The hits just keep on comin’. In bunches. Just like last week, you’ve got more than 20 names to add to your playlist. Some you probably know — like Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Daryl Hall, Frank Zappa, Jethro Tull and The Grateful Dead. Some you probably need to know — like Daniel Davies, Hayes Noble, Kelly Jamieson, Greenleaf and Mysterines. All of them are worth checking out. So get checkin’ already:
Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore With The Guilty Ones
TexiCali
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Behind blistering blues licks, TexiCali doubles as a roadtrip across Grammy winner Dave Alvin and Grammy nominee Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s beloved home states and the memories within, honoring shared musical influences, friends gone too soon and all they’ve endured along the way. These folk heroes have now evolved their unbreakable bond into a fully fledged musical and songwriting partnership. TexiCali continues to bridge the distance between the two troubadours’ respective home bases of California (Alvin) and Texas (Gilmore). Its 11 songs also connect their shared fondness for a broad range of American music forms. They’re both quick to credit the musicians who joined them in the studio as crucial to the sound and spirit of the album: Alvin’s longtime rhythm section of drummer Lisa Pankratz and bassist Brad Fordham, along with guitarist Chris Miller and keyboardist Bukka Allen.”
Daniel Davies
Ghost Of The Heart
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In the last decade, Daniel Davies has become a lauded composer of atmospheric, synth-heavy instrumental music — for film and TV scores, alongside John Carpenter on the director’s Lost Themes albums, and on solo releases like Signals and Spies. But in his previous musical life, Davies was a rocker, touring all over the world with heavy bands like Year Long Disaster and Karma to Burn. With his new solo album, Ghost Of The Heart, Davies returns to the alt-rock sound he had temporarily set aside, bolstering it with the things he’s learned making soundtracks and instrumental music. The songs on Ghost of the Heart don’t fit neatly into any one subgenre: they’re moody, heavy, and a little proggy, but with a strong pop sensibility and lots of melody. The album divulges Davies’ affinity for hooky, forward-thinking bands like Radiohead and Blur, but more than anything, Ghost Of The Heart feels natural, like he’s tapping back into something fundamental about himself as a musician. “My first love is writing rock songs,” Davies says. “It just felt like the right time to get back to it.”
Cody Dickinson
Homemade
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For decades, Cody Dickinson has flown the flag for homemade American roots music. From his ongoing work with North Mississippi Allstars — the chart-topping blues-rock band he co-founded with brother Luther Dickinson in 1996 — to his Grammy-winning turn as record producer and film documentarian, he’s become a serial collaborator, working alongside everyone from Robert Plant to Lucero along the way. “I’ve made a career out of collaborating,” he says. “If I’m working in film or TV, my job is to support creative people and help them realize their vision. If I’m working as a musician, I’m getting behind the drums and literally backing up someone else. Most of my life has been spent supporting.” Cody turns the tables with Homemade, an expansive and evolutionary album that marks his long-awaited debut as a solo artist. Stacked to the ceiling with southern soul, west coast boogie-woogie, hill country blues, and plenty of ear-candy pop hooks, Homemade redefines his reach as a vocalist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.”
Fastball
Sonic Ranch
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Multiplatinum hitmakers Fastball are remembering it’s OK to have hits. Reflecting on their meteoric rise with chart-topping debut The Way, guitarist/vocalist Miles Zuniga wryly remarks, “I like to say that The Way gave us the freedom to continue doing what we do.” And what Fastball does is write hits. Their latest, Sonic Ranch, produced by David Garza (Fiona Apple) and John Fields (Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus) at Garza’s west Texas ranch studio of the same name, is 10 sing-along gems, combining pop smarts and the wisdom of 30 years together.”
Ghost Next Door
Classic Songs Of Death And Dismemberment
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Fronted by guitarist and vocalist Gary Wendt, heavy progressive metallers The Ghost Next Door have come together as a strong force within the Bay Area’s underground metal scene. Fueled by an inextinguishable sonic fire and their politically charged exploration of groove and riffs in their more convoluted form, Classic Songs of Death and Dismemberment is a dark, heady and highly progressive 13-track that channels a wide range of sounds from alternative metal to doom metal. Based in Berkeley, The Ghost Next Door emerged from a desire to marry the dark melancholy of ’80s and ’90s alternative with the aggression and drive of Bay Area metal. With Wendt (Sacrilege BC, Release) on guitar and vocals, Aaron Asghari on guitar and Noah Whitfield on bass, solid songwriting and musical diversity are at the core of band’s sound. Each member brings his unique influences from across the modern music spectrum: from punk to jazz, progressive metal to sadcore, modern rock to thrash. Their influences and playing styles combine into meter-bending, riff-driven rock ’n’ roll breaking out from under the bare skin of abrasively honest lyrics.”
Grateful Dead
From The Mars Hotel 50th Anniversary Edition
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Fifty years ago, the Grateful Dead were cooking with gas. It was spring 1974, the band had successfully emerged from a series of hectic, harrowing times, and would soon follow their transformative Wake Of The Flood with the second acclaimed album release on their very own Grateful Dead Records: From The Mars Hotel. During the mere eight months that had passed between those two beloved LPs, the group also played some of their most exploratory live music and largest venues to date, famously amplified by the homemade, 75-ton Wall of Sound that they debuted on March 23, 1974, at their hometown Cow Palace in Daly City, CA. Eternal staples such as Scarlet Begonias, Ship Of Fools and U.S. Blues would first be introduced into setlists along that season’s tour, before the Grateful Dead spent two months recording and honing them in the studio for From The Mars Hotel. Not to mention perennial classics like China Doll and Loose Lucy, or Pride of Cucamonga and Unbroken Chain — the final two tracks Phil Lesh would sing on a Grateful Dead studio album. Now, as bandmembers and tributaries continue to celebrate and bring so many of these formative songs to the masses, From The Mars Hotel has been remastered and expanded with newly unearthed material and rarities, in honor of its 50th anniversary.”
Greenleaf
The Head & The Habit
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With their ninth full-length The Head & The Habit, Swedish heavy rockers Greenleaf have reached the pinnacle of a long evolution. The musical handwriting and well-honed mastery of guitarist Tommi Holappa, who has been a pioneer and pillar of the European stoner rock scene for more than 25 years, shines clearly through. This is perfectly complemented by the soulfulness, intuitive sense of melody, and depth of character that the vocals of classically trained singer Arvid Hällagård bring to the sound of Greenleaf. Apart from world-class vocal lines and massive riffs with electric fuzz-power, Greenleaf have put extra thought into the themes of The Head & The Habit, which lift its lyrics far above much of the often cliché-ridden genre. As the album title implies, the new songs resemble symbolic short stories that revolve around emotional struggles and even mental illness.”
Daryl Hall
D
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Daryl Hall is about to release his sixth solo album, D. It was co-produced by one-time Eurythmics member and fellow Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductee Dave Stewart, who co-wrote seven of the nine new original songs with Hall penning the other two on his own. D is his first release since 2011’s Laughing Down Crying. “This album is about getting to my core,” Hall said. “Break it down to the real thing, have fun, tropical reverie. And, rekindle a musical relationship with a great friend. … Call me D.” The new album was recorded and mixed at Stardust Studios in Harbour Island, Bahamas. The first single from the album was Can’t Say No to You, co-written by Hall and Stewart. Other songs include The Whole World’s Better, Too Much Information, Rainbow Over the Graveyard, Not the Way I Thought It Was, Walking in Between Raindrops and Why You Want to Do That to My Head, along with a pair of brand-new Hall solo tracks: Rather Be A Fool and Break It Down to the Real Thing.”
Lightnin’ Hopkins
Live From the Ash Grove… Plus!
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “By the time he took the stage for the mostly solo acoustic selections on this release, Samuel John Lightnin’ Hopkins (1912-1982) was already well established in the blues world. He was a world-class song improviser and performer, but it was as a guitarist that Hopkins had the most impact. Jimmie Vaughan once said that without Hopkins, there would be no Jimi Hendrix, and in fact Hendrix’s record collection boasted more Hopkins LPs than any artist other than Bob Dylan. B.B. King, no slouch on the guitar himself, opined that “Hopkins may not have known many notes, but he knew the right ones, and he knew where to put them.” And a 2010 survey of the 100 best and most influential guitarists in rock history placed Hopkins at 71, right between Joni Mitchell and Eddie Van Halen. The first 14 tracks featured on Live From The Ash Grove… Plus! were recorded on Nov. 29, 1970. The six bonus tracks, include two songs recorded at Ash Grove on Sept. 22, 1965, and four recorded at In Your Ear in Palo Alto on Aug. 18, 1971.”
Islands
What Occurs
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “What Occurs, the 10th album in Islands’ 18-year history, marks a significant shift for the band. Foregoing the meticulous production of 2021’s Islomania and 2023’s fine-tuned followup, And That’s Why Dolphins Lost Their Legs, the brand new record strips away detailed ornamentation for something much more immediate, raw and natural. Nick Thorburn, the bandleader, had this to say: “For the first time ever, we went in cold. I brought over two dozen songs into the studio on Vancouver Island. We sat facing one another in the live room, and I played the songs through for the band (Evan Gordon, Geordie Gordon, Adam Halferty). Together we ran through the material, and very quickly, after the songs were under our fingers, we pushed record. Decisions had to be made very quickly.” With an intent to capture the raw spontaneity from a band that has played together for a decade, Thorburn and co. recorded the songs live in the room, all together, with guitar amps and vocal mics bleeding into one another on multiple occasions.”
Kelly Jamieson
Too Close To The Sun
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Kelly Jamieson considers himself a late bloomer as a singer-songwriter, but since the Toronto artist released his self-titled debut album in 2015, he has fully dedicated himself to the craft, and has slowly but consistently been building an impressive body of work that ranges from deftly executed heartland rock to lush balladry. Jamieson displays that diversity once again on his third full-length Too Close To The Sun, made in collaboration with producer/multi-instrumentalist Craig Smith, who also helmed Jamieson’s 2020 album Pure Gold. Work on Too Close To The Sun commenced in early 2022 at Smith’s studio in Collingwood, Ont., with a crew that also included drummer John Hall, and contributions from Austin keyboardist Jay Stiles. Jamieson credits Smith for having an overall vision for the record, while simultaneously not imposing any creative restrictions. “The entire recording process was a super fun experience,” Jamieson says. “I brought around 20 songs to go through. I tend to write in all different styles, so with Craig we played through the tunes. We were able to put together seven that seemed to fit well together and we worked to create the sonic footprint that would serve the songs best.”
Jethro Tull
Bursting Out: The Inflated Edition
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A live extravaganza from the ’70s Jethro Tull, this was recorded over several nights in different venues on a portable 8-track tape recorder and transferred to 2” multitrack when I got home after the tours,” says Tull leader Ian Anderson. “I had to listen all through to many shows and pick the best live versions. But much of it was, at least, from the concert in Bern, Switzerland, where dear Claude Nobs came to introduce the band in his inimitable style. Also featuring on this box set collection is the live concert from Madison Square Gardens recorded a few months later and shown live on BBC TV in the UK. A scary experience for the band as it was, we were told, the first time a live rock concert had been the subject of a live satellite broadcast. The band lineup at this time was a fine-tuned machine and, although missing the unwell John Glascock for the MSG show, it serves as a fine testimony for the many wonderful shows we did in the 70s before general touring fatigue and burn-out began a year or so later. Enjoy vintage Tull at its ’70s best!”
Kronos Quartet & Friends
Outer Spaceways Incorporated: Kronos Quartet & Friends Meet Sun Ra
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Individually, Kronos Quartet and Sun Ra are two of the most groundbreaking names in contemporary music. The former is the legendary San Francisco-based string quartet that laid a blueprint for what concert music could become. The latter was a singular jazz and avant-garde bandleader, as well as a philosopher and poet, who honed an extraordinary strain of cosmic experimental music from the 1950s until his ascension in 1993. As a capstone to Kronos Quartet’s 50th anniversary, the group has joined forces with the Red Hot Organization for the new album Outer Spaceways Incorporated: Kronos Quartet & Friends Meet Sun Ra. It’s stacked with some of the most innovative artists active today — everyone from multidimensional electronic musician Jlin to Moor Mother and DJ Haram’s radical noise / rap project 700 Bliss, to abstract hip hop luminaries Armand Hammer, to avant-garde hero Laurie Anderson, to minimalist pioneer Terry Riley.”
Lake Street Dive
Good Together
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “On Good Together, Lake Street Dive return with a renewed sense of purpose, aiming to highlight our shared humanity against the social divisions pulling us apart. The ethos of Good Together can be described as “joyful rebellion,” just as energetic and danceable as it is defiantly principled. “There’s a lot to be angry about in the world right now, a lot of pain and rage and divisiveness, but it isn’t sustainable to constantly live in that anger — you need something else to keep you going,” says drummer Mike Calabrese. “Joy is a great way to sustain yourself, and we wanted to encourage everyone to stay aware of that. In a way this album is our way of saying, ‘Take your joy very seriously.’ ” The album finds Lake Street Dive working once more with Grammy-winning producer Mike Elizondo, also marking the first time all of the members of the band collaborated in the earliest, most vulnerable stages of songwriting together, creating a unique approach to the sessions.”
Jim Lauderdale
My Favorite Place
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “At any given time, you’re likely to find Jim Lauderdale making music, whether he’s laying down a new track in the studio or working through a spontaneous melody at his home in Nashville. And if he’s not actively crafting new music, he’s certainly thinking about it. “It’s a constant challenge to try to keep making better and better records, write better and better songs. I still always feel like I’m a developing artist,” he says. This may be a surprising sentiment from a man who’s won two Grammys, released 34 full-albums, and taken home the Americana Music Association’s coveted Wagonmaster Award. But Game Changer is convincing evidence that the North Carolina native is only continuing to hone his craft. Operating under his own label, Sky Crunch Records, for the first time since 2016, Lauderdale recorded Game Changer at the renowned Blackbird Studios in Nashville, co-producing the release with Jay Weaver and pulling from songs he’d written over the last several years. “There’s a mixture on this record of uplifting songs and, at the same time, songs of heartbreak and despair — because that’s part of life as well,” he says. “In the country song world especially, that’s always been part of it. That’s real life.”
The Mysterines
Afraid Of Tomorrows
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Recorded and produced by Grammy-winning producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Angel Olsen) in L.A., Afraid of Tomorrows is a deeper and darker foray into The Mysterines’ psyche than its predecessor, and reflects the maturity and growth of the band — singer-guitarist Lia Metcalfe, bassist George Favager, guitarist Callum Thompson and drummer Paul Crilly. Afraid of Tomorrows is a mirror where you find you’re nothing more than a formless being, one made from celestial constellations — of traumas, of the old and new, mistakes, addiction, fear and happiness, loneliness, but ultimately a desire for life and the fight to keep living. It’s a collage of what’s been lost and of love unbounded,” says Lia. When it comes to pivotal life moments, having the mighty Nick Cave snatch a balloon out of your hands when you’re seven years old before smirkingly stomping on it is going to make you do one of two things. 1) Run off crying and forever commit to a quiet life or 2) Decide to be just like the big, tall man who gets a kick out of scaring little kids. When it happened to Metcalfe, she wisely decided to do the latter.”
Hayes Noble
As It Was, As We Were
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Hayes Noble is your not-so-typical, out-of-step small town teenager. Hailing from northwest Illinois and now residing in Spokane, Washington, the self taught musician and budding home recording enthusiast is equally adept with drumsticks as a guitar pick. With not much to do and nowhere to go, Hayes spends most of his time in the basement blasting records and working out songs. Raised on a steady diet of obscure noise and classic cuts, Noble comes from a home where music plays a central role and tastes span the decades. From ’60s soul to various shades of metal, and everything in between, the stacks of CDs and vinyl have provided influences cutting across genres and eras.”
Pond
Stung
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Pond are one of the most versatile, inquisitive, and accomplished bands of the psychedelic rock vanguard. The last four Pond albums have been showcases of tidiness and brevity, 10 ideas always tucked into 40 minutes or so. But on Stung!, they gleefully, madly, and wilfully lean into double-LP largesse, tapping the spirit of Tusk and Sign ‘O’ the Times by funnelling 14 songs into the most unfettered and splendid hour of their recording career. Stung! delivers some of Pond’s most glorious rock songs ever and also some of their least rock moments, all psychedelic drapery or funk vim. In that epic, as in Stung! at large, Nick Allbrook speaks to our collective modern paradox of being disappointed in or even disconsolate over a world that we know more about than any prior generation but also being in awe of it and (sometimes) each other, too. There are so many reasons to cry and so many reasons to marvel. Can’t they all, Pond suggest with Stung!, be reasons to sing?”
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
Live From the Ash Grove
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Harmonica player Sonny Terry and blues guitar picker Brownie McGhee are legendary figures in the realm of American blues music, renowned for their captivating performances and an occasionally rocky partnership that endured for 35 years. They formed their partnership in New York circa 1941, a particularly bountiful time for folk and blues artists in New York City. Their loose-knit folk-blues crowd at the time included Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Josh White, Paul Robeson, Cisco Houston and Woody Guthrie, just to name a few. In 1973, by the time of this Ash Grove acoustic duo performance, Terry and McGhee were elder statesmen of Piedmont blues and a familiar fixture at the club, where they were among the first to appear when it opened in 1958. This 34-minute set has never been previously released commercially in any format. As a bonus, a pair of tracksfrom a 1965 appearance at the club are also included.”
Linda Thompson
Proxy Music
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The revered British singer-songwriter Linda Thompson’s latest project, the aptly named Proxy Music features artists handpicked by Linda and her son (and album co-producer) Teddy Thompson, to record a new set of her tunes by “proxy.” Thompson now has limited singing capabilities now due to a rare vocal condition. Proxy Music, however, impressively showcases her songwriting range and prowess. Tracks like Darling This Will Never Do and Mudlark hold a timeless quality, while Those Damn Roches and John Grant (sung by Grant himself) boast modern sensibilities. Proxy Music contains performances from long-time friends and admirers like Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Eliza Carthy, The Proclaimers, Dori Freeman and Grant, along with many talented Thompsons, including her children Teddy and Kami, and her ex-husband Richard playing guitar on several tracks. “Music in my family,” Thompson shares. “It’s like glue. It binds us.”
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention
Whiskey a Go Go, 1968
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The hand-scrawled ad in the L.A. Free Press — an open invitation to Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention’s all-night affair at one of their favorite venues, L.A.’s historic Whisky a Go Go — laid things out in black and white as to what Zappa and the band’s intentions were for that soon-to-be historic evening. It read: ‘The Mothers of Invention cordially invite you to join them on Tuesday, July 23, 1968 when they will be taking over the Whisky a Go Go for five full hours of unprecedented merriment, which will be secretly recorded for an upcoming record album. Dress optional. Starting sometime in the evening. R.S.V.D.T.’ The show was billed on the Whisky marquee as Mothers Of Invention – Recording Session, and thus, Zappa had indeed recorded the entire evening’s aural festivities with the intention of releasing an album. That project never quite fully materialized — until now. Whisky a Go Go, 1968, the latest provocative live collection to be released from The Vault, compiles everything The Mothers of Invention played across their three sets that night, nearly three hours in all, complete and newly remixed in 2023.
