Freaky Friday Freeview: Air + Royal Baths

I'm starting a new feature cleverly titled as 'Freaky Friday Freeview' reviewing my favourite new releases. Hope you like!

This week's albums are: Air - Le Voyage dans la Lune and Royal Baths - Better Luck Next Life.

AIR
Le Voyage dans la Lune
[Virgin]

Air's seventh album, Le Voyage dans la Lune (translated as "A Trip to the Moon"), takes its title and inspiration from George Melies' 1902 film of the same name -- the first ever science fiction movie. Loosely conceived as a soundtrack to this more than century-old cinematic masterpiece, the album is a journey through space fueled by Air's retro-futuristic synths and unmistakable vintage cool. The voyage begins with the drum-heavy opener, "Astronomic Club," and follows with "Seven Stars," a track featuring hauntingly deep vocals from Beach House's Victoria Legrand. Elsewhere, highlights like "Moon Fever" could easily have been an accompaniment to Carl Sagan's Cosmos, while "Sonic Armada" is a nice groovy slice of instrumental space-funk. Au Revoire Simone also make a guest appearance on "Who Am I Now?" offering a bit of French girl-pop to the cosmic soup, and not too long after we're returned safely back to Earth and tucked into bed by a psych jam session entitled "Lava." For an extra few dollars you can pick up the version of the album that includes a bonus DVD featuring the restored film, so why not get your hands on that one -- your ears and eyes will thank you.

Have a listen to Astronomic Club and Sonic Armada

ROYAL BATHS
Better Luck Next Life
[Kanine]

In 2010, Royal Baths' Litanies mesmerized me; the duo's gloomy blues-psych sound has a tendency to drag you into a deep, dark rabbit hole, fill your head with odd thoughts, and leave you wanting more. Two years later, the group has since moved from the Bay Area to Brooklyn and are back with a sophomore album, Better Luck Next Life. Perhaps a reflection of their new home, there are some strong Velvet Underground influences showing up here, and along with cleaning up the murky production a bit, they've also scrubbed away some of their pop hooks, skewing even darker on this record. Royal Baths have established a technique of combining sprawling guitar solos and lethargic, blues-like call-and-response vocals into something you could call psych-rock garage. Lyrically, they slap you in the face with constant topics of violence and damaged girls, and through their dark sense of humor, they admit that they're bad, bad people -- and Royal Baths are quite good at it. No doubt fans of Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall will want to check these guys out.

Have a listen to Darling Divine and Black Sheep

For more of this week's releases check out Other Music update.