Between Canada Day, Independence Day and the official start of summer, things are a little slow next week. Not that I’m complaining; it gives me more time to relax in the backyard. Here are the albums I’ll be listening to while I catch some rays:
Tony Allen / Adrian Younge
Jazz Is Dead 18
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With each subsequent release, Jazz Is Dead continues to exalt the legacies of iconic musicians who have shaped the fabric of Jazz across generations, genres, and continents. For their latest installment, the label connected with the late great Tony Allen, best known for his foundational work as the drummer for Fela Kuti’s Africa 70, and later Egypt 80. Over the course of Allen’s recording career, he defined the Afrobeat sound, meshing funk and jazz influences with Nigerian Highlife to create a cross-cultural dialogue that has gone global. Despite the finite time that Allen had on this planet, as do all of us, his contributions to music are timeless and untouchable, and will continue to inform and inspire generations to come.”
The Far Outs
The Far Outs
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Far Outs began as a side project to Brisbane’s Grand Atlantic, as an outlet for songs that didn’t quite fit the band’s format but still desperately needed a place to party. With influences ranging from the likes of The Kinks, The Sonics and The Easybeats, the group are quickly establishing a reputation for their ’60s influenced garage-rock — featuring blistering riffs, catchy choruses and drums akimbo. The Far Outs played their first show in on Oct. 5, 2020 and have since performed at most live music venues in Brisbane including your favourite bar, and are probably there right now drinking your beers. The recording for the album was done quickly and the brief was simple. Keep it raw. Keep it fun. Lunch at the Pub. The band were well rehearsed and with a limited number of instruments to consider, the main concern was capturing the lightning radiating from a band making their debut album, with very few concerns other than squeezing a good time out of every passing moment. Turn it up real loud heathens!”
Rory Gallagher
All Around Man: Live in London
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Rory Gallagher’s All Around Man: Live In London is a 23-track live album of unreleased material taken from a previously undocumented period of one of the greatest guitarists of all time. This exhilarating album is pulled from two nights at the Town & Country Club (now the The O2 Forum) in London in December 1990. It was recorded from the shows that supported Gallagher’s 11th (and sadly last) studio album Fresh Evidence, released in May 1990. This album features captivating live versions of tracks from that album as well as songs from the 1987 Defender album plus other career favourites. This new album has been mixed from the recently found multi-tracks and mastered at Abbey Road Studios, and the album’s cover is a painting by Irish graffiti artist Vincent Zara, who has stencilled Rory’s image across his home country.”
PJ Harvey
I Inside The Old Year Dying
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “PJ Harvey’s 10th studio album, I Inside the Old Year Dying is her first since 2016’s Grammy-nominated The Hope Six Demolition Project. The album is produced by long-time collaborators Flood and John Parish. Throughout her career, Harvey has always ensured that each phase of her progress has taken her somewhere new, but her latest music is audacious and original even by her own standards. Full of a sense of a cyclical return to new beginnings, it combines its creative daring with a sense of being open and inviting, in the most fascinating way. The new songs, Harvey says, offer “a resting space, a solace, a comfort, a balm — which feels timely for the times we’re in … I think the album is about searching, looking – the intensity of first love, and seeking meaning. Not that there has to be a message, but the feeling I get from the record is one of love — it’s tinged with sadness and loss, but it’s loving. I think that’s what makes it feel so welcoming: so open.”
Little Dragon
Slugs Of Love
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Little Dragon, the much-loved, Grammy-nominated Swedish band, are set to release their new album Slugs Of Love. Consisting of school friends Erik Bodin (drums and percussion), Fredrik Wallin (bass), Håkan Wirenstarnd (keyboards) and Yukimi Nagano (vocals), the band have gone on to become one of the most consistent, respected and universally loved bands of recent times. Recorded in the musical oasis of their Gothenburg Studio — the same studio they have worked in for almost 20 years — on Slugs Of Love they bring their distinctive blend of soulful pop, electronics and R&B — all underpinned by lead singer Yukimi’s instantly recognisable vocals — to the fore across 11 tracks that encapsulate the full range of their diverse individual musical influences.”
The Pigeon Detectives
TV Show
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With platinum and gold selling accolades across their catalogue of five albums, The Pigeon Detectives return with album six, an album influenced by their biggest hits but matured beyond them. Feeling like a band reborn, The Pigeon Detectives have never really gone away, having quietly built a resurgent following at headline gigs and festivals across the U.K. with their high-octane live show, the set is peppered with sing-a-long hits that have passed the test of time with flying colours attracting a younger audience to shows alongside a contingent of Pigeon diehards. Produced by Rich Turvey (Blossoms, Coral, Vistas) the album holds onto the infectious energy that drove the band to huge audiences on their early records, but has a contemporary feel to the production, arrangements and lyrics reflecting a band that have honed their craft and grown as a band and people.”
Chris Stamey
The Great Escape
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “On his new album The Great Escape, Chris Stamey — known for his work in The dB’s, the Big Star’s Third concerts, and numerous solo recordings including recent forays into jazz and neo–Tin Pan Alley — returns to the electric guitar sounds and melodic lyricism that informed his classic ’80s solo records It’s Alright, Fireworks and 2004’s Travels in the South — but with a twist! This time out, alongside adroit pedal-steel aces Eric Heywood (Jayhawks, Pretenders, Alejandro Escovedo) and Allyn Love, Mipso’s Libby Rodenbough and Chatham County Line’s John Teer and Dave Wilson, he’s found a distinctive spin on the ’70s Southern California country-rock flavors of The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers. Soaring harmonies from Brett Harris (Big Star’s Third), Peter Holsapple (The dB’s), and Matt McMichaels (Mayflies USA, Surrender Human) fill out the picture on many tracks. And there’s an A-team of Caitlin Cary (harmonies), Don Dixon (acoustic bass) and Will Rigby (The dB’s, drums), on one number.”
12 Rods
If We Stayed Alive
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When Ryan Olcott, songwriter and frontman of Twin Cities’ iconic indie rock band 12 Rods, found unfinished demos during lockdown, he was surprised. When he realized they were good, he was shocked. He quickly set to finishing and recording the compositions, which became If We Stayed Alive, the first 12 Rods album in 21 years. “These are songs that I forgot about,” he explains, “but upon finding them, I thought, ‘Wow, these are actually OK.’ ” That was the easy part. Vocals took a bit longer. “Oh my god!” he laughs, “it took a couple days to get my voice back with that range and that power, but I could do it.” Any cobwebs that needed dusting are long gone. If We Stayed Alive is everything longtime fans have wanted, and the perfect introduction to what some called America’s Radiohead and what others have called one of the best indie bands of the ’90s.”
