East Coast punks and Southern rockers. Guitar heroes and jazz icons. Blues masters and indie upstarts. Can-rock survivors and country-rock scions. If you’re looking for some musical variety, you’ve come to to right place. Here are your plays of the week:
Baited
Cutting Teeth EP
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Cutting teeth is Baited being their most rowdy and chaotic selves. Their first release was still energetic but had moments of sorrow. This release is Baited balls to the wall. No holding back. Baited, a hardcore punk band hailing from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, formed in 2022. Fueled by a shared love for the relentless energy of punk rock, they thrive in mosh pits and dive bars alike, tipping bartenders and sending shoes across the bar. In the depths of Charlottetown, Baited emerged from smoky basements and cramped practice spaces. Their sound, a blistering blend of fast-paced riffs, pounding drums, and angst-ridden vocals, set mosh pits ablaze.”
Duane Betts
Wild & Precious Life
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “By the time Duane Betts began working on Wild & Precious Life — his triumphant debut solo album — he’d already spent two decades creating his own version of guitar-slinging, story-driven American rock ’n’ roll. “It felt like the right time to make something that was entirely my own vision,” he says. “This is a record that guitar players will love, but at its core, it’s really a song record. It’s an album about who I am, where I come from, and what I believe in.” Duane spent the better part of 10 years playing guitar alongside his father — legendary Allman Brothers co-founder Dickey Betts — as a member of Dickey Betts & Great Southern. He’d also travel the world as a touring member of Dawes before releasing an EP of his own songs, Sketches of American Music, in 2018. As the decade drew to a close, Duane co-founded The Allman Betts Band, releasing two records in 2019 and 2020. Wild & Precious Life captures the emotional release of overcoming struggle, appreciating the fleeting nature of life, and celebrating the joy of being present.”
John Coltrane With Eric Dolphy
Evenings At The Village Gate
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In August of 1961, the John Coltrane Quintet played an engagement at the legendary Village Gate in Greenwich Village, New York. Coltrane’s classic quartet was not as fully established as it would soon become and there was a meteoric fifth member of Coltrane’s group those nights — visionary multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. Ninety minutes of never-before-heard music from this group were recently discovered at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, offering a glimpse into a powerful musical partnership that ended much too soon. In addition to some well-known material (My Favorite Things, Impressions, Greensleeves), there is a breathtaking feature for Dolphy’s bass clarinet on When Lights Are Low and the only known non-studio recording of Coltrane’s composition Africa. This recording represents a very special moment in Coltrane’s journey — the summer of 1961 — when his signature, ecstatic live sound was first maturing and when he was drawing inspiration from deep sources.”
Paul Langlois Band
Guess What
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When Paul Langlois from The Tragically Hip was asked to play the closing ceremonies of the Canada Summer Games in Niagara Falls in August of 2022, the last thing on his mind was making a new record. A few months later, however, Guess What, The Paul Langlois Band’s debut was in the can, and Langlois began a new and exciting phase of his musical journey. “At the time, I’d been quietly making my way through my new life, chipping away at little musical ideas here and there, with no particular goals in mind,” Langlois explains, crediting the Niagara gig as the impetus to get him playing music again. Fans of Langlois and The Hip will be thrilled it did. Featuring Langlois on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, and the ample talents of bandmates Greg Ball on guitar and backing vocals, lead guitarist Joe Carscallen, Matt Mulvihill on bass, and drummer Billy Anglin, Guess What offers up the kind of thoughtful, straight-up rock ’n’ roll that’s timely, timeless, and a bit of a rarity these days.”
Brian May & Friends
Star Fleet 40th Anniversary Special
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When Queen took a break for the first part of 1983, Brian May put his time to good use. Waking up one morning in Los Angeles, he decided to phone a few friends and invite them to collaborate on some tracks in California’s famous Record Plant studios. The resulting collaboration was a great success, and Brian would later mold the recordings into a unique mini-album, Brian May + Friends: Star Fleet Project. This third release in the Brian May Gold Series offers an extensively revisited and expanded box set edition of these legendary sessions. The set is a complete document of the two days, April 21 and 22, 1983 that May spent in the Record Plant accompanied by Edward Van Halen (guitar), Alan Gratzer (drums), Phil Chen (bass) and Fred Mandel (keyboards). The box set includes a spectacular 23-track CD filled with previously unreleased material. “We are going to give you everything,” May insists. “Every take of every song, the things that went wrong, the laughing, the finding new things to do. But it won’t be just a remaster – we’ve rescued everything from the original multitracks, every detail magnificently remixed, and more! You’ll hear every take from the historic 1983 sessions plus fragments of conversations, out-takes and musical experimentation.”
The Nick Moss Band ft. Dennis Gruenlin
Get Your Back Into It!
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Since first forming The Nick Moss Band Featuring Dennis Gruenling in 2016, master blues guitarist Moss and world class harmonica virtuoso Gruenling have become torchbearers for traditional electric blues. But rather than repeating what’s come before, the band’s high-energy take on old school Chicago, Texas and West Coast sounds is completely their own. With their new Alligator Records album (their third for the label) Get Your Back Into It!, Chicago native Moss and New Jersey native Gruenling — with Rodrigo Mantovani on bass, Taylor Streiff on keyboards and Pierce Downer on drums — deliver a deeply rooted, timeless blue collar blues album. “We are a rare breed as far as how authentic we like to keep the music,” says Moss. The guitarist proudly represents the city of Chicago as one of the few bluesmen working today to have learned his craft firsthand, directly from many of the genre’s original creators.”
Lukas Nelson + Promise of the Real
Sticks and Stones
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real’s Sticks and Stones is a self-produced, honest and emotional new album that highlights Nelson’s strength as a songwriter and the band’s uncompromising commitment to clarity, compassionate tones, and exceptional melodic moments. Across the album’s 12 spirited tracks, Nelson explores the universal human experiences of love, celebration, longing and humor. Sticks and Stones captures the band’s musical power and fits perfectly alongside the canon of the electric live performances they’re known for. Reflecting on the record, Nelson shares, “This album is about celebrating the human connection, joy and excitement. We went from quiet and introspective on A Few Stars Apart to something big and fun to really showcase the band’s talent and performance. You can listen to the album Sticks and Stones from start to finish and get the songs to dance to and then the quiet, poignant songs. To me, this album is the perfect setlist.”
Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog
Connection
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “On their fifth studio album Connection, Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog have pushed their long-brewing tension between traditional pop songcraft and avantgarde improvisational music to the breaking point, bridging their customary genre-agnostic approach with elements of glam boogie, minimalist disco, psychedelic boogaloo, garage-punk-against-the-machine agitprop, and so much more. Recorded at Figure 8 Recording in Brooklyn and mixed by Ben Greenberg (Danny Elfman, Depeche Mode, Lamb of God), the album sees Ribot — whose prodigious, impossible-to-categorize body of work as bandleader and musician spans no wave and jazz, Brazilian and Cuban music, roots and avant-garde and protest songs (often at the same time) alongside legendary collaborations with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, The Lounge Lizards, John Zorn, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Caetano Veloso, and Laurie Anderson (to name but a few) – continuing to utilize Ceramic Dog as the vessel for his distinctive stream-of-consciousness songwriting.”
Snõõper
Super Snōōper
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Nashville DIY punk outfit Snõõper are a band who, in a 33 ⅓ RPM world, make 45 RPM music they play at 78 RPM. They maintain super precise instrumentals and skillfully melodic vocals, even though they’re flooring it almost the entire time. Snõõper don’t play fast; they play at the speed of Snõõper. Formed in 2020 by vocalist/visual artist Blair Tramel and guitarist Connor Cummins, Snõõper’s initial recordings were released on DIY labels. Although not originally intended as a performance project, the duo brought these recordings to life with the additions of Cam Sarrett (drums), Happy Haugen (bass) and Ian Teeple (guitar). They are known for their raucous live show which integrates many different artistic mediums — music, video art, puppetry, assemblages, and more — to create a unique experience for each performance. The full band made its live debut in September 2021 and has been touring the world ever since, opening for the likes of Amyl And The Sniffers, Lil Ugly Mane, Snail Mail and more.”
