[tps_header]Top 5 Best New Music Releases For April 2014.[/tps_header]

April 2014 is not officially over yet but that doesn’t stop us from listing the best new music releases of the month, which was packed with good music and a few surprises. Here at The Young Folks we have some hard work to do: write reviews and recommendations for you. But there’s just so much to read, listen and watch out there we still sometimes can’t cover it all. That’s why, besides full-length reviews for selected albums, I’m starting this feature with the top 5 best new music releases for the month. In future editions, I will also be asking for the collaboration of fellow writers so that genres and opinions on what are the best music releases are varied.

Let’s get started taking a look at the April 2014 Top 5 best new music releases…
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[tps_title]5. Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s – Slingshot To Heaven[/tps_title]

Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s‘s lastest album is a bit dull and as most artists have been doing lately, it goes back to the core of their original style in a certain way. However, the soft melodies presented in the band’s fifth studio album will not satisfy people who were into some of their past, more trippy tracks (ex.: A Children’s Crusade On Acid from their second release which arguably has been their best). It’s hard to talk about a band that has a defined style and are on their fifth release; you have to compare their work with previous releases and expect the latest to be their greatest but at the same time you expect the band to evolve in their own style. “Slingshot To Heaven” does both, but halfway.

[tps_title]4. Lykke Li – I Never Learn[/tps_title]

“I Never Learn” is the third studio album by talented artist Lykke Li. It cheats into our list because the official release for the Swedish singer’s album is May 5th, 2014. It will feature previously released singles Love Me Like I’m Not Made Of Stone, No Rest For the Wicked and Gunshot. Speaking to NME, Lykke Li said that she sees her albums as being part of a trilogy of “the intense period of being a woman in her 20s”. She declares that she has found her own voice too, and it’s easy to hear that, in the sounds of this third album which, according to her own metaphor,  sounds more mature. Her voice is as melodic as we’ve accustomed and it does sound much more dramatic in contrast to her first release. If maturity is her roadmap, I really have faith that, with her otherworldly voice, she won’t pull a Nelly Furtado on us.

[tps_title]3. FM Belfast – Brighter Days[/tps_title]

FM Belfast, the electronic band from Reykjavík, Iceland formed in late 2005, present their third or fourth (depends on how you count them) album “Brighter Days”. The band hasn’t changed their style much from past releases and that could actually be a good thing especially for first-time listeners who will find FM Belfast’s sound refreshing. However sadly, some of their tracks now do feel a bit toned down and generic compared to the band’s original creative efforts, something partially similar to what happened to Architecture In Helsinki with their latest album. Although in the case of FM Belfast, it isn’t even half as bad actually. FM Belfast makes a lot of use of very subtle out-of-tone vocals which make their songs sound ridiculously fun essentially; something done too by somewhat similar artists like We Have Band or even Fol Chen. The title song for the album is extremely catchy; so fun that if you get into it, you’ll be dancing and singing along the predictable lyrics before your first listen is over, and once you get hooked on the opening title track, the rest of the album will forcefully grow on you with few more listens.

[tps_title]2. Damon Albarn – Everyday Robots[/tps_title]

Gorillaz and Blur frontman, Damon Albarn goes solo for the first time with his 2014 release “Everyday Robots” and not surprisingly it sounds a lot like his previous projects. His solo album is good and mellow, and it sounds closer to the softer songs from Gorillaz than to what it does to Blur. It sounds like Gorillaz to the core, Damon’s voice and some softly orchestrated instruments and mild electronic beats. But will this stripped down and hip-hop-less version of Gorillaz satisfy you? The answer is yes but mostly if you’re a fan of artists that are really more similar to Damon’s own style than his own projects, artists like Beck.

[tps_title]1. tUnE-yArDs – Nikki Nack[/tps_title]

Tune-Yards has always had very stylized sounds that are highly experimental without going over the line as bands like Battles. Actually, Tune-Yards flirts with the line of “too much” but never kisses it. The freak folk style softens the experimental and electronic sounds, making Tune-Yards’s latest album loaded with auditory decorations that never really make you feel tired of them. Tune-Yards has always been Merill Garbus’s own colorful and edgy painting with sound. The beats are catchy and you can expect lots of whoo-ah!’s.

That’s it! Those were the Top 5 best releases of April 2014.

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We promise to stop the cheating and include only albums officially released within the month in our next issue for the Top 5 Best New Music Releases in May 2014.

Do you agree or disagree with these picks? Was your favorite album released in April not included in the list?

Speak up in the comments section below.

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