP Free the Universe, the mix features reworks from Mungo’s Hi-Fi and So Shifty. This includes a horn-heavy dub version of ‘Jah No Partial,’ the Moombahton rhythms on ‘Bumaye’ and a distorted, 8-bit revamp of ‘Get Free.'” — Exclaim! (via SoundCloud)

6) Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything. “If you’ve never listened to them, or haven’t since the early albums, be aware that Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra is a very different beast than the Polaris-winning band from which they spun off, Godspeed You! Black Emperor. In fact, through the heaviness and mantra-like shouts, this latest song ‘Take Away These Early Grave Blues’ sounds more like Swans’ The Seer than ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!. It’s an immediate and propulsive piece of music where the word ‘post rock’ never crosses your mind once — this is punk as all hell.” — Stereogum (via Pitchfork)

7) Gem Club, In Roses. “Built around piano, cello and voice, Gem Club got its start a few years ago in Boston. The main voice and author of the group’s woe and splendor is Christopher Barnes, who sets the tone alongside cellist Kristen Drymala and singer Ieva Berberian… Gem Club’s first record was a perfect late-night soundtrack, and In Roses is its perfectly elegant sequel.” (via NPR)

8) Woods of Desolation, As the Stars. “Unlike many other post-rock-influenced black metal albums, As The Stars feels ragged and lo-fi, somewhat belying — or at least attempting to obscure — the songs’ breathtaking magnitude. But these melodies would be instantly audible and ear-catching under a hiss-fog much denser than this; these peaks are simply higher than any clouds that might surround them.” (via Stereogum)

9) The Hidden Cameras, Age. “The collection’s eight songs feature ultra-dramatic, ornate arrangements. ‘Skin and Leather’ moves from lush vocal harmonies to a theatric baroque rock pulse, while ‘Bread for Brat’ is slower and sparser with its string-driven orchestrations. Elsewhere, the single ‘Gay Goth Scene’ takes a more pop-friendly approach of sinister drama, ‘Afterparty’ has a spooky dub reggae groove, and ‘Year of the Spawn’ caps off the album by swelling some quiet atmosphere to a cinematic crescendo.” — Exclaim! (via Pitchfork)

10) Tom Brosseau, Grass Punks. Brosseau hasn’t released a proper set of new songs since 2009’s Posthumous Success, and where that album found him flirting, Wilco-style, with modern sonic adornments from loops and keyboards, this one is mostly spare, centered on precise acoustic-guitar needlepoint.” (via NPR)