Album of the Week – 30/05/25

Do you want to feel old? They’ve just released a 10th Anniversary Edition of Carrie & Lowell (Sufjan Stevens)! Do you want to feel really old? They’ve just released a 20th Anniversary Edition of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah).

Now that you feel really, really, old, we have a look at the new releases of the week! There’s a new Pavement release… of sorts. Pavements is a new “docufiction about the American indie band Pavement, incorporating scripted scenes with documentary footage of the band, a musical stage play”. It’s all written, co-produced, and directed by Alex Ross Perry, and guess who did the soundtrack?

There are also albums from Swans (Birthing), Garbage (Let All That We Imagine Be The Light), Ty Segall (Posssession), Matt Berninger (of The National – Get Sunk) and many more besides.

For our album of the week, we’ve gone for an old friend. It’s not as good as Low at their finest, but it’s a definite step in the right direction. You can find our review here.

Album of the Week — Alan Sparhawk – Trampled by Turtles

No one can help you build something beautiful quite like those who know you best. Alan Sparhawk knows this well. In his years in Low, he built decades of stirring music with his wife and lifelong creative partner Mimi Parker. In recent years, he has performed around Minnesota with his son Cyrus in DERECHO Rhythm Section, a funk band that also frequently features his daughter Hollis on vocals. There’s an irreplaceable naturalism that comes with this kind of dynamic. Those who know you understand you. They love you. They want to help you bring your greatest passions to fruition.

And so, it only made sense that Sparhawk would turn to fellow Duluth musicians Trampled by Turtles to realize his latest record. As friends and mentees of Low’s, taken under Sparhawk and Parker’s wing from their earliest days as a bar band—Trampled by Turtles have performed with Sparhawk countless times over the years. The Duluth ties run deep: “There’s a certain vibe that has to do with underdog syndrome, coming from a small town,” Sparhawk muses. “Some of it is the weird grind and slackness that being at the mercy of Mother Nature puts in you. It humbles you.”

Albums of Note

— Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary Edition)

— Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (20th Anniversary Edition)

— Swans – Birthing

— Garbage – Let All That We Imagine Be The Light

— Gordi – Like Plasticine

— Ty Segall – Possession

— Matt Berninger (of The National) – Get Sunk

— Pavement – Pavements (Original Soundtrack)

Albums Released – 30/05/25

— Aesop Rock – Black Hole Superette

— Alan Sparhawk (of Low) – Trampled by Turtles

— Amy Milan (of Stars) – I Went to Find You

— Anderson East – Worthy

—  Anyma – The End Of Genesys

— Ben Kweller – Cover the Mirrors

— The Budos Band – VII

— Caroline – Caroline 2

— CIVIC – Chrome Dipped

— CLAMM – Serious Acts

— Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (20th Anniversary Edition)

— Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Hysterical (Vinyl Reissue)

— David Lowery (of Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven) – Fathers, Sons and Brothers

— The Dead Daisies – Lookin’ For Trouble

— Demise of Love (Daniel Avery, Ghost Culture, and Working Men’s Club) – Demise of Love EP

— EBK Jaaybo – Don’t Trust Me

— Faun Fables – Counterclockwise

— Foxwarren – 2

— Garbage – Let All That We Imagine Be The Light

— Gordi – Like Plasticine

— Grace Potter – Medicine

— Grateful Dead – Enjoying the Ride

— Grouplove –  Rock N’ Roll You Won’t Save Me [Live]

— guccihighwaters – DEATH BY DESIRE

— The Haunted – Songs of Last Resort

— Idiot Mambo – Shoot the Star

— illuminati hotties – Nickel on the Fountain Floor EP

— Kathryn Joseph – WE WERE MADE PREY.

— KEEP – Almost Static

— Mariah Carey – The Emancipation of Mimi (20th Anniversary Edition)

— Matt Berninger (of The National) – Get Sunk

— Matthew Young – Undercurrents

— Miley Cyrus – Something Beautiful

— The Minus 5 – Oar On, Penelope!

— Miynt – Rain Money Dogs

— Moonrisers – Harsh & Exciting

— MRCY – Volume 2

— Mt. Joy – Hope We Have Fun

— Obongjayar – PARADISE NOW

— Ovrkast. – WHILE THE IRON IS HOT

— Pavement – Pavements (Original Soundtrack)

— Photographic Memory – I look at her and light goes all through me

— Planning for Burial – It’s Closeness, It’s Easy

— Preston Woolsey – bubba

— Rivers of Nihil – Rivers of Nihil

— Rome Streetz and Conductor Williams – Trainspotting

— Sally Shapiro – Ready to Live a Lie

— SAVAK – SQUAWK!

— Shura –  Got Too Sad For My Friends

— Skid Row – Revolutions Per Minute (Reissue)

— Slaney Bay – The Long Way Home EP

— The Speaker Wars (feat. Stan Lynch of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) – The Speaker Wars

— Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary Edition)

— Swans – Birthing

— Tash Sultana – Return to the Roots EP

— Trigger – Second Round

— Ty Segall – Posssession

— Unessential Oils – The Purest of Oils

— Watchhouse – Rituals

— Will Cullen Hart (Olivia Tremor Control) and Andrew Rieger (Elf Power) – Leap Through Poisoned Air EP

— yeule – Evangelic Girl is a Gun