Cool, New Music: April 2021 Playlist

Cool, New Music: April 2021 Playlist

SINGLES

Courtney Barnett "Don't Do It" (feat Vagabon). This is a cover of a Sharon Van Etten song taken from epic Ten, the new expanded tenth-anniversary edition of Van Etten's 2010 release epic. Courtney's cover is great. Looking forward to hear Fiona Apple's take on "Love More"...

Manchester Orchestra "Keel Timing" from the forthcoming album The Million Masks of God (April 30th). We've already heard another single from the album, "Bed Head", and now there's an acoustic version of it on YouTube.

Garbage "The Men Who Rule The World" from their new album No Gods No Masters (June 11)

Big Thief "Off You" (The Breeders cover)

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young "Ivory Tower" (out-take)

St. Vincent "The Melting Of The Sun". I haven't liked most of her new stuff, but I like this. She also performed this song on Saturday Night Live on April 3, 2021.

Bobby Gillespie & Jehnny Beth "Remember We Were Lovers"

ALBUMS

Waxahatchee Saint Cloud +3. It's a re-release of Katie Crutchfield's excellent 2020 album Saint Cloud, with three previously unreleased covers as bonus tracks: "Fruits of My Labor" (Lucinda Williams), "Light Of A Clear Blue Morning" (Dolly Parton), and "Streets of Philadelphia" (Bruce Springsteen). The original album is great, if you haven't heard it, and the three covers are just perfect.

Joe Strummer Assembly. Nice to hear The Clash's Joe Strummer again in this retrospective from the late George Harrison's Dark Horse label. Great versions of "I Fought The Law" and "Junco Partner". Tim Armstrong (Operation Ivy, Rancid) befriended Strummer and released his final albums with The Mescaleros on Hellcat records. Another Strummer compilation, Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros: The Hellcat Years, contains selections from those albums, as well as tracks from the Acton concert, recorded a month and a half before Joe's untimely death. In addition to many of Joe's best-known songs, the Acton show included three numbers with Mick Jones on guitar, the first time the former Clash bandmates had played together for some time.

Dry Cleaning New Long Leg. From the UK, a new exciting band. The first single from the album is "Scratchcard Lanyard". Here's a set they did in Seattle for KEXP.