Spotify and other music streaming services have more music on offer than a Saturn in the best of CD times doesn’t. Finding good records is as hard as finding a pearl in a shell. We opened many shells and found 5 pearls at once. Here are July’s records of the month.
Spotify and other music streaming services are now defining the way we listen to music. Countless albums are added every day. It is impossible to hear everything – even if some try. If you find yourself putting in the same records over and over again, here are a few off-the-mainstream tips. We listened to a lot of new things in July and made a subjective choice. But this month there is less stoner rock and heavy riffs flying in your face. Rather, we strike the soft notes. Here are the five best records of July on Spotify.
… And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – XI: Bleed Here Now
“And you will know us as the trail of death!” If you put on the new Trail of Dead record, you already know after 50 seconds that this is one of the best alternative rock records of the year. The Texans squeeze 75 minutes of easy-going, handmade and honest rock music onto a disc that you’ll want to listen to again and again.
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The US rockers withdrew to an old barn for the recording, played football and Frisbee during their breaks and sometimes even both at the same time. They called this invented game Frizball. They spent evenings with wine and conversation. And that’s what the eleventh album from the band, whose name “…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead” was actually a joke according to founding member Conrad Keely, embodies. You can feel and hear the light-heartedness of the band in every verse. From rock-hard riffs to passages that could have come from a Final Fantasy game to strings charged with emotion: The songs, which either don’t last a minute or develop into eleven-minute works of art, deform “Bleed Here Now” (at Spotify listen), which ends significantly differently than it began. A 22-song, partly mental journey into the heart of rock music, which should surprise even fans of the band.
Jack White – Entering Heaven Alive
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When Jack White released Fear Of The Dawn in April, critics showered it with love letters. Yes, honestly? The record was too experimental, too electronic, too ornate and therefore too synthetic overall for us. That’s why White didn’t make it into our top 5 records of April with the album. Now, two months later, the former The White Stripes frontman is pushing ahead with a second album this year, and it’s, in our opinion, the better one.
In „Entering Heaven Alive“ (bei Spotify listen) the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist swaps synthesizers and hip-hop vocals for an acoustic guitar and a cleaner voice that’s not computer-processed on every song. Supplemented by instruments such as piano and violin, a much calmer record has emerged, on which white rock crosses with blues and folk influences and one or the other song even cheers jazz elements.
Lera Lynn – Something More Than Love
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It goes on calmly and relaxed. After a two-year hiatus, American singer-songwriter Lera Lynn is releasing her sixth album (on Spotify listen) out of here. The Texan, who became known in 2014 for two songs (“Lately” and “The Only Thing Worth Fighting For”) in the series “True Detective”, strikes very soft tones in “Something More Than Love” that melt into sentimentality.
Whereas Lynn used to only reach for an acoustic guitar to accompany her delicate, rough voice, synthesizers permeate the new record. Apart from the song “Something More Than Love”, only a few tracks immediately jump into the auditory long-term memory and form there into a catchy tune. It takes several runs to lose yourself in Lynn’s dreamy voice and delicate soundscapes. But then the album forms a soundtrack that you can easily insert as a companion in the car. When you’re out on godforsaken roads at night, looking for the meaning of life.
Murder By Death – Spell/Bound
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Shortly before the editorial deadline, the new album “Spell/Bound” (on Spotify listen) of the American rock band Murder By Death. Since its beginnings around 20 years ago, the band has always sought and found itself anew. So it’s not surprising that the new record sounds different than the eight previous albums. Acoustic guitars mix with sometimes hectic fiddles and fluffy violins. The percussion follows the example of the violins and is initially gentle, before drummer Dagan Thogerson energetically bangs the cymbals and skins the next moment. Singer Adam Turla lays a combination of Johnny Cash and Nick Cave over the songs. If you don’t know Murder By Death – named after the original title of the crime comedy “A Corpse for Dessert” – and are wondering what a mixture of cash and cave sounds like, you should listen to the record.
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My Sleeping Karma – Atma
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After five years without a single new song, My Sleeping Karma bring “Atma” (on Spotify listen) out their seventh studio album. The psychedelic rockers from Aschaffenburg create six songs that spit out stirring melodies with pounding heaviness and difficult and atmospheric soundscapes. If you want to embark on a hypnotic and emotional journey into your own self, you should retreat to a quiet corner and put the Atma album on. The songs, some of which are almost 10 minutes long, also invite you to fall into a meditative state before the album ends after 49 minutes with drums and electric guitars.
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For their 20th anniversary, Irish post-rockers God Is An Astronaut released their debut album “The End Of The Beginning” (here on Spotify listen) released again as a live record. The title of the original is reversed and the new disc is called “The Beginning Of The End”. The astronauts polished up the 20-year-old songs. In doing so, they incorporate their experience from the past decades. It’s also what makes the differences to the album from days gone by.
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One thing is always fascinating to watch: the band sows a guitar riff or some tones generated by sound synthesis and you can watch a musical sequoia grow. From the roots to the top, you are guided through a story that thrives on repetition. Songs have rotating passages that constantly and unpredictably change, forming soundscapes that inspire daydreaming. Every branch has grown differently, every song has a beginning, a climax and an end. Decorated with fairy lights and sometimes surprising twists.
