Two things I noticed about next week’s new releases: 1 | Even though there are about 100 fewer titles in total, the number that I want to hear went up, which is a good thing; 2 | Several things I planned to include got pushed back a week or two, which is never a good thing (especially this early in the season). But as a wiser person than I once noted: You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life. Now that I’ve implanted that horrible song in your brain for the rest of the day, let’s move on to the first of your plays of the week:
Anthers
Pedigree Pig
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Seattle’s Anthers are made up of vocalist/guitarist EJ Tolentino, drummer Taylor Clark and bassist Kevin Blanquies. “When we heard EJ screaming ‘pedigree pig’ for the first time while recording, we knew we had found a name for the album,” explains Clark. “During our creative process with this album, lyrics weren’t fully done until we were in the studio. Finalizing them in real-time was a very fun experience. What is a pedigree pig, exactly? For me, it conjures a strong mental image of greed and over-abundance. It’s not the only animal alliteration in the song. Golden geese are also present, making the song feel like a dark fairy-tale or Bosch painting to me. It’s my favorite song on the album!”
Blossoms
Gary
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Blossoms’ fifth album Gary is named after a right-foot fiberglass gorilla that was stolen from a Lanarkshire garden centre in early 2023. Since then, there has been a campaign to locate him. His rear end was recently found, but his frontage is still missing! Gary arrives after four Top 5 albums in the U.K. Blossoms’ 2016 debut topped album charts for two consecutive weeks and went on to earn the band BRIT Award and Mercury Prize nominations, while 2018’s Cool Like You charted at No. 4 in the U.K. album chart, spawning the anthemic singles I Can’t Stand It, There’s A Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls) and How Long Will This Last? Their third studio album, 2020’s Foolish Loving Spaces, was the band’s second U.K. No. 1 album and following the release of In Isolation/Live From The Plaza Theatre, Stockport in 2020.”
Bright Eyes
Five Dice, All Threes
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Five Dice, All Threes is a record of uncommon intensity and tenderness, communal exorcism and personal excavation. These are, of course, qualities that fans have come to expect from Bright Eyes, nearly three decades into their career. The tight-knit band of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott tend to operate in distinct sweeping movements: each unique in its sound and story but unified by a sense of ambition and ever-growing emotional stakes. Even with this rich history behind them, these new songs exude a visceral thrill like nothing they have attempted before. Oberst has always sung in a voice that conveys a sense of life-or-death gravity. At times throughout Five Dice, All Threes, you may feel worried for him; other times, he may seem like the only one with the clarity to get us out of this mess. On the self-produced LP, Bright Eyes embrace the elusive quality that has made them so enduring and influential across generations and genres, bringing their homespun sound from an Omaha bedroom to devoted audiences around the world. In Oberst’s songwriting lies a promise that our loneliest thoughts and feelings can take on grander shapes when passed between friends, blasted through speakers, or shouted among crowds. This time around, the band invites such like-minded voices onto the record with them, with notable guest appearances from Cat Power, The National’s Matt Berninger and Alex Orange Drink, the frontman of the New York punk band The So So Glos.”
Julian Casablancas + The Voidz
Like All Before You
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Julian Casblancas + The Voidz’s third album Like All Before You was meticulously crafted at the band’s home studio in Venice, CA and the renowned Vox Studios in Los Angeles. The band collaborated with producers Ivan Wayman (Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, War on Drugs), Justin Raisen (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kim Gordon), and Sad Pony (Lil Yachty, Drake). As the frontman and sole songwriter of The Strokes, Casablancas helped ignite a depth charge that helped reinvigorate modern music. In 2013, Casablancas morphed into the next stage in his artistic development: The Voidz. Over the course of two albums — the daring 2014 debut Tyranny and its 2018 followup Virtue — The Voidz’ wild genre-splicing were embraced by fans of all genres and critics alike, developing a cult following. In addition to Casablancas, The Voidz are bolstered by the remarkable talents of outsized personalities of the visionistic guitarist Beardo, virtuosic guitarist Amir Yaghami, greatest drummer you never heard of Alex Carapetis, composer Jeff Kite on synths and spiritual anchor/man behind the wordz bassist/keyboardist Jake Bercovici.”
Fidlar
Surviving The Dream
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Surviving The Dream is Fidlar’s long-awaited fourth studio LP and first in over five years. Self-produced and self-recorded at Balboa Recording Studio in East L.A., Surviving The Dream is many things for the Southern California trio comprised of Zac Carper, Max Kuehn and Brandon Schwartzel. An embrace of their DIY roots. A reaction to the youthful kinetic energy packed into rooms at their recent live shows. A reckoning with aging and evolving. Finding themselves faced with existential downtime several years ago — brought on by a planned hiatus that was incidentally prolonged by the pandemic — Fidlar returned feeling an odd discombobulation. In some ways everything was the same; and in others, everything was completely different. As a band whose identity has forever been tethered to getting fucked up, their attitude toward it has changed. Partly that’s because they’re older now, and partly because Carper was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder; something that has helped him make sense of how he acted and felt at certain times in the past, especially when making music.”
Fleetwood Mac
Mirage Tour ’82
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In September 1982, Fleetwood Mac embarked on a 31-city U.S. tour in support of Mirage, the band’s fourth consecutive multi-platinum album and third No. 1 in America. Both shows at The Forum in Los Angeles were recorded. Mirage Tour ‘82 combines songs from
both into a single concert experience. Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were at the height of their collective power at these shows, delivering a hyper-
charged setlist filled with hits new and old. Standouts include Songbird, Oh Well, Love In Store, Go Your Own Way, and a version of Landside for the ages. This 22-track live collection features six unreleased recordings from the Oct. 21, 1982 show, including favorites like Landslide, Don’t Stop and Never Going Back Again.”
Galaxie 500
Uncollected Noise New York ’88-’90
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Uncollected Noise New York ’88-’90 is Galaxie 500’s first release of new archival material in nearly 30 years and is their most comprehensive collection of unreleased and rare archival material ever. Its 24 tracks make up the complete Noise New York studio recordings of the band’s outtakes and non-album tracks. Compiled by the band it traces their career from among their earliest recorded moments in the studio to their last. Including eight never-before-heard studio tracks culled from all the sessions throughout Galaxie’s career, chronologically sequenced along with previously released but rare and long out of print studio material. Uncollected Noise New York ’88-’90 plays like a secret history of the band following the arc of their growth and creative expansion from their career’s beginning to end.”
Nubya Garcia
Odyssey
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “London-born saxophonist, composer and bandleader Nubya Garcia’s new album Odyssey — as the title suggests — is an ambitious, epic journey. In a largely male-dominated scene, Garcia has carved herself a prominent space and she invites other brilliant Black female musicians to join her on this adventure, namely: Esperanza Spalding, Richie Seivwright and Georgia Anne Muldrow. Describing Odyssey, Garcia says; “It represents the notion of truly being on your own path, and trying to discard all the outside noise saying you should go this way or that way.” It’s also inspired by life’s ever-changing, ever-continuing adventure, the twists and turns of living. Musically, the album finds Garcia orchestrating strings for the first time, having fallen back in love with composition and then painstakingly studying a vast array of orchestral sounds. The bigger, bolder result is a widescreen soundscape that traverses jazz, classical, R&B and dub.”
Grateful Dead
Friend Of The Devils: April 1978
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “We’re hitting the bullseye with the eight previously unreleased stellar shows that make up Freiends Of The Devils: April 1978. Filled to the brim with peak performances from The Grateful Dead’s post-hiatus period, this collection captures the historic tour where Drums begat Space, morphed into Drums > Space and cemented The Rhythm Devils’ second-set power move from the music business to the “transportation business.” Spring 1978 finds the Dead consistently weaving spontaneous magic, showing signs of great promise and potential — from the no-nonsense rock ‘n’ roll in Tampa, to the lengthy communal get-down in Pembroke Pines, to Jacksonville, where the twain emerge fully formed, offering the primordial opportunity for “soul retrieval.” It’s evident in the dynamic range delivered on back-to-back nights at the intimate Fox Theatre and through the laid-back unity of the band’s performance in Durham at Duke, a comfort that carries over to Virginia and West Virginia where the playing is unbridled, bursting with momentum, threatening to carry itself away. And nowhere can you hear that more clearly than through Betty Cantor-Jackson’s original recordings, reliably crisp, bright, and vivid.”
JP Harris
JP Harris Is A Trash Fire
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “JP Harris’s historic restoration carpentry has continued to be a baseline for his relationship to music; the yin to his yang, the Bert to his Ernie, the Dolly to his Porter. It was through this concurrent line of work that he met another twice-initialed singer with a penchant for old Americana music, obscure film, and overly elaborate ethnic meal preparations: One JD McPherson. The two became fast friends and would eventually, through many twists, turns, false starts, and biblically-proportionate plagues, enter a modest studio in Nashville to record Harris’ latest album. Over the course of nine months in 2023, they recorded a sometimes lush, sometimes sparse, and sometimes jarring country album of Harris’ originals, loudly and violently squelching any attempt to pigeon-hole a song into any subgenre of country music. Only albums by Lee Hazelwood and an obscure folk album Waylon Jennings made when his hair was still short were allowed to be mentioned in reference. Featuring the guest vocals of Erin Rae, The Watson Twins, Shovels & Rope, and producer McPherson himself, the record is equal parts satire, reflection, and apology to those that would listen.”
Honeyglaze
Real Deal
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Honeyglaze’s second album, Real Deal feels like their coming-of-age moment. The band have taken the foundations laid on their critically acclaimed debut and focused it into a mammoth record. Produced by by Claudius Mittendorfer (Parquet Courts, Interpol), Real Deal is an album about being plunged back into normal life, acceptance, self assurance, searching for connection and finding comfort in chaos. “I remember vividly sitting in the control room, atmosphere was calm, bit tired, Noush had just walked into the live room sipping tea to do the vocal take, Claudius had set up this crazy ball and biscuit mic going through some aggressive compressor, take 1 started to roll and the moment Noush started shouting down that mic, I honestly pissed myself,” Yuri Shibuichi recalls. “I was genuinely scared of her, certainly the most scared I’d felt during our time at Middle Farm Studios, more than the hairless cat.”
Ist Ist
Light A Bigger Fire
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The first few months of 2024 have seen Ist Ist’s growing popularity expand further. Now a full-time band, they played to over 8,000 people across the U.K. and Europe including a first visit to Scandinavia and the sell-out signs going up at multiple German and Dutch shows including the 1,100 capacity Doornroosje in Nijmegen. Light A Bigger Fire will be the followup to Protagonists, which reached No. 41 on release in March 2023. Frontman Adam Houghton is clear on what to expect from the album and from Ist Ist in the remainder of 2024 and beyond: “The album title isn’t cryptic in the slightest. Everything we’re doing and have been doing for a while now is going up a level. Live shows have always been our calling card but this record puts our studio output on a par with them. We played five of the new tracks on the recent tour and the reception they got told us that people are going to love this record.”
Joan As Police Woman
Lemons, Limes & Orchids
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The 12th of her studio albums, Lemons, Limes & Orchids is a crowning showcase of Joan As Police Woman’s voice in all its metamorphic splendour. “I was ready to make an album that truly featured my voice,” says Joan Wasser. “The basics were recorded like they used to be — with me singing live along with the band. My good friend said told me this is the sexiest album I’ve ever made. Honestly, I think she’s right.” The record is a nocturne about love and loss — what else is there? — and a reckoning with our collective disorientation, part hymn to holding on and part benediction of letting go.”
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Chain Of Light
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “It all starts with the voice. At turns heavy and hulkingly powerful, yet agile and pointedly precise, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s vocal not only embodies the tradition of the Sufi qawwali but it is the emotive essence of singing itself. Descended from a 600-year-old lineage of qawwali singers, Nusrat’s voice has been singularly responsible for spreading the devotional music of Sufism to the world, ever since he became the leader of his family’s musical group in 1971. Yet, just as he was at the peak of his creative powers and earning accolades from the likes of Jeff Buckley — who famously stated, “he’s my Elvis” — as well as composer A R Rahman and Mick Jagger, in 1997 Nusrat tragically died at the age of 48. He had exposed the mystical power of qawwali and its capacity for modern interpretations to the world, but his great voice was no more. That is until the recent discovery of the four pristine recordings that make up this remarkable new release, Chain of Light. Buried deep in the warehouse space that comprises the Real World tape archives, these April 1990 sessions from the label’s infamous Wiltshire studios find Nusrat at a crossroads, on the cusp of global greatness. “1990 was a key point in Nusrat’s career, it was the beginning of him crossing over into a western audience,” Nusrat’s longtime international manager, Rashid Ahmed Din, says. “Everything just clicked. He always wanted to experiment and not be limited to one sound and these tracks express that movement beyond.”
