For some years now, Friday has been the day of the week dedicated to record releases. What better way then to mentally prepare for the upcoming long-awaited weekend than to review the best albums released in the last few hours?
The records awaited for months are finally among us… enjoy listening
METZ – “Up On Gravity Hill”
[Sub Pop]
alternative rock
Three and a half years after the release of the excellent “Atlas Vending“, i Metz they return with an album curated by Seth Manchester (Mdou Moctar, Unknown language, Battles, The Body) and which sees the participation of Amber Webber of the Black Mountain and the string composer/arranger Owen Pallett. “Up On Gravity Hill,” which sees the band continue to bend the raw power of rock music to its most delicate and intricate ends, is a collection of deep, detailed and irreducibly personal songs that come together to form not only the most powerful gods Metzbut also the most beautiful.
SHABAKA – “Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace”
[Impulse!]
jazz, improv
Shabaka Hutchingsalready an active member of projects such as discolti in the past Sons Of Kemet (of which he was also part Tom Skinner now in the Smile), The Comet Is Coming (last album “Hyper-Dimensional Extension Beam” released in 2022) and Shabaka And The Ancestors arrives at his solo debut. “Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace” sees the artist playing saxophone and clarinet, collaborating with a series of friends and colleagues such as Jason Moran (floor), Nasheet Waits (battery) e Carlos Niño (percussion) in the case of the first single “End Of Innocence”.
BODEGA – “Our Brand Could Be Yr Life”
[Chrysalis]
alternative rock
The band’s third and greatest LP, “Our Brand Could Be Yr Life,” is a complete “remake” of the old band’s only LP of Well And Nikkii Bodega Bay, a 33-song album self-released in 2015. They approached this project like a director might “remake” one of their old films, which means writing a series of new songs and developing old ideas in new directions. It is a concept album about the current corporate mentality of underground/indie rock, in which the band simultaneously desecrates and celebrates a certain indie rock cannon, hoping to redeem its “fall from grace” as foolish missionaries who have inherited a stained formal tradition that must change to become meaningful again.
MAGGIE ROGERS – “Don’t Forget Me”
[Capitol]
pop, songwriting
Maggie Rogers writes this “Don’t Forget Me” in just five days between December 2022 and January 2023. The successor to “Surrender” is co-produced together with Ian Fitchuk at the legendary Electric Lady Studios in New York. Mix Shawn Everettburn the longtime collaborator of Rogers Emily Lazar.
THE REDS, PINKS & PURPLES – “Unwishing Well”
[Slumberland ]
indie pop
Jangle-pop always of excellent workmanship for the sixth studio album by the Canadian singer-songwriter Glenn Donaldson.
GIRL IN RED – “I’m Doing It Again Baby!”
[Columbia]
indie pop rock
Exactly three years after the release of his full-length debut “If I Could Make It Go Quiet“, Girl In Red releases “I’m Doing It Again Baby!” today. This ten-song album chronicles the artist’s last two and a half years with honesty and wit and a willingness to play with her music. With “I’M DOING IT AGAIN BABY!” girl in red builds her music into something more ambitious, more exciting and more idea-driven. Exploring themes such as trust, criticism, self-esteem and vulnerability, girl in red produced the album with frequent collaborator Matias Tellez.
THREE HAPPY DEAD BOYS – “Garage Pordenone”
[La Tempesta]
alternative rock
THE Three Happy Dead Boys celebrate 30 years of career with their tenth studio album. The guitars of. appear among the tracks of “Garage Pordenone”. Adriano Viterbini, Marco Gortana, Matteo Da Ros; hands in writing Alex Ingram, Andrea Maglia and Wilson Wilson. To production, Paolo Baldinia world-famous dubmaster who marked some important previous albums by the Pordenone trio such as “Primitivi del futuro” (2010) and “Nel garden of ghosts” (2012).
COSMO SHELDRAKE – “Eye To The Ear“
[Tardigrade]
electronics, alternatives
Twenty-one tracks that combine traditional instrumentation and electronic production with field recordings and human and non-human voices to create songs and sound worlds speak to the urgency and possibilities of our times.
JESS RIBEIRO – “Summer Of Love“
[Labelman]
songwriting, pop-rock
In the ten tracks of this “Summer of Love”, Jess Ribeiro, an Australian artist on her fourth album, navigates isolation, loss, little snippets of love, expectation versus reality, once-in-a-century pandemics, and healing. The album was written and recorded in a particularly unstable period, in which the Ribeiro he lived in nine different homes over two years, including six months in a church outside of town.
ENGLISH TEACHER – “This Could Be Texas”
[Island]
alternative rock
After a long apprenticeship English Teacher they arrive at the first LP. “This Could Be Texas” marks the culmination of a band that has worked tirelessly to create and develop their music. From their early days practicing in Leeds basements, to grassroots gigs and more, the group’s debut album is a true reflection of their work to date. With its intricate and meticulously crafted melodies, the four pieces explore wide-ranging themes such as lack of belonging, collective anxiety and insecurity.
AGENT BLA – “Stab!”
[Kanine Records]
post-punk, psychedelia, kraut
In this new work the Gothenburg band aims for a wider musical range with krautrock, instrumental and psychedelic influences, while remaining faithful to their post-punk heritage.
MESHELL NDEOGEOCELLO – “Red Hot & Ra: The Magic City”
[Red Hot]
jazz
Meshell Ndeogeocello brings together friends and musicians for a tribute album to Sun Ra and their classic “The Magic City” released in 1966.
NIA ARCHIVES – “Silence Is Loud”
[HIJINXX/Island]
r’n’b, electronic
Between crystalline melodies and Jamaican rhythms, the debut of the talented British producer born in Bradford.
MARK KNOPFLER – “One Deep River”
[British Grove]
rock
Mark Knopfler on his tenth solo album, a project that contains 12 new and elegant ones where the warm tone of his voice, his poetic lyrics and his guitar are strongly present but never out of place and as always dazzling.
LEYLA MCCALLA – “Sun Without The Heat”
[-ANTI]
folk, songwriting
Cellist of The Carolina Chocolate Drops, founding member of Our Native Daughters with Rhiannon Giddens, Amysthyst Kiah And Allison Russellin this new “Sun Without The Heat” the McCalla combines jazz, American blues, folk and Brazilian tropicalism, as well as the Haitian Twoubadou that reflects his heritage.
ELYANNA – “Woledto”
[Universal Arabic Music]
electronics
Debut album for the Chilean artist of Palestinian origins who here mixes modern sounds with traditional Arabic music.
JAMES – “Yummy”
[Virgin]
pop rock
THE James release their 18th studio album produced by Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno, Jarvis Cocker, Jon Hopkins, Imogen Heap, Regina Spektor) and mixed by Cenzo Townsend.
JAMES ELKINGTON & NATHAN SALSBURG – “All Gist”
[Paradise of Bachelors]
songwriting, acoustic
Third work together for the two guitarists. “All Gist” comes about ten years after the last “Ambsance” and contains original compositions and covers.
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