Sunday, April 13, 2025

ThisSmallPlanet.com Cool New Music Spring 2025 (April, May, June)



Cool New Singles (with links to YouTube)


Alex Orange Drink. "Everything Is Broken"

The Beths."Metal".

Bright Eyes & Cursive. "Recluse I Don't Have To Love"

Brittany Howard. "Pale, Pale Moon". (from the "Sinners" soundtrack)

Dropkick Murphys. "Who Will Stand With Us" (Unreleased Live) & "Sirens"

Fontaines D.C. "It's Amazing To Be Young" & "Before You I Just Forget" & "In Heaven"

The Hard Quartet. "Lies (Something You Can Do)" (feat Pavement's Stephen Malkmus)

Hurray For The Riff Raff. "Pyramid Scheme"

Juan Wauters. "If It's Not Luv"

Kinky Friedman. "Poet Of Motel 6"

Lana Del Rey. "Henry, Come On" & "Bluebird"

MJ Lenderman. "Dancing In The Club" (This Is Lorelei cover)

Manu Chao & Juliana Linhares. "Melo Do Bode" (Mestre Vieira cover)

The Minus 5. "Blow In My Bag" & "Let the Rope Hold, Cassie Lee"

The Molotovs. "More More More"

The New Pornographers. "Ballad Of The Last Payphone"

Peter Doherty. "The Day The Baron Died"

Pup. "Get Dumber" (feat Jeff Rosenstock)

Sparks. "Drowned In A Sea Of Tears"

St. Vincent. "DOA" (Death Of A Unicorn soundtrack)

Suzanne Vega. "Alley"

Ty Segall. "Fantastic Tomb"

Vicki Peterson & John Cowsill. "A Thousand Times" 

Wavves. "Goner"

Wet Leg. "Catch These Fists"

Cool New Albums


Bill Medley. Straight From The Heart. (The iconic vocalist from The Righteous Brothers

Bob Mould. Here We Go Crazy.

Butler, Blake And Grant. Butler, Blake And Grant. Three Britpop legends hook up.

Car Seat Headrest. The Scholars.

Elton John & Brandi Carlile. Who Believes In Angels?

Femi Kuti. Journey Through Life. Another classic from Nigerian musical royalty, Femi Kuti, the son of Fela Kuti, featuring fresh, vibrant re-workings of previously released songs.

Julien Baker & Torres. Send A Prayer My Way. Best damned singin' lesbian cowgirls out there.

Lucy Dacus. Forever Is A Feeling.

The Mars Volta. Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos Del VacĂ­o

Martha Wainwright. 6 Songs.

Sarah Mary Chadwick. Take Me Out To a Bar / What Am I, Gatsby?

Valerie June. Owls, Omens, and Oracles

Various Artists. Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young, Vol. 1. Fiona Apple, Eddie Vedder, Courtney Barnett, Steve Earle are amongst the good sports that have a go at some Neil Young classics with good results. They are great songs and some of them sound better than the original. Well, if not better, at least different. And cool.

Various Artists. Sinners (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). Trying to evoke the country blues of the 1930s for the film, the soundtrack boasts cool songs featuring Cedric Burnside, Rhiannon Giddens, Jerry Cantrell, Brittany Howard, and others.

The Waterboys. Life, Death And Dennis Hopper.

Youssou N'Dour. Eclairer Le Monde (Light The World). Senegal's finest.





Musical Notes


Brother and sister team Mathew Cartlidge and Issey Cartlidge make up The Molotovs, who are capturing a lot of attention in the UK and beyond with their electrifying retro take on rock. This is their debut single "More More More".

Saw Bob Mould perform with Husker Du at UCLA in 1984 and been a fan ever since. His new album rocks. Here he is doing one of the new songs on "The Tonight Show".

Fontaines D.C. just released a mash-up of their song "Starburster" with "In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)", written by the late, great filmmaker David Lynch for his 1977 film Eraserhead. 

Here's The Pixies deconstructing it in 1988 at a Peel Session:


Random & Reissued

The Beach Boys. "All I Wanna Do"

Jeff Bridges. Slow Magic, 1977-1978. The actor, best known as "The Big Lebowski", recorded this in 1977-1978 with some friends (including actor Burgess Meredith) and it's pretty good.

Sly & The Family Stone. Sly Lives! (AKA The Burden Of Black Genius). Mega-Classics.

Ted Lucas. Ted Lucas. Interesting folkish album from back in the day, rediscovered.

The Who. The Best Of & Greatest Hits Live Broadcast Collection. The Best.

Highly Anticipated Cool New Releases


Suzanne VegaFlying With Angels. May 2, 2025. She's a pro and she's back.

Peter Doherty. Felt Better Alive. [Strap Originals] May 16, 2025. A Libertine goes solo.

Lana Del Rey. The Right Person Will Stay. [Interscope] May 21, 2025. Love her.

Ty Segall. Possession. [Drag City] May 30, 2025. Can't keep a good man down.

Ben Kweller. Cover the Mirrors. [The Noise Company] May 30, 2025. Feat WaxahatcheeMJ Lenderman, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (AKA Superbad's McLovin).



You May Also Be Interested In:

ThisSmallPlanet.com Cool New Music Playlist January - February - March 2025

+ThisSmallPlanet.com Cool New Music Best of 2024: Top Twenty Albums, Singles & Re-Issues of The Year

+ThisSmallPlanet.com Cool New Music Winter Playlist: 2024 End of Year Wrap-Up (October, November & December releases)

+ThisSmallPlanet.com Cool New Music Fall Into Autumn Playlist (August - September - October 2024)

+ThisSmallPlanet.com Cool New Music Summer Playlist (June/July/August 2024)

+Steve Albini Memorial Playlist












Monday, January 13, 2025

ThisSmallPlanet.com Cool New Music Playlist January - February - March 2025



Cool New Singles (with links to YouTube)


Alex Orange Drink "Queen Victoria".(feat Conor Oberst) & "Everything Is Broken"

Alison Krauss & Union Station. "Looks Like The End of The Road"

Alpha Blondy feat Capleton. "Cold Fire"

Ben Kweller. "Optimystic" & "Dollar Store" (feat Waxahatchee)

Bob Mould. "Here We Go Crazy" & "Neanderthal" & "When Your Hear Is Broken".

Bonnie "Prince" Billy. "Downstream" & "London May" & "Turned To Dust (Rolling On)"

Courtney Barnett. "Lotta Love" (from Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young).

Dropkick Murphys. "Sirens". This came out as a stand-alone single five months ago. I missed it then, but am appreciating it now. Mucho. An important (and fun) band.

Flaira Ferro & Lenine. "Afeto Radical". Cool weirdness from Brazil.

Fountaines D.C. "It's Amazing To Be Young" BEST NEW SONG!

The Hard Quartet. "Lies (Something You Can Do)" & "Coreopsis Trail" feat Stephen Malkmus

Hurray For The Riff Raff. "Pyramid Scheme"

J Mascis. "Breathe". (The Cure cover).

Jake Xerxes Fussell. “Close My Eyes” (Arthur Russell cover)

jasmine.4.t. "Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation" feat Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus & Julien Baker.

Julien Baker & Torres. "Sylvia". & "Tuesday" & "Sugar In The Tank".

Manu Chao & Juliana Linhares. "Melo Do Bode"

Marianne Faithfull. "Burning Midnight".The Minus 5. "Blow In My Bag".

Peter Doherty. "Felt Better Alive". & "Calvados"Libertines/Babyshambles frontman solo.

Shaggy & Sting. "Til A Mawnin"

Sparks. "Do Things My Own Way". & "JanSport Backpack". The Brothers are back.

Suzanne Vega. "Speakers' Corner"

Throwing Muses. "Summer Of Love".

Ty Segall. "Fantastic Tomb".

Tyler, The Creator. "That Guy"

Valerie June. "Joy, Joy!"

Vienna Vienna. "God Save The Queens"

Waxahatchee. "Mud".



         
                     "A Complete Unknown" (Official Trailer) Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan.


Chalamet does Dylan on "Saturday Night Live": "Outlaw Blues", "Three Angels" & "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" (none of these songs are in the movie or on the soundtrack).


          Jack White at SNL 50th Anniversary: "Keep On Rockin' In The Free World"



Cool New Albums


Amadou & Mariam. La Vie Est Belle. Very nice.

Bartees Strange. Horror.

Bob Mould. Here We Go Crazy.


Bonnie "Prince" Billy. The Purple Bird. Best release of 2025 (so far).

Cedric Burnside. On Audiotree Live. These blues sound fresher, bolder, tougher, better than they do on the original album. 

Father John Misty. I Love You, Honeybear Demos, Etc. Listening to this and some recent live recordings made up warm up to this artist in a way I hadn't before.

Jason Isbell. Foxes In The Snow.

Joe Ely. Love And Freedom.

Jupiter & Okwess. Ekoya. Extraordinary singer Jupiter Bokondji from the DR Congo  shines here.

Larkin Poe. Bloom. Two sisters Americana.

The Lumineers. Automatic. 

The Mars VoltaLucro Sucio; Los Ojos Del VacĂ­o.

Mogwai. The Bad Fire. Mostly instrumental, powerful.

Patterson HoodExploding Trees & Airplane Screams. Drive-By Truckers co-founder solo joint

Peter Perrett. The Cleansing. This release from a British punk legend came out a few months ago but I'm giving it a fresh listen and liking it. Also listening to his old punk band The Only Ones debut album (1978).

Ringo Starr. Look Up. Ringo goes country? That's what they're saying...

The Rumjacks. Dead Anthems. Celtic punk. 

Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment TheorySharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory. 

Seu Jorge. Baile Ă  la Baiana. Brazilian artist known here for his covers of David Bowie songs on the soundtrack (he also appears as an actor) of Wes Anderson's 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

Taj Mahal & Keb Mo. Room On The Porch For Everyone.

Timothee Chalamet. A Complete Unknown (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). Chalamet does Dylan. Either you buy it or you don't. I'm a Dylan Superfan, and I think all the hoopla around the film is a great way to get a whole new generation of kids onto Dylan's music. Chalet has a good voice and does a good job. Shout out to Edward Norton too for a respectful tribute to Pete Seeger.

Tom Meighan. Roadrunner. Kicked out of Kasabian for domestic abuse, he's back with a solo album. His wife forgave him after he straightened out and I have too. Whether you do or not is up to you. But his new songs are worth listening to if you do.

Various Artists. Kneecap Original Soundtrack. The film, which is great, has a soundtrack that collects many of Kneecap's  formative, seminal singles which were not included on their debut album. A great showcase for the talents of the bilingual Irish/English rappers from West Belfast. The movie is a must-see for anyone interested in Irish and The North. It's a blast. Three cheers for Michael Fassbender (and Gerry Adams) for their roles in the fil-lum.

Wilco. Noisy Ghosts. Alternative takes from the re-issue of A Ghost Is Born.



MJ Lenderman – "Joker Lips" live on Jimmy Kimmel


                                                                  MJ Lenderman Tiny Desk

                                                                   Faye Webster Tiny Desk



Highly Anticipated Cool New Releases


The Waterboys. Life, Death and Dennis Hopper [Sun] April 4, 2025. Tribute to Dennis Hopper feat Fiona AppleSteve Earle, and Bruce Springsteen.

Julien Baker & TORRES. Send A Prayer My Way. [Matador]. April 18, 2025. Best damned singin' lesbian cowgirls out there.

Suzanne VegaFlying With Angels. May 2, 2025.

Peter Doherty. Felt Better Alive. [Strap Originals] May 16, 2025. A Libertine goes solo.

Lana Del Rey. The Right Person Will Stay. [Interscope] May 21, 2025

Ty Segall. Possession. [Drag City] May 30, 2025. Can't keep a good man down.

Ben Kweller. Cover the Mirrors. [The Noise Company] May 30, 2025. Feat WaxahatcheeMJ Lenderman, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (AKA Superbad's McLovin).

           
The Libertines: "Songs They Never Play On The Radio" (Filmed Pre-Show at Wiesbaden)


MUSICAL NOTES

Rest in Peace, Brenton Wood (July 26, 1941 - January 3, 2025)
The Oldies King of The Low Riders:
There are cars cruising this weekend blaring his songs and there will be forever.


Rest in Peace Barry Goldberg (Dec. 25, 1942 - Jan 22, 2025)

Barry Goldberg (on keyboards) backed Bob Dylan going electric at Newport 1965 along with Michael Bloomfield, Sam Lay, Jerome Arnold, Al Kooper, and Elvin Bishop.


Rest in Peace, Marianne Faithfull (Dec 29, 1946 - Jan 30, 2025)



You May Also Be Interested In:

+ThisSmallPlanet.com Cool New Music Best of 2024: Top Twenty Albums, Singles & Re-Issues of The Year

+ThisSmallPlanet.com Cool New Music Winter Playlist: 2024 End of Year Wrap-Up (October, November & December releases)

+ThisSmallPlanet.com Cool New Music Fall Into Autumn Playlist (August - September - October 2024)

+ThisSmallPlanet.com Cool New Music Summer Playlist (June/July/August 2024)

+Steve Albini Memorial Playlist