Free Range Music: Kaki King, Matthew Friedberger

>> While the AOL Music pre-release album streams this week were pretty anemic as far as hot indie content goes, we were very favorably impressed by the new Kaki King record. We'd seen Ms. King perform on Letterman earlier this year [YouTube link] and had read with great interest John Darnielle's accolades at Last Plane To Jakarta and we were eager to hear what was sure to be another excellent John McEntire album production. But we just weren't certain if King's third long-player would be too "jazzy" or too "NPR-y" for us. There are shades of both of those things, and we'd be particularly worried if we were Bill Frisell, because King has proven herself a player to be reckoned with. But at the same time ...Until We Felt Red mines the more experimental, hypnotic and electronic territory worked by Argentinian electro-acoustic star Juana Molina. You need to hear this record. And you know what would be awesome -- Kaki King playing with The Books.

Kaki King -- ...Until We Felt Red -- Velour Recordings

>> BBC's Collective has a feature up right here about former Dambuilders and current Antony and The Johnsons violinist Joan Wasser's Joan As Policewoman project. In one interview segment Ms. Wasser notes an affinity for Bad Brains and soul music and says both has had an effect on her music. Check out two live cuts and three tracks from her current set Real Life, released this week on Reveal (at least in the U.K.). We're not as crazy about Joan As Policewoman as we are about The Dambuilders, but then that's true of most things.

>> If you aren't certain the new Matthew Freidberger records are for you, check out the streams of the Fiery Furnaces co-fronter's new sets right here. Winter Women is full of orchestrated pop that sounds pretty Pet Sounds-ish and Abbey Road-ish, in a good way. We actually weren't thinking we'd be into this, but we have to say we are. Good on ye, Friedberger. Holy Ghost Language School, as has been widely reported, seems more willfully odd, but it does have its charms. We particularly like the rough production and big beat of "Seventh Loop Highway." Definitely check these records out; they are no Blueberry Boat (thank God).