Rather than slogging through a lake of reviews to find something you’re just going to put down after 10 minutes, Cult of Mac has once again waded through the iTunes store to compile a list of the best new albums, books and movies to come out this week.
Enjoy!
Albums
Angel Olsen – Burn Your Fire for No Witness
For her second LP, Missouri-native Angel Olsen mixes strummed acoustic guitar with lo-fi garage-rock for a blend that’s both creative, personal and fun. Burn Your Fire for No Witness has already received rave reviews from critics, and with jolly tracks about being lonely like “Hi-Five” it’s not hard to see Olsen’s talent.
iTunes – $9.99
Phantogram – Voices
Some bands just have a knack for making music that’s perfect for insomniacs. Phantogram is one of them and their latest LP has 11 dark tracks dancing with an electric energy. Voices is probably the duo’s most complete work, feeling thematically more consistent than Eyelid Movies, while still offering cinematic synthesized vibe that keeps you nodding along.
iTunes – $7.99
Marissa Nadler – July
While Angel Olsen is getting a lot of hype this month for her second album, Marissa Nadler would like to remind everyone that she’s been playing the folksie introspective singer/songwriter role for more than a decade now. Her previous five albums weren’t commercial successes and while her sixth album, July, won’t likely top the charts its her finest work yet as the singer uses slow-paced folk rock to sing about her emotional journeys.
iTunes – $9.99
Books
Young Money: Inside the Hidden World of Wall Street’s Post-Crash Recruits
by Kevin Roose
The Wolf of Wall Street caused a ruckus when it shined a light on Wall Street’s greed in the 90’s but has the Recession damped its style at all? Kevin Roose’s book Young Money dives into the new Wall Street scene by following eight young brokers fresh out of college and into Wall Street, where they learn how to make obscene amounts of money– as well as how to dress, talk, date, drink, and schmooze like real financiers
iTunes – $12.99
Eliot Ness: The Rise and Fall of an American Hero
by Douglas Perry
In a time when gangsters were as famous as a Kardashian, the shy lawman Eliot Ness rose to fame for leading the Untouchables against Al Capone. The daring raids with the Prohibition Bureau squad have been immortalized by Kevin Costner, but Douglas Perry’s new book Eliot Ness: The Rise And Fall of an American Hero argues that Ness’s biggest achievement was his forgotten second act as public safety director of Clev;and. A role where he purged the city of corruption so deep the mob and the police were often one and the same
iTunes – $14.99
Annihilation
by Jeff VanderMeer
The worst thing about getting into a new trilogy is having to wait years for the next books to be published, but with Jeff VanderMeer’s new Southern Reach Trilogy, all three books will be available by September, with the first, Annihilation hitting shelves this week.
Set in Area X – a mysterious land reclaimed by nature that’s been closed for decades – Annihilation follows the 12th expedition group to enter Area X consisting of an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself
iTunes – $7.99
Movies
Nebraska
The Oscars are still a few weeks away, but one of 2013’s top pictures with 6 nominations, Nebraska, can finally be enjoyed from the comfort of your couch. Directed by Alexander Payne, the movie follows an aging, booze-addled father and his estranged son who make a trip from Montana to Nebraska to claim a million-dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize.
iTunes – $19.99
These Birds Walk
Unlike Nebraska, These Birds Walk won’t be all the rage at the Oscars, but it’s got a story that’s just as inspiring and brilliant as other nominees like Cutie and the Boxer. This indie documentary follows a young Pakistani runaway aided by a sympathetic ambulance driver in his quest to reunite with the orphanage he left.
iTunes – $12.99
Camp Takota
We all remember all the great times and magic of summer camp – unless you went to Camp Hope. Wouldn’t it be great to quit your job and go back to the days of papier-mâché projects and archery classes? That’s pretty much what Elise Miller does in Camp Takota when her personal and professional life fall in shambles. Even better, when she takes up a job at a counselor at her old summer camp she’s reunited with two estranged friends who attended camp and never left.
iTunes – $9.99
