NY Times mini reviews of new and upcoming releases

[JoAnn Whetsell]

FYI on some new and upcoming releases of possible ecto interest


EL PERRO DEL MAR The piping-voiced Swedish songwriter Sarah Assbring has
expanded her electronic indie-pop with a global swirl of possibilities on her
fifth album, "KoKoro." She ponders the meaning of life and the routes to
happiness amid Bollywood percussion, zithers from
Asia<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7V5lnCA7DM> and modal riffs from North
Africa, airborne and determinedly positive. Ging Ging/The Control Group. Sept.
16. (Pareles)


[I've only had a chance to listen to this once, but I liked it considerably
more than her last album so I'm looking forward to future listens.]


JENNY HVAL Ms. Hval, a singer and composer from Norway, is an artist of
inscrutable intention, predisposed toward any premise that leads you,
disoriented, a fair distance from where you started. "Blood Bitch" is her
explicitly sanguine new album, concerned with blood as a substance both vital
and mundanely intimate. (One track bears the wry title "Period Piece.") Sacred
Bones. Sept. 30. (Chinen)


[This is up on NPR First Listen right now:
http://www.npr.org/2016/09/22/494571616/first-listen-jenny-hval-blood-bitch.]

[https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2016/09/19/jennyhvalpress_wide-796d14ebd7fb
6c93c570eb7c1bc2923bef31aff9.jpg?s=1400]<http://www.npr.org/2016/09/22/494571
616/first-listen-jenny-hval-blood-bitch>

First Listen: Jenny Hval, 'Blood
Bitch'<http://www.npr.org/2016/09/22/494571616/first-listen-jenny-hval-blood-
bitch>
www.npr.org
On her sixth album, the Norwegian singer Jenny Hval aims for impact,
surrounding her vulnerable voice with spiky, disarming instrumentation that
bolsters the intensity and intimacy of her songs.




REGINA SPEKTOR When Regina Spektor last released an album, in 2012, there was
an American presidential election underway, though its tone was a little
different than this one. (The election, not the album.) "Remember Us to Life"
finds her singing all-new material informed by her experience as a mother,
among other hallmarks of dawning maturity. Sire/Warner Bros. Sept 30.
(Chinen)


SUZANNE VEGA "Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers" is
the result of one wryly perceptive American writer inhabiting the mindspace of
another. Setting out to celebrate McCullers not only as a paragon of Southern
fiction but also as a colorful New York character, Ms. Vega worked with Duncan
Sheik to write the songs for a two-act musical: hot-jazz putdown tracks like
"Harper Lee" as well as heartbroken ballads like "Annemarie." Amanuensis. Oct.
14. (Chinen)


TANYA TAGAQ Ms. Tagaq is a fearless vocalist and composer rooted in the
extreme-sounding rigors of Inuit throat singing - and her new album,
"Retribution," will move her further in the direction of provocation. Its
subject matter is rape, in the environmental, sociocultural and harrowingly
personal senses of the word. (Along with originals like "Summoning," it
includes a cover of Nirvana's "Rape Me.") Six Shooter. Oct. 21. (Chinen)


LEONARD COHEN Now in his 80s, Leonard Cohen is still writing songs that
explore humanity in all its flaws, romances, tragedies and epiphanies. His
14th studio album, promisingly titled "You Want It Darker," was produced by
his son (and fellow songwriter), Adam. Columbia. (Pareles)


SLEIGH BELLS It's not an insult to say that the punishment meted out by Sleigh
Bells on the band's previous releases sometimes obscured its more nuanced
gifts. The punishment was first rate! Sleigh Bells - the duo of Derek Miller
and Alexis Krauss - have specialized in pummeling, big-brush,
electronic-intense rock. On "Jessica Rabbit," their first album in three
years, they're staking out slightly broader territory. There's more
soulfulness in Ms. Krauss's singing, more intimacy in Mr. Miller's production
(not much, but some) - in general, more space to breathe from a band that has
long preferred suffocation. Torn Clean. Nov 11. (Caramanica)




Full preview at
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/arts/music/fall-preview-pop-jazz-albums.htm
l?ref=todayspaper

[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/09/18/arts/18POP-LISTINGS/18POP-LISTING
S-facebookJumbo.jpg]<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/arts/music/fall-previe
w-pop-jazz-albums.html?ref=todayspaper>

Pop and Jazz Fall Preview: 105 Albums, Shows and
Festivals<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/arts/music/fall-preview-pop-jazz-
albums.html?ref=todayspaper>
www.nytimes.com
Autumn releases and concerts include punk and cabaret, club and metal, hip-hop
and rock, and the indescribable. Oh, yeah, and Springsteen, too.



Enjoy!


JoAnn

[Tim Jones-Yelvington]

maturity is so often code for ehhh, this regina review worries me.
~Tim

On Sat, Sep 24, 2016 at 11:12 AM, JoAnn Whetsell <s_nev...@hotmail.com>
wrote: