THE LEG UP / Stephen M. Deusner

Because every little tidbit helps.

Hello, and welcome. We at BLURT figure that, after leaks, we get a couple days’ jump on new music—and why not pass that on to our readers? Each week, I’ll dig up the good stuff and give you a leg up on hipster cool. You know, ‘cause because every little bit helps. Check back throughout the week for reports on upcoming releases, chart updates and a retroactive leg up on albums you may have missed.

We Vs. the Shark: Dirty Versions (Hello Sir, July 1)

We Vs. the Shark live, work and record in Athens, but they look northward to the nation’s capital, taking inspiration from pretty much the entire Dischord roster as well as the usual DC acts like The Dismemberment Plan and Q and Not U. Their aptly titled second album is all momentum: Songs careen headlong into choruses, then veer sharply and messily across emphatic guitars and barked vocals before breaking into abrupt shout-outs or jams, as if Peter Falk were behind them yelling “Serpentine!” To capture the energy of their live shows, the band recorded the album in two short days, presumably with the volume set to ear-bleeding. I got $50 on We.

On repeat: “I Am the Contempt Machine”

Brazilian Girls: New York City (Verve Forecast, July 29)

Neither of the words in this band’s name is quite accurate. There’s only one woman in the band, and she’s not Brazilian, but a Franco-Italian-Austrian who lives in America (guess where). As usual, their third album is a studiously global affair, drafting Senegalese vocalist Baaba Maal for “Internacional” and singing every song in a different language. On “Ricardo” and “Good Time” this polyglot aesthetic sounds like an end in itself, but at least New York City brings back some of the Eurotrash decadence missing on their previous album, Talk to La Bomb.

On repeat: “St. Petersburg”

Wire: Object 47 (Pink Flag, July 15)

The title of Wire’s eleventh album—their first since 2003’s Send—suggests some angular, nonrepresentational piece of AbEx sculpture, the kind that rejects all attempts to name it anything other than what it is. Which is more or less the case. Object 47 is Wire’s 47th release, counting albums, EPs, and compilations. That means it comes with context intact: Even as the band work not to retread well-trod ground, these songs feature the same sociopolitical songwriting and tense interplay between drums and guitars as on previous albums. That’s a good thing. So are Page Hamilton’s (Helmet) blasts of feedback on closer “All Fours.”

On repeat: “Hard Currency”

Nico Muhly: Mothertongue (Brassland, July 22)

You may have already heard composer Nico Muhly this year on All Is Well, Samamidon’s lovely reimaginings of immigrant folk songs. (If you haven’t, you should.) Mothertongue, Muhly’s second album and first for Brassland (run by members of the National), is divided into three acts. First, Glassy Mothertongue features mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer delivering a litany of barely intelligible voices—the aural equivalent of that green Matrix coding. The Wonders suite sets passages from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville to melody, dismantling the tune as it proceeds. Amidon shows up on the Only Tune suite, relating a murderous tale against Muhly’s refractive backdrop. Sure, it’s highly conceptual, but there are enough odd sounds and strange textures to make it accessible even to those who don’t usually venture into composer territory.

On repeat: “Wonders: I. New Things & New Tidings”

Stephen M. Deusner is a freelance music journalist based in Washington, DC. Don't ask him about Norwegian pop or house rabbits, unless you have a few hours.