New Music Reviews (3/23)

Each week KEXP's Music Director Don Yates and other KEXP DJs share brief insights on new and upcoming releases. See what's coming up this week below, including reviews for new releases from Amen Dunes, Frankie Cosmos, Jack White, and more.

Amen Dunes – Freedom (Sacred Bones)
The fifth album from this New York artist (aka Damon McMahon) is an excellent set of expansive, psych-tinged rock with ringing guitars, atmospheric synths, driving rhythms and well-crafted often-deeply personal lyrics revolving around growing up, toxic masculinity, loss, and mortality.

Frankie Cosmos – Vessel (Sub Pop)
The third studio album from this New York project spearheaded by Greta Cline is a smartly crafted set of jangly indie-pop, featuring a more fully fleshed-out sound than their previous releases, though the songs are just as charmingly intimate as ever.

Alice Bag – Blueprint (Don Giovanni)
The former leader of pioneering LA punk band The Bags (aka Alicia Armendariz) follows up her excellent 2016 self-titled solo debut album with a more diverse, but still first-rate set of hook-filled, often-politically charged songs ranging from anthemic garage-punk and soaring post-punk to buoyant, horn-driven rock and sweeping, piano-based ballads.

Bettye LaVette – Things Have Changed (Verve)
The veteran soul singer's 10th album finds her masterfully interpreting a variety of Bob Dylan songs from throughout his lengthy career. Most of the songs are from the more obscure side of Dylan's catalog, though even the more familiar material is radically transformed through the album's inventive arrangements and LaVette's raspy vocals.

Sunflower Bean – Twentytwo In Blue (Mom+Pop)
This Brooklyn trio's second album is a smartly crafted, hook-filled blend of power-pop, glam, post-punk, psych-pop and more, combining jangly guitars and energetic rhythms with Julia Cumming's supple vocals and often-politically charged lyrics.

Gengahr – Where Wildness Grows (Kobalt)
This London-based band's second album is a well-crafted set of gentle psych-pop with shimmering guitars, atmospheric keyboards, and dreamy melodies.

Albert Hammond Jr. - Francis Trouble (Red Bull)
The Strokes guitarist's fourth solo album is a diverse, well-crafted set ranging from hook-filled power pop and driving garage-rock and moody post-punk.

Baloji – 137 Avenue Kaniama (Bella Union)
This Congolese-born, Belgium-bred artist's third proper album is a well-crafted blend of hip-hop, house, funk, and R&B with Congolese rumba and other African styles.

Of Montreal – White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood (Polyvinyl)
The 15th album from the Athens, GA-based Kevin Barnes & Co. is a fine set of quirky, psych-tinged dance-pop, featuring six lengthy two-part songs inspired by extended '80s dance mixes with wordy lyrics ranging from falling in love to the perils of virtual reality.

Caroline Says – No Fool Like An Old Fool (Western Vinyl)
The second album from this Huntsville, AL-bred, Austin-based artist (aka Caroline Sallee) is a fine set of atmospheric, folk-tinged dream-pop, combining hypnotic guitar loops with her haunting vocals and often-melancholy lyrics.

The Messthetics – The Messthetics (Dischord)
The debut album from this DC trio comprised of guitarist Anthony Pirog along with the former Fugazi rhythm section of Joe Lally and Brendan Canty is an adventurous set of instrumentals combining muscular prog-rock, jazz, psych-rock and more.

Rell Be Free – Nu Growth (self-released)
This Seattle rapper's debut full-length is a fine set ranging from politically charged hip-hop to pummeling battle raps. Mostly produced by Luna God, the album combines stark beats with sharp lyrics decrying racism and police brutality.

Gulfer – Dog Bless (Topshelf)
This young Montreal band's second album is a potent blend of emotive pop-punk and math-rock with intricate, shape-shifting guitar lines and rhythms accompanying Vincent Ford's throaty vocals and anxiety-fueled, often self-deprecating lyrics of growing older while spinning wheels.

Jack White – Boarding House Reach (Third Man)
The third solo album from the former frontman for The White Stripes is easily one of the oddest things he's ever recorded, a crazy-quilt mishmash of blues-rock with hip-hop, funk, gospel, country and more, combining a variety of colorful instrumentation with shape-shifting arrangements that place more of a premium on playful quirkiness than song quality.

Bonny Doon – Longwave (Woodsist)
This Detroit band's second album is a fine set of psych-tinged folk-pop with jangly acoustic and electric guitars, atmospheric keyboards, easy-rolling rhythms and wistful melodies.

Prism Tats – Mamba (Anti-)
The second Prism Tats album from this LA-based South African expatriate (aka Garett van der Spek) is a solid set of moody post-punk with buzzing guitars and synths, driving rhythms and dystopian lyrics.

Secretary – Parallels (self-released)
This Seattle duo's debut full-length is a solid set of moody electro-rock with an atmospheric sound combining dark synths and guitars with ethereal vocals and haunting melodies.

Death By Unga Bunga – So Far So Good So Cool (Jansen)
This Norwegian band's fifth album is a catchy blend of garage-rock, power-pop, and hard-rock, combining crunchy guitars, bouncy rhythms, and soaring song hooks.

The Black Lips & The Khan Family – Play Safe EP (Khannibalism/Ernest Jenning Record Co.)
Atlanta, GA garage-rockers The Black Lips collaborated with King Khan and his daughter Saba Lou for this fun five-song EP of shaggy garage-rock and lo-fi synth-rock. The EP also includes contributions from Sean Lennon, The Spits and Khan's newest band Louder Than Death.