This Vampire Weekend album "Father of the Bride" is really something. It's a sprawling, impassioned, oddball everything-and-the-kitchen-sink epic. Every listen has gotten better for me. Stunning lyrics too, quite poetic.

I really REALLY love this record. I do, however, think there are a couple tracks of filler at the end. We Belong Together and Stranger. We Belong Together truly sounds like a children's song to me. But even still, it might be my favourite VW record, and I really enjoyed Modern Vampires, so that's saying a lot.

The two tracks with Steve Lacy seem slightly incongruous with the rest for me, I guess due to his contributions, but even those could grow on me... everything else is great for me. "We Belong Together" reminds me of the White Stripes' "I Want To Be Friends." It's childish but fits in just fine to me.

I feel like a record with 18 tracks, regardless of how good it is, will always have a couple people don't dig, but it still makes the album great as a whole. You're right, the whole record is so sprawling and epic. Each time I listen to it, I hear brand new things layered within.

agreed it's really good. been a while since I been back to it, might be time to visit it again as summer winds down.

edit: wrt Russian Circles album. Solid outing by the band, but a bit.. meh overall I'd say. Not much that makes the songs stand out. I'd say that the new Pelican album is actually much better as far as instrumental post rock/post metal goes.

I really like the new Blood Orange release personally. Maybe not the best stuff, but Benzo especially has gotten lots of play from me.

Emily Alone by Florist is really great acoustic singer songwriter stuff. This kind of music runs the risk of being almost too subtle and somewhat boring, traps this album does not fall into at all. If the new Big Thief didn't quite do it for you, maybe check this out instead.

Lingua Ignota's Caligula is also really really good, and surprisingly listenable and accessible for something so abrasive.

Black-Wave by Lost Sounds is a really fun garage punk with synths album, very energetic and frenetic. Fun to be active to (like to cruise around on the skateboard to this one).

My current obsession is the new Obey The Brave album Balance. I'm kinda new to this sort of brocore type stuff, but the heavy riffs and breakdowns combined with catchy choruses has been hitting really good lately. This shit is on repeat at the gym.

I'll have to check this out. I didn't like the new Big Thief at all. And I really loved Capacity (the song Mary is one of the greatest folk songs I've ever heard)

The new album by Rosalie Cunningham is absolutely incredible. It's right in line with her material with Purson but executed in a somewhat poppier fashion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC2_2Bhd7lo

Love this new Northlane album. Very refreshing heavy album, doing a great job mixing djent and EDM music.

The new Strung Out album "Songs of Armor and Devotion" is pretty fun. It's kind of exactly what I expect from them at this point in their career, but hey, I enjoyed it for what it was. A lot of really nice guitar playing - definitely some of the best musicians doing that whole skate punk thing. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find some Airwalks, a Volcom shirt and baggy khaki shorts so I can complete my skate punk aesthetic. Maybe I'll even get frosted tips, who the fuck knows?

This new Sleater-Kinney isn't hitting as hard as No Cities to Love. Pleasant melodies, well produced - but it's not as fiery as I expect from them. So far it just seems kind of restrained, held back... maybe it'll grow on me. I like that they tried some new stuff on here but eh, isn't totally grabbing me yet.

Yeah, I enjoyed this one. A lot of catchy songs and some really nice melodies.

Their progression from Node to Alien is interesting. They have some strong nu-metal influence as well, and that's not exactly a bad thing.

Talking Heads is amazing.

Yeah, I agree. I really like the song "Reach Out" and "RUINS" is decent, but it doesn't stick like the last one.

The second half of it was better than the first for me, and I liked "RUINS" and "The Dog/The Body," but when their drummer quit saying the band was going in a direction she didn't dig, that combined with the first single was a warning sign really.

I thought it was pretry good but im unfamiliar with their earlier stuff

The Woods is a phenomenal album... check that one out for sure, one of my favorites. Just this massively heavy yet sensitive tome. No Cities to Love is a super energized punk/pop album.

One record I am super hard into that I didn't post about because I got into it a couple months after it was released is "Morbid Stuff" by Pup. Super hook-y pop/punk from Toronto. The lyrics are just funny enough while remaining really clever. One of my favourites of the year by far.

PUP rules! I dont think i liked Morbid Stuff as much as the last one right away, but its totally grown on me. I like how the lyrics sort of straddle a detatched sarcastic irony and sincerity.

I checked out that Strung Out album. Its like if early Propagandhi fused with post Todays Empires Propagandhi. Extrenely my shit.

The new Dorian Electra (Flamboyant) is really fun synth pop somewhat in the vein of Kim Petras (also very fun).

The new Blanck Mass also kicks ass. Surprisingly jubilant and uplifting considering how noisy and aggressive their past two have been.

Oddly enough, I wasn't into "the Dream Is Over" at all when it came out. I know I heard it a couple times when it was first released, but once I got really hooked on "Morbid Stuff", I revisited it and I love it just as much now. Apparently they absolutely rule live. I hope to catch them one day.

I missed them on their last one tour and im probably gonna miss this one too due to school and work obligations.

If you ask me, August was goddamn fucking LOADED with good new releases:

Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell
Wasn't quite what I was expecting. There are no real Lana bangers and the record is quite sad as a whole. Lyrically, you get what you get with Lana. The song "hope is a dangerous thing..." is absolutely stunning at the end of the record.

Whitney - Forever Turned Around
Not a whole lot of evolution or progression from their debut record, but these are neat, tight pop-indie rock songs.

Bon Iver - i,i
Perhaps less ambition that his last effort, 22 A Million, but this has grown on me. I like his new stuff way more than his original bedroom folk sound.

Powers Pleasant - Life Is Beautiful
Really lean hip-hop album. I think it's around 25 minutes, with a couple big bangers. (Can't Fucc Wit It, Pull up)

Skye Wallace - Skye Wallace
Indie punkish rock from Toronto. She has an incredible voice and energy, and her lyrics are sharp. 'Sleep with a Knife' is a highlight (Don't think she means it in the same way as Cannibal Corpse)

Off With Their Heads - Be Good
For fans of Hot water Music, Gaslight Anthem, The Menzingers. Loud and rambunctious punk-rock. The dude has an unbelievable scream. Title track and Locking Eyes are highlights.

Delafaye - Delafaye
Had never heard of this artist, and checked it out based on the cover alone. Standard Indie folk on the surface, but repeated listens reveal more. I really love the drum tone. Godspeed and These days are my favourite tracks.

Sheer Mag - A Distant Call
THIS WAS MADE IN 2019??? There is a little bit of everything going on here. Hair metal, Thin Lizzy, Joan Jett, Cyndi Lauper? The first track Steel Sharpens Steel almost sounds like it could have been on Turbo.

Winterbourne - Echo Of Youth
I Need to hear this one a couple more times, but the first listen was very promising. Classic indie sound, great vocals. Better and Breaking out are highlights.

Young Thug - So Much Fun
I won't try to sell this to anyone. If you don't like him, or mumble rap, move along. It's run-of-the-mill stuff for that genre.

DZ Deathrays - Positive Rising: Part 1
Rock n Roll (they refer to themselves as Dance-Punk) from Australia. My favourite DZ album since 2014's Black Rat. They put out a lot of music (they had a record last year, too) but this one seems more focused and has better complete songs with nice hooks.

That's a lot of new stuff in one month, coupled with three metal records l records I really liked as well. These will be keeping me busy into the fall, I'm sure.

After the needlessly feature ridden Lust For Life I was hoping for a more Lana oriented album and I wasn't disappointed. You're right about there not being any real bangers but there are clear standout tracks like Venice Bitch, The Greatest and Doin' Time. The latter is in banger territory, just a bit more understated than usual. All in all the whole thing is great.

so what about the new Terminal Cheesecake album? I only heard it once in a p bad setting but i was pretty impressed by it. They play p noisy heavy psych / space rock.

Really loving the new Lana Del Rey album. I actually really liked Lust for Life, despite the weird features, but this one is her best since Born to Die, as far as I'm concerned.

I've been hard into Heilung since I found them, but I'm gonna throw a mention to their album Futha that just released this summer. Easily some of the best shamanic folk music I've ever heard (though I haven't heard much so yea).

New Chelsea Wolfe out today!

I've listened to it twice. I like the style of it MUCH more than Hiss Spun. I feel like she's better at doing this than bordering on hard goth rock.

I take it the whole album is much less heavy than Hiss Spun? Similar to the singles? If so I'll probably end up liking it a lot less. I loved the sludgy-ness.

I get into her work through the heavier albums but this one is pretty great on first listen.

jimbiiiies that new Conway dropped last night! Heard it yet? My whole plan after work is to listen to it on repeat and try to beat Hotline Miami 2. Stoooooked!

I haven't yet, but I'm gonna BE ON IT this weekend!

Update, just heard it for the first time. Holy fuck. I didn't really care for his last mixtape (besides the song London Pound), but this new album is incredible. The last song is a bit of a throwaway, imo, but This is going to be on repeat for a while.

I'm really impressed as well. At first I didn't think it was quite as savage as the EIF series but...that was wrong. Loving this shit. Conway and Wes are undeniably special. And their ear for beats is just infallible.

Welp, every song on "The Correlation Between Entrance and Exit Wounds" by SeeYouSpaceCowboy is a banger. This album kind of brings me back to being a teen in the early to mid 00s and posting angsty blogs on Myspace, but in a good way.

Total banger, love the screamo resurrection!

The Appleseed Cast - The Fleeting Light of Impermanence

Spacey, synthesized post-rock/post-emo from the band that brought you Low Level Owl I & II. Really a great album, if a slow burner. Probably their best since LLO I&II (15+ years ago?). Rewards repeat listens. According to my Last.fm I've racked up 520 listens of it in the past 90 days without even breaking a sweat.

Here's the STUFF from September:

Tiger Army - Retrofuture
Nothing ground breaking here, it's the same old psychobilly/punkish stuff, but the song writing is sharp as always as well. Favourite track: the tex-mex beauty, 'Valentina'

Conway The Machine - Look What I Became
We've already had a little discussion about this in this thread, but yeah, this Buffalo stuff along with Benny The Butcher is killing it with hip-hop this year. It's a toss up between this and Benny so far for my hip-hop album of the year (but Danny Brown is arriving later, so...) Favourite song: Half of It

Jenny Hval - The Practice Of Love
I won't even try to pretend this isn't pretentious-as-hell art pop/rock, but it's probably my favourite album by her so far. It works better as a full piece and the first track is actually the worst one, so if you can make it through that bullshit, you'll get rewarded. Favourite song: High Alice

Andrew Combs - Ideal Man
Andrew Combs has been one of my favourite "sad white guy" artists for a while. I love his mix of folk and country. This record is completely different for him. He has pretty much completely ditched the "sad cowboy" sound, and this album is a little more soulful. Of course, the songs are still sad, but he mixed up the sounds completely. Hide and Seek is my favourite track.

Hiss Golden Messenger - Terms Of Surrender
This dude puts out SO MUCH music it's ridiculous. He put out two records in 2018, and a new one already. There are some great songs on this one, however if he would have taken the best songs off his last three albums, he'd have an indie-folk classic. Favourite song: I Need A Teacher and My Wing (tied)

Sturgill Simpson - Sound & Fury
Sturgill basically re-invents himself on the surface, but after repeated listens you realize he hasn't changed all that much. I haven't watched the accompanying netflix film yet, but something about sleazy psychedelic boogie-rock mixed with country music set to a dystopian samurai film is everything i WOULDN'T LIKE, however I love this so much. I can't pick a favourite song as the entire thing works better as a full piece. I'm not sure how I'd rank it against A Sailor's Guide To Earth, as that was an instant classic, but this is very good and interesting.

Honorary mention to the new Black Star Riders record, which, while as a whole is not very good and has some downright annoying and childish songs, the two tracks "Tonight The Moonlight Let Me Down" and ESPECIALLY "Ain't The End Of The World" actually sound like lost 70's Thin Lizzy songs that were recovered and re-recorded/cleaned up.

heads up y'all:

The new Nick Cave is here. Haven't heard it yet, but I know there are a ton of his fans here.

Haven't been keeping up but I'm preetty pumped to check out the new Diiv coming out and the new Sturgill Simpson

The new Lagwagon album "Railer" is pretty damn fun. I think that the production sounds a bit off, but the songs themselves are good. It's got a noticeably faster pace than "Hang" did, it's also a bit less depressing, though the lyrics still get pretty dark at times. Lots of really good riffing (by punk standards), as usual. I saw them a few days ago and the new songs sound good live, too.