Twenty-five years in, New York indie-rock greats Yeah Yeah Yeahs deliver an unprecedented live work. Recorded at London's Royal Albert Hall with Jherek Bischoff arranging strings, piano and double bass, it reshapes their wild rock energy into something elegant and intimate. Career highlights from 'Maps,' 'Gold Lion' and 'Zero' through to the recent 'Spitting Off the Edge of the World' are all reimagined, revealing the deepest fragility in Karen O's voice.
The most romantic dig of Jagjaguwar's 30th anniversary: a near-30-year-old cult gem getting its first proper vinyl pressing. This self-titled debut by the band then called South (now South 1998) was hailed as the label's most ECM-like dream object — Pat Metheny-clean chord work and Steve Reich-style minimalist layering, hammered dulcimer and vibraphone drifting over hushed vocals and steady drums. It carries the post-rock soul of Tortoise and The Sea & Cake while eerily foreshadowing today's hazy sounds of ML Buch and Chanel Beads.