February Music Wrap-Up: The Floodgates Open

The Music Wrap-Up is a monthly summary of my favorite and other notable new releases. The songs are for sampling purposes only. Artists or labels notify me with any complaints and I will remove the song as soon as possible. Please support these musicians as that's the reason I'm featuring them in the first place.

This is just the beginning. There was so much great music released in February, but March is looking just as amazing. Apart from already dated releases, like Jonsi Birgisson's (the singer of Sigur Ros) solo CD, and She & Him's second album, I'm curious to see where previously announced but yet to be dated albums will land.

Will Devo's first release in 20 years be listenable? Will the next Minus the Bear CD follow their current trend of being wonderful? Will I ever be able to shut up about The Paper Chase's Someday This Will All Be Yours Vol. 2? The answers to these questions and more will come in time. Oh... but the answer to that last one is no.

For now, enjoy February's spectacular line-up of music. Listen to Eluvium, The Album Leaf, Shearwater, and plenty more by just clicking that link right below this sentence.

MUSIC!


Eluvium - Similes

Matthew Cooper likes to use his Eluvium moniker to experiment. One CD could be entirely piano compositions, while another is low, ambient music made via computer. On Similes, he changes things up by actually singing, and even using a normal song structure with verses and choruses. I think he hits it out of the park on some of the songs, and makes music that I can listen to at any time rather then on previous releases that were more of background ambience. I'm really looking forward to him taking this to the next step on future albums, though, knowing him, he might do something completely different. Either way, I'll be listening.

The Motion Makes Me Last


In Culmination



Shearwater's The Golden Archipelago

I just wrote a review of this CD 2 posts ago. Go read that.

Castaways


Missing Islands



The Album Leaf's A Chorus of Storytellers

The Album Leaf is great music to just relax and enjoy. Put it on when lounging around the house, or cleaning the house. They're one of the bands I like most when my job forces me to be up and driving around in the middle of the night by myself.

Within Dreams



Beach House's Teen Dream

Yeah, technically this came out at the end of January, but they weren't on my radar at all then. I guess they're usually categorized as "dream pop"? I don't know, I can't keep up with all of these genres you kids come up with. Either way, I guess that title sounds accurate. It is a dreamy sort of sound.

Zebra



Hot Chip's One Life Stand

I haven't had a chance to listen to these guys much yet, but I've been assured they are awesome. On my initial playthrough of their new CD, I wasn't that drawn in. But it slowly started to grow on me. I can get behind some dance music, it just isn't a mood I am frequently in. Probably because I dance about as terrible as Elaine from Seinfeld.

One Life Stand



Son Lux's Weapons EP

The electronic music Ryan Lott puts together is like nothing else I've heard. I absolutely loved the Son Lux debut CD At War with Walls & Mazes. It is sound collages in the same vein as Animal Collective, but much more dark and aggressive at times. Then it is beautiful and somber, with violins. Just, listen.

Weapon V


Here's a playlist of the whole Wrap-Up, so you can just hit play and then continue browsing the web in another window/tab. Enjoy!



Yeah, I know Yeasayer put out an album in February, but no matter how hard I try, I really really dislike it. So I'm just going to ignore it. Feel free to seek it out on your own.