Since we’re well into the pre-Christmas fallow period for album releases, we’re doing something a wee bit different for our regular Monday roundup of records streaming for free via the web. For those wedded to the LP format, never fear — we’ve got new records by Guided by Voices, Jónsi, and Bear in Heaven (kind of) to stream in their entirety. But since they’re about all that’s out there this week, we’ve also included a couple of noteworthy new singles that are available for your Internet listening pleasure. All this awaits you after the jump.
Guided by Voices — Let’s Go Eat the Factory
Forty-two minutes, 21 songs… The Ramones would be proud of Let’s Go Eat the Factory, the new record by the renascent Guided by Voices. This is the first album since the band reunited in 2010, and the first to feature prodigal guitarist Tobin Sprout since 1996’s Tonics and Twisted Chasers. Fans will no doubt be all over this already, but even casual GBV appreciators like us will find plenty to like about the record, which is streaming via NPR all week. Click here to listen.
Bear in Heaven — I Love You, It’s Cool
And now for something completely different. Pitchfork-approved Brooklyn psych-pop types Bear in Heaven have a new record called I Love You, It’s Cool out next April. The band are streaming the album this week, way ahead of its release, but with a catch: the audio has been slowed down to about 1/400,00th of its proper speed, so the stream lasts for four months (concluding just in time for the album release proper). But here’s the thing: the result is some rather cool drone sounds, and being as we were never huge fans of the band to begin with, we have to say that we rather prefer listening to Bear in Heaven like this. What do you make of it, gentle readers?
Jónsi — We Bought a Zoo
The Sigur Rós-deprived amongst us can now console themselves with the arrival of Jónsi’s soundtrack to the dire-looking new Cameron Crowe film We Bought a Zoo (it’s about Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson, um, buying a zoo). The soundtrack has all the understated spectral beauty you’d expect from the Sigur Rós main man, and it’s streaming right now via Rolling Stone. Click to listen.
Buck Satan — Bikers Welcome! Ladies Drink Free
Buck Satan is the country music alter ego of Ministry singer Al Jourgenson. We’ll just let that sink in for a moment, and then let you know that, as if the whole idea of industrial metal’s most notorious frontman doing country songs isn’t improbable enough, the album’s also quite good — lovers of psychobilly and manic country music will probably enjoy this immensely. There are two songs streaming via Roadrunner’s Blabbermouth site — click here to listen.
School of Seven Bells — “The Night”
School of Seven Bells lost a Deheza sister in 2010, but carried on regardless, and their first album as a duo — a concept record called Ghostory — is due out next year. Despite the fact it’s apparently meant to be “more rock ‘n’ roll,” first single “The Night” is the sort of lightweight airbrushed shoegaze-y track that could have walked straight off either of their first records. Listen here.