New Music Releases

April 30, 2015 – Mew, Blur, Braids

This week, Tyler’s famed Cherry Bomb finally gets a hard release– with all five of the various covers. Keep it going for all the good this week, because next week we get stuck with a new Mumford and Sons– which is fine, I mean, if you’re into that.

Mew – +-

Mew’s released their first album in five years, which is a Big Deal if you’re one of those people affected by the passage of time and personal music tastes and whatnot. Mew’s always been a pretty great little Danish group, very alt-rock and inspirational. +- is their sixth studio production, forcing some of us to step back and really think about the meaning of time and remember our age. ANYWAY, the new record is slightly more rock-alt sounding than the rest of their stuff, opening with the single “Satellites,” which makes for an amazing listen, being the six-second epic that it is. The rest of the album follows suit. Glad for Mew’s return.

Rating: 7/10

Blur – The Magic Whip

A Big Deal this week was the new Blur album coming out, which, obviously, got fans of the British band all hot and bothered. The cover itself is making me want an ice cream, but enough about that. They’re back and reunited, and The Magic Whip is another superb collaborative effort by the band that whipped up the genius of Modern Life Is Rubbish and Parklife. It’s been 12 years (12 years! I went from being 9 to being 21 in that time. Jesus Christ) since the band got together and put something out, and this album’s been hyped up for quite some time, ever since its release got announced. Think Tank came out in 2003, and since then, it’s been mostly radio silence from the group. The Magic Whip is dark, exciting, sultry, suave. It’s inspiring and rough-sounding, grungy, almost, but still exciting, different, mixing genres but still staying mysterious enough to leave the listener wondering, What comes next? “Ice Cream Man” is must-listen track. Truly, this album lives up to the hype.

Rating: 8/10

Braids – Deep In The Iris

Super experimental art rock (if ???? was a genre) band Braids is at it again with a new release this week. Instead of focusing on heavy electro influences and sounds like the previous record, Braids decided to live more in the moment on this one, making Deep In The Iris more of a living, breathing recording of live, real instruments and whole sound. Braids are kind of like the band in that movie Frank– weird, recording off the grid, definitely interesting and in pursuit of the best music they can make. It’s always interesting to find groups like these because they seem so isolated– so few and far between. Ergo, being in a band with members who think and create like you must be a breath of fresh air– like this new album from Braids is. Reminiscent on this album are clear influences to Radiohead and Thom Yorke’s solo work, and even some Disclosure. Definitely one to listen to if experimental post electro is your cup of tea.

Rating: 7/10

About author

Sofie Mikhaylova is a music writer at Live in Limbo and local nobody who spends her time loitering in parking lots and chain smoking. She listens to a lot of music and has an extensive CD collection, which she's spent many a Saturday night reorganizing. Her work has been published in Vice and Noisey, among others. Follow her on Twitter @sofiesucks.