(UPDATED APRIL 26, 2024)BEAST NEW ALBUMS
St. Vincent. All Born Screaming. A breakthrough. Important. Listen to it. Now. (Check out the wild title song, feat Cate Le Bon...)
Iron & Wine. Light Verse. Featuring folky Americanish goodness, like "All In Good Time", a duet with Fiona Apple.
The Libertines. All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade. One of the best British rock bands of our time is back and firing on all cylinders. A good excuse to listen, along with the new release, to their first two albums, Up The Bracket (2002) and The Libertines (2004). The likely lads also recently did cool covers of Buddy Holly's "That'll Be The Day" and Love's "Alone Again Or".
Various Artists. The Power Of The Heart: A Tribute To Lou Reed. [Light In The Attic] April 19, 2024. Some if us will always endlessly fascinated by anything that has to do with Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground. This tribute to Lou's solo career features outstanding artists such as Angel Olsen, Keith Richards, Rufus Wainwright, The Afghan Whigs, and Joan Jett.
Pearl Jam. Dark Matter. Not bad. I've heard it called "the last Pearl Jam album". If so, going out on a high note. Eddie Vedder says it's the best Pearl Jam record ever. Maybe he's right.
The Black Keys. Ohio Players. Good album with some good songs.
Fat White Family. Forgiveness Is Yours. Interesting. Worth a listen.
Cloud Nothings. Final Summer. Very good (indie rock) stuff.
T-Bone Burnett. The Other Side. Ace producer and sideman steps out front. Interesting. Steven Soles, an old friend of T-Bone's from their time with Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue (1975-6), guests on the excellent "Hawaiian Blue Song".
Cedric Burnside. Hill Country Love. The late Bluesman extraordinaire R.L. Burnside played with rockers such as The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. His grandson Cedric carries the proud family legacy into the 21st century.
Waxahatchee. Tigers Blood. Sure to be one of the album's of the year. Following up the Americana flavor of 2020's breakthrough album St. Cloud (we especially liked the St. Cloud bonus tracks, which included a stellar cover of Dolly Parton's "Light Of A Clear Blue Morning").
Tigers Blood was produced by Brad Cook and features Katie Crutchfield (lead and harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, high bass guitar), Wednesday's MJ Lenderman (electric guitar, drone guitar, baritone acoustic guitar, harmony and group vocals), Phil Cook (Dobro, organ, piano, banjo, harmonica, marimba, accordion, electric slide, group vocals), Brad Cook (bass guitar, Prophet 6 synth, low bass guitar, baritone acoustic guitar, group vocals), Spencer Tweedy (drums, percussion, Mellotron, cedar plank, cymbal, harmony and group vocals), Nick Bockrath (pedal steel) and Natalia Chernitsky (group vocals).
Adrianne Lenker. I Won't Let Go Of Your Hand (EP) & Bright Future (LP).
Big Thief's lead singer Adrianne Lenker currently has two new releases. Her new acoustic EP, I Won't Let Go Out Your Hand, is an intimate 6-song collection of demos rush-released to benefit the Palestine Children's Relief Fund www.pcrf.net. It's available now on Bandcamp.
Lenker had already been scheduled to release her fifth solo album, Bright Future, and it's great!
Here's Adrianne on The Tonight Show performing Bright Future's "Free Treasure"....
Adrianne & Big Thief caught first many people's attention with performances such as the powerful 2019 number "Not"...
Gary Clark, Jr. JPEG RAW. Great blues guitarist, equally at home with funk, soul, R&B, hiphop, pop, and rock. The retro sounds sound quite current, somehow. Stellar guest stars include Valerie June and Stevie Wonder.
Beyonce. Cowboy Carter. Worth checking out.
Vampire Weekend. Only God Was Above Us. They hadn't caught my attention much before, but this album is pretty good actually.
Charles Moothart. Black Holes Don't Choke. Ty Segall collaborator rocks out. Dark and Powerful. And then there's that Celtic/Medievalist/Renaissance title song...
Peter Garrett. The True North. You may remember him from his explosive 1987 hit with Midnight Oil, "Beds Are Burning". In Australia he's known as an environmental activist, an advocate for indigenous rights, and for serving in Parliament and as a government minister. He's back at age 70 with a great new solo album.
Midnight Oil (feat Peter Garrett): "Beds Are Burning" (1987)
The Dandy Warhols. Rockmaker. Hard rocking album from the beloved Portland indie rock vets.
Charlie Parr. Little Sun. Americana at its best.
Mark Knopfler. One Deep River. Very good album from a great guitarist.
Phosphorescent. Revelator. Check it out.
Kacey Musgraves. Deeper Well. Is this country star trying to channel Phoebe Bridgers and boygenius? Maybe... And that's not a bad thing...
Ride. Interplay. Shoegaze is apparently making a comeback this year, and Ride is finally getting the recognition they always deserved.
Sleater-Kinney. Frayed Rope Sessions (EP). Cool versions of songs from the Little Rope album.
BEAT NEW SINGLES
Fontaines D.C. "Starburster"
The Libertines. "Oh Shit"
Waxahatchee. "Right Back To It" (feat MJ Lenderman from Wednesday)
Adrianne Lenker. "Sadness As A Gift"
Adrianne Lenker. "Vampire Empire". Closer to the original arrangement than the previously released Big Thief version and the one they performed live on Colbert. Here's a lively live version from London in April 2023.
Gary Clark, Jr. "What About The Children" (feat Stevie Wonder)
The Dandy Warhols. "I Will Never Stop Loving You" (feat Debbie Harry)
Mdou Moctar. "Imouhar"
Kneecap: "Fine Art"
Arab Strap. "Strawberry Moon"
John Cale. "How We See The Light".
Charles Moothart. "Black Holes Don't Choke"
Maxim Ludwig & Angel Olsen. "I Can't Stand It" (Lou Reed cover)
St. Vincent. "Flea".
Iron & Wine. "Anyone's Game".
Orville Peck & WIllie Nelson. "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other"
Jake Xerxes Fussell. "Going To Georgia"
Lana Del Rey & Billie Eilish "Ocean Eyes/Video Games" (Live at Coachella 2024)
BEST ARCHIVAL
Pavement. Cautionary Tales: Jukebox Classiques. The singles and B-sides. Very cool. I thought I had heard everything Pavement did, but there are some songs here I'd never heard before. Great to hear Malkmus & Crew in top form.
Stevie Wonder. Live in Berkeley 1973. Yes!
Bruce Springsteen. Best Of Bruce Springsteen. Do we really need any excuse to listen to classic Bruce? Forgive us if we focus on the early hits and skip over the newer stuff. Sorry. But it is awesome to hear those classics any old time.
Various Artists. The New Demesne. Field Recordings By Alan Lomax, Ireland 1951. In 1951, American folklorist Alan Lomax recorded several important folk musicians in Ireland. Those excellent recordings, collected on The New Demesne, are now available on Bandcamp:
Random
Peter Frampton. Frampton Comes Alive
Supertramp. Crime Of The Century.
Been checking out "Sacred Steel", the steel slide guitar (lap and pedal) played in Black churches. Amazing!
Highly Anticipated Forthcoming Releases
Mdou Moctar. Funeral For Justice. [Matador]. May 3, 2024. African desert blues.
Arab Strap. I'm Totally Fine With It... [Rock Action]. May 10, 2024.
Shellac. To All Trains. [Touch And Go]. May 17, 2024. Feat. super-producer Steve Albini. First new release in a decade.
Diiv. Frog in Boiling Water. [Fantasy]. May 24, 2024.
Richard Thompson. Ship To Shore. [New West] May 31, 2024.
Fontaines DC, Massive Attack, Young Fathers. Ceasefire EP (Vinyl Only). [Battle Box] Benefit for Doctors Without Borders. Get it at Bandcamp. Release delayed until late May/early June. (The original release date of March 1, 2024 was previously delayed until April 1, 2024.)
John Cale. - POPtical Illusion. [Double Six / Domino] June 14, 2024. Velvet Underground's cellist/bassist returns.
Paul McCartney & Wings. One Hand Clapping. June 14, 2024. Recorded live in the studio in 1974 while the band was filming a documentary. Often bootlegged, never previously released, it consists of songs by The Beatles, Wings, "Blue Moon Of Kentucky", and others.
Johnny Cash. Songwriter. June 28, 2024. Recorded in 1993, previously unreleased. The first single is "Well Alright".
Jake Xerxes Fussell. When I'm Called. [Fat Possum] July 12, 2024. Folk songs based on traditional tunes. Brilliant.
Fontaines D.C. Romance. [XL] August 23, 2024. Ireland's best band's fourth album promises to be very different and take them to another level.
David Gilmour. Luck And Strange. September 6, 2024. Pink Floyd guitarist/singer has a new album coming out.
Heavy Rotation: Hurray For The Riff Raff: "Hawkmoon"
Heavy Rotation: Kneecap "It's Been Ages"
Kim Gordon: "Bye Bye" live on Jimmy Kimmel
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