Wait, it’s July already? Damn. That was fast. I’d say time flies when you’re having fun, but I don’t know anybody who’s really having any. But even if the world is a dumpster fire being towed straight to hell by a clown car, at least we’ve got some decent music to hear while we plunge into the abyss. Here are more of my favourite albums from 2024’s first half, listed in alphabetical order. Will any of them make the cut six months from now? Who knows? Hell, who knows if any of us will be here six months from now. So carpe those diems, bitches. Enjoy.
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 albums, and taken home the Americana Music Association’s coveted Wagonmaster Award. But his latest release 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.”
Left Lane Cruiser
Bayport BBQ Blues
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bayport BBQ Blues is the new studio album by Indiana’s favorite blues duo Left Lane Cruiser, featuring Freddy J IV on guitar and vocals, and Brenn “Sausage Paw” Beck on drums, washboard and trash kit.
The album blends Freddy’s commanding, gritty vocal rasp and positively nasty hoodoo slide guitar work with Sausage Paw’s rhythmic stomp to make for a heady fire-starter for your next house party, backyard barbecue or juke joint get-down. Bayport BBQ Blues is dedicated to the memory of the late Chris Johnson, creator of the Deep Blues Festival.”
The Lemon Twigs
A Dream Is All We Know
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Following the release of Everything Harmony, which garnered acclaim from Questlove, Iggy Pop and countless others, The Lemon Twigs — the New York City rock band fronted by brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario — have returned to once again capture the attention of the music-listening public.
Set for release less than a year after their last album, A Dream Is All We Know is a joyous affair. As the title suggests, it’s less of a sober look at the darker side of life, and more a hopeful sojourn into the realm of dreams. The tone has shifted away from dreary melancholic ballads and moody power-pop. Brian and Michael are revisiting their 1968 sound. This album feels closely related to Do Hollywood, but their songwriting and recording techniques have vastly improved over the course of five albums. The brothers combine elements of Merseybeat, the California harmonies of The Beach Boys, and even a dash of bubblegum to create a unique collection of pop nuggets. (They claim it’s part of a new “Merseybeach” movement that’s sure to catch on, though that fact remains to be seen.)”
The Libertines
All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Libertines’ fourth studio album All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade is their first new album in nine years. On this long-awaited comeback, the quartet of unlikely lads have gathered from newfound homes in France, Denmark, Margate and London to solder a strongest-ever internal bond and scale new creative heights — resulting in the best music of their extraordinary career so far.
The story of the making of All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade goes like this — in September 20222, Libs glimmer twins Pete Doherty and Carl Barât decamped to Jamaica. Away from any distraction the chemistry between the infamous songwriting partnership began to bubble in earnest. Fast-forward to February 2023, when Peter and Carl regrouped with rock solid knaves to the rhythm — bassist John Hassall and drummer Gary Powell, at The Albion Rooms. Says Doherty: “We really came together as a band. It was a moment of rare peace and unity, with all the members contributing.” Featuring 11 sparkling new songs with songwriting credits shared among the four bandmembers, the album was produced by Grammy-nominated producer Dimitri Tikovoï (Horrors, Charli XCX) and recorded at The Albion Rooms in Margate. It was cut in just four weeks during February and March 2023, and finished over seven days at La Ferme de Gestein Studios in Normandy, with additional production and mixing by Dan Grech-Marguerat (Lana Del Rey, Liam Gallagher, Paul McCartney).
The Manikins
Swedish Woods
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The garage-punk lieutenants of Sweden’s Manikins are back with a bang — their sixth studio album Swedish Woods.
Now they’re back and ready to unleash a raw and primitive rock explosion. The album features 12 tracks clocking in at 31 minutes, with the band exploring the more traditional sounds of rock ’n’ roll while keeping the energy and volume levels cranked to the max. Swedish Woods was recorded and produced by the band in their own Omega Studios in Nyköping, with mixing and mastering by Joakim Forsberg. “After years in solitary, due to the pandemic we’ve been working on new songs and are now ready to share it with the world,” they say. “In the process of the writing we’ve been searching in the back catalogues of the most primitive rock ’n’ roll in history. It’s hard-hitting, trashy, simple yet with a twist of finesse that makes you wanna hear it over and over again. Nothing is so ageless as the dark and massive woods of Sweden, and in a time of turbulence we wanted to create something similar to this in our music. With the classic recipes of rock ’n’ roll that has been used and recycled since the time we had the ability to count 1, 2, 3, 4, we want to describe our contemporary struggles and create sounds and beats that will let you let loose.”
Mannequin Pussy
I Got Heaven
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Mannequin Pussy’s music feels like a resilient and galvanizing shout that demands to be heard. Across four albums, the Philadelphia rock band that consists of Colins “Bear” Regisford (bass, vocals), Kaleen Reading (drums, percussion), Maxine Steen (guitar, synths), and Marisa Dabice (guitar, vocals) has made cathartic tunes about despairing times.
“There’s just so much constantly going on that feels intentionally evil that trying to make something beautiful feels like a radical act ,” says Dabice. “The ethos of this band has always been to bring people together.” Their latest I Got Heaven is the band’s most fully realized LP yet. Over 10 ambitious tracks which abruptly turn from searing punk to inviting pop, the album is deeply concerned with desire, the power in being alone, and how to live in an unfeeling and unkind world. It’s a document of a band doubling down on their unshakable bond to make something furious, thrilling, and wholly alive.”
The Mavericks
Moon & Stars
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Miami-formed and Nashville-based, genre-bending Americana icons The Mavericks return with their long-awited 13th studio album Moon And Stars. The record marks their first new music release since 2020’s groundbreaking and chart-topping En Español project, and their first return to a full English-language release since their acclaimed Brand New Day album in 2017.
“This record has been a journey of reflection, introspection, patience, learning and evolving,” the bandmembers say in a press release. “Some of these songs were written years ago, but they weren’t ready. Or maybe we weren’t. We are now.” Already known for their distinctive and eclectic Americana/roots fusion of alternative and outlaw country, rock, blues, R&B and Tejano/Tex-Mex influences, The Mavericks — singer-bassistt Raul Malo, drummer Paul Deakin, guitarist Eddie Perez and keyboardist Jerry Dale McFadden — quite appropriately recorded the tracks of Moon And Stars around the South in Blackbird Studio (Nashville), Frogville Studios (Santa Fe), and Dockside Studio (Louisiana). The result is an album that instantly invokes both a timeless feel of a classic Mavericks release that will fit seamlessly among their most revered career work, while once again challenging genre conventions and pushing the boundaries of their melting pot sound ever forward.”
Melvins
Tarantula Heart
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The new Melvins album Tarantula Heart is like nothing they have done before. It could be the best work they’ve ever recorded. It’s certainly one of their weirdest — the five-song album opens with a mammoth 19-minute track called Pain Equals Funny, and also includes the noise-laden heavy hitter Working The Ditch.
“The way we approached Tarantula Heart was different than any other Melvins album,” explains guitarist Buzz Osborne. “I had Dale (Crover) and Roy Mayorga come in and play along with Steven (McDonald) and I to some riffs, then I took those sessions and figured out what parts would work and wrote new music to fit. This isn’t a studio approach we’ve ever taken. Usually we have the songs written BEFORE we start recording!” Adds long-time Melvins drummer Crover: “The majority of Tarantula Heart has dual drum parts. We invited Roy Mayorga from Ministry to come record with us. Roy is an amazing drummer! We would discuss what we would do pattern-wise, then we’d just go for it, improvising riffs and trading off on drum fills.” Adds Buzz: “When the rest of the band heard these songs I’d created from the sessions, they were blown away. These were fully developed new songs that they’d never heard before that had seemingly appeared out of thin air. Presto!”
The Messthetics And James Brandon Lewis
The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Instrumental trio The Messthetics join forces with acclaimed jazz saxophonist James Brandon Lewis for their new self-titled album.
The Messthetics formed in 2016 and is made up of the rhythm section from renowned D.C. punk band Fugazi, with Joe Lally on bass and Brendan Canty on drums, along with experimental and jazz guitarist Anthony Pirog. Praised saxophonist Lewis hails from New York City and first joined the trio on stage in 2019 and again in 2021, which sparked inspiration for the quartet to create an album together. The nine tracks of The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis were recorded in just two days in Maryland with engineer Don Godwin. The album captures the combustive chemistry the four musicians felt on stage while performing together and expands on the collaboration in all directions.”
Moby
Always Centered At Night
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “On Always Centered At Night, Moby has once again conjured into reality a collection of heartachingly beautiful, tender-yet-defifiant songs, made in collaboration with uniquely talented, soulfully aware, other-worldly vocalists. All the songs are love letters to the unrestricted and enchanting music scene of late ’70s, early ’80s New York that shaped Moby as a musician. The featured vocalists were given the same assignment: “Please don’t write anything commercial. Let it be weird. Let it be personal. It doesn’t have to make sense.”
“Because of that randomized freedom, I’ve been on the receiving end of so much genius work,” says Moby. “And the result has been one of the most exciting, surprising things I’ve ever done as a musician, and it’s one of the most worthwhile things a human being can do: make tender, gentle, vulnerable music that’s a clarion call to act.” Featured on this album are some of the most exciting vocalists of our time. Some are well-known — such as Serpentwithfeet on the breathless daydream of a song On Air, the jazzy soulstress Lady Blackbird on the haunting Dark Days, or the astounding poet and activist Benjamin Zephaniah on Where Is Your Pride? Other contributors have been found in relative obscurity — such as friend and vocalist Brie O’Banion on the Cream cover We’re Going Wrong, or Sheffiffield poet laureate Danaé Wellington on the powerful Wild Flame. “The goal for always centered at night is to do something uncompromising,” says Moby. “To make music that is emotional, atmospheric and potentially beautiful. And what better use of this weird privilege I have than trying to foster creative expression that has uncompromising integrity?”
Mdou Moctar
Funeral For Justice
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Funeral For Justice is the new album by Mdou Moctar. Recorded at the close of two years spent touring the globe following his 2019 breakout Afrique Victime, it captures the Nigerien quartet in ferocious form. The music is louder, faster, and more wild. The guitar solos are feedback-scorched and the lyrics are passionately political. Nothing is held back or toned down.
The songs on Funeral For Justice speak unflinchingly to the plight of Niger and of the Tuareg people. “This album is really different for me,” explains Moctar, the band’s singer, namesake, and indisputably iconic guitarist. “Now the problems of terrorist violence are more serious in Africa. When the U.S. and Europe came here, they said they’re going to help us, but what we see is really different. They never help us to find a solution.”
Willie Nelson
The Border
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Border is Willie Nelson’s 152nd album (according to Texas Monthly’s interactive All Willie Nelson Albums Ranked list) and features 10 new tracks and four new Nelson / Buddy Cannon compositions — Once Upon A Yesterday, What If I’m Out Of My Mind, Kiss Me When You’re Through and How Much Does It Cost — along with Hank’s Guitar, a new song cowritten by Cannon and Bobby Tomberlin.
In keeping with his longstanding tradition of shining a light on country music’s finest songwriters, Willie rounded out The Border, his first album in 2024, with his versions of compositions by Larry Cordle and Erin Enderlin (I Wrote This Song For You), Rodney Crowell and Will Jennings (Many A Long And Lonesome Highway), Shawn Camp and Monty Holmes (Made in Texas) and Mike Reid (Nobody Knows Me Like You). Produced by longtime collaborator Cannon, The Border showcases Nelson (lead vocals, Trigger) accompanied by Mickey Raphael (harmonica), Bobby Terry (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, steel guitar), James Mitchell (electric guitar), Jim “Moose” Brown (Wurlitzer, B-3 organ, piano, synthesizer), Fred Eltringham (drums, percussion) and Barry Bales (upright bass); backing vocals are supplied by Buddy and Melonie Cannon. The Border features cover art depicting the Big Bend area between Texas and Mexico.”
O.
WeirdOs
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “O. — the London duo of baritone saxophonist Joe Henwood and drummer Tash Keary — have released their debut album WeirdOs. Full of breakneck rhythms and groove-heavy, distorted sax riffing, it featured everything fans have come to love about their inimitable sound.
Honing their fearless sound through a residency at Brixton venue The Windmill, as well as on support slots across the UK and Europe with fellow heavyweights black midi and Gilla Band, O. have now distilled their unique live energy into these 10 tracks. Coming on the heels of last November’s debut EP Slice and once again featuring production from Dan Carey, WeirdOs is Tash and Joe at their most raucous and free. Across high-octane instrumentals recorded live to tape, the duo encompass everything from cathartic dancefloor drops to intricate jazz lines, and sludgy, menacing doom metal.”
Pearl Jam
Dark Matter
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In 2023, the members of Pearl Jam — vocalist Eddie Vedder, bassist Jeff Ament, rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard, lead guitarist Mike McCready and drummer Matt Cameron — ventured to Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, where they simply plugged in and played with producer-of-the-moment Andrew Watt (Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, Rolling Stones) at the helm.
The musicians faced one another in the same space and communicated sonically at the highest level. Writing and recording in a burst of inspiration, their 12th studio album Dark Matter was born in just three weeks. As a result of the circumstances behind its creation, Dark Matter channels the shared spirit of a group of lifelong creative confidants and brothers in one room playing as if their very lives depended on it. All of the blood, sweat, tears, and energy of a storied career felt renewed and poured into this one body of work. Vedder says, “We’re still looking for ways to communicate. We’re at this time in our lives when you could do it or you could not do it, but we still care about putting something out there that is meaningful and we hopefully think is our best work. No hyperbole, I think this is our best work.”
Pissed Jeans
Half Divorced
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Pissed Jeans have never been a band that goes halfway — they’re known for their feral vocals, biting lyrics, buzzsaw guitars, and unhinged live shows — and their sixth album Half-Divorced is no exception. These songs skewer the tension between youthful optimism and the sobering realities of adulthood, and when viewed through frontman Matt Korvette’s scowl, everything takes on a level of violent absurdity.
Pissed Jeans’ notorious acerbic sense of humor remains sharper than ever as they dismember some of the joys that contemporary adult life has to offer, from helicopter parents to stolen catalytic converters to being $62,000 in debt. On Seatbelt Alarm Silencer, Korvette growls, “Call it a death drive but that ain’t fair / Drive implies I’m headed somewhere.” So where does a band like Pissed Jeans go after nearly twenty years of making music, after becoming fathers, after marriages, and after divorces? Existence has festered to a boiling point. Korvette said, “Half-Divorced has an aggression within it, in terms of saying, I don’t want this reality. There’s a power in being able to say, I realize you want me to pay attention to these things, but I’m telling you that they don’t matter. I’m already looking elsewhere.”
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
South Of Here
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Produced by Brad Cook (Waxahatchee, Bon Iver, Kevin Morby) and recorded at Sonic Ranch outside El Paso, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats’ fourth album South Of Here reckons with a lifetime of pain and trauma and transforms it into a stirring, soul-baring rumination on love, loss, hope and resolve.
Following And It’s Still Alright, Rateliff’s beloved 2020 solo LP, and The Future, The Night Sweats’ acclaimed 2021 release, South Of Here blends both sides of his immense talent: Emotionally potent, vivid storytelling and the rugged, R&B revivalism that has powered the band to world-wide acclaim over the past decade. Across 11 original tracks, all written by Rateliff and performed by The Night Sweats — Rateliff, Luke Mossman, Joseph Pope III, Mark Shusterman, Patrick Meese, Daniel Hardaway, Jeff Dazey and Andreas Wild — the band, in peak form, play with intuitive beauty while Cook’s production captures the group’s soulful fire with immediacy and purpose.”
Redd Kross
Redd Kross
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In 1979, two schoolkids all hopped-up on punk rock started their own group in their hometown of Hawthorne, California (also the birthplace of The Beach Boys) and soon found themselves opening shows for notorious pioneers Black Flag. Jeff McDonald was 15, his brother Steven only 11. But that didn’t stop their group from becoming one of the most remarkable, enduring and unique outfits punk ever belched up.
The year 2024 marks Redd Kross’s 45th birthday — an important anniversary for any group whose heart pulses at 45RPM — and the brothers are celebrating the event with a veritable multimedia extravaganza. There’s a memoir, Now You’re One Of Us, due in November, author Dan Epstein telling the group’s story in the McDonalds’ unmistakable (and occasionally contrary) voices. A brilliant rockumentary, Born Innocent, directed by Andrew Reich, will premiere later in the year. Most exciting of all, a new album — an eponymous double-album, no less, packed with 18 of their sharpest, most addictive songs yet — has hit the racks, courtesy of In The Red Records. These years of joyful service to rock ’n’ roll have seen Redd Kross evolve into a killer pop-rock concern, dealing in dayglo power-chords, choruses as tall as skyscrapers and a lyric sheet thick with acid couplets and arch pop- cultural references their loyal following will gobble up like quaaludes.”
J. Robbins
Basilisk
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “J. Robbins‘ second full-length solo album Basilisk is out now on Dischord Records. Basilisk contains 11 songs recorded at Robbins’ Baltimore studio The Magpie Cage between 2021 and 2022 with the assistance of Brooks Harlan (bass), Darren Zentek (drums), Gordon Withers (cello and guitar), John Haggerty (guitar) and Dave Hadley (pedal steel).
Robbins has been the singer-guitarist and principal songwriter in several D.C. and Baltimore post-punk rock bands since the late 1980s — most notably Jawbox, Burning Airlines and Channels. He is also owner and operator of The Magpie Cage.”
Daniel Romano’s Outfit
Too Hot To Sleep
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In order to bring about the good song, there is a certain amount of magic to be summoned,” says Daniel Romano. “Though there are a variety of ways to achieve it, allow me now to break down one of my favourite methods: Without food, take to your post with the hungry wonder of the morning. Getting down to it, allow everything to begin slowly — thought, breath, moment — until you’re buried, little by little in a celestial blackness where all common ideas dissolve into ash and all that didn’t serve you is gone. It’s in this original darkness that the virtues of your heart begin to ignite.”
Come hither dialecticians! Come into the darkness to discover light! Creativity is technique, study, and process, and above all, a commitment, to the self and the self’s relationship to the world. So, too it is an opening, or the result of an opening, to the gifts the world and the world cosmos bring. One conceives as one receives. Magic, yes, but magic summoned actively.”
Bill Ryder-Jones
Iechyd Da
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bill Ryder-Jones’ fifth album Iechyd Da is a record that is rooted in love, loss, pain, heartache and often a deep darkness, but also one that frequently ends up in places of profound beauty, hope and joy. “I love this album,” says Bill, “I haven’t been this proud of a record since A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart.”
His first new record in five years, Iechyd Da is also his most ambitious LP to date. Beautifully produced, rich in scope, at times joyous, grand and sweeping, at others heartbreaking, intimate and tender. “It’s my most produced record,” adds Ryder-Jones, who from his Yawn studios in West Kirby has recently been producing the likes of Mick Head, Gerry Love and Saint Saviour. “It’s basically me carrying on with myself again, but this time around I’m a bit more competent as a producer.” Lyrically, Ryder-Jones is also in potent form. At times he celebrates directness, being more open and honest than ever, while other moments are more complex and multi-faceted. He’s always able to seamlessly balance sadness with stunning beauty, and sly self-deprecation with palpable gentleness.”
St. Vincent
All Born Screaming
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “There is a figure staggering down the street, lurching through a skewed landscape toward a grim new beginning. Rabid, man-sized; disconsolate and grieving in the violent daylight, the smell of death alive on her clothes. No mask, no costume. In fact — though try not to stare — her office wear is somewhat askew. Even her language is ruptured: what was once tightly refined is now impressionistic and felt. No wonder: “I find myself at the precipice of life and death, and reckoning with that,” says Annie Clark, the musician better known as Grammy-winning iconoclast St. Vincent, on the cusp of releasing her seventh album.
Ever since she covered Big Black’s Kerosene live in 2011 and the subsequent cataclysmic 7” split Krokodil / Grot, fans have known that some evil lurked in Clark’s guitar. (Take it back even further if you like: This is someone whose college noise band was named Skull Fuckers.) On All Born Screaming — the first half, at any rate — that lacerating aggression possesses a St. Vincent album for the first time, unleashing a reeling thrash laced with the formative DNA of Steve Albini at his most corrosive and the ugly, spectacular catharsis of Nine Inch Nails, and opening up a brand-new fracture in her songwriting. “It’s my least funny record,” says Clark with knowing wryness.”
Sam Jr.
Inner Shadow
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Dark, edgy, and contemplative, Inner Shadow is the second solo release from Broken Social Scene mainstay and breakthrough indie act Sam Jr. The album intersperses his signature fuzzy, industrial rock tones with his melancholic musings on modern living.
Aside from the musical undertakings, Inner Shadow reveals the breadth of his ingenuity with his involvement in writing, shooting, directing, and editing the accompanying videos. Mixed by frequent collaborator Sebastien Grainger of Death From Above 1979, the album blazes with an electrifying intensity guaranteed to leave an indelible mark to listeners. Sam Jr. shares his creative process: “My inspiration for writing songs was sparked by the easygoing nature of The Dude from The Big Lebowski. I wanted to capture that spirit in my music. Despite our challenges, I believe in embracing optimism and mellow vibes, and I want that to resonate in my songs.”
Greg Saunier
We Sang, Therefore We Were
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: On April 8, 2024, drummer, composer and founding member of Deerhoof Greg Saunier announced his debut solo LP We Sang, Therefore We Were. That founding took place 30 years ago to the day.
“It was 1994 and I was playing in a grunge band in San Francisco,” says Greg. “The two guitarists were literally living with members of the Melvins. Rob Fisk, the bass player, and I had been listening to an AMM CD at home and decided we wanted to give free improv a try. So we came to practice an hour early. That was Deerhoof’s first rehearsal. An hour later our two bandmates walked through the door with the bad news: Kurt Cobain had just been found dead.” Despite the ominous start, Deerhoof have gradually gone on to achieve legendary status in the ears of many, releasing 19 strange and wonderful albums in the process. And during those 30 years, Greg has produced, mixed, composed, or played on hundreds of others (Discogs has him credited on over 300 albums). So it is remarkable that this is, in fact, his very first solo record. He sings and plays all the instruments, save for a few birds who join in now and again.”
Les Savy Fav
Oui, LSF
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “It’s impossible to talk about Les Savy Fav without acknowledging that it’s been more than 10 years since the guys released 2010’s Root For Ruin. But it’s not like they had a messy breakup or quit to become bankers. They just had a lot of living to do.
“When we finished our last record, there was a sense that if we were going to do more, we wanted to do something more ambitious,” frontman Tim Harrington says. “I think it took us a while to even get in a space where that was possible.” Remember, these five men — Harrington, Seth Jabour, Syd Butler, Harrison Haynes and Andrew Reuland — have been friends and collaborators since 1995, when they attended Rhode Island School of Design. It takes a beat to shake old habits. Over the years, they have continued to perform, always on their own terms, but after a stint at Primavera in 2022, they caught the proverbial songwriting bug once more, sharing demos, jamming in Harrington’s attic, and recording through the heap of DIY and esoteric gear Harrington collected over the last decade. The resulting album is a glorious mix of tragedy and comedy — studded with nods to the band’s eclectic musical taste — delightfully weird and utterly them. Album opener Guzzle Blood crashes us into the record like a runaway cop car, setting the tone for the rest of the 14-song suite. “It opens with just a total disillusion — a loss of faith, frustration, anguish,” Harrington says of the song, which speaks of demons haunting your sleep and the battle for salvation.”
Seasick Steve
A Trip A Stumble A Fall Down On Your Knees
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “It’s been almost 20 years since Seasick Steve’s celebrated appearance on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny launched the unknown American singer-songwriter to worldwide fame, and his beat-up three-string Japanese guitar and old wooden stompbox made musical history.
The overwhelming response surprised nobody more than Steve himself, and was like a lightning strike; the impact of which is still being felt close to two decades later, as he has gone onto play almost every major festival in the world, rack up over two million album sales, and release three U.K. Top 10 albums. His new record A Trip A Stumble A Fall Down On Your Knees is a record he proudly calls his favourite to date. “This album was made by mistake, as the title suggests we just tripped and stumbled into it, and it became my favourite album ever and the piece of work I’m most proud of to date. There’s not a week goes by that I don’t thank my lucky stars for that night on the Hootenanny which has brought us here to this record.”
Ty Segall
Three Bells
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Three Bells is a 15-song cycle that takes a journey to the center of the self. Ty Segall has been on this kind of trip before, so he’s souped up a vehicle all his own — a sophisticated machine to take us there this time.
The conception of Three Bells arcs, rainbow-like, into a land nearly beyond songs — but inside of them, Ty relentlessly pushes the walls further and further in his writing and playing to cast light into the most opaque depths.”
