Song Machine is being introduced in progress, with seven of the ultimate 17 tracks released to date. Gorillaz have been dropping new tracks for the series at a rate of one every two months. The entire series is slated for an October 23 release. Episode six came out a week ago. Check the band’s YouTube channel for teasers for the upcoming songs.
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Metz’s new record, the follow-up to the Steve Albini-produced Strange Peace is Atlas Vending. The album continues in a similar trajectory as an angst-layered commentary on post-nuclear life. The record is due for an October 9 release on Sub Pop Records. The new LP indeed picks up where their previous work left off, further establishing the Ottawa natives as a hardcore punk sub genre all their own.
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In the unforgiving desert that is commercial country music, there is an occasional oasis of originality coupled with traditional roots. A shining example is Margo Price. She’s released her third studio album, That’s How Rumors Get Started on July 10.
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To the excitement of many fans, Fontaines D.C. announced early this year that they had completed recording their sophomore effort, A Hero’s Death which was heavily inspired by the music of the Beach Boys. An ambitious undertaking to both avoid the sophomore slump and put out a record that rose to lofty level of Brian Wilson and company.
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It was a perfect mix of country and jazz, and personally I felt couldn’t ever be topped. While all Norah Jones subsequent albums were good, I never felt she achieved the humble originality of that first record. Now, after hearing “Pick Me Up Off the Floor”, I realize just how stupid I was
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The First Rose of Spring is Willie Nelson’s seventieth album. That is 70, seven-zero. Let that sink in a minute. The sheer volume of Nelson’s creative output is staggering. The record was released or “dropped” as the kids say, July 3, just before Nelson’s annual Fourth of July Picnic which was live-streamed this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You would think there isn’t anything new to say about Willie Nelson. You would think there isn’t anything new and good enough that Nelson could sing. You’d be wrong on both counts.
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Collins also makes incredibly good music as you’ll hear on his five-song EP, Headed Home which was released May 31 on his own Side Show Paradise label. The short but powerful EP is the kind of record that leaves you wanting more. That is the hallmark of a gifted songwriter.
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While some of you may have binge-watched your new favorite shows on NetFlix, laid off your diet or shared protest posts on social media, Joshua Lee Turner wrote, recorded, produced, engineered, and accompanied himself on a new recording. Public Life is an intellectual exercise in eclectic beauty, refusing to classify itself into any single genre.
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In light of the fantastic new Bob Dylan album, Rough and Rowdy Ways which was released last week, I‘ve wondered if everything if everything that can be said about Bob Dylan, has already been said? Honestly, what else is there to discuss? Dylan just “is” Dylan. I think the hardest part of being an artist is having “experts” and “critics” compare and dissect your work, stretch it out and lay it down against your last.
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While I am not one to fall into regret, I do enjoy exploring the road less traveled. That turn you didn’t take, the zig when you should have zagged, the song no one else recorded, or the B-side the DJ never flipped. I love discovering “new old music” as exemplified on Neil Young’s record Homegrown which was released last week; 45 years after it was recorded.
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Hip Hop duo Run the Jewels is essentially the story of two lyricists who followed differing paths in a journey which lead to the formation of one of the most significant musical groups of our time, Run The Jewels (RTJ). In 2013, they released their self-titled first record to wide critical acclaim. On June 3rd, their fourth album, RTJ4 was released. The record is timely in that it speaks directly to the systemic violence and oppression that is currently dominating the national conversation amid police violence protests.
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