The new Frank Ocean CD Channel Orange was scheduled to be released next Tuesday on July 17th. But we are able to sell it a bit early and now have it out on the floor. So come pick it up at one or our stores! Or pick it up on amoeba.com. The LP is still scheduled for 7/31. You can Pre-order it here. Frank Ocean is of course part of Odd Future. This is his first official release. Everyone is super excited about this album. And you should be too!





Listen to "Pyramids" from the new album Channel Orange by Frank Ocean...



The new Twin Shadow just came out this week. And I am a bit obsessed with it. I honestly was not really that into the first album. But maybe I just never gave it a chance. Maybe I just had higher hopes for this one since 4AD put it out.  Confess is out on CD and LP. It is catchy and highly addictive. You will like.

Check out the video for "Five Seconds" by Twin Shadow from the new album Confess. The actual song does not start until 1:39. But the video is awesome. You should watch it...

King Tuff has released a new record on Sub Pop, and all I can say is OMGGG. King Tuff is looking to be the garage banger of the summer. You should definitely pick this one up, and you can even preview it on YouTube for the time being. Check out a stream from Sub Pop below, and order the album here.
 

 

Up-and-coming L.A. pop band Kitten is releasing a new EP called Cut it Out on Aug. 28th. Teenage frontwoman Chloe Chaidez sure sounds like a star in the making on this buzzy electro single, which has the post-punk feel of Metric while upping both the catchiness and shoegazey sonics. I feel like we’ll only be able to claim Kitten for so long before they move on to bigger and better things, so check them out while they’re still local!
 





Shows This Weekend
 
This is a big weekend for local singer Nite Jewel, who recently released her fine album One Second of Love, which manages to be dancey (check out the title track) and cool, with atmospheric and experimental electronics throughout, while remaining classy, with Ramona Gonzalez’s sultry voice more reminiscent of classical pop singers like Barbra Streisand and Diana Krall. Tonight Nite Jewel headlines a krautrock-themed show titled “Krautrock Classics: A Night of German Cosmic Music,” presented by Dublab and the Goethe Institut. It will take place at the Ford Amphiteatre, with Nite Jewel performing a classic of the genre, Kraftwerk’s Computer World, with help from friends like Stones Throw Records’ Peanut Butter Wolf. The show also will include performances from the likes of Sun Araw, Dntel and Daedelus. Starts at 8, all ages, $15, get tickets online here.
 
Then, on Saturday, Filter Magazine holds its Summer Sessions series at the Original Penguin Store (8215 Melrose Ave.) from 2-6 p.m., featuring a performance by Nite Jewel. RSVP here.
 
Also on Saturday, California acts Cass McCombs and The Entrance Band play at the El Rey Theatre.
 
On Sundays it’s usually hard to beat Part Time Punks at the Echo, and this Sunday is certainly no exception: Violens, whom fellow Amoeba-ite Brad also loves, will play alongside Capured Tracks band Catwalk and Surf Club, which features members of Craft Spells. Slumberland's Violens play blurry swoony guitar pop much in the same vein of their labelmates, but they stand out from the back with their strong melodic songwriting (check out the beautiful "Sariza Spring") and the fact that they bother to rock out once in a while (watch the "All Night Low" video below). Their album True is one of the best of the past couple of months. It's a whole lot of shoegazey, guitarry goodness for only 10 bucks. Get advance tickets here or in store at Ameoba.
            

It is hard to believe that it has been almost 3 years since the last Gossip album. Music For Men came out in the UK in July of 2009. It eventually came out domestic a couple of months later. I I talked a bit about that release already. So you can read about it here if you want. It really is not fair to make us wait that long for a new album. Music For Men was one of those albums that I think I listened to all summer and fall that year. It really takes me right back to that year when I think about it. I have been watching the career of Beth Ditto and the Gossip for so many years now. It has been really fun to watch their journey. And I have seriously been on that journey with them. The new album is called A Joyful Noise. And this has nothing do do with the latest movie of the same name starring Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton. But "a joyful noise" is sort of the perfect description for the sound of the Gossip. Beth Ditto has one of those ridiculously amazing voices. So it really doesn't even matter what is going with the music behind it. I would listen no matter what. But of course it does matter with the Gossip. Back in their more punk days their music was still incredibly catchy and dancey. They have just embraced the dance and electro sound more and more as the years have gone by. They also now have a more polished and produced sound. But there ain't nothing wrong with that. This new album could seriously be a Donna Summer or Pointer Sisters album. It also makes me think of the Flashdance soundtrack. It is incredibly fun. I think I still will always love Standing In the Way of Control and Music For Men the most. But this album is growing on me more every day. And it might just become my album of the summer of 2012. 

I have been a huge fan of the label Captured Tracks since I first heard anything on that label. There are just some labels that you can always count on. You can trust them to bring you the best of a particular genre. I can honestly say that I love Captured Tracks. They released two of my favorite albums last year by The Soft Moon and Wild Nothing. They both ended up in the top ten of my Top 50 Albums of 2010. I have been closely following this label ever since I first discovered them. If you are a fan of shoegaze and what it has evolved into in the recent years then this label is for you. The releases on this label tend to be on the dark side of things. The label really is as consistent as a label like 4AD. Maybe even more so. I have yet to be disappointed. In November of last year Captured Tracks released the Golden Haze EP by Wild Nothing and the Land & Fixed album by Blank Dogs. Idle Labor by Craft Spells was released by Captured Tracks this last April. And I of course fell in love with this album as well. It is dreamy and gazey and just a beautiful little album. A bit more pop music than the releases from The Soft Moon and Wild Nothing. But still a fantastic album. The excellent Soft Metals album was released in August of this year. Captured Tracks has done it again and released two new albums this first week in November. A new EP from one of my favorites The Soft Moon. And the debut album from Blouse.

The releases just keep coming -- I seriously can barely keep up! One of my favorites is finally back with a new album: Explosions In the Sky! They have been around for over ten years now, which is hard to believe. They put out their first album, How Strange, Innocence, in 2000, and it has been 4 years since their last brilliant album, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone. It would be very easy for you to have never heard of Explosions in the Sky because they are one of those quiet little bands that have managed to become very popular without anyone really noticing. Their fans are fanatical and devoted and they wait in the sidelines patiently for each new album to come out. I don't want to bore you too much with my love for this band, so if you want to read more about them and my love for them...check out my blog about their last album, All of A Sudden I Miss Everyone, from 2007. The new album is called Take Care Take Care Take Care. Explosions In The Sky is an all instrumental group. You can call it post rock if you want, or post instrumental rock. They are one of the bands that I listen to alone, one of those bands I listen to when I need to think or process my life. Their music is my therapist, I guess, although sometimes all I can think about when I listen to them is how good they are! Check them out for yourself.