Album of the Week – 20/08/21

Angel Olsen shows her love of 80’s music with the Aisles EP, which features covers of such songs as Gloria and the Safety Dance. Why Men Without Hats didn’t end up the biggest band of their generation, I’ll never know!

Otherwise, we’ve new releases from Martha Wainwright (Love Will Be Reborn), Deafheaven (Infinite Granite) and Eric Hilton (of Thievery Corporation fame, it’s called Ceremony). If you’re looking for some fairly serious banjo music, then look no further than Joe Troop (of Che Apalache) with his new album Borrowed Time. Probably the biggest name to release something this week is Lorde with her album Solar Power.

Which brings us to our album of the week… We’re going for an old friend doing something a little different. There are moments where this album sounds closer to the Go! Team or the Avalanches than anything from the Villagers. We present to you, Conor O’Brien’s new release Fever Dreams as our album of the week…

Album of the Week — Villagers – Fever Dreams

Escapism is a very necessary pursuit right now, and Fever Dreams follows it to mesmerising effect. It works like all the best records – it becomes a mode of transport; it picks you up from where you are and sets you down elsewhere.

Coinciding with the announcement, O’Brien has also shared the first song from the forthcoming album, “The First Day”. It was inspired by a trip to the fabled Another Love Story festival in County Meath – beginning as a snatched electronic doodle, it morphed into a widescreen, lushly cinematic evocation of the joy in human connection.

O’Brien says on the gestation of Fever Dreams: “I had an urge to write something that was as generous to the listener as it was to myself. Sometimes the most delirious states can produce the most ecstatic, euphoric and escapist dreams.”

These are songs with the strange, melted shapes and the magical ambivalence of dreams. The intent of the songs is both mysterious and as clear as a bell. With Fever Dreams, there is a sense of a deepening mastery and an expanding reach by O’Brien. Inspiration for the album was found in many places and came in from all angles, from night swimming on a Dutch island to Flann O’Brien, Audre Lorde, David Lynch, L. S. Lowry via the library music of Piero Umiliani and Alessandro Alessandroni and jazz from Duke Ellington and Alice Coltrane.

Albums of Note –

— Angel Olsen – Aisles EP (Digital Release)

— David Duchovny – Gestureland

— Deafheaven – Infinite Granite

— Eric Hilton (of Thievery Corporation) – Ceremony

— GLOOP – Crayon Sun

— Joe Troop (of Che Apalache) – Borrowed Time

— Lorde – Solar Power

— Martha Wainwright – Love Will Be Reborn

Albums Released August 20th:

— Adrian + Meredith – Bad For Business

— AJ Lee and Blue Summit – I’ll Come Back

— Alisa Tully – Holy Isle EP

— All Good Things – A Hope In Hell

— Anderson East – Maybe We Never Die

— Andrew Belle – Nightshade

— Angel Olsen – Aisles EP (Digital Release)

— Apollo Chamber Players – With Malice Toward None

— Badge Epoch – Scroll

— Bambies – Summer Soon

— Becky Hill – Only Honest On The Weekend

— Ben Bostick – Grown Up Love

— Between the Buried and Me – Colors II

— Black Light Animals – Playboys of the Western World

— Blasphemous Creation – Forsaken Dynasty

— Bnny – Everything

— Caravan – Who Do You Think We Are? (Box Set)

— Cemetary Echoes – Come Share my Shroud

— Charles Mingus – The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (Vinyl Reissue)

— Charles Mingus – Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (Vinyl Reissue)

— Chris Acker – Odd, Ordinary, & Otherwise

— Chris J Norwood – I Am Not Cool

— Chynna – drug opera

— Cinema Cinema – CCXMDII

— Club Las Vegas – These Crappy Years (Reissue)

— Connie Smith – The Cry of the Heart

— Daemonicus – Eschaton

— Daneshevskaya – Bury Your Horses EP

— Danielle Cormier – Réflexion EP

— Darrin Bradbury – Artvertisement

— David Duchovny – Gestureland

— Dawes – Nothing Is Wrong (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

— The Dead Deads – Tell Your Girls It’s Alright

— Deafheaven – Infinite Granite

— Debbie Gibson – The Body Remembers

— Deep Water – Golden Soul EP

— Divine Horsemen – Hot Rise Of An Ice Cream Phoenix

— Eleanor Kerrigan – Lady Like

— Eric Hilton (of Thievery Corporation) – Ceremony

— Ester Poly – Wet

— Fleece – Stunning and Atrocious

— The Furious Seasons – Home All Day, Home All Night

— G. Brenner – Brushfire

— GA-20 – GA-20 Does Hound Dog Taylor: Try It…You Might Like It!

— George Lynch – Seamless

— girlpuppy – Swan EP

— GLOOP – Crayon Sun

— Grace Gaustad – BLKBX: WHT R U HDING?

— Hans Zimmer & James Netwon Howard – The Dark Knight (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Vinyl Reissue)

— In The Pines – Interlude

— James McMurtry – The Horses and the Hounds

— Jany Green – Lost in Love EP

— Jeremiah Cymerman – Citadels & Sanctuaries

— Joe Troop (of Che Apalache) – Borrowed Time

— John Coltrane – Another Side of John Coltrane

— Johnny Yukon – Flight Plan 001

— The Joy Formidable – Into the Blue

— Justus Proffit – Speedstar

— Kam-Bu – Black on Black EP

— Karen Jonas – Summer Songs EP

— Khartoum – Vultures EP

— KK Priest (feat. members of Judas Priest) – Sermons of the Sinner

— The Knife – Deep Cuts (Vinyl Reissue)

— The Knife – Tomorrow, In A Year (Vinyl Reissue)

— Kool & the Gang – Perfect Union

— Kunzite (feat. Mike Stroud of Ratatat) – Visuals

— L.A. Exes – Get Some

— Lamb of God – Sacrament (15th Anniversary)

— LESOTHO – Summer Wars

— Lil Lotus – Errør Boy (Digital Release)

— Lindsay Jarman – The Gallery

— Lola Young – After Midnight EP

— Lorde – Solar Power

— Lorkin O’Reilly – Marriage Material

— Lung – Come Clean Right Now

— Mae Powell – Both Ways Brighter

— Maggie Rose – Have A Seat

— Mano Le Tough – At The Moment

— Martha Wainwright – Love Will Be Reborn

— Martin Gore (of Depeche Mode) – The Third Chimpanzee Remixed

— Marvin Brooks – I’ll Be Fine

— Mia Doi Todd – Ten Views of Music Life

— The Mighty Warkings – Revolution

— Mildreda – I Was Never Really There

— Molly Burman – Fool Me With Flattery EP

— Morly – ‘Til I Start Speaking

— Mos Generator – The Mos Generator (20 Year Anniversary Edition)

— Nathan Salsburg – Psalms

— Necronautical – Slain in the Spirit

— Niko Rubio – Wish You Were Here EP

— Occurence – I Have So Much Love To Give

— Oceanhoarse – Dead Reckoning

— One With the Riverbed – Absence

— Orla Gartland – Woman On The Internet

— quickly, quickly – The Long and Short of It

— Rick Hyde – Plates 2

— Rod Wave – SoulFly (Deluxe)

— Roselyn – Alive at Zero

— Sam Williams – Glasshouse Children

— Settle Your Scores – Retrofit

— Shannon & The Clams – Year Of The Spider

— Shining Bird – Deadlands

— Shire T (of Maribou State) – Kingdoms In Colour

— Shotgun Sawyer – Thunderchief (Anniversary Edition)

— Sierra Ferrell – Long Time Coming

— Sodom – Bombenhagel EP

— SonReal – i can’t make this up EP

— Spacette – You Don’t Have To Rise To Shine

— Steel Rhino – Steel Rhino

— Strange Bones – England Screams

— Sturgill Simpson – The Ballad of Dood and Juanita

— Sun of the Suns – TIT

— Switchfoot – Interrobang

— Telethon – Swim Out Past The Breakers

— Trippie Redd – Trip At Knight

— Tropical Fuck Storm – Deep States

— Tyler Shaw – Tyler Shaw

— Various Artists – The Bob’s Burgers Music Album Vol. 2

— Various Artists – Flag Day (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

— Various Artists – Girl From The North Country – Original Broadway Cast Recording

— Various Artists – Goodfellas (Music From the Motion Picture) (Vinyl Reissue)

— Various Artists – PAURA (A Collection Of Italian Horror)

— Villagers – Fever Dreams

— Vistas – What Were You Hoping To Find?

— Vivien Goldman – Next Is Now

— Warkings – Revolution

— Warp Trio – Warp Trio’s Pandemic Disco Fantasy

— Wanda Jackson – Encore

— Westside Gunn – Sincerely Adolf

— Witchcryer – When Their Gods Come For You

— Wolves in the Throne Room – Primordial Arcana

— ZAHN – ZAHN

— Zelma Stone – The Best EP