88Nine is the place where people go to discover new music. Every week we play new music on air, we have specialty shows like Rhythm Labthat bring you the newest/latest, we have on-air segments like Are You Feeling This? where we scour the web for fresh tracks, and we debut four of the best tracks of the week on New Music Wednesday. And then we have this column. It’s like a little secret that we tell you. They are the songs that we are passing to each other off-air, between shifts, under desks, in bars. They are the songs that we can’t stop listening to.
Conor Oberst- Hundreds of Ways
“Maybe no one seems to be the person that they mean to be/ I hope I am forgotten when I die.” Oberst sings in earnest on his new track Hundreds of Ways. If he wants to be forgotten, he is making forgetting him a very difficult task. Oberst has been releasing music since before he was able to drive, doing work with The Faint, Bright Eyes, Desaprecidos, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, and Monsters of Folk, among others. We continue to be interested in Oberst’s work because of the undisputed songmanship, depth, and heart in his work. Hundreds of Ways keeps some of the Tex/Mex feel that he left off with Bright Eyes, and added in beautiful horns and backing vocals to his poetry. Oberst’s new solo album, Upside Down Mountain , released on Nonesuch Records will be out on May 20 th. He will be in Milwaukee shortly after, on May 31 st at the Pabst Theater. -Justin Barney
Bombay Bicycle Club- Luna
English indie rock band, Bombay Bicycle Club, just released their fourth album with Universal Island Records, So Long, See You Tomorrow, on February 4 th, and it is already receiving rave reviews. It seems as though Bombay Bicycle Club has created a genre all their own, as they have experimented with elements of crystalline math rock, somber indie folk, passionate indie rock, electronic pop, punk pop, and even R&B inspired sounds. They have played with synths, digitally manipulated instruments, octave-shifted guitars, and various other instruments such as the cello and piano, all accompanied by hypnotic percussion and entrancing melodies. Each song seems to take you on an emotional, infatuating ride. Critically acclaimed So Long, See You Tomorrow is definitely an album to check out, but for now let them entice you with this warm, feel-good track, “Luna,” and this group of creative artists will be sure to grab your hold. -Elise Conlin
Mint Royale (feat. Willem Dafoe)- Ring
Usually when we hear a monologue from Willem Dafoe it is a wily and grandiose explanation of his evil plot to an endangered hero. See: Spiderman, Boondock Saints, Finding Nemo, anything else that he is in. But, in this new Mint Royale song, he uses his powers for good. In the four minute monologue Dafoe inspires listeners to get out of our daily comforts, rattle our own cages, and find a sense of self. Mint Royale offers a bed of rising strings that culminates in a harmonic chorus of DJ manipulation. Let it in. The song is available now as a single on iTunes. -Justin Barney
John Talabot - So Will Be Now... (feat. Pional)
John Talabot's new album Fin has been on repeat on my stereo. Not really the sort of stuff we'd ever play on the radio but an awesome album nonetheless. A modern excursion into the balearic house sound popular in the 80's, Talabot works it with the right touch of nostalgia while keeping things fresh. This is an album of mostly instrumentals; swampy, tropical grooves cascade in pulsating rhythms that unobtrusively creep into your consciousness till you get that realization that what you're hearing is quite dope. – Marcus Doucette
Schoolboy Q (feat. Raekwon)- Blind Threats
Schoolboy Q’s Oxymoron is less than 5 days away. If this album couldn’t get any more hype surrounding it, Q decided to leak a jazz-infused noir themed track this past week featuring Wu Tang member Raekwon. This track not only bridges the gap between the “old school” and the “new school” but it also brings back that original “boom bap” sound without looking like it was trying to bring back the “boom bap” sound like so many other newer artists have attempted. Check out the song below and look out for the album this Tuesday! -Jake Kestly