Live albums, solo sets, posthumous releases, comebacks and stylistic left turns — can you tell it’s the middle of summer? Here are your plays of the week:
Brad
In The Moment That You’re Born
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In the Moment That You’re Born is the first new music from Brad — Stone Gossard (Green River, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam), Regan Hagar (Malfunkshun), Shawn Smith and Keith Lowe — in over a decade, and is released 30 years after their 1993 debut album Shame. The album features 10 never-released songs, and all the lyrics were solely written by vocalist Smith before his passing in 2019, with the exception made for Stars N’ You, a song written by late Seattle musician Andrew Wood (Malfunkshun, Mother Love Bone) and recorded by Malfunkshun for C/Z Records’ 1986 Deep Six compilation, which represents the early inception of the Seattle grunge scene. Says Gossard: “We had texted a lot the week before Shawn’s passing: ‘Let’s do this. Let’s finish this record we started five years before.’ Lots of reasons for the pause in finishing. Some good. Others not. Our texting that week described how we were gonna take all our lessons from lost days about how we were better together, each part perfectly imperfect, and finally get back to the magic of music and our unique sound. Regan, Keith and I finished these tracks without our spiritual leader and our singer.”
The Budos Band
Frontier’s Edge
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Frontier’s Edge is the new EP by the fiery, energetic and genre-defying group The Budos Band. After a two-decade run with the legendary Daptone Records, Frontier’s Edge is the first new music from the group on the new label Diamond West Records — run by Budos saxophonist Jared Tankel and guitarist Tom Brenneck. The band’s departure from Daptone was on good terms; the split from their long-time home base was an organic result of the band’s evolution. “It’s just a natural growth,” Brenneck says, admitting: “We’re going further away from the sound of Daptone and into territory they probably wanted to stay away from.” As a result, Frontier’s Edge finds the group hungry, passionate and primed to charge into their next epoch newfound sense autonomy within the collective. As expected from The Budos Band, Frontier’s Edge resists analysis; it represents the band as they are: a contained explosion. You don’t pick apart Frontier’s Edge; you feel it all at once.”
Bush Tetras
They Live In My Head
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Bush Tetras have made punk music at the fringes for over four decades. Flashes of reggae, bursts of noise, guitars that rattle, shake and snake, born out of a gutter behind CBGB. The band’s first iteration lasted just a few years, from 1979 through the early ’80s. But they respawned time and time again, contorting their sound, tweaking the vision, remaining completely singular and indispensable along the way. They Live In My Head is the band’s third full length record since their formation in 1979, but that fact is a little misleading. The Bush Tetras have written songs together for decades. They’ve thought about their output, they’ve played heart-stopping live shows. They Live In My Head is a natural evolution to the band’s sound. “We just went into the rehearsal space and things just would fall right into place,” says Place, “We’d just start playing and the next thing would happen and we’d know where to take it.” This intuitive approach to songwriting lends itself to music that feels urgent, natural, the kind of stuff you can really grind your teeth and dance to.”
Bethany Cosentino
Natural Disaster
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “If you had asked Bethany Cosentino — best known for the last decade and a half as the frontwoman of acclaimed band Best Coast — a few years ago if she was going to make a solo album, the answer would have been a quick “no.” But then everything changed. Literally everything. The list is long and we all know it: A global pandemic; climate change ravaging the world; a diseased patriarchy stomping daily on democracy and basic human rights; countless national tragedies; a never-ending, pervasive sense of doom. It’s against this backdrop that Cosentino was forced to take stock of it all and jump off the merry-go-round of countless album cycles and tours. “I don’t think I ever really had the opportunity to look at my life under such a magnifying glass, because I was always preoccupied in some capacity,” she explains. “It allowed me an opportunity to really ask myself: What do you want? What happens if you stop living your life for other people, and you finally subscribe to the idea that you don’t owe anyone anything, but you owe yourself everything?”
Dexys
The Feminine Divine
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Dexys are back! 11 years since the release of their last album of original music, the acclaimed One Day I’m Going to Soar, the band return with a stunning new record, The Feminine Divine. Their fifth album of original material was produced once again by Pete Schwier, along with acclaimed session musician and producer Toby Chapman. After taking some time out to refocus his energy, Kevin Rowland came back to music with a fresh perspective and newfound positivity. A personal, if not strictly autobiographical, record portraying a man whose views have evolved over time. Not just on women, but the whole concept of masculinity he had been raised with: an education and an un-learning that is traced across the arc of The Feminine Divine with dizzying effect. “I’ve been doing this a long time,” says Kevin. “But I feel I’ve got to it now.”
Girlschool
WTFortyfive?
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “WTFortyfive? is a deliciously dirty declaration that age is a number that shows how much real raw attitude you have when it really counts. With WTFortyfive?, Kim McAuliffe (guitar/vocals), Denise Dufort (drums), Jackie Chambers (guitar/backing vocals), and Tracey Lamb (bass) leave the grit under their finger nails and the muck on their crusty leather boots as they riff and stomp their way through 12 statements of intent showing major attitude, some great melodies, and a consistent crunch to every guitar. Lead single Are You Ready? sets the pace, a racy, raunchy, fun-saturated shapeshifter cowritten with Alcatrazz’s Joe Stump. Then there’s the Wandsworth via Sunset Strip sway of Bump In The Night, the youthful, punky romp of Up To No Good, and the smart, sassy, rock ‘n’ roll hooks of Believing In You, with McAuliffe’s vocals sounding as sharp and raucous as ever. And if that isn’t enough, their raunch roars and rolls alongside Biff Byford (Saxon), Phil Campbell (Motörhead) and Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses) on a cracking cover of Born To Raise Hell! So throw away your inhibitions and join these spectacularly wild women on the most glorious of rock ’n’ roll rides. Lemmy knew, so should YOU!”
Joni Mitchell
At Newport
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Joni Mitchell stunned the Newport Folk Festival audience last summer when she gave a surprise performance — her first in 20 years — delivering a heartfelt set filled with some of her greatest songs. Mitchell’s triumphant return to the stage on July 24, 2022, is featured on the new live album At Newport, co-produced by close collaborator Brandi Carlile. Mitchell was joined on stage at the festival by a star-studded band led by Carlile, with guests Wynonna Judd, Marcus Mumford, Celisse, Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes and more. Mitchell delighted the audience, blending her voice with the other singers on stage on classics like Big Yellow Taxi, A Case Of You and Both Sides Now. For good measure, she even flashed her guitar prowess, playing a solo instrumental version of Just Like This Train.”
Primal Scream
Reverberations (Travelling In Time)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Reverberations (Travelling In Time) is the Primal Scream album that never was: 16 perfectly formed pop nuggets weighing in at just under 35 minutes. Boasting 11 previously unreleased BBC session recordings plus all five songs from the band’s first two Creation Records singles. The LP is beautifully packaged in a gatefold sleeve with specially commissioned artwork by by renowned British illustrator and designer Julie Verhoeven. The record also includes a printed inner sleeve plus a large format eight-page booklet with essays by Bob Stanley, Jim Beattie and Bobby Gillespie and 28 period photographs of the band. Each vinyl LP is supplied with a free download card.”
