St. Vincent | strong odors

Four New Albums from Progressive Ladies

Posted by Troy | Filed under Culture, Music

[NOTE: If you're on Spotify, listen along to these albums while you read. I put them in a handy playlist for you. You can also catch highlights from these artists & all the others featured here by subscribing to the Strong Odors playlist]

Right now, maybe more than any other time in my life, my regularly rotating playlist is filled with females.

With awesome releases from bands like Joy Formidable, Wye Oak, Wild Flag so far this year, I’ve rarely heard a hint of testosterone from my earbuds in the past 6 months (except for maybe Radiohead)

“Accessibility” is kind of a difficult trait to determine in a recording. It seems to be the factor by which most consider an album or song to be “good.” If it’s accessible, if it has a great beat and makes you want to dance or drink coffee or whatever—if it’s got a catchy hook that sticks in your head or helps you sell cars or kleenex or insurance.

But I like to be challenged a little. Sometimes when you find something less accessible, it just means it is (like all the most wonderful things in life) an acquired taste. Here are a few fantastic brand new releases in order of how accessible they may be.. so if you haven’t the stomach for tUnE-yArDs, you may have to stick to Feist… but it’ll be a delight either way. Read the rest of this entry »