Let’s not mince words: There’s a crapload of new music coming out this week — more than 220 albums, EPs and singles, by my count. That includes new releases and reissues from Goo Goo Dolls, Korn, Charli XCX, The Cult, Prince, Stone Temple Pilots, and plenty more big names. Thing is, I don’t care enough about those to write about them. Here are some of the ones I do care about, in alphabetical order:
Devendra Banhart
Ma
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The simply titled Ma is Devendra Banhart’s third album for Nonesuch, one that addresses — often in a beguilingly oblique way — the unconditional nature of maternal love, the desire to nurture, the passing down of wisdom, the longing to establish the relationship of mother to child, and the consequences of that bond being broken. Banhart doesn’t approach the album’s maternal theme in a literal way; rather, by contemplating it, alluding to it, regarding the concept of motherhood from different angles, he has fashioned an album of multiple, intertwining narratives. Its concerns are both personal and global, with subtly autobiographical looks at life and death and ruminations about the precarious state of the world. The many lighthearted moments of Ma are balanced by deeply melancholic, even somber ones. Three tracks are in Spanish, the language that is as much Banhart’s native tongue as English, and one in Portuguese.”
Alice Cooper
Breadcrumbs EP
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Alice Cooper releases tribute to the Garage Rock Heroes from his hometown Detroit City on Sept. 13. The EP features six brand new recordings and is available on digital and as limited & numbered 10” Vinyl – with only 20.000 copies worldwide. For the recordings, the shock rock legend recruited MC5’s Wayne Kramer, jazz singer Paul Randolph, ex-Grand Funk Railroad singer/guitarist/keyboardist Mark Farner, ex-Detroit Wheels drummer Johnny “Bee” Badanjek and The Dirtbombs’ Mick Collins.”
Hobo Johnson
The Fall of Hobo Johnson
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The new album is a mix of songs and poems I’ve had floating around in my head for the last few years. I’m really proud of it and hope that it makes everyone feel a little less alone and a little more like they want to stay alive.” Hailing from Sacramento, CA, artist Frank Lopes, who cultivated the moniker Hobo Johnson after being kicked out of his parents’ house and left to live in his ’94 Corolla, is propelling his way to the top. The half Azorean Portuguese, quarter Mexican and Native American vocalist built a grassroots following via viral homegrown style videos showcasing his singularity; an amalgamation of spoken word poetry, punk, folk and rap backed by his band The Lovemakers. Bursting with unadulterated sincerity, his genre-defying sound feels akin to musical anomalies of the past and future.”
Corb Lund
Cover Your Tracks
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The 8-song EP is a collection of unexpected cover songs previously recorded by AC/DC, Nancy Sinatra, Billy Joel, Marty Robbins, Bob Dylan, Eagles, Willie Nelson & Ray Charles, and Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show. It was produced by Lund and John Evans, and features guest appearances from the critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Hayes Carll and Canadian Western music legend Ian Tyson alongside Lund’s band The Hurtin Albertans: Kurt Ciesla, Grant Siemens, and Brady Valgardson. Lund states, “Earlier this year I recorded a bunch of cover songs by some of my favourite artists and writers from various periods in my life, mostly for fun and to get them out of my system.” He says, “Many of the songs we’ve been playing live for years. Being re-inspired by this stuff and getting back in the studio to cut it was a great warm-up for making another record of my own songs, which I’m working hard on writing as we speak. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy listening to these old favourites as much as we enjoyed recording them.”
Pixies
Beneath the Eyrie
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Visceral, musically cinematic, otherworldly but strangely familiar and a bit unsettling, Beneath the Eyrie is a place where tales of witches, Daniel Boone, misfits and other characters fit utterly into the band’s inherent weirdness. The 12-song album, produced by Grammy-nominated Tom Dalgety (Ghost, Royal Blood, Pixies’ Head Carrier), was written over the course of 2018 and recorded last December at Dreamland Recordings near Woodstock, NY. While taking a break outside the studio — originally St. John’s Church built in 1896 – drummer David Lovering spotted an eagle’s nest or “eyrie” right above the studio in a tree. Hence the album’s title, Beneath the Eyrie.”
Planet England (Andy Partridge & Robyn Hitchcock)
Planet England EP
THE PRESS RELEASE: “It’s a veritable Clash of the Titans of English Pop music… a musical meeting of minds to rival King Kong Vs. Godzilla but, sadly, with no Ishirō Honda to chronicle an event of such magnitude and, with both participants being English, the actual meeting was less the cause of earthquakes and tsunamis, more a case of… Tea and a chat, followed by some – typically for both – fine pop song writing, recording, mixing, a celebratory glass of wine and a trip to a restaurant for a curry and a pint of beer… all traditions as English in their longevity as the day they arrived on these shores from somewhere else… English (and British popular music generally) has consistently proved capable of absorbing, refreshing, renewing and placing a distinctive twist on a melange of sounds and influences from almost anywhere in the world while managing to preserve, in many cases, a distinctly local, but not parochial, flavour. So, from two of the country’s finest songwriters, come the first recordings from their recent collaborations and while there are logistics to be overcome – Swindon to Nashville so a boxed set is probably some while away – the resulting EP represents a unique Anglo/American (at least in terms of geographical location of one of the participants) take on things. ”
Sampa the Great
The Return
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Sampa The Great creates a sense of home on her debut album The Return. A characterful record, its reference points range from classic hip-hop to ancient Southern African sounds. Built on four years of personal and musical soul-searching, it’s an assured statement, the product of meaningful musical connections and of Sampa having to redefine her self-identity away from the comforts of family and old friends.”
Subhumans
Crisis Point
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Sorry about the decade wait for something new, we don’t get to practice much! Anyway it’s a stormer, with ten new songs about terror/pollution/mind control…and similar reflections on a world in crisis”
