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Next Week in Music | Jan. 27 – Feb. 2 • The Short List: 21 Titles You Want to Hear (Part 1)

Hellacopters, Tony Allen, Gus Englehorn & more artists that are worth your time.

Ladies and gentlemen… The Weeknd and his new album Hurry Up Tomorrow are not included in this roundup. Why not? Well, A: He certainly doesn’t need my help telling people about his LP, and B: I couldn’t tell you the last time I voluntarily listened to one of his songs. By contrast, I am eagerly looking forward to hearing all the albums below — and quite happy to help spread the word. Hurry up and read on:

 


Ambrose Akinmusire
Honey From A Winter Stone

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Composer and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire’s Honey From A Winter Stone is — in his words — a “self-portrait,” painted with the help of improvisational vocalist Kokayi, pianist Sam Harris, Chiquitamagic on synthesizer, drummer Justin Brown, and The Mivos Quartet (violinist Olivia Deprato and Maya Bennardo, violist Victor Lowrie Tafoya, cellist Tyler Borden). Akinmusire says, “In many respects this entire work is inspired by and is an homage to the work of the composer Julius Eastman and his organic music concept… This album is about the fears and struggles I personally face, as well as those many Black men endure: colorism, erasure, and the question of who gets to speak for my community, and why. There’s also the constant negotiation of what happens when I don’t conform to certain expectations or when I choose to reject those imposed on me. These are the complexities I navigate daily. When I made this album, I was thinking about others who face these same struggles. I’m always considering who I represent—on all levels, in all the roles I play within my various communities. It’s about understanding the weight of those roles and the responsibility that comes with them.”


Tony Allen
La BOA Meets Tony Allen

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Few sounds transcend time and space quite like the driving pulse of Afrobeat, and few artists, for that matter, have defined their own domains quite as profoundly as Tony Allen — the very beat of Afrobeat itself. In 2011, Allen recorded one of his inimitable rhythmic dialogues as part of the Afrobeat Makers Series for the Parisian imprint Comet Records. Charged with the same fervour for uninhibited expression that defined his trailblazing career, Allen’s drumming, free from convention and charting its own course, emanates a cadenced stream of consciousness that speaks its own truth. If Allen’s language was his beat, then on this record, La BOA La Bogotá Orquesta Afrobeat — become his latest and most fitting interlocutor. Across this LP, Allen’s recordings lay down the canvas upon which La BOA paints its own vision of Afrobeat — raw and expansive, locking step with his drum tracks while building around the unmistakable blueprint of their Colombian rhythms: Exuding Caribbean beat, rolling with Pacific groove, and, above all, shaped by the rarefied air of the Andean melting pot that is Bogotá. ”

 


Robert Ascroft
Echo Still Remains

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A sought-after photographer, director and producer, Robert Ascroft unveils a captivating musical odyssey akin to the cinematic allure of Wim WendersUntil The End Of The World and evoking the ethereal resonance found in 4AD’s This Mortal Coil. On his debut album Echo Still Remains, Ascroft draws from a diverse array of talented friends, curating a mesmerizing ensemble of vocal performances from Christopher Owens (Girls), Kid Congo Powers (Cramps, Gun Club, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds), Britta Phillips (Luna, Dean & Britta), Tess Parks, Ruth Radelet (Chromatics), Guy Blakeslee (Entrance Band), Ora Cogan and Zumi Rosow (Black Lips). The album takes on a further rich and dynamic sound with the recording contributions of Grammy-winning audio engineer Ted Young (Rolling Stones, Kurt Vile, Sonic Youth), the mixing of Larry Crane (Elliott Smith, Shins, She & Him), additional production by Manny Nieto (Kim Deal, Breeders) and mastering by Josh Bonati (Mac DeMarco, Wild Nothing, Slowdive).”


Black Eyed Sons
Cowboys in Pinstriped Suits

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE:Black Eyed Sons are a new rock ’n’ roll collective featuring members of The Quireboys and Down n’ Outz — joined her by an amazing collection of fellow musicians, including Joe Elliott (Def Leppard), Charlie Starr (Blackberry Smoke), Chip Z’Nuff (Enuff Z’Nuff), Josh Todd and Stevie D (BuckCherry), Chris Johnstone (Thirsty), Dan Reed (Dan Reed Network), Scotti Hill (Skid Row), Steve Conte (Mike Monroe / New York Dolls), Kyf Brewer (Company Of Wolves), Alan Clayton (Dirty Strangers), Ryan Roxie (Alice Cooper) and Mike Tramp (White Lion). The result: A joyous collaboration of mutual admiration and musical celebration.”


Bonnie “Prince” Billy
The Purple Bird

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE:The Purple Bird finds Bonnie “Prince” Billy working with a “producer” for only the second time in his illustrious catalog. This time it’s David “Ferg” Ferguson (Johnny Cash, Sturgill Simpson) who guides the songs backed by “the best band you can get in Nashville right now,” including country singer John Anderson and Bluegrass legend Tim O’Brien. The Purple Bird is simultaneously like and unlike other BPB records. Many of the songs are a product of multiple composers’ voices, making the shape-shifting aspect of the BPB persona more fluid than ever before.”


Circa Waves
Death & Love Pt. 1

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Both terrifying and liberating to write, Death & Love Pt. 1 is an urgent, nine-track hit of cathartic guitar-pop, serving as a powerful coping mechanism to help process Circa Waves frontman Kieran Shudall’s near-death experience. Back in early 2023, he received a call from doctors to say that the main artery in his heart was severely blocked. Two days later, he was lying on an operating table watching a wire being inserted into his heart to fix it. What followed was the cancelling of a lot of shows, working out a lot of medication, and most crucially, now having to navigate a new way of life. And the results are quite simply stunning. Self-produced by Kieran, and engineered by Matt Wiggins (Adele, Lana Del Rey), the tracks that make up Death & Love Pt. 1 ooze nostalgia, and hark back to the sounds and themes that made Shudall want to pick up a guitar in Liverpool in the very first place.”


Brooke Combe
Dancing At The Edge Of The World

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE:Brooke Combe, a rising Scottish singer-songwriter, delves deep into her soulful roots with her new album Dancing At The Edge Of The World. This album marks her most authentic work yet, blending rich, emotive vocals with contemporary soul sounds. Brooke’s music captures the essence of heartbreak, empowerment, and self-discovery, resonating with a broad audience. Dancing At The Edge Of The World is a powerful showcase of Brooke’s artistry, highlighting her evolution as a leading voice in modern soul music.”


Gus Englehorn
The Hornbook

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “If Gus Englehorn didn’t exist, one of his songs would have to invent him. A former pro snowboarder reborn as a nomadic psych-pop prophet, Englehorn has lived a rollercoaster life that reads like one of the fantastical fables that fill his songbook. With each successive record, Englehorn’s world-building process has become more elaborate and ambitious. His third album The Hornbook magically transmutes the entire history of 20th-century rock ’n’ roll — ’50s golden oldies, ’60s garage spunk, ’70s glam flamboyance, ’80s indie transgression, ’90s lo-fi weirdness — into an alien transmission from the future. If you stayed awake during high-school history class, you might remember that a hornbook is an early-education tool for children dating back to the 15th century — a wooden paddle inscribed with the alphabet, numbers, and the odd Bible verse. (Think of it as the beta version of your iPhone’s notes app.) “When I was writing these songs, it felt like I was making a children’s book — every song was a little story,” Englehorn says of the title concept. “But it also felt like a little bit of a cipher for our whole world.”


Thomas Erak & The Ouroboros
(AU)

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE:Thomas Erak, the singer, guitarist, etc. of mathcore outfit The Fall Of Troy, will release his new solo album (AU) through Equal Vision Records. The origins of this new album commenced during the pandemic, with Erak pursuing the project at Robert Lang Studios in Shoreline, WA. Engineer Ranen Johnson was involved in those sessions, as Erak himself explained: “I owe him lots of love and props for getting me a rate I could afford as I wasn’t able to work. My royalty checks aren’t rock-star money. Haha. Plus, they only come three times a year and I was using them all for either rent or this album since I was on EBT and was living in the cheapest spot in the U-District in Seattle I could find. It was nicknamed ‘The Hole’ … Fitting. Ranen helped me finish up the guitars and the vocals and was just a pleasure to be around as by now I’d been locked up for years not knowing if I’d ever play music live again.”


Freckle
Freckle

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When a Freckle pops up, that’s when you know that the sun has gotten through. Don’t let ‘em tell you it’s skin damage — more like the sign of time well spent, as always, in the light. Freckle the band’s like that. Freckle is, then, a Californian, the hive mind of Corey Madden and Ty Segall. Their self-titled LP reminds all of us that even when the clouds are out, you can still get sunburned.”


The Hellacopters
Overdriver

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Less than three years after their triumphant, chart-storming comeback record Eyes Of Oblivion, which entered the charts on at No. 1 in their home country and No. 3 in Germany, Sweden’s most consistently great rock outfit are back with another banger of an album. Overdriver was recorded at Strawberry Studio and The Honk Palace and is the first Hellacopters album entirely produced by Nicke Andersson. As you might expect from a Hellacopters album it’s filled to the brim with roaring guitars and earth-shattering grooves, fist-raising energy and anthemic choruses, while keeping the variety richer than ever before. The striking cover for Overdriver was created by German illustrator Max Löffler.”