Joint Album of the Week: Madeline Kenney and Phosphorescent

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Joint Album of the Week: Madeline Kenney and Phosphorescent

Perfect Shapes Out Now via Carpark and C'est La Vie Out Now via Dead Oceans

Oct 05, 2018 By Christopher Roberts Adrianne Lenker

This week we have a tie for Album of the Week, with both Madeline Kenney‘s Perfect Shapes and Phosphorescent‘s C’est La Vie taking the top spot. Below is info on both albums.

Madeline Kenney: Perfect Shapes (Carpark)

Madeline Kenney released her sophomore album, Perfect Shapes, today via Carpark. Previously Kenney shared a video for Perfect Shapes’ first single, “Cut Me Off” (which was our #1 Song of the Week), as well as a creepy self-directed video for another new song from the album, “Overhead” (which was also one of our Songs of the Week), a lyric video for “Bad Idea” (which made our Songs of the Week list as well), and the audio for “Perfect Shapes.”

Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak and Flock of Dimes produced the album, apart from “Overhead,” which was produced by Ben Sloan instead of Wasner.

Kenney only just released her debut album, Night Night at the First Landing, in September 2017 via Company. Toro Y Moi’s Chaz Bear produced that album. Back in January she shared a brand new song, “Still Learning,” which featured Naytronix (aka Nate Brenner of Tune-Yards) and is not on the new album.

Perfect Shapes was recorded in Durham, NC in January 2018, just five months after the release of her debut album. This is Wasner’s first time producing another artist’s work.

Wasner had this to say about Kenney and the album in a previous press release: “The first time I heard the songs that would come together to form Madeline Kenney’s Perfect Shapes, I understood what it felt like to really have a piece of art speak directly to you…hearing her words felt like someone whispering in my ear the contents of my own mind. This was my first time producing music other than my own, and it was one of the only times I’ve ever experienced working exclusively with women. And it was a creative experience unlike any I’ve ever had.”

Today we posted a guest article from Kenney, where she wrote about one of her favorite underrated albums, Paul Simon’s 1980 album One-Trick Pony.

Read our 2017 Pleased to Meet You interview with Madeline Kenney.

Read our 2017 Artist Survey interview with Madeline Kenney.

Madeline Kenney Tour Dates:

10/15/18 - Santa Cruz, CA @ The Crepe Place^
10/18/18 - San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Shop*
10/20/18 - Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge^
10/21/18 - San Diego, CA @ Che Cafe^
11/1/18 - New York, NY @ Baby’s All Right
11/2/18 - Lancaster, PA @ Tellus 360
11/3/18 - Washington, D.C. @ Songbyrd
11/4/18 - Philadelphia, PA @ Philamoca
11/6/18 - Toronto, ON @ Monarch
11/7/18 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern
11/8/18 - Cincinnati, OH @ MOTR Pub
11/9/18 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas
11/11/18 - Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who?
11/13/18 - Brighton, UK @ Green Door Store
11/14/18 - Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade Bristol
11/15/18 - London, UK @ Sebright Arms
11/16/18 - Paris, FR @ Petit Bain
11/17/18 - Graz, AT @ Autumn Leaves
11/18/18 - Berlin, DE @ Monarch
11/20/18 - Brussels, BE @ Botanique Witloof Bar

^w/ Rose Droll
*w/ Sandy’s, Boy Scouts

www.madelinekenney.bandcamp.com

www.perfectshapes.club

Phosphorescent: C’est La Vie (Dead Oceans)

Phosphorescent (aka Matthew Houck) released a new album, C’est La Vie, today via Dead Oceans.

Read our review of C’est La Vie here.

Previously Phosphorescent shared the album’s first two singles, “New Birth in New England” (which was one of our Songs of the Week), “Christmas Down Under” (which was also one of our Songs of the Week), and almost title track “C’est La Vie No. 2.” Then he stopped by The Late Late Show with James Corden to perform “New Birth in New England.”

Pick up Under the Radar’s current print issue (Issue 64) to read our exclusive joint interview between Phosphorescent and Ethan Hawke.

Phosphorescent’s last album was 2013’s Muchacho. In the five years since, Houck fell in love, had kids, and moved from New York to Nashville. Once there he built is own studio from scratch, Spirit Sounds Studio. C’est La Vie was recorded there and was produced by Houck. Houck mixed the album with Vance Powell (Jack White, Chris Stapleton, Arctic Monkeys).

A previous press release described the album as such: “With a focus on translating these profound experiences to music as intuitively as he could, Houck pushes the boundaries of what a Phosphorescent record can sound like, balancing the earthy and the incandescent, the troubled and the serene, creating his own musical cosmos in the process.”

Phosphorescent Tour Dates:

10/14 Stockholm - Berns
10/15 Oslo - Rockefeller
10/16 Gothenburg - Pustervik
10/17 Copenhagen - Vega
10/19 Hamburg - Nochtspeicher
10/20 Berlin - Frannz
10/22 Paris - La Maroquinerie
10/23 Brussels - Autumn Fall at Botanique
10/24 Amsterdam - Paradiso Noord
10 26 Liverpool - Grand Central Hall
10/27 Dublin - Tivoli
10/28 Leeds - Brudenell
10/30 London - Shepherd Bush Empire
11/08 New Orleans, LA- One Eyed Jacks *
11/09 Austin, TX - Emo’s *
11/10 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater *
11/12 Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom *
11/14 Santa Ana, CA - Observatory OC *
11/15 Los Angeles, CA - Belasco Theatre *
11/17 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore *
11/21 Seattle, WA - Neptune *
11/24 Denver, CO - The Oriental Theatre *
11/26 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theater *
11/27 St Louis , MO - The Ready Room *
11/29 Madison, WI - Majestic Theatre *
11/30 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre *
12/01 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue *
12/02 Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall Ballroom *
12/04 Detroit, MI - Saint Andrew’s Hall *
12/05 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall *
12/06 Toronto, ON - Mod Club *
12/07 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street *
12/08 Boston, MA - Royale *
12/11 DC - 9:30 Club *
12/13 Brooklyn, NY- Brooklyn Steel *
12/14 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of The Living Arts *

* = supported by Liz Cooper and The Stampede