Modern Vampire Weekend

Mixing well-read indie rock with joyful, Afro-pop-inspired melodies and rhythms, Vampire Weekend grew from one of the first bands to be championed by music bloggers into a chart-topping, Grammy Award-winning act that helped define the sound of indie music in the late 2000s and 2010s. After establishing the foundations of their bright, intricate style with 2008's Vampire Weekend, the band soon became hugely successful; they're the first indie rock act to have two consecutive albums (2010's Contra and 2013's Modern Vampires of the City) enter the Billboard 200 at number one. With each release, Vampire Weekend's music grew more diverse, incorporating ska, hip-hop, and '80s pop influences that nevertheless complemented their signature style. Similarly, the band weathered the loss of founding member Rostam Batmanglij to deliver some of their most polished and ambitious work with 2019's Father of the Bride, their third chart-topper.

Father of the Bride is the upcoming fourth studio album by American indie rock band Vampire Weekend. It will be released on May 3, 2019 by Columbia Records, and is their first release on a major label. The album was preceded by three double singles: "Harmony Hall" / "2021", "Sunflower" / "Big Blue" and "This Life" / "Unbearably White". The album's release will mark the band's first project in nearly six years, following Modern Vampires of the City (2013), and the group's first album since multi-instrumentalist and producer Rostam Batmanglij's departure from the group. The album was primarily produced by Modern Vampires of the City collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid and lead singer Ezra Koenig, and features numerous external collaborators, including Danielle Haim, Steve Lacy, Dave Macklovitch of Chromeo. DJ Dahi, David Longstreth, BloodPop, Mark Ronson, and Batmanglij. The album is musically diverse, and heavily referential, contrasting dark and direct lyrics over a bright spring-time musical mood, with a stronger American influence than on the group's previous work.

Angelique Kidjo - Eve (2013) {429 Records FTN17968}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 303 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 106 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 18 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2013 429 Records / SLG | FTN 17968
World Music / Afro-Pop / Ethnic Jazz / Afro Soul / World Fusion

Eve is Beninese singer/songwriter Angélique Kidjo's first recording in nearly four years. Its title is inspired literally by her mother Yvonne's nickname, and metaphorically for the Judeo-Christian heritage's first woman. It is "dedicated to the women of Africa: to their resilience and their beauty." Produced by Patrick Dillett, the album was recorded in the U.S., France, Luxembourg, and Africa. The cast of musicians is stellar: Lionel Loueke and Dominic James on guitars, Steve Jordan on drums, Christian McBride on bass, and Jean Hébrail on programming and arrangements, plus a slew of percussionists and keyboardists and a horn section. Guests include Rostam Batmagli (Vampire Weekend), Dr. John, Bernie Worrell, Nigerian singer ASA, the Kronos Quartet, Steven Bernstein, Stuart Bogie, and, on the sweeping, nearly transcendent "Awalole," the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg.

Named after a coffee table book from fashion photographer Helmut Newton, White Women is an equally titillating, prose-free, and '80s-embracing effort from Canadian electro-pop duo Chromeo, who are hitting their stride when it comes to hooks, although they arguably stumble when it comes to cute. Case in point is a light electro lark called "Sexy Socialite," an easy singalong candidate if "I could be your boyfriend and your counselor" and other cringe-worthy bits didn't drive the track off the cheeky cliff, but this minor speed bump is overshadowed by 11 other cuts that could have come from a Prince side project launched during the fruitful Purple Rain era…