New Releases for April 22, 2022
CDs + Vinyl:
Ry Cooder / Taj Mahal – Get On Board: The Songs Of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee CD/LP (Nonesuch)
Nearly sixty years after they first played together, Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal, longtime friends and collaborators, reunite with an album of music from two Piedmont blues masters who have inspired them all their lives: Get On Board: The Songs Of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. With Taj Mahal on vocals, harmonica, guitar, and piano and Cooder on vocals, guitar, mandolin, and banjo—joined by Joachim Cooder on drums and bass—the duo recorded eleven songs drawn from recordings and live performances by Terry and McGhee, who they both first heard as teenagers in California.
Charley Crockett – Lil’ GL Presents: Jukebox Charley CD/LP (Son Of Davy)
Charley Crockett delivers the new album Lil’ G.L. Presents: Jukebox Charley. The fourth edition of his Lil’ G.L. tribute series, produced by Billy Horton, Jukebox Charley is another great example of how Crockett is enlivening country music by looking back for inspiration and crafting his own singular sound whether through his own songs or the songs of others. On this new collection, Crockett mines country music’s past and then processes it through his singular “Gulf & Western” sound – weaving old school blues, R&B, soul, Cajun, western swing and other classic touchstones with country.
Fontaines D.C. – Skinty Fia CD/LP/2xLP (Partisan)
2020’s A Hero’s Death saw Fontaines D.C. land a No. 2 album in the UK, receive nominations at the Grammys, BRITs and Ivor Novello Awards, and sell out London’s iconic Alexandra Palace. Now the band return with their third record in as many years: Skinty Fia. Used colloquially as an expletive, the title roughly translates from the Irish language into English as “the damnation of the deer”; the spelling crassly anglicized, and its meaning diluted through generations.
Foxes – The Kick CD (PIAS America)
The Kick is the highly anticipated third album from Grammy-winning artist Foxes. It was written and recorded remotely via zoom during the height of the pandemic, offering a form of escapism for Foxes. Inspired by the desire for freedom that the world collectively shared over the last 18 months of lockdowns, the near-animalistic desperation to socialize, and a longing to dance again, Louisa naturally pivoted the sonics to feed that escapism and create a record that simultaneously feels close to her euphoric, dancefloor-filling pop roots that brought us hits like “Let Go For Tonight”, “Youth” and “Body Talk”, while still feeling completely fresh.
Lani Hall (feat. Herb Alpert) – Seasons Of Love CD (Herb Alpert Presents)
Renowned author and Grammy award-winning singer Lani Hall returns to release her first new studio album in over 20 years, Seasons Of Love. Rising to fame in the 1960s as the lead singer for Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ’66, Hall has been a prominent vocal talent for decades. She famously sang the title song for the 1983 James Bond film, Never Say Never Again.
Joshua Hedley – Neon Blue CD/LP (New West)
Joshua Hedley is ‘a singing professor of country & western,’ he declares on his raucous and witty new album, Neon Blue. It might sound like a punchline, but it’s not. An ace fiddle player, a sharp guitarist, and a singer with a granite twang, he’s devoted his entire life to the study of this genre. His previous records have showcased his deep knowledge of country music history, in particular the beery ballads of the 1950s and ’60s. Neon Blue, on the other hand, examines a very different, often forsaken era: the early 1990s.
Christian Lee Hutson – Quitters CD/LP+MP3 (ANTI-)
Christian Lee Hutson starts his new album Quitters with a laugh. In this follow up to his 2020 album, Beginners, Hutson moves away from the focus on growing up to the dread and complications of growing older. The laugh that announces Quitters is the kind you’ll find at the end of John Huston films, one of resignation and release, and somehow a cosmic laugh that says “California”, a place where lonely people gather like birds. Across Quitters’ 13 tracks, Hutson crafts this portrait of the place he’s from.
Magnolia Park – Halloween Mixtape CD (Epitaph)
Made up of lead vocalist Joshua Roberts, guitarists Tristan Torres and Freddie Criales, bassist Jared Kay, drummer Joe Horsham, and keyboardist Vincent Ernst, Magnolia Park have recorded almost all their output to date with Audio Compound producers Andrew Wade and Andy Karpovck. The first iteration of the band formed in 2019, with a mission of inventively fusing genres while increasing inclusivity in the punk world. An up-close portrait of a long-distance relationship, new single “Back Home” took shape from a demo created by Ernst (a dual citizen who mainly lives in Germany). The track perfectly encapsulates the potent tension at the heart of Magnolia Park, unfolding in moody guitar work, dreamy textures, thrashing rhythms, and sing-along-ready melodies. [Vinyl edition due June 3.]
Old Crow Medicine Show – Paint This Town CD/LP (ATO/Virgin)
Paint This Town is a return to form for Old Crow Medicine Show, showcasing their ability to merge profound introspection with the rapturous string band revival sound. The album shines a light on the darker aspects of the American experience with character-driven songs underpinned by the band’s vision for a more harmonious future. Co-produced by OCMS and Matt Ross-Spang, the album pays homage to everyone from Elvis Presley to Eudora Welty. Paint This Town’s title track is a swinging anthem that fully embodies the band’s carefree troublemaking over the last two decades. [An indie store exclusive vinyl pressing is available.]
Bonnie Raitt – Just Like That… CD/LP (Redwing)
With Just Like That…, her twenty-first album and first new release in more than six years, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bonnie Raitt continues to display the vitality and urgency that has defined her legendary career. The mix of sounds and approaches on Just Like That… reveals how, 50 years after the release of her debut album, Raitt continues to personify what it means to stay creative, adventurous, and daring over the course of a life’s work. “On this record, I wanted to stretch,” she says. “I always want to find songs that excite me, and what’s different this time is that I’ve tried some styles and topics I haven’t touched on before.”
Spiritualized – Everything Was Beautiful CD/LP (Fat Possum)
Jason Pierce returns with the ninth studio album from his space-rock Spiritualized project which is ushered in by the soaring lead single “Always Together With You.” Following up 2018’s And Nothing Hurt, Everything Was Beautiful features seven tracks recorded by Pierce (who plays 16 instruments here) and over 30 musicians and singers across 11 different studios, as well as his home. Collaborators include his daughter Poppy, John Coxon, the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and more.
Tame Impala – The Slow Rush 2xLP+2×12”+7” (Interscope)
Deluxe box set edition. The Slow Rush was recorded between Los Angeles and Parker’s studio in his hometown of Fremantle, Australia. The twelve tracks were recorded, produced, and mixed by Parker. The Slow Rush is Parker’s deep dive into the oceans of time, conjuring the feeling of a lifetime in a lightning bolt, of major milestones whizzing by while you’re looking at your phone, it’s a paean to creation and destruction and the unending cycle of life. This set includes the regular album on transparent red color vinyl, two remix 12”s, a 7” single featuring two B-sides, an expanded booklet, and The Slow Rush 2050 Calendar.
Undeath – It’s Time… To Rise From The Grave CD/LP (Prosthetic)
[New York-based Undeath have returned from their mutilated tomb to horrify and dominate death metal’s insatiable masses once again. Their blessedly sick new album, It’s Time… To Rise From The Grave, shows the reconfigured quintet-Kyle Beam (guitars), Alexander Jones (vocals), Tommy Wall (bass), Jared Welch (guitars) and Matt Browning (drums) – have retained their mind-infecting sonic savagery but weren’t satisfied in their pursuit to improve it through wicked (yet studied) reformulation.
Jason Aldean – Georgia CD (BMG)
Georgia is the second half of Aldean’s Macon, Georgia double album concept. The follow-up to the album Macon, this release includes the single “Trouble With A Heartbreak”.
Caliban – Dystopia CD/LP (Century Media)
When the gates of the world slammed shut in 2020, German metal spearheads Caliban focused their energies in the studio. The results were nothing short of prolific: at first, Zeitgeister, a collection of classic Caliban songs re-done in their native German, but more importantly, a brand-new album, Dystopia.
Roger Eno – Turning Year CD/LP (Deutsche Grammophon)
Following the success of Mixing Colours – the 2020 duo release with his brother Brian Eno – Roger Eno returns for his solo debut on the Yellow Label. This time focusing solely on his own compositions, Eno presents a lush collection of lyrical pieces both old and new. “I thought about how our years comprise of moments, days, and the changing months. Of how we live our lives in facets, how we catch fleeting glimpses, how we walk through our lives, how we notice the turning year.” – Roger Eno.
Jewel – Freesheelin’ Woman CD (Jewel Murray Words)
The first album in seven years from the four-time Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum singer-songwriter. The album presents Jewel’s boldest and most unbridled body of work to date, revealing entirely new dimensions of her breathtaking voice. Includes the single “Dancing Slow”.
Brian May – Another World [Reissue/1998] CD/LP/LP+2xCD (UMe)
This new reissue of Brian May’s second solo album Another World follows the reissue of his 1992 debut Back To The Light and serves as the latest of his ‘Gold Series’ releases. Bursting with forceful rock anthems, open-hearted yearning, lush melodies and galvanizing guitar work, Another World is a superlative successor to Back To The Light. Featuring such special guests as Jeff Beck and the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, the album birthed four electric singles in “Business”, “On My Way Up”, “Another World” and “Why Don’t We Try Again”.
Charles Mingus – Mingus Three [Reissue/1957] 2xCD/2xLP (Rhino)
The greatest bassist leader jazz has ever known, Charles Mingus, with his spirited playing and spontaneity, always kept his ears and fingers on the pulse. “Mingus was something else, man,” Miles Davis wrote in his own book. “A pure genius, I loved him.” This year marks the birth centenary of Charles Mingus, whose musical legacy is still ongoing. From artists like Kamasi Washington bringing him to a new generation, Chrissie Hynde, whose latest album includes a Mingus cover, Candace Springs, Elvis Costello, to Gang Starr sampling him, and Joni Mitchell writing lyrics to his music. Originally released in 1957 on the Jubilee label, Mingus Three is one of only two albums led by Mingus in a trio setting, featuring pianist Hampton Hawes and drummer Dannie Richmond. This remastered release includes a whole extra disc of previously unreleased outtakes, discovered by chance, from these sessions, as well as liner notes by Charles Mingus’ friend and colleague Sy Johnson.
Aldo Nova – 2.0 Reloaded 3xCD/3xLP (MRI Associated)
New release from the veteran Canadian rocker. 2.0 Reloaded features updated versions of nine classic songs from Aldo’s catalog, plus another disc with no lead vocal track and a third disc with no lead guitar track so fans can either sing along or play along with him.
Vince Staples – Ramona Park Broke My Heart CD (Motown)
Esteemed hip-hop artist Vince Staples follows up his intimate self-titled album with Ramona Park Broke My Heart. “There’s a direct correlation,” Staples says of the two records. “They were kind of created at the same time. I was in a similar state of mind. This album will make even more sense if you heard the previous one, but this one has more answers.” Long Beach’s Ramona Park neighborhood is dear to Vince’s heart. “It’s symbolic of home,” he says of why he dedicated the album to it. [Vinyl edition TBD.]
Chicano Batman – Black Lipstick [Reissue/2016] 12” (ATO)
Red color vinyl reissue of the L.A. funk/rock/soul band’s 2016 EP.
Martin Denny – Exotica Volume II [Reissue/1957] LP (Jackpot)
Coming hot off the heels of his iconic debut, Martin Denny’s follow-up to the original Exotica is the ultimate companion piece. Originally released in mono in 1957 – mere weeks after the first Exotica album kick-started the new lounge craze – Exotica Volume II further demonstrated Denny’s unique imagination as both a musician and an entertainer. Jackpot Records’ limited-edition reissue of Exotica Volume II is pressed on tropical green color vinyl and brings Denny’s unique space age twist on Pan-Asian and Polynesian music direct to your stereo.
Martin Denny – Primitiva [Reissue/1958] LP (Jackpot)
Originally released in 1958, Primitiva is a rhythmically rich and inimitably exotic Martin Denny experience. Reissued by Jackpot Records on limited edition ocean blue color vinyl, Primitiva highlights the burgeoning sound of ’50s exotica music, with Denny’s diverse soundscape ranging from vibraphones and marimbas to Burmese gongs and Buddhist prayer bowls.
Martin Denny – Afro-Desia [Reissue/1959] LP (Jackpot)
Travelling beyond the tropical waters of the South Pacific, Afro-Desia showcases Martin Denny’s foremost foray into the sounds and rhythms of the African continent. Pressed on flame-orange color vinyl, Afro-Desia’s twelve tracks burn bright and bring the groove with a chorus of marimbas, timbales, congas, and the sounds of the safari itself. Originally released in 1959, Afro-Desia marks the end of Martin Denny’s ’50s experimentalism before his move into more conventional cocktail jazz.
Eyedea & Abilities – First Born [Reisssue/2001] 2xLP+12” (Rhymesayers)
Micheal “Eyedea” Larsen and Gregory “DJ Abilities” Keltgen first met in the mid- ‘90s and soon began a working relationship that would play a prominent role in the burgeoning indie-rap movement of the time. After numerous successes across nearly every notable MC or DJ battle of the late ’90s and early ’00s, including HBO’s Blaze Battle, the Rocksteady Anniversary, Scribble Jam, the DMC’s and more, they had already cemented their legacies both as individuals in the battle scene and as the dynamic duo, Eyedea & Abilities, for their live performances and showmanship. However, determined not to be dismissed as one-dimensional, they set out to prove they were to be taken just as seriously at writing and recording. The release of their debut album, First Born, revealed their talents to be much more versatile and expansive than previously expected. The boastful arrogance and punchlines that had become synonymous with battling were notably scarce on the album. This limited vinyl package includes two galaxy effect color vinyl LPs and a bonus 12″ pressed on ultra-clear laser-etched and UV printed vinyl featuring four bonus tracks.
Ella Mai – Time Change Ready 3xLP (Interscope)
This triple color vinyl set compiles the English funk/soul/R&B singer-songwriter’s first three EPs, which were previously digital-only releases.
Hank Mobley – Curtain Call [Reissue/1984] LP (Blue Note)
Originally released on the Japanese Blue Note label in 1984, Curtain Call was recorded on August 18, 1957, and features Mobley, trumpeter Kenny Dorham, bassist Jimmy Rowser, pianist Sonny Clark, and drummer Art Taylor. Reissued on vinyl as part of Blue Note’s ongoing Tone Poet series featuring all-analog masters pressed on 180gm vinyl.
Pinhead Gunpowder – Goodbye Ellston Avenue [Reissue/1997] LP (1-2-3-4 Go!)
What began as a recording project had become an enduring band, and this 1997 release is proof. The members brought the sounds of their other groups – Redmond Shooting Stars, Uranium 9 Volt, The Big Cats, and Green Day – but joined together to make something new and unique. Originally released on Lookout Records, this thirteen-song LP has been recut at 45 RPM and comes on limited exclusive color vinyl.
Pretenders – Pretenders [Reissue/1980] LP (Rhino)
Pretenders – Pretenders II [Reissue/1981] LP (Rhino)
2018 remasters. Pretenders is widely regarded as one of the greatest debut albums of all-time. Featuring Chrissie Hynde’s incredible vocals and guitar, James Honeyman-Scott’s glistening guitar, Pete Farndon’s driving bass and Martin Chambers’ drums, the album is quintessential new wave, and a defining album of the ‘80s.
Tortoise – Rhythms, Resolutions & Clusters [Reissue/1995] LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Tortoise has spent nearly 30 years making music that defies description. While the Chicago-based instrumental quintet has nodded to dub, rock, jazz, electronica and minimalism throughout its revered and influential discography, the resulting sounds have always been distinctly, even stubbornly, their own. One of the thrulines that create that distinctive sound is what might be called a pervasive element of group play, or ensemble-mindedness, as opposed to emphasis on a virtuoso soloist or frontman. Rhythms, Resolutions & Clusters follows in this line as Tortoise turned their iconic early songs over to their friends to remix.
