Americana legends, pop-punk powerhouses, folk icons, Britrock kings, noise-rock masters — these are some of the artists behind this week’s top additions to your playlists. Here’s the skinny on the top 10 albums due in the next seven days:
Blink-182
Nine
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Nine is the new album from Grammy nominated California rock heavyweights, blink-182. The album features soon to be classics Darkside, Happy Days, Generational Divide, Blame It On My Youth and others. blink-182 is Mark Hoppus (vocals/bass), Travis Barker (drums) and Matt Skiba (vocals/guitar). Since their humble beginnings in 1992 in San Diego, blink-182 have sold over fifty million albums worldwide and rocked audiences around the globe, becoming one of the defining and inspirational rock bands of their generation.” You can read my review HERE.
Zac Brown Band
The Owl
THE PRESS RELEASE: “The Owl‘s title was inspired by the lore surrounding the great horned owl, which can see perfectly at night, making it a reliable guide, even during dark times. The Owl will explore a deeper side of Zac Brown Band as they pull from this inspiration to create their most personal album to date. The Owl will not only feature the intricate melodies and dynamic vocal arrangements that Zac Brown Band has long been known for, but also explore new sounds through unexpected collaborations with producers and writers across different facets of the music world including Skrillex, Andrew Watt, Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd, Max Martin, Benny Blanco and Ryan Tedder among others.”
Bruce Cockburn
Crowing Ignites
THE PRESS RELEASE: “In 2005, Bruce Cockburn released Speechless, a collection of instrumental tracks that shone the spotlight on the singer-songwriter’s exceptional acoustic guitar playing. Now, with the intriguingly titled Crowing Ignites, Cockburn has released another dazzling instrumental album that will further cement his reputation as both an exceptional composer and a picker with few peers. Unlike Speechless, which included mostly previously recorded tracks, the latest album — Cockburn’s 34th — features 11 brand new compositions. Although there’s not a single word spoken or sung, it’s as eloquent and expressive as any of the Canadian Hall of Famer’s lyric-laden albums. The album’s title is a literal translation of the Latin motto “Accendit Cantu” featured on the Cockburn family crest. Although a little puzzling, Cockburn liked the feeling it conveyed: “Energetic, blunt, Scottish as can be.”
Fitz & The Tantrums
All the Feels
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Frontman Michael (Fitz) Fitzpatrick said: “So many highs and lows this last year but we’ll make it through together. We are so excited to finally share what we’ve been working so hard on. All the Feels has all the emotions. We hope you love it as much as we do.”
Liam Gallagher
Why Me? Why Not.
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Why Me? Why Not is a clear upgrade on As You Were, but not a radical departure, which will come as a relief to Liam’s loyal fans. “The most radical thing I can do – as if I’d ever say radical normally! – but the most radical thing I can do is do it better every time. Some other bands and singers want to try it! It’s harder than doing a new South American opera disco song, that’s for sure.” Highlights include the soulful One Of Us, which includes Liam’s son Gene Gallagher’s debut on bongos (“he nailed it!”), the aching balladry of Once (“got a bit of Pink Floyd’s The Wall about it”), the raw guitar bounce of Be Still, and the title track, which Liam describes as “having a Beatles on Come Together vibe.” He’s rarely sounded better. “It’s probably all that Guinness I’ve been walloping down in the boozer,” he reveals. “No, I feel good. To be honest, I always sing well if the songs are good. If the songs are good, then I am – and these songs are great.”
Brittany Howard
Jaime
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard will release her first-ever solo album later this summer. The album, Jaime, is named after her sister, who died of cancer when they were both teenagers. “The title is in memoriam,” says Howard. “And she definitely did shape me as a human being. But the record is not about her. It’s about me. I’m pretty candid about myself and who I am and what I believe. Which is why I needed to do it on my own.” Howard says this is the most honest and personal she’s been in her music but felt it was time to do something on her own, outside of Alabama Shakes. “I turned 30 and I was like, ‘What do I want the rest of my life to look like?’ Do I want to play the same songs until I’m 50 and then retire, or do I do something that’s scarier for me? Do I want people to understand me and know me, do I want to tell them my story? I’m very private, but my favorite work is when people are being honest and really doing themselves.”
Keane
Cause & Effect
THE PRESS RELEASE: “After releasing two highly successful solo albums during Keane’s hiatus, frontman Tom Chaplin found himself meeting up with Tim Rice-Oxley, Keane’s songwriter and pianist, and listening to songs that Tim had planned on releasing as part of a solo project. Tom was incredibly moved by the honesty of the writing and knew immediately that he wanted to help bring these emotional songs to life. “I thought it was the most personal, most vulnerable set of songs that I’d ever heard,” says Chaplin, “and I was very drawn to that. It felt like a story that I could help articulate.”
Thurston Moore Group
Spirit Counsel
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Sonic Youth founder Thurston Moore offers a CD boxset album Spirit Counsel with three compact discs and book. Spirit Counsel is a collection of three extended compositions recorded between 2018-19. This collection represents a period of reflection on spiritual matters, collective musical friendships, and a time and space universally, without words or languages to distract from meditation.”
Mudhoney
Morning in America
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Morning in America consists of seven songs that were recorded during the sessions for Mudhoney’s 2018 album Digital Garbage. The tracks include Let’s Kill Yourself Live Again (an alternate version of the Digital Garbage stand-out Kill Yourself Live, and the bonus track for the Japanese CD version of that album), One Bad Actor (a new version of Mudhoney’s track on the limited-edition, and now very sold-out, SPF30 split 7” single w/ Hot Snakes), album outtakes Snake Oil Charmer, Morning in America and Creeps Are Everywhere, plus Ensam I Natt (So Lonely Tonight, a Leather Nun cover) and Vortex of Lies from a very limited EU tour 7″.”
Robbie Robertson
Sinematic
THE PRESS RELEASE: “For his new album, Robbie Robertson drew inspiration from his recent film score writing and recording for director Martin Scorsese’s eagerly anticipated organized crime epic The Irishman, as well as the forthcoming documentary Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, based on his 2016 New York Times bestselling memoir Testimony. “I was working on music for The Irishman and working on the documentary, and these things were bleeding into each other,” says Robertson of the impetus for Sinematic. “I could see a path. Ideas for songs about haunting and violent and beautiful things were swirling together like a movie. You follow that sound and it all starts to take shape right in front of your ears. At some point, I started referring to it as Peckinpah Rock,” a nod, Robertson says, to Sam Peckinpah, the late director of such violent Westerns as The Wild Bunch.”
