Each of today’s Record Roundup artists occupy a league of their own in the great landscape of modern independent music. From Japanese five-piece Bo Ningen, to Toronto hardcore outfit Fucked Up, and from the always spritely Tune-Yards, to Oxfordshire four-piece Glass Animals.
Bo Ningen – III
One of the more acclaimed acts on the Big Day Out 2014 tour was Japanese experimental outfit Bo Ningen, who walked away from the dates with a raft of new fans, hooked by the four-piece’s forward-thinking and genre-defying brand of internationalist rock and roll.
Their third album, III, will be released Friday, 16th May via Stolen Recordings / PIAS Australia. III is their most accomplished effort yet, filled with rich instrumentation and collaborations with Jehnny Beth of Savages and others.
Listen: Bo Ningen – DaDaDa
Fucked Up – Glass Boys
Toronto outfit Fucked Up have announced their return with a brand new album, Glass Boys, slated for release Friday, 30th May via Matador Records / Remote Control Records. Readers can check out the video for Paper The House below, featuring footage of the band performing during their surprise set at their recent self-curated Long Winter hometown event.
A deluxe vinyl version of the LP will be available exclusively through independent record stores and the Matador Store. The edition will feature a bonus LP of drums played at half-speed. Regular copies will feature four simultaneous normal and half-speed drum tracks.
Watch: Fucked Up – Paper The House
Tune-Yards – Nikki Nack
Following 2011′s universally praised Whokill, which topped the Village Voice‘s prestigious year-end Pazz & Jop poll, New England native Merrill Garbus, known to most as the drum-looping, vocal-layering, indie pop maestro Tune-Yards, is set to unveil her new album Nikki Nack.
The album is out 2nd May and will feature Garbus’ recent single, the bouncy Water Fountain. The LP is set to be more schoolyard-chant rhythms, unique instrumentation, and colourful, stream-of-consciousness lyrics for Tune-Yards’ rabid fan base.
Listen: Tune-Yards – Water Fountain
Glass Animals – ZABA
Glass Animals will release their new album, ZABA, on Friday, 6th June through Wolf Tone / Caroline International. ZABA was recorded at Wolf Tone Studios in London and produced by Glass Animals frontman Dave Bayley under executive producer Paul Epworth (Adele).
“The sound of the record,” Bayley says, “is like a backdrop of man-made wilderness… The lyrics still mean something quite specific to me, but I’ve left them slightly vague. Hopefully other people can identify with them in different ways, finding their own meaning.”
Watch: Glass Animals – Gooey
