Kevin Morby has announced “More Photographs (A Continuum)”, which he’s billing as a companion piece to his 2022 album, “This Is a Photograph”. The release is due out May 26th via Dead Oceans. Morby has also shared two new songs, “This Is a Photograph II” and “Five Easy Pieces Revisited,” which are new versions of the original LP’s “This Is a Photograph” and “Five Easy Pieces,” respectively.
“If “This Is a Photograph” is a house that you have been living inside of,” Morby said in a press release, “then “More Photographs” is, perhaps, the same home just experienced differently. As if you, its inhabitant, have taken a tab of something psychedelic and now, suddenly, you’ve replaced your eyeglasses with kaleidoscopes.”
Kevin Morby writes (and records, and imagines) at an almost incomparable clip, and his most recent album, “This Is APhotograph”, studies life, time and mortality through myriad lenses. It’s a dynamic, buoyant record on big, heavy themes, so it only makes sense that Morby found he wasn’t quite done with it on its completion. “More Photographs (A Continuum)” finds new nooks, corners and vantage points. “If This Is A Photograph is a house that you have been living inside of,” says Morby, “then More Photographs is, perhaps, the same home just experienced differently.
Morby continued, “With every collection of songs, I feel I have to cast them out of me before moving onto the next project, and here I knew that what I had begun with “This Is a Photograph” was not finished. Releasing this collection is me tying a bow on that time and place in my creative life.”
Earlier this year, Morby shared “Music From Montana Story”, his soundtrack contributions for Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s film of the same name starring Haley Lu Richardson and Owen Teague.
The companion piece to “This Is a Photograph” is out May 26 via Dead Oceans
Palehound has announced their new album and fourth full-length LP: “Eye on the Bat” is out July 14th via Polyvinyl. Ahead of its release, El Kempner has shared the lead single, “The Clutch,” with an aughts-inspired music video co-directed by Brittany Reeber and Adam Kolodny.
“Eye on the Bat” is Palehound’s first LP in four years, following 2019’s “Black Friday”. The new album also follows “Doomin’ Sun“, a 2021 album that Kempner made with Jay Som’s Melina Duterte under the name Bachelor. Palehound’s new album was co-produced by Kempner and Sam Owens, and features multi-instrumentalist Larz Brogan, a longtime member of the band since its early Boston days.
“The Clutch” was the first song Kempner wrote for “Eye on the Bat”, right around when their tour was cut short due to the pandemic. “We had an apocalypse road trip back to New York across the country from Oregon, where our next show had been scheduled for,” they recalled in a press release. “While that was happening, I was also having a triggering romantic experience with somebody I didn’t know too well, and by the time I got home my whole body seemed to be spinning in turmoil. Writing and producing this song grounded me and helped me process a new future and self that I hadn’t anticipated.”
“The Clutch” is taken from Palehound’s upcoming album, “Eye On The Bat” – out July 14th, 2023.
PJ Harvey’s tenth studio album ‘I Inside the Old Year Dying’ will be released July 7th 2023 on Partisan Records, and is available to pre-order on gatefold 140g vinyl and CD, along with some newly designed merchandise https://pjharvey.lnk.to/iinsidetheoldyeardyingFA
PJ Harvey says, “After many years of work I am very happy to release this collection of new songs. It was a difficult album to make and took time to find its strongest form, but it has finally become all I hoped for it to be.” The new album is “a resting space, a solace, a comfort, a balm—which feels timely for the times we’re in,” Harvey said in a press release.
‘I Inside the Old Year Dying’ marks PJ Harvey’s first album in seven years, produced and mixed by her long-time creative collaborators John Parish and Flood.
Listen to the lead single ‘A Child’s Question”, August’ and watch the accompanying music video
Recorded with producers Flood and John Parish, her longtime collaborators, the album was inspired by Harvey’s epic poem, “Orlam”. Harvey said the album features improvisations with the two producers: “I think the album is about searching, looking—the intensity of first love, and seeking meaning. Not that there has to be a message, but the feeling I get from the record is one of love—it’s tinged with sadness and loss, but it’s loving. I think that’s what makes it feel so welcoming: so open.”
Polly Jean Harvey – vocals, guitar John Parish – drums, synth, piano, Rhodes Cecil – keyboards Ben Whishaw – backing vocals
With the first new album from Polly Jean Harvey of Dorset, England, in seven years. With her group, PJ Harvey, and as a solo artist, the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist was one of the most galvanizing forces of the alternative era, and beyond. Consistently evolving on album, and mesmerizing onstage, Harvey has been an indispensable voice, and it’s been silent for way too long.
Never one to live in the past, “things have got to change,” Harvey said way back in 2001. “Music is in a dire position at the moment. The quality of the music that we’re getting to hear is just so mind-numbingly boring. It’s all the same thing regurgitated over and over again, but it sells millions.”
“I get quite despairing about it when I think, ‘Well, is this what people want to hear?’” Harvey continued. “And it must be, because it wouldn’t sell otherwise. From my own point of view, I feel I can just go on following my heart and hope that it will touch something in people. I live in faith and hope that things will change, but I have to say, it’s been looking pretty bleak for a long time now.”
Again, I don’t want to do a spoiler alert on our review, but yes, Harvey has changed, and absolutely, she is still following her heart and hoping her sounds will touch people.
Harvey has been reissuing her discography, including “B-Sides, Demos & Rarities”.
Amanda Shires has announced “Loving You”, her new album with the late Bobbie Nelson, with a new cover of the GeorgeGershwin standard “Summertime,” featuring Nelson’s brother, Willie. “Loving You” is due out June 23rd (via SilverKnife/ATO).
The new video was co-directed by Shires and Deren Ney and shot by photographer Joshua Black Wilkins and album producer Lawrence Rothman at Arlyn Studios in Austin, Texas. The studio is co-owned and operated by Bobbie Nelson’s son Freddy Fletcher, who also plays drums on the album.
“I think [Bobbie Nelson] related to the song because she was a mother and the family unit was important to her, whether or not she had the idealized version,” Shires said in a statement. “I first saw Bobbie playing when I was 16 or so at some festival somewhere in Texas where I grew up. I saw her perform many times over the years and always admired the way she played so effortlessly and with so much strength and confidence. She radiated music. Much of my path seemed possible because I saw a woman working and making a career of music at a young age, and that woman was Bobbie Nelson.”
Bobbie Nelson first recorded the song with Willie for their Grammy-winning album “Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin”. The siblings released a memoir called “Me and Sister Bobbie: True Tales of the Family Band” in 2020 via Random House. Bobbie Nelson died last year at 91.
AmandaShires released her last LP, “Take It Like a Man”, in 2022. In February, she performed the track “Take It Like a Man” track “Hawk for the Dove” alongside her husband and frequent collaborator, Jason Isbell, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Rufus Wainwright’s forthcoming album, “Folkocracy”, is an album of folk classics that features a number of notable collaborations, including John Legend, Brandi Carlile, David Byrne, Sheryl Crow, Nicole Scherzinger, Chaka Khan, Andrew Bird, Anohni and many more. Praised by the New York Times for his genuine originality Rufus Wainwright has established himself as one of the great male vocalists, songwriters, and composers of his generation. The New York born, Montreal raised singer songwriter has released 10 studio albums to date, 3 DVD’s, and 5 live albums, including the Grammy nominated “RufusDoes Judy At Carnegie Hall”.
“Down In The Willow Garden” feat. @BrandiCarlile is out now! As well as the music video that features the making of the song together in the studio.
The singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright has shared another single, ‘Heading For Home (feat. John Legend)’. ‘Heading For Home’ heralds Wainwright’s eagerly awaited new album, “Folkocracy”, a star-studded collection of folk music reinventions arriving Friday, June 2nd via BMG.
Speaking on the collaboration with Legend, Rufus Wainwright said: “John Legend has arguably one of the most beautiful voices in the world, and listening to him singing is pure joy. I am now one of the few who can say that it can get even better, and that is when you sing with him. Thank you for coming on this folk journey with me and singing Peggy Seeger’s ‘Heading for Home’ with me. It was an effortless flight, an elegant glide, a fulfilling soar, not just a mere walk home.”
“I’ve been a fan of Rufus for quite some time, and it was a true joy to sing with him on this beautiful song,” says John Legend.
“Folkocracy”, which follows Wainwright’s most recent studio album, 2020’s Grammy and Juno Award-nominated “Unfollow The Rules“, sees the critically acclaimed artist celebrating his upcoming 50th birthday by revisiting his roots, of childhood summers spent at folk festivals and watching his famous family on stage.
Produced by longtime collaborator Mitchell Froom (Paul McCartney, Crowded House), on “Folkocracy”, Wainwright is joined by a spectacular line up of friends, family members, and other special guest artists
I am excited to announce that this will be a part of my upcoming album ‘Folkocracy’ which will be released June 2nd!
Back in July 2021, Bob Dylan livestreamed a concert film called “Shadow Kingdom”, which was available for a limited time. Filmed on a soundstage over a week, the film blended videos directed by Alma Har’el with black-and-white footage of Dylan performing with a cast of backing musicians that included Buck Meek and Shahzad Ismaily.
Drawn from his 2021 film of the same name, the album features reinterpreted classics like “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and “Forever Young” “Shadow Kingdom” presents Dylan performing revelatory 21st century versions of songs from his storied back catalogue – including fan favourites like “Forever Young” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” and deep catalogue gems like “Queen Jane Approximately” and “Wicked Messenger.”
Originally reinterpreted for an exclusive streaming film event, which aired in July 2021, “Shadow Kingdom” will now be available on vinyl, CD, and streaming platforms for the first time. The album’s setlist includes 13 original songs handpicked by Dylan for his “Shadow Kingdom” performance plus the closing instrumental, “Sierra’s Theme.”
“Shadow Kingdom“’ is an album of reinterpreted tracks from Bob Dylan’s vast back catalogue, originally selected for a 2021 live-streamed concert film following the pandemic-induced shutdown of Dylan’s famous Never Ending Tour. Thirteen classics, including ‘Forever Young’, ‘Queen Jane Approximately’ and ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’, are performed with Dylan’s impossibly husky, eighty-something baritone. Absolutely spellbinding.
Bob Dylan will release a live album drawn from the same concert as his 2021 film, “Shadow Kingdom”. The film will also be available to rent and download from June 6th. Below, see the tracklist and listen to the “Shadow Kingdom” version of his 1971 single “Watching the River Flow.”
In January, Dylan released the latest in his “Bootleg Series, Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997)“. A new Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet is in the works.
The film will be available for download and rental, and there will be a live album that includes the arrangements of the songs that were featured on the setlist, pulled from throughout Dylan’s career.
Roger Waters will issue a new mini-album called “The Lockdown Sessions”, in June.
These are re-recordings of old songs, three are from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall“, two are from the last Floyd album with Roger Waters, 1983’s “The Final Cut” and one track (‘The Bravery of Being Out of Range’) is from Waters’ 1992 solo album “Amused to Death”.
‘Comfortably Numb 2022’ is the last song on “The Lockdown Sessions” and is an exception to the ‘lockdown’ rule, since this was recorded during Waters’ This Is Not A Drill North American tour last year.
The Lockdown Sessions are 5 seminal tracks from Waters time with Pink Floyd his solo career: “Mother” and “Vera” from Pink Floyd The Wall; “Two Suns In The Sunset” and “The Gunner’s Dream” from Waters final Pink Floyd album, The Final Cut; and “The Bravery of Being Out Of Range” from his highly acclaimed solo album, “Amused To Death”. Additionally, Waters new version of the classic Pink Floyd song “Comfortably Numb” features as the final track on “The Lockdown Sessions”.
“Our Us and Them Tour lasted three years…At every gig we did an encore after the main show closed with “Comfortably Numb”…the encore was always “Mother” I can’t remember why I decided to start doing other songs?…Anyway, at some point after the end of the tour…I started thinking, “It could make an interesting album, all those encores”…“The Encores”. ”Yeah, has a nice ring to it!” Then…I’m in England doing the Ginger Baker tribute gig one Tuesday night at the Hammersmith Odeon with Eric Clapton and…the following Saturday marching from The Australian Embassy to Parliament Square to make a speech in support of Julian Assange, when bugger me, Covid…Schlummmm! For me it was Friday March 13th 2020. Lockdown! So much for the “Encores” project. Unless…
We’ve tacked C. Numb on the end of the collection, as an appropriate exclamation point in closing this circle of love.”
The Lockdown Sessions were produced by Roger Waters and Gus Seyffert. Appearing on the recordings are Roger Waters – Vocals, Guitar and Piano; Gus Seyffert – Bass, Cellos and Vocals; Joey Waronker – Drums and Percussion; Dave Kilminster – Guitar and Rhythm Guitar; Jonathan Wilson – Guitar and Vocals; Jon Carin – Keyboards and Vocals, Lucius (Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig) – Vocals; Bo Koster – Hammond (on all tracks except “Mother”) and Ian Ritchie – Saxophone (“Two Suns In The Sunset”).
Videos have been made for the songs which were produced and directed by Sean Evans. Roger’s This Is Not A Drill is currently on tour in Europe, and we know he has more recordings in the bag waiting to be released, namely his reworking of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon.
“The Lockdown Sessions” are released on CD and vinyl on 7th June, via Colubmia/Sony Music.
Two of Little Feat’s best albums – “Sailin’ Shoes” and “Dixie Chicken” – have been both newly remastered for upcoming Deluxe Editions that will introduce unreleased live and studio recordings that capture peak Feat. Little Feat’s second and third albums, “Sailin’ Shoes” and “Dixie Chicken”, will be reissued as expanded deluxe editions in June.
Both records “Sailin’ Shoes” was first released in 1972 while “Dixie Chicken” followed in ’73) have been remastered and recut to vinyl and the expanded 2CD and 3LP editions offer previously unreleased studio outtakes and demos, and complete unreleased live shows (same content on vinyl and CD).
“Sailin’ Shoes” includes the classic and much covered ‘Willin”, as well as the title track which Robert Palmer recorded for his debut album “Sneaking Sally Through The Alley”. In fact, so smitten was Palmer with Little Feat as musicians, that they became his backing band on a few tracks on his second solo album, 1975’s “Pressure Drop”.
Released in 1972, “Sailin’ Shoes”was the second studio album from the founding quartet of singer-guitarist Lowell George, drummer Richard Hayward, keyboard player Bill Payne, and bassist Roy Estrada. Ted Templeman produced the record, which was the first to feature artwork by illustrator Neon Park, who created covers for nearly all of Little Feat’s albums.
SAILIN’ SHOES (DELUXE EDITION) opens with a newly remastered version of the original album, which introduced signature tunes like “Easy To Slip,” the title track, and an updated version of “Willin’” a song that also appeared in 1971 on the band’s eponymous debut. Several outtakes from the album’s recording sessions make their debut on the Deluxe Edition, including alternate versions of “Cold, Cold, Cold,” “A Apolitical Blues,” and “Willin’.”
The magic that Little Feat conjured in concert takes centre stage in the new set with a newly discovered and previously unreleased complete show recorded at the Palladium in Los Angeles on August 28th, 1971. This live set marks the only multi-track recording in existence to feature the original line-up of the band. The performance features songs from both Sailin’ Shoes (“Tripe Face Boogie,” “Teenage Nervous Breakdown”) and Little Feat (“Hamburger Midnight,” “Snakes On Everything.”) The set also comes with illustrated liner notes written by acclaimed music journalist, David Fricke.
“Dixie Chicken”, the band’s third studio album, emerged in 1973 and introduced fans to Little Feat’s evolving sound and new line-up. The group’s shift toward New Orleans-style funk was accompanied by the arrival of three new members, guitarist Paul Barrere, percussionist Sam Clayton, and bassist Kenny Gradney (who replaced Estrada).
DIXIE CHICKEN (DELUXE EDITION) contains the newly remastered album, which features classics like “Two Trains,” “Fat Man In The Bathtub,” and the title track. Several unreleased session recordings debut in the new set, including alternate versions of “Roll Um Easy,” “On Your Way Down,” and “Juliette.” The unreleased live music was recorded at Paul’s Mall in Boston on March 1, 1973. They feature songs from Dixie Chicken (“Two Trains,” “Walkin’ All Night”) and the band’s earlier albums (“Willin’,” “Got No Shadow.”) The illustrated liner notes included in the collection were written by author Dennis McNally, who got his start as the Grateful Dead’s publicist.
“Dixie Chicken” features songs such as ‘Two Trains’, ‘Fat Man in the Bathtub’ and of course the brilliant title track.
Little Feat will celebrate these deluxe editions with “The Albums Tour” this fall, which will feature the band playing each album in its entirety across back-to-back nights at select venues (night one will be Sailin’ Shoes and night two will be Dixie Chicken). Preceding “The Album Tour,” the band is currently in the midst of their “Boogie Your Spring Away” tour, making their way across the East Coast in the coming days before making special appearances at the MerleFest in North Carolina April 27 and The Green River Festival on June 25 in Massachusetts. After a short break, Little Feat will hop back on the road for the “Boogie Your Summer Away” tour, kicking off July 12 in Atlanta and wrapping up summer dates at the Hot August Music Festival on August 19 in Maryland.
SAILIN’ SHOES (DELUXE EDITION) 3LP Track Listing
Original Album (2023 Remaster)
Side One
“Easy To Slip” “Cold, Cold Cold” “Trouble” “Tripe Face Boogie” “Willin’” “A Apolitical Blues”
Side Two
“Sailin’ Shoes” “Teenage Nervous Breakdown” “Got No Shadow” “Cat Fever” “Texas Rose Café”
Hotcakes, Outtakes, Rarities
Side One
“Sailin’ Shoes” – Demo * “Easy To Fall” (early version of “Easy To Slip”) – Demo For Doobie Bros. “Texas Rose Café” – Demo For Doobie Bros. “Cold, Cold, Cold” – Alternate Version * “Roto/Tone”
Side Two
“A Apolitical Blues” – Alternate Version * “Boogie” (early version of “Tripe Face Boogie”) “Trouble” – Alternate Version * “Doriville” “Willin’” – Alternate Version * “Easy To Slip” – Mono Single Version
Thank You! I’ll Eat It Here: Live At The Palladium, Los Angeles, CA (8/28/71)
“Got No Shadow” * “Texas Rose Café” * “Snakes On Everything” * “Hot Rod” * “Teenage Nervous Breakdown” *
DIXIE CHICKEN (DELUXE EDITION)
3LP Track Listing
Original Album (2023 Remaster)
Side One
“Dixie Chicken” “Two Trains” “Roll Um Easy” “On Your Way Down” “Kiss It Off”
Side Two
“Fool Yourself” “Walkin’ All Night” “Fat Man In The Bathtub” “Juliette” “Lafayette Railroad”
Hotcakes, Outtakes, Rarities
Side One
“Two Trains” – Demo “Fat Man In The Bathtub” – Demo “Walkin’ All Night” – Alternate Version * “Roll Um Easy” – Alternate Version * “On Your Way Down” – Alternate Version *
Side Two
“Eldorado Slim” “Juliette” – Alternate Version * “Hi Roller (Ace In The Hole)” “Dixie Chicken” – Alternate Version *
Icepick Eldorado: Live At Paul’s Mall, Boston, MA (4/1/73)
Side One
“Two Trains” * “Got No Shadow” * “On Your Way Down” *
Side Two
“Walkin’ All Night” * “Fat Man In The Bathtub” * “Willin’” * “A Apolitical Blues” *
These 2CD and 3LP deluxe editions of “Sailin’ Shoes” and “Dixie Chicken” will be released on 23rd June 2023, via Rhino Records.
I’m aching to see you again / mistaken, beginning inside of the end,” Meg Duffy sings at the start of “Something Wrong,” the first song on their six-track new release, “Sugar the Bruise”. Everything that forms will un-form. Everything that comes together will disperse. Everything that lives will die. Every moment is over as it passes. Every end contains a beginning. “Sugar the Bruise”, out from Fat Possum Records on June 16th, doesn’t shy away from these truths. It dives into the heart of them.
In August 2021, nearly 2 years before “Sugar the Bruise’s” creation, Duffy taught a month-long songwriting class through School of Sound. They created a container for both new and experienced songwriters, designing prompts to help participants play with new approaches and forms. They re-discovered, with newfound clarity, the generative capacity of embracing the unknown, and how essential collaboration and improvisation are for accessing the indescribable.
After three beloved, meticulously written albums – 2017’s “Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void)”, 2019’s “Placeholder” and 2021’s “Fun House” – Meg Duffy offered themself up for a 10-day writing trip. Working alongside Luke Temple (Here We Go Magic, Art Feynman) and in the final hours Philip Weinrobe (Adrienne Lenker, Cass McCombs, Lonnie Holly), at Panoramic Studios in Stinson Beach, CA, Duffy surrendered to the present moment, trusting that whatever sounds and words emerged were meant to emerge. With additional production, engineering and arranging from Jeremy Harris, Duffy created something which, in their words, “Turned out nothing like I’d imagined it would.”
The result of this collective experiment, born equally from play and intention, is a radical gift for listeners: proof that our most vital processes, creation and destruction, are exquisitely entangled. The unanswerable and untenable suffering of experience is the fact of perpetual loss. And, yet, there is precious, vivid magic created by this condition. In “Sugar the Bruise”, grief folds in on itself and becomes laughter; language fades away into sonic expanses of the inexpressible; melodies melt into cacophonies; love songs surrender to loss; historic violence is supplanted by the disks of sunlight.
Duffy, of course, is no stranger to the magic of collective music-making. They have collaborated with heavy-hitters as wide-ranging as Angel Olsen, Emile Mosseri, Perfume Genius, SASAMI, Sylvan Esso, and Weyes Blood.
They have inflected each of these collaborations with what The New Yorker has called their “masterly sense of melody” and Pitchfork has described as their “virtuosic talent,” to name but some of the hyperbolic praise they’ve garnered over the course of their career (see other examples in Rolling Stone and The Fader, to name just a few more).
Duffy’s devout fans will recognize their signature intimacy, artistry, and technical expertise in “Sugar the Bruise”. But they will also encounter an artist questioning what it means to be in control. Do we write songs or do songs write us? The same could be asked of poems, of books, of whole lives. All artists realize sooner or later that choice is elusive, will is illusory. We grasp for certainty, we write towards resolution, only to learn again and again that as soon as we think we’ve arrived, these destinations prove themselves to be mirages. This lesson holds for all people, too. And, yet, we laugh along the way, we fall in love, we make meaning, and we play. “Sugar the Bruise” is your companion in the void, your friend at the end, a reminder that, in the immediacy of loss, something beautiful has already begun.
Wye Oak are delighted to have some new music to share with you–“Every Day Like the Last,” the title track from our upcoming singles collection: “Every Day Like the Last” The nine songs on “Every Day Like the Last” came from a period where Wye Oak were in flux after a decade-plus of steadily releasing albums and touring. Sonically, the collection represents Wasner and Stack getting back to basics. Balancing the organic and the artificial, using electronics and programming to add new textures.
Those of you who have been paying attention may have noticed that we’ve been experimenting with releasing music differently over these past few years. This compilation brings together the singles released since 2019, plus three new unreleased songs. We are deeply proud of the music contained here–we think it’s some of the best work we’ve ever done as a band, and are so happy to see it get the release it deserves .
This song in particular is about the sacrifices we make for love, companionship, and community. Human beings are messy, and yet—we need each other. The quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives. But for all of us, and especially for those of us whose formative relationships were not so simple—alone can feel like the safest place to be. This song is about learning how to relax into imperfection, release the impulse to control, and accept the reality that life is brief and always ending, so we might as well have some company.
For more than 15 years, Wye Oak have offered comfort to their listeners in the form of warm, expressive music that has showcased their ever-growing maturity as players and people. “Every Day Like the Last” captures them at a moment when they realized the strength of the bonds they’ve forged—and even though they aren’t sure where their individual and collective journeys will take them next, these nine songs act as a signal that figuring things out along the way can result in beauty.
Recorded and played by us, with the exception of some pedal steel from Alan Good Parker. Mixed by Adrian Olsen at Montrose Recordings. Mastered by Sarah Register. Artwork by Aaron Lowell Denton, lyric video by Spence Kelly, new photos by Graham Tolbert.
