KWTF wants to give you records (or CDs)! We will give one of the albums listed below to the first 18 folks that sign up for our newsletter here, follow us on twitter here, OR like us on facebook here.
2x Tycho – Awake CD (Donated by Ghostly International via Terrorbird Media)
Enveloping us in a new world of sound, Tycho (aka Scott Hansen) returns with Awake, his second album released with Ghostly. Following his breakthrough album Dive, Hansen attempts to capture the emotions felt on the road as his live show traversed the globe. Now a true three-piece with Zac Brown on guitar/bass and Rory O’Connor behind the drums, Hansen transports listeners to a land filled with sunshine and open roads, as only a native Californian can. Opening track “Awake,” prepares us for a journey into this mystic land, its swirling melodies pushing us down the right path. Awake captures Hansen’s stylistic shift, showcasing a new kinetic sensory experience.
Polyvinyl Records Vinyl
1x Owls – Two
Pioneers of the original “emo revival,” Owls are back with their long-awaited sophomore effort Two. It’s taken thirteen years for the band comprised of the Kinsella brothers (Mike of Owen and Tim of Joan of Arc), Victor Villareal and Sam Zurick to reunite and create another math rock masterpiece! Despite the 13-year gap, they pick up right where “Holy Fucking Ghost” ended. The Kinsellas are acknowledged as a daunting influence on just about any band tagged with the word “emo”, and in three and a half minutes, the lead track “I’m Surprised…” sums up why that is.
1x Xiu Xiu – Angel Guts: Red Classroom
Xiu Xiu have always been perceived as a “dark band.” Angel Guts: Red Classroom, the band’s twelfth full-length, does nothing to unsettle this reputation. A reflection on Jamie Stewart’s relocation to a neighborhood of Los Angeles known for its cruelty, the album consists of a series of violent yet achingly beautiful urban vignettes. The tension which dominates the album’s narratives is shown in their presentation: stark arrangements feel overwhelming; steady beats and droning bass synthesizers are undermined by disturbing vocals.Yet this is a Xiu Xiu album, and as such there is an object of rare beauty beneath the darkness, as rewarding for the listener willing to brave it as the eleven that came before it.
“Stewart wisely places himself in the lineage of depraved art-rock titans equally drawn to literal and figurative human bondage.” -Pitchfork
Polyvinyl Records CD’s
1x Owls – Two
1x Xiu Xiu – Angel Guts: Red Classroom
1x Painted Palms – Forever
1X Pillar Point – Pillar Point
Liars – Mess (Donated by Mute Records)
3x CD and Poster
7x CD
On the band’s seventh record, the introspective, self-analytical tone of the last effort is swapped for one of wanton immediacy: a feeling of brattish certainty that hasn’t been heard on a Liars record since the band’s 2001 debut, They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top. “We are a reactionary, or maybe a better word is schizophrenic band,” says statuesque frontman Angus Andrew. “We go from one extreme to the other. Working on the last record was really doubtful and paranoid, and that’s fine, but it just meant that when work started on this one, it was the exact opposite. It was way more instinctual, fun and confident. We recorded our first record in two days, and the idea of anyone listening to it wasn’t an issue. It’s nice to return to that idea of making music.”
