STOP SMILING presents the weekly mp3 blog, in which we showcase one new release each Tuesday, along with a track from the album +++ This week’s record is Armonico Hewa by OOIOO (Thrill Jockey) +++ OOIOO is equal parts spasm and magic — the first record in three years from former Boredoms member Yoshimi and her three female counterparts exhibits their vast repertoire of sonic techniques that dazzle and delight; Armonico Hewa, the group’s sixth full-length, continues the group’s exploration of the simultaneous utterance, with layers of chants, rhythms and melodies falling like Tetris cubes into colorful synchronicity — it is a transcultural glimpse into the ecstatic future of pop +++ Audio – “O O I A H” by OOIOO. – Post by Nate Martin

STOP SMILING presents the weekly mp3 blog, in which we showcase one new release each Tuesday, along with a track from the album +++ This week’s record is Earthly Delights by Lightning Bolt (Load Records) +++ Earthly Delights is the first record from Lightning Bolt since 2005’s Hypermagic Mountain, and while the latter seemed to have lost a bit of the skull-splintering luster we’d come to expect from the creators of Wonderful Rainbow and Ride the Skies, the new album finds the bass-and-drum-destroying duo as exciting as ever, abiding by less spastic, maturer song structures — albeit with all the sweat and noise still at the forefront — affirming their place in contemporary music as the favorite straight-up rock band of Black Dice fans everywhere
+++ Audio – “Colossus” by Lightning Bolt. – Post by Nathan Martin

STOP SMILING presents the weekly mp3 blog, in which we showcase one new release each Tuesday, along with a track from the album +++ This week’s record is Si, Para Usted: The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba (Vol. 2), Various Artists (Waxing Deep) +++ Refuse the urge to compare this to Buena Vista Social Club — each song on Waxing Deep’s second installment from post-revolution Cuba is distinct, unraveling the story of creativity inspired by the contradiction of state endorsement and censorship; special attention to “Tremendo Tremendo” by Group Monumental reveals the ingenuity and resourcefulness; groovy horns and a thick funk bass dance smoothly alongside a genuine Cuban son montuno; a beautiful blend of inconsistencies.
+++ Audio – “Tremendo Tremendo” by Grupo Monumental. – Post by Kris Rios

STOP SMILING presents the weekly mp3 blog, in which we showcase one new release each Tuesday, along with a track from the album +++ This week’s record is Through the Devil Softly by Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (Nettwerk Music Group) +++ Sandoval, the Mazzy Star chanteuse, and My Bloody Valentine’s Colm O Ciosoig played Chicago last night and will tour various cities with Ireland’s Dirt Blue Gene through October 22nd — The album, their first since Bavarian Fruit Bread in 2001, was released on September 29th +++ Audio – “Trouble” by Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions. – Post by JC Gabel