New Release Round-Up 08-10-18

Death Grips - Year of the Snitch - Harvest
Year of the Snitch is the sixth studio album by experimental hip hop group Death Grips, released this week through Third Worlds and Harvest Records. LP and Indie Exclusive Clear LP to follow next month. 

Jason Mraz - Know. - Atlantic
The album serves as a follow-up to the 2014 LP "YES!", and is Jason Mraz's first full-length studio recording in over four years. The bulk of the album was written against the backdrop of the 2016 Presidential election and its aftermath, and Mraz found himself writing a lot of "frustrated, angry, even sad songs, but nothing I wanted to sing." Instead he has chosen to convey an uplifting, positive message. Know. was produced by Andrew Wells, who brings an organic and groovy feel to the album's classic, acoustic rock sound.

Shooter Jennings - Shooter - Low Country Sound
Ever the outlaw, Shooter Jennings has now crafted what might well be his most truly idiosyncratic work thus far, Shooter. Produced by longtime friend and collaborator, Low Country Sound founder Dave Cobb, at the renowned RCA Studio A on Nashville's Music Row, the album sees Jennings staking out a fairly straightforward goal: to simply make a great country record. It should be noted, Jennings' last studio album was a genuinely visionary tribute to Giorgio Moroder so in some ways, making a straight up country record is as much of a left turn as anything else in his brilliantly mercurial career thus far. But with songs like "Fast Horses & Good Hideouts" or the raucous "I'm Wild & My Woman Is Crazy," Jennings more than affirms his mission by returning to country's original, if oft misplaced, mandate: singing songs about growing up and getting older, about going out and getting trashed. In short, making music for real people with real lives. With SHOOTER, Jennings truly puts his own mark on country music, living up to his extraordinary birthright with unparalleled passion, experience, and heart.

The Magpie Salute - High Water I - Eagle Records
High Water I is the first album of original material from The Magpie Salute. The album, pressed on 2LP, is limited to 1,000 copies pressed on blue and white splattered vinyl. These colors will not be used on future pressings of High Water I. This is the story of The Magpie Salute. As much as the group represents a musical union of swaggering rock ‘n’ roll, psychedelic blues, and campfire-worthy storytelling, it also marks a reunion of musicians whose paths twisted and turned right back to each other. Pulled together by guitarist Rich Robinson, it continued a storyline he began in the Black Crowes with guitarist Marc Ford and bassist Sven Pipien. Meanwhile, vocalist John Hogg shared Hookah Brown with Robinson as keyboardist Matt Slocum and drummer Joe Magistro both joined him for solo records and tours over the years.

Jake Shears - Jake Shears - Freida Jean Records
Showcasing the essence of what Jake Shears does best, the eponymously titled solo debut from the Scissor Sisters frontman is an album brimming with anthemic choruses and lyrics about the joys and vagaries of love and sex - all of it underpinned by a swampy soul influence imparted from his newly adopted hometown New Orleans. Shears' artistic vision blossomed in the epicenter of Southern decadence, where he had headed following the Scissors hiatus in 2012. Initial ideas for the album were mapped out at the city's famed Marigny Studios before he decamped to Louisville, KY to work with producer Kevin Ratterman (Ray LaMontagne, My Morning Jacket) who recruited members of My Morning Jacket, VHS or Beta, Jim James' solo band, and Floating Action to lay down the album's foundation. With string and brass arrangements by Christian Hebel (Barbra Streisand) and Lance Horne (Alan Cumming), they returned to NOLA to capture the city's signature sound with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Sturgill Simpson's brass section. The result is a thrilling work that plays inside some of the hallmarks of classic American rock music and marries them with Jake's inimitable point of view, humor, and gift for unforgettable hooks.

UPCOMING RELEASES

Great Lake Swimmers - The Waves, The Wake - Nettwerk Records
JUNO nominated, Polaris Prize shortlisted Great Lake Swimmers frontman Tony Dekker set out to specifically make an album without any acoustic guitar. Recorded in the 145 year old Bishop Cronyn Memorial Church in London, Ontario and produced by Chris Stringer (The Wooden Sky, Elliot Brood, Timber Timbre), "The Waves, The Wake" releases on August 17, 2018 via Nettwerk.

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Ariana Grande - Sweetener - Republic
Multi-platinum, Grammy-Award nominated artist Ariana Grande to release highly-anticipated album, 'Sweetener,' via Republic Records on 8/17. Album includes smash hit, 'no tears left to cry,' which closed out the US Top 40 radio panel week-of impact and made Ariana the first artist to kick-off four album campaigns with a Top 10 debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The pre-order will launch with new track 'the light is coming (feat. Nicki Minaj).' Ariana Grande will support the album with numerous media appearances.

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For more information on these and other releases out this week, check out our New Releases charts by week section.

Ten Bands One Cause

Four years ago, the charity initiative Ten Bands One Cause began with a diverse array of artists releasing 10 albums in limited quantities on pink vinyl with the goal of raising awareness for Gilda’s Club NYC, a charity that provides free support for everyone living with cancer along with their families and friends.

The Ten Bands One Cause program, which includes notable past participants Run The Jewels , Red Hot Chili Peppers , Sturgill Simpson , Jason Isbell , The Black Keys , and Anthrax , coincides with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. Since 2014, nearly $200,000 has been raised for Gilda’s Club NYC.

Starting on Vinyl Tuesday September 25th and running through October 26th , The Orchard will release a fifth annual run of pink vinyl, featuring titles by Silversun Pickups, Modest Mouse, Local Natives, Black Moth Super Rainbow, EL-P, Tyler Childers, Soccer Mommy, Daryl Hall & John Oates, The All-American Rejects and The Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack. These limited releases will be available for purchase at vinyl-selling music retailers nationwide, and proceeds benefit Gilda's Club NYC.

New Release Round-Up 08-03-18

The Love Language - Baby Grand - Merge Records
You may not be able to see the gorgeous landscapes behind Baby Grand, Stuart McLamb’s fourth record as The Love Language, but they’re so essential to the picture you’ll feel them in every note. Started in, of all places, a cavernous Virginia hammock factory, fragmentary demos came alive when splashed by sunshine during a move across the country to California, where the album was completed. “It was something just about being in a new city, and a new light,” McLamb says, “and reopening the sessions, and this demo that I thought was a throwaway, suddenly I’m really feeling it….” You can hear the freedom kick in when the backwoods country shuffle of “Castle in the Sky” explodes into a full-on aughts anthem, equal parts outstretched arms and pumped fists.

Lucero - Among The Ghosts - Liberty & Lament
The band's ninth-studio album, Among The Ghosts, is their first for noted Nashville indie label Thirty Tigers. It was recorded and co-produced with Grammy-winning engineer/producer and Memphis native Matt ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price, Drive by Truckers) at the historic Sam Phillips Recording Service/Sun Studio. Recorded primarily as a five-piece, Among the Ghosts eschews the Stax-inspired horns and Jerry Lee Lewis-style boogie piano featured in some of the band's past recordings for a streamlined rock & roll sound that pays homage to their seminal influences as it seeks to push that legacy into the future. For a band who carried the torch of the alt-country movement back in the 90's and helped pave the way for what is now called Americana, Lucero have re-discovered what inspired them in the first place. The sound is more their own and at the same time not exactly like anything they've done before. This is a band settling into their craft. The 10-song disc's title is both a tribute to the spirits which road the streets of their fabled city, as well as the hard road the determinedly independent band set out on 20 years ago.

  

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Amanda Shires - To The Sunset - Silver Knife Records
'It's all rock & roll -- no golf!' is how acclaimed singer/songwriter/violinist Amanda Shires describes her electrifying firth album, To The Sunset. She's borrowed a lyric from the effervescent track 'Break Out the Champagne,' one of ten deftly crafted songs that comprise her powerful new recording. The Texas-born road warrior, new mom, and recently minted MFA in creative writing has mined a range of musical influences to revel an Amanda Shires many didn't know existed. 'Isn't it refreshing?' Shires asks. Indeed. Distorted electric guitars, effects pedals, swirling keys and synths, and rockin' rhythms certainly suit Shire's visceral songcraft and lilting soprano.

  

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The Temperance Movement - A Deeper Cut - Spinefarm
British rock and rollers The Temperance Movement have returned with a brand new studio album, supported by a European headlining tour. Following a whirlwind few years in which they released two Top 20 albums, toured around the world and shared the stage with such rock megastars as The Rolling Stones, The Temperance Movement are finally back, having been hard at work behind the scenes preparing for an even bigger year in 2018. The band's eagerly-anticipated new album, 'A Deeper Cut', features 12 brand new songs which draw on the band's recent experiences and showcase their ever-improving songwriting abilities. Following on from the unprecedented success of the debut album (2013) that stormed the UK Album Charts and the follow up record 'White Bear' which landed at #1 in the UK Rock albums chart. "A Deeper Cut" is without doubt the band's finest output to date. A Britpop swagger and mod, rock n roll vibe throughout, The Temperance Movement might have just written the greatest British album of the last decade.

Houndmouth - Golden Age - Reprise
On Golden Age, Houndmouth takes a fearless approach to production by enlisting the unlikely team of Jonathan Rado and Shawn Everett, who employed some fairly unconventional recording techniques in the studio. The end result is enthralling, inventive and even more melodic than anything they've previously released.

Spider Bags - Someday Everything Will Be Fine - Merge Records
Four years after releasing their Merge debut, Frozen Letter, Spider Bags return with an LP that ascends to new levels of aural punch and perspective. The years that elapsed between records were crucial in enabling that progress to take place. Recorded in Memphis at Bunker Audio by Andrew McCalla (who also engineered 2012’s Shake My Head), Someday Everything Will Be Fine leverages the limitations and glory of the Tascam 388, a vintage recording/mixing device that’s acquired a mythos via its association with legendary records by Dinosaur Jr. and others. Unlike the error-erasing editing software Spider Bags frontman Dan McGee has favored in the past, the Tascam’s charms are more immediate, and it has a visceral resonance all its own. Someday Everything Will Be Fine, which is about the importance of saying f**k it and dancing to a rock and roll record, is an album only Spider Bags could make.

The Doors - Hello, I Love You [Vinyl Single] - Elektra
"Hello, I Love You" became the band's second #1 hit when it topped the Billboard singles chart for two weeks beginning on August 3, 1968. Now, exactly 50 years later, Rhino is releasing a new 7" version of the single with its b-side "Love Street." For this anniversary release, Rhino is using mono radio mixes of the songs that were given exclusively to radio stations for airplay in 1968. This version of "Hello, I Love You" was first available last year as part of The Singles CD collection and is making its vinyl debut here, while the "Love Street" mix is being released commercially for the first time.

UPCOMING RELEASES

Nicki Minaj - Queen - Cash Money
Nicki Minaj to release her fourth studio album, 'Queen,' on 8/10 via Cash Money Records / Republic Records. The album will include previously released tracks, 'Chun-Li,' 'Rich Sex,' and new track 'Bed (feat. Ariana Grande).' Her current single 'Chun-Li' is quickly approaching Top 5 airplay at Urban radio and recently broke into Top 10 airplay at Rhythmic radio. Nicki will support her album with a 28-date North American headlining tour with Future, which commences 9/21 in Baltimore and concludes 11/24 in Las Vegas.

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For more information on these and other releases out this week, check out our New Releases charts by week section.

New Release Round-Up 01-26-18

Calexico - The Thread That Keeps Us - New West Records
Over the past two decades, a strong sense of place has shaped the music of Calexico, infusing their albums with a stylistic unpredictability and richness of texture. While 2015’s Edge of the Sun brought the Tucson-bred band to the Mexico City borough of Coyoacán, their new full-length The Thread That Keeps Us mostly came to life in a house studio near the Northern California coast nicknamed “The Phantom Ship” by CALEXICO vocalist/guitarist Joey Burns and drummer John Convertino.

 

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Hollie Cook - Vessel of Love - Merge Records
Hollie Cook combines her unique vocal talent with charming charisma to craft her own dynamic strand of lovers rock with enduring tropical vibes, weaving a path from her West London roots to an arena of diverse collaborations, critically acclaimed records, and iconic live appearances around the world. Cook’s ability to continually surprise, delight, and progress solidifies her position as one of the most exciting voices in reggae, and this is crystal clear on her third full-length and Merge debut, Vessel of Love.

Ty Segall - Freedom's Goblin [LP] - Drag City
Ty Segall goes all the way, flipping the Freedom coin to find passion, laughter and savagery on both sides. A head-spinning compendium of stompers, weepers, ballads, screamers, bangers and funker-uppers, all marking a different impasse, like a flag whirling into a knot, exploding and burning on contact, in the name of life and loathing and the pursuit of what you love.

Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa - Black Coffee [Red LP] - J&R Adventures
It's been 4 years since the critically acclaimed, Grammy nominated, and #1 Billboard Blues album Seesaw was released by Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa. They have reunited for Black Coffee - another collection of scorching interpretations of ten soul gems that pair Hart’s breathtaking vocals and Joe’s masterfully expressive playing. Featuring songs made famous by; Edgar Winter, Ray Charles, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Lucinda Williams and more. LP is 180g, red vinyl, and contains an exclusive bonus track.

Nightmares On Wax - Shape The Future [2LP] - Warp Records
One of the most influential artists of a generation and a long-standing member of the Warp Records family, Nightmares On Wax announces his new album Shape The Future. A perfect marriage of soul, hip-hop, dub and timeless club sounds that act as a salvo masterpiece of contemporary and classic genre-blending, brilliantly solidifying Nightmares On Wax place as an inspirational electronic music figurehead.

Cornelius - Mellow Waves [LP] - Rostrum Records
Acclaimed Japanese producer, composer, and recording artist Cornelius first proper studio album in over 11 years, featuring the singles If You're Here, Sometime / Someplace, and In a Dream. 180g black vinyl gatefold LP

American Folk [Soundtrack] - American Folk Records
American Folk is the soundtrack to the award-winning 2018 independent film, American Folk, starring Joe Purdy and Amber Rubarth. In addition to both original compositions and classic folk song renditions by Purdy and Rubarth, the soundtrack includes John Prine's ''Some Humans Ain't Human'' and Jerry Garcia & David Grisman's ''Freight Train.''

 

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For more information on these and other releases out this week, check out our New Releases charts by week section and don't forget that many of these titles are also available on vinyl.