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Next Week in Music | April 5-11 • The Short List: 5 Titles You Want to Hear

Brockhampton, Cheap Trick, L7, Rev. Peyton & Nick Waterhouse are on the horizon.

Not gonna lie: Last week kinda sucked. I’ll spare you the gory details, but suffice to say the garbage outweighed the goodness. Hopefully this week will be better. These five albums might help:

 


Brockhampton
Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Brockhampton’s lives were knocked off the tracks as the world shut down last March. Over the following year, the members of the group found themselves further removed from each other than they had been since moving to Los Angeles together in 2016, each grappling with the weight of isolation, identity and unexpected personal loss. As fate would have it, the headwinds of 2020 served as a potent reminder of the strength of friendship. Their sixth album’s tone reflects the highs and lows of the period from which it was born — both tragic and celebratory, built around the recurring theme of finding “the light” in your life. As such, Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine is equal parts braggadocio and empathy — the once young, wide-eyed boyband returns more self-aware and self-assured than ever before. The creative process for Roadrunner also found Brockhampton opening its doors to a wider group of collaborators for the first time. Opening track Buzzcut features a show-stopping Danny Brown verse as well as vocals from in-house producer Jabari Manwa, who is stepping out as a vocalist and performer in 2021. The Brockhampton that emerges on Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine is one working at the height of their powers and marks an important inflection point in the band’s career.”


Cheap Trick
In Another World

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Produced by long-time associate Julian Raymond, Cheap Trick’s 20th studio album In Another World once again finds them doing what they do better than anyone — crafting indelible rock ’n’ roll with oversized hooks, mischievous lyrics and seemingly inexorable energy. Trademark anthems like Light Up The Fire and Boys & Girls & Rock N Roll are countered by more introspective — but no less exuberant — considerations of times past, present, and unknowable future on such strikingly potent new tracks as Another World and I’ll See You Again.
In Another World further showcases Cheap Trick at their most eclectic, touching on a myriad of distinct sounds and song approaches, from the swampy Chicago blues number Final Days (featuring fiery harmonica from Grammy-nominated Wet Willie frontman Jimmy Hall) to a timely rendition of John Lennon’s still-relevant Gimme Some Truth, originally released for Record Store Day Black Friday 2019 and featuring the instantly recognizable guitar sound of Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones. As irresistible and immediate as anything in their already awesome catalogue, In Another World is Cheap Trick at their irrepressible best, infinitely entertaining and utterly unstoppable.”


L7
Wargasm: The Slash Years 1992-1997

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “L7 formed in Los Angeles in 1985 when Suzi Gardner (guitar, vocals) and Donita Sparks (guitar, vocals) joined forces with Jennifer Finch (bass, vocals). An all female band in a traditionally male-dominated, often sexist rock arena, L7 were happy to court controversy through spirited, occasionally infamous live performances, whilst playing songs often infused with humour as much as bite and bile. Having emerged from L.A.’s art punk scene, their music was a mixture of hard rock, alternative and punk, but they are arguably most synonymous with the grunge movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Packed with bonus tracks, artwork and memorabilia, Wargrasm: The Slash Years 1992-1997 includes new, extensive liner notes based on interviews with the band.”


Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Dance Songs for Hard Times

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The new album from Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band was written by candlelight and then recorded using the best technology available … in the 1950s. But listeners won’t find another album as relevant, electrifying and timely as Dance Songs for Hard Times. It conveys the hopes and fears of pandemic living. Rev. Peyton, vocalist and world-class fingerstyle guitarist, details bleak financial challenges, pines for in-person reunions with loved ones and pleads for celestial relief. Far from a depressing listen, Dance Songs lives up to its name by delivering action-packed riffs and rhythms across 11 songs. The country blues trio that won over crowds on more than one Warped Tour knows how to make an audience move. “I like songs that sound happy but are actually very sad,” Peyton says. “I don’t know why it is, but I just do.”


Nick Waterhouse
Promenade Blue

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Nick Waterhouse takes the color blue as his hue of choice on Promenade Blue. In Nick’s musical and lyrical world, blue is a refraction of his life and memories — shadowing a deep, spiritual San Francisco that fostered his musical vocabulary but has now been stamped out irrevocably; evoking the endless tours, marathon recording sessions, and highs and lows of success he’s experienced in his decade-long career; conjuring romances that were doomed, loves that lingered, and hope for future days of parity and partnership; summoning spirits of people who have gone but permeate his mind forever. That’s the world of Promenade Blue — one that is vivid and magnetic, buoyed by both light and density due to Nick’s newfound collaboration with producer Paul Butler (Michael Kiwanuka, Devendra Banhart). In no uncertain terms, it represents Waterhouse’s finest hour as a writer and bandleader — leveraging the musical partnerships he has built over many years to put something forth that is so fully realized and felt that it sparkles beatifically, reverberating with energy, heart, creativity, and vibe from start to finish. Promenade Blue represents rebirth and reinvigoration as well as a clarity of purpose that elevates it and may one day set it apart as something resembling a magnum opus.”

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