Dig These Discs :: Tori Amos, Derek Bishop, Alison Wonderland, Matt & Kim, Greg Holden

Tori Amos releases digitally remastered versions of her excellent first and second albums. Openly gay singer-songwriter Derek Bishop tells stories through 10 synth-laden tracks. Brooklyn's indie dance duo Matt and Kim release their full-length album "New Glow," an undeniably catchy album full of beat-driven anthems. Australian DJ Alison Wonderland drops her anticipated full-length debut album "Run." And New York-based Greg Holden drops his major label debut, "Chase the Sun," writing many of the songs himself. It's April; time to spring into Dig These Discs!

"Under the Pink: Deluxe Edition"/ "Little Earthquakes: Deluxe Edition" (Tori Amos)

Transport yourself back to your college dorm room, pinning buttons on your jean jacket in preparation for a Take Back the Night march. That's how the re-release of Tori Amos' first and second albums "Under the Pink" and "Little Earthquakes" will make you feel. Amos has described her first album as a diary, and her second as a painting. Listening to the digitally remastered versions of tracks from both albums will bring you right back into her world, where she brought your fears and dreams to light with her crystal bell of a voice. Amos touched us all with her haunting melodies and brutally honest lyrics. "Under the Pink" starts out, "Tears on the sleeve of a man, don't wanna be a boy today/ Heard the eternal footman, bought himself a bike to race." It doesn't take much more to be transported, as Amos churls through tunes like, the tumultuous track "God." She eases the scalpel under the skin in torturously beautiful tracks like "Bells for Her" and "Past the Mission." "Make me whole again," she begs in "Baker Baker." She captures the Weimar circus vibe in "The Wrong Band," and vents her workplace frustrations out in "The Waitress," singing of a woman she wants to kill dead, before raging, "but I believe in peace, bitch!" She blows the roof off the house with her hit, "Cornflake Girl," every indie-minded teen from the '90s anthem, with the enigmatic ending lyrics, "Rabbit, where'd you put the keys, girl?" The piano on "Icicle" is amazing, and thunders with intensity in tracks like "Cloud On My Tongue." Songs like "Space Dog" and "Yes Anastasia" seem like they sprung from the manic mind of a crazy person. "Sister Janet" finds her "with a demon and an Englishman." And in "Honey" she sings, "Skip to Lou my darling." Overthinking Amos' lyrics will make you lose your mind. But new cuts like the CJ Bolland Remix of "God" are very cool. You'll have to wring yourself out by the time you reach the "Little Earthquakes" album. All your favorites are there, from the hit singles "Crucify," with lyrics like, "Got a bowling bowl in my stomach, got a desert in my mouth/ figures that my courage would choose to sell out now"; to "Girl" that has Amos singing, "she's been everybody else's girl, maybe one day she'll be her own." You'll cry over "Silent All These Years" when she sings about, "what if I'm a mermaid in those jeans of his with her name still on it." She'll have you on tenterhooks as you listen to "Precious Things" and the whisper-thin, "Winter." Her voice soars on tracks like "China" and "Leather." "Here now don't cry, you raised your hand for the assignment/ tuck your ribbons under your helmet and be a good soldier," she sings in "Mother." The two years between her first and second album allowed something even more profoundly touching to imbue Amos. You'll forget how much you loved singing along to songs like "Tear In Your Hand." Her a cappella "Me and a Gun" will make goosebumps rise, and you'll be ripped into pieces by "Little Earthquakes." The albums are paired with a disc of rare B-sides and bonus tracks, plus the live version of "Winter" from the "Past the Mission" single. All told, you have nearly 60 tracks to work with. So head back to the early '90s, and bring that melancholy ache back to life.
(Rhino)

"Bicycling in Quicksand" (Derek Bishop)

Gay singer-songwriter Derek Bishop brings the '60s and '70s sound alive with his sophomore album "Bicycling in Quicksand." Through 10 synth-laden tracks, he shares personal stories and pairs them with danceable beats. His new wave style has critics comparing his sound to the Pet Shop Boys. The album features Luis Illades of Pansy Division on drums, Emily Panic of Foxygen on bass and producer Jay Braun on guitar. He starts out with a disco flourish opening "Backburning," and seizes a funky lo-fi sound. "Automatic" has fun Casio keyboard flourishes and a '60s vibe. "Shutting Down" has the feel of an old ABBA track, and "Number Ten" has some funky old-style sound effects. The title track is a fast-moving but charming number, with the callout, "I just wanna hold your hand." There's an urgency to "Baggage" and "Taffy" is a fast-moving sound with an upbeat, that has Bishop "pulled in all directions." "Turn Around" has strains of Leonard Cohan in it, and "Red Flags" is an intense song about failing to pick up on cues. He finishes up with "Toesmashers," a tune about being brave. The songs and the album cover are expressions of Bishop's emotions. "I find music to be an extremely visual thing, so I've paid just as much attention to the photos, videos and packaging of my albums as to the musical instruments we played and the style of music," writes Bishop. Catch the funny photo of Bishop balancing atop a wheel holding an umbrella for proof.
(Perryville Records)

"New Glow" (Matt and Kim)

Brooklyn's indie dance duo Matt and Kim release their full-length album "New Glow," an undeniably catchy album full of beat-driven anthems with hooks that just don't stop and just won't leave your head. The performance video for their single, "Get It" is catching eyes across the Interwebs. Matt Johnson, who plays vocals and keyboards, and Kim Schifini, who plays drums, met at Pratt Institute, a stone's throw from this critic's co-op, and their work has already taken them to festivals including Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Coachella, Firefly, Summerfest, Big Day Out, Fuji, V, Pukkelpop and Ultra. "Anyone who has seen us knows we love any style of music you can have fun and get wild to," write the artists. "I'm not sure we were able to put that diversity on any of our albums the way we did on 'New Glow.' While there are definitely songs that will feel familiar to people who know our stuff, there are also songs like 'Get It,' which have always been part of who we are but went unrecorded to this point." The album opens with a flourish of brass for "Hey Now," with Matt singing, "Sometimes you just make me lose my mind/ but if you died I'd die right by your side." They blend distortion with dubstep drums in "Stirred Up" and tinny keyboards add a lo-fi sound to "Can You Blame Me." You'll chuckle at their tune "Hoodie On," in which Matt sings about looking like a king with his hoodie on. "Let's make a mess because we've been clean too long," Matt sings in "Make a Mess," with it's wonky sound. "Today we'll go down in a blaze of glory," sings Matt, as Kim croons, "The world is ending, we'll run away together," in "World Is Ending." The quirky keyboards in "Get It" help tell the story of a late-night party session. The auto-tune quality of "Not Alone" makes you a little seasick, but the clap tracks help stabilize it. "I missed all your calls and your texts, too, but don't worry, I see you," Matt croons in the tongue-in-cheek cut, "I See Ya." A lot of their unique sound feels like it comes from that quirky keyboard you blow into, the Melodica. Matt and Kim kick off their Spring 2015 tour in Norfolk, VA, and head across the country to Texas, Arizona, California, Utah and Colorado before heading back to the East Coast.
(Harvest Records)

"Run" (Alison Wonderland)

Australian DJ Alison Wonderland drops her anticipated full-length debut album "Run," and no less than Diplo himself has dubbed her, "one of the best DJs from Australia." As a bonus, she has added three tracks: "Cold," "I Want U" and "U Don't Know," a drum-clap infused track featuring call-and-response with The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne. And that's just the first of many guest collaborators, among them Djemba Djemba, known for his work with Diplo's Mad Decent label. She also welcomes New York rapper Johnny Nelson, SAFIA's Ben Woolner, Alexander Burnett and BRAVE. The album is the follow-up to her 2014 debut EP "Calm Down," which showcased Wonderland's heavenly soprano and love for heavy bass. The album runs the gamut from electronica, future beats, trap, and dancehall to classical and pop music. And not only did she co-produce, but Wonderland also sings on almost every track of "Run." A labor of love, what you can hear and feel when you play it, is Wonderland's dedication and very real inability to sit still. "I always feel like I'm never satisfied," she said. "When I get to a certain place, I'm still not content. It's really about pushing yourself." She kicks things off with a trippy electronica intro and the title track, singing, "I needed you another way." Give it to me I can hold my own, Wonderland challenges in "U Don't Know." The chorus of female voices in "Take It To Reality" makes it sound like a Madonna cut. "It's always easy to say you love me when I'm naked," she sings in "Naked," right before building up to the drop and a dubstep echo. A marching band drum break intros "Carry On" and synthetic drums intro "Ignore." "Games," with its herky-jerky beat, sounds a bit like a Sia track. The poppy "Back It Up" could be by Charli XCX, and "Cold" has the beat of a Rihanna tune. Male vocals add a nice contrast in "Already Gone." Wonderland made her American debut at Coachella, followed by her first North American tour hitting New York, Chicago, Miami, Seattle and Toronto.
(Astralwerks)

"Chase the Sun" (Greg Holden)

Born in Scotland and raised in England, the New York-based Greg Holden drops his major label debut, "Chase the Sun." Produced by Greg Wells (Adele, OneRepublic), with songs Holden wrote either on his own, or with co-writers Tofer Brown, Richard Harris, Garrison Starr and Ace Enders, the music sounds modern, yet timeless. With a back-to-basics approach, it brims with tough, vibrant energy that thoroughly showcases Holden's lean, literate songwriting. Holden said that much of the album was inspired by a life-changing seven-week trip to India and Nepal, writing, "I saw a lot of poverty in India. It was devastating, but incredibly inspiring. I came back home with such a different view on life." Upon his return, Holden began to write the songs that appear on "Chase The Sun," including the first single, "Hold On Tight," which contains the lyrics, "I don't take my life for granted /?I'm gonna hold on tight to what I've been handed." The vibe is very au courant, like anthems by those busker bands. "Nothing good is ever easy," he sings in the freewheeling cut "Save Yourself." He puts the "whoo-hoo whoo-hooas" to good work in "Bulletproof" and "Free Again." He looks at materialism in tracks like "Give It Away" and turns to sarcasm in "Wonderful World," which features an excellent drum patter over dour lyrics about how we're killing this wonderful world we're living in. His countrified tune, "The Next Life" begins with him on the floor, a bullet hole in his chest singing, "Darling don't cry, I'll still be falling for you so find me in the next life." The title track is about that feeling of being left behind, a melancholy tune about needs and hopes. And his heartbreaking tune "Boys in the Street," about a father's lack of understanding about his son's sexuality, was originally written for a compilation being released by the LGBT organization Everyone is Gay. "I want people to listen to this album and think, 'Where the hell did this come from?'" Holden says. "I would love them to really pay attention to the words in these songs. I'm hoping that if they do, they will have some kind of meaningful reaction. That's what I would love."
(Warner Bros. Records)