Cat Power- Sun

Stream: Cat Power- Sun It appears that the moody indie folk songstress Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, has seen the light of day. Her new album Sun is a glimmering, effervescent, and thoroughly enjoyable album with an inspired sound that breaches aesthetic boundaries Marshall had never even dared to approach in the past. It's also a tremendous comeback for Marshall, who hasn't released an album of original material since 2006's The Greatest. Sun shines with stuttering electronic drum beats and crystalline synths, while Marshall's distinctive, lush coo and gentle guitar plucking remain firmly in place as well. Tracks like the piano led single "Ruin" and the propulsive "Sun" are immediate highlights, but the real standout is the penultimate track "Nothin But Time," an 11-minute anthem of hope in the face of adversity--adversity which Marshall herself has undoubtedly faced over her very troubled career.

The entire album is now streaming at NPR Music, and will be released on September 4th. You won't want to sleep on this one.

Jack White- "Love Interruption"

In case you didn't already know Jack White has released a single to go along with the announcement of his upcoming solo album Blunderbuss, which is set to release April 24 on Third Man Records. The song is composed in a pretty simple folk style with some light guitar, keys, and female backing vocals. This puts on emphasis on the lyrics and with good reason.

White has always been an interesting songwriter and with this track he puts together a charmingly twisted love song. He uses clear imagery to invoke every pain and triumph that is associated with love, while avoiding the normal clichés. It is definitely nice to hear White do something on his own after all the numerous side projects he has been involved in.

Stream Idaho's You Were a Dick

The Los Angeles-based band Idaho started out as part of the early 90s slowcore scene in California, with their 1993 debut and subsequent early LPs drawing comparisons to bands like Red House Painters, and American Music Club. While those bands either fell by the wayside or disintegrated into nothingness, Idaho soldiered on through the next decade, remaining in relative obscurity throughout their existence. It's been 6 years since their last release, the experimental the Lone Gunman, but the band has now returned with a slightly more traditional sounding record, You Were A Dick.

Most of the album's 14 songs are gentle, musically sparse compositions, with lightly processed synth, multi-tracked guitar sounds, and steady but minimal percussion. This palatable musical background works as a perfect stage for singer-songwriter Jeff Martin's vocals and lyrics. Lyrically, he has an ability to make profound or at least emotionally affecting statements without saying much at all, lending itself to the album's brevity. Few of these songs top the 3-minute mark, but none of them feel rushed or incomplete.

Vocally, Martin operates like an affected Mark Kozelek. He's probably capable of reaching the vocal highs and lows of the Red House Painters frontman, but either aware that he doesn't need to or simply to shy to do so on record. Either way, these songs benefit from that reservedness.

Most of You Were A Dick's sound is exemplified by the title track. "You Were A Dick" is not emotionally crushing or incredibly depressing, but rather it is sad in a very understated way.The band does branch out from this formula for some songs, however. On "The Space Between", Idaho sounds relatively happy, even though this is mostly due only to the increased tempo. This track may stick out to some, but in my opinion it adds a needed feeling of variety to the album.

You Were A Dick is now streaming in its entirety on Idaho's bandcamp page, embedded above. The record is available to buy digitally, on CD, and in a limited vinyl release on their bandcamp page as well.