Life Will See You Now by Jens Lekman
I was waiting for this release for a long time. I was first introduced to Lekman with the album I Know What Love Isn’t in 2012. There’s something very novel and special about living the hype of a new release along with more experienced fans, but I wasn’t particularly enthralled by this album. In sneaking through his back catalog, I found my heart swept away by Night Falls Over Kortedala, released in 2007. Lekman himself acknowledges his departure from his more pop-minded sounds between Kortedala and I Know What Love Isn’t, and it feels like he’s brought it all back with Life Will See You Now. I kept this album on rotation for a solid two months. Soon enough I knew every word and could hum along to every horn and strum in the most obnoxious onomatopoetic way possible.
I’m not a music writer, just a homely DJ, so, I give Life Will See You Now a “This Is A Perfect Album” out of 10.
Favorite tracks: “Evening Prayer”, “Wedding in Finistère", & “How We Met, The Long Version”
Dust by Laurel Halo
This album literally came out less than a week ago and is exactly what I needed to guide me through this particularly melancholy summer. I’ve just moved back home with my mother and am less than inclined to involve myself with the humidity outside. That being said, I have been cramming new music down my throat day in and day out alongside allergy-and-Benadryl-fueled MST3K marathons. So, there I was, on Twitter, not expecting any new music to be released on a TUESDAY (WHAT IS THIS, 2014?) but lo and behold Halo dropped her entire album on Soundcloud, free of charge—a streamer’s paradise! I blew through the whole thing in one sitting, sweating my ass off in my childhood bedroom with no AC, and traveled to a place I hadn’t been since Halo’s Quarantine. What I adore about her, and this album, is she never confines herself to a particular style and is always evolving and expanding. It’s sexy and squishy and sweet. Like me!
FKA Angel gives Dust a “This Is A Good Album To Sweat To” out of 10!
Favorite tracks: “Jelly”, “Koinos”, and “Syzygy”
Lake by Blois
Remember orange sherbet Push-Ups®? They were disgusting. Lake is an album that encompasses spring-to-summer transitory emotions and nostalgia in a way that Push-Ups® never could. I want to reach my fist into cold mud every time I listen to this album. It is quiet and sweetly slow, almost saccharine, but never too much that you can’t listen to it four or five times through in one sitting. Slide through this entire album on a drive to the pool and then revisit some old Blois hits, like “Henry” and “Kidneys”. Listen to it all! The Blois are back in town!
I give this album an Icee® out of Push-Up®!
Favorite tracks: All of them!