Arcade Fire have released their sixth studio album, “WE”.The sprawling new record marks the band’s first release since the departure of long time band member Will Butler late last year.
Win Butler and co. recorded “WE” across New Orleans, Texas, and Maine with Radiohead’s frequent studio go-to Nigel Godrich. “It was the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever,” Butler explained in a statement.
After revealing that new work was underway on a new Arcade Fire record during the pandemic, the band made good on the promise with “The Lightning I, II” in March, announcing its sixth album “WE” with the single. Arcade Fire also released “Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)” from the album ahead of its release. “WE” is Arcade Fire’s final album with Will Butler, who announced his departure from the group just two days after the arrival of “The Lightning I, II.”
The reviews describes the record as “an album that reclaims the band’s trademarks after a decade spent fighting against them.”
“WE’s” cathartic journey follows a definable arc from darkness into light over the course of seven songs divided into two distinct sides – Side “I” channelling the fear and loneliness of isolation, and Side “WE” expressing the joy and power of reconnection.
On the album’s cover, a photograph of a human eye by the artist JR evokes Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy. This stunning image – embellished by the distinctive airbrush colour tinting of Terry Pastor (utilizing the same physical technique he employed on David Bowie’s iconic Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust covers) – is the visual expression of WE.
As a result of the ongoing production challenges the vinyl record industry presently faces, organizers of Record Store Day scheduled an “RSD Drop” date in June for titles that didn’t make it out of the pressing plant in time for the April event. As previously reported, next month’s RSD Drop goes down June 18th, packing shelves with a selection of titles that may have been announced for Record Store Day 2022, but were unable to be delivered in time for the special day.
Among the highlights are previously announced releases from of Wilco’s forthcoming “Cruel Country“, a 2xLP set of Miles Davis live at the Montreal Jazz Festival in July 1983, a 2xLP reissue of Prince’s 1995 album “The Gold Experience“, the first vinyl reissue of Pearl Jam’s exceedingly rare “Live on Two Legs” since its 1998 release, and many more.
Richard Thompson’s score for “Grizzly Man” – Werner Herzog’s 2005 documentary film of real life and death in the Alaskan wilderness – is one of the best-kept secrets in the British guitarist’s epic canon: an instrumental masterpiece disguised as a movie soundtrack.
Recorded over two days as Thompson played live in the studio to Herzog’s footage – mostly alone, at times in chamber settings with cello, piano and percussion – these tenderly detailed melodies and quietly visceral improvisations are cinema in their own right, rendered with pictorial instinct and the dazzling technique forged in Thompson’s lifelong passage through traditional folk, psychedelia, North African modes and intensely personal song writing.
Here is RichardThompson at his natural best – finger-picking dance; snake-curl twang and singing-wire harmonics – in a solo clarity that runs from jig-like joy to deep-note meditation, the “Grizzly Man” blues march with its echoes of Fairport Convention’s “Sloth” to the long night of “Treadwell No More,” a harrowing darkness in slicing treble and tremolo shiver. Produced by guitarist Henry Kaiser, “Grizzly Man” is a record of powerful solitude – as bold and majestic as the land in Herzog’s film; as intimate as prayer – and essential Richard Thompson.
Pink Mountaintops’ are about to release their first new album in eight years features 12 songs sparked from Stephen McBean’s magpie-like curiosity for a wild expanse of cultural artifacts: David Cronenberg, Disney Read-Along records from the ’70s, early Pink Floyd, mid-career Gary Numan, John Carpenter movies, and Ornette Coleman live videos. Featuring counterculture icons like Steven McDonald (Redd Kross) and Dale Crover (Melvins), “Peacock Pools” alchemizes those obsessions into a body of work with its own enchanting power.
Track List: I Fuck Mountains Can You Do That Dance? Leslie Plastic Man, You’re The Devil The Second Summer of Love
The folk-rock band Dawes has graced us with another music release. On May 6th, the band announced their forthcoming eighth album and simultaneously dropped the first single from the record titled “Someone Else’s Cafe / Doomscroller Tries To Relax.”
“The first half of this song could be about tyrants,” Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith said in a statement. “But it could also be about anyone who thinks that a little more control is gonna make everything ok. The second half is a response to that developing reality of the first half. The world might be a scary place sometimes but, to some degree, I want to believe I can decide how I respond to it.
“Every time a take was completed felt like a major accomplishment. It being 10 minutes really raised the stakes. Didn’t wanna be the guy to mess up in minute 7 or 8 with everyone playing flawlessly up to that point. This whole album, and this song especially, felt a little beyond our comfort zone and I’m really proud of what that’s done to the music. I like to think that you can hear the eye contact, that you can hear us thinking on our feet. It’s already become a top 5er to play live. Happy to finally have it out in the world.”
Just the first of the band’s new music, Dawes also explained their excitement surrounding the upcoming album which is titled “Misadventures Of Doomscroller”. The album is set for release on July 22nd before their concert heavy schedule in August.
“We’ve always prided ourselves on being minimalists. With this record we set out on being MAXIMALISTS,” Goldsmith said. “Still a quartet. Still not letting these songs hide behind any tricks or effects. But really letting the songs breathe and stretch and live however they want to. We decided to stop having any regard for short attention spans. Our ambitions go beyond the musical with this one.
“We also wanted to honor the traditional length of a vinyl record – 40-45 minutes – but disregard any concern for numbers of tracks. The way Miles or Herbie often did. Documenting the songs is only half of the picture. For this record, they’re also the platform for us to jump off from and get lost in. I think the best way I can say it is – we wanted this record to be less a collection of songs and more a collection of music.”
Bassist Wylie Gelber added, “We wanted a musical drama, an ensemble cast with linked arms kicking highly; a transcription of a band meeting we haven’t even had yet. Eight legs and eight arms, in a room, stretching deeper than we ever knew we could…The Intros have Outros. The Outros have Bridges.”
About this track – Every time a take was completed felt like a major accomplishment. It being 10 minutes really raised the stakes. Didn’t wanna be the guy to mess up in minute 7 or 8 with everyone playing flawlessly up to that point. This whole album, and this song especially, felt a little beyond our comfort zone and I’m really proud of what that’s done to the music. I like to think that you can hear the eye contact, that you can hear us thinking on their feet. It’s already become a top 5er to play live.
The Official Audio for Dawes new single “Someone Else’s Cafe/ Doomscroller Tries To Relax”, off their forthcoming album ‘Misadventures Of Doomscroller’ releasing July 22nd, 2022.
Some artists embrace folk aesthetics when it suits them; S.G. Goodman, meanwhile, is a modern troubadour through and through.
The Kentucky-born singer songwriter is a bold voice from out of the South, representing a niche of Americans who were raised in a place that didn’t align with their values, but who remain closely tied to that place nonetheless. Goodman infuses alt-country sounds with her gay identity an essential perspective that hasn’t been amplified in that space .
“Heart Swell” arrives ahead of her new album, “Teeth Marks”, arriving June 3rd via Verve Forecast. Like the previously released title track, it showcases her distinct, conversational vocal style and intimate lyrics, one piece of what promises to be another rich tableau from the artist.
When I wrote this song on my back porch in Kentucky, the cicada calls were not as loud as they had been in the summer of 2015. They were so thick around my house that year that you could hear them with the door closed. I just so happened to be going through a breakup and found it appropriate to describe to friends inquiring about my state that the intensity of the cicada calls was what I felt like on the inside. Heartache was buzzing, it was constant, and there was no escaping it. The cicada’s eventually left their little skeletons, and I guess I managed to walk out of the shape I was in, too.
This is the fourth single from their much-anticipated debut “Deep in View” (Released May 20th,through Fire Talk), Cola continue to carry Ought’s sound forward, introducing new and exciting permutations. Tim Darcy describes “Degree” as evoking “what it feels like running to catch the bus when you’re in a daze and suddenly have to sprint,” his lyrics dancing artfully around that concept of incomplete presence, divided attention. “Have you been to the movies lately? / Did you read the marquee? / It’s not even started and there is a push to leave,” the vocalist matter-of-factly observes. Meanwhile, drummer Evan Cartwright regulates Darcy and Ben Stidworthy’s strumming post-punk guitar and bass, the song gallop’s ahead despite its uncertain destination.
From Cola’s ‘Deep in View’ out May 20th on Fire Talk & Next Door Records.
An outstanding double-album featuring today’s best artists covering songs from Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and more. Praised by SPIN, NME, TIME, Rolling Stone, Paste, Nylon, A.V. Club, NPR, USA Today, and Pitchfork. This is another fantastic themed compilation from American Laundromat Records. This is a delightful reimagining of songs used in many Wes Anderson movies. A gateway to introduce yourself to new artists through songs you already know and like.
American Laundromat Records is an independent record label based in Mystic, CT. Founded in 2004, the label is known for its critically-acclaimed tribute and themed compilations, award-winning charity albums, and an impressive roster of original artists.
Legendary rock band The Rolling Stones has released two previously unheard recordings of two of their hit songs, “Tumbling Dice” and “Hot Stuff.” The recordings come from the band’s famous secret concerts in March 1977, at the 300-capacity venue in Toronto, El Mocambo. On the nights, naturally, April Wine were themselves the opening act, and so it was that the Stones rolled back the years to the exhilarating club incarnation of their early years. Against all the odds, the band produced two nights of exhilarating music that they still talk about in Toronto, and in Rolling Stones legend, to this day. At the time the group were in between studio albums following the release of 1976’s “Black and Blue“, and prior to 1978’s “Some Girls“.
For 45 years, the Rolling Stones’ “Love You Live” has been one of rock’s greatest teases. About 75 percent of the double LP was recorded in arenas and stadiums during the band’s 1976 tour, and presented competent but rarely exhilarating or necessary renditions of concert warhorses and deep cuts. But tucked away (on side three) were four songs cut at Toronto’s tiny El Mocambo club in March 1977, when the Stones played a surprise set billed as “The Cockroaches.”
Playing in front of a few hundred people, and unable to hide behind props like the giant inflatable penis of the 1975 shows, the Stones had to focus on music, not spectacle. And judging from the small portion of the two El Mocambo shows heard on “Love You Live“, they stepped up to the job. With Mick Jagger unleashing a new style of growl, their crackling covers of Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and Willie Dixon songs paid strutting homage to their heroes, and the recordings were so visceral that you felt as if you were in the first few rows of the 300-seat club. The distant crowd roar heard throughout most of “Love You Live” was a metaphor for how removed the Stones had become from the average rock fan, not to mention most mundane household chores. The El Mocambo tracks, pushed on by a clearly audible and enthralled small audience, presented them as a band that wanted to re-connect with those fans and stay relevant, just as punk rock was rearing its spiky head.
The two tracks are set to be released on the band’s upcoming live album, “Live At The El Mocambo“, the group’s two famous secret concerts at the 300-capacity club which is slated to be released on Friday (May 13th). The album will be available on double CD, 4 LP vinyl, and digitally. It will feature the band’s full set from the March 5th, 1977 show newly mixed by Bob Clearmountain.
There will also be three bonus tracks from the gig the day before. The Rolling Stones shared the news on Twitter, writing, “Two previously unreleased recordings from the Stones’ legendary 1977 shows at El Mocambo are out today! “Tumbling Dice” and “Hot Stuff” are out now, Adding: “The two tracks are taken from the upcoming album “Live At The El Mocambo” – released in full for the very first time on May 13th.
The setlist for the live album will include covers of Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy” and Bo Diddley’s“Crackin’ Up,” as well as Stones classics like “Let’s Spend The Night Together” and “It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll.” The band also played covers of Big Maceo’s “Worried Life Blues” and Willie Dixon’s “Little Red Rooster.”Mick Jagger introduced Charlie Watts to the audience. “Charlie’s a jazz drummer,” he said. “He’s only doing this for the money.”
What’s most fascinating about “Live at the El Mocambo” is the way it presents the Stones not as a nascent oldies act but as a working, actively creative band. A few hits from the Sixties are here, but the focus is on their last few albums up to that point. Say what one will about their proto-gangsta, killer-on-the-run saga “Hand of Fate” or the uncomfortably hostile “Crazy Mama.” But the band plays them with deliciously desperate energy, and they overhaul “It’s Only Rock’n Roll‘s” ersatz-reggae “Luxury” into a more typical swaggering stomp. (Wryly, Jagger introduces it “a little-known number we hope to make popular,” which was wishful thinking.) Most of these songs, especially the “Black and Blue” ones, wouldn’t be played again onstage for over 20 years, which adds another level of historical interest to these tapes.
The Toronto club was a fixture in the city’s music scene since the 1940s and the Stones made it their own on some special days.
From Warren Zevon and David Bowie to Gregg Allman and Pop Smoke and Mac Miller, posthumous albums recorded during an artist’s final months have become a sadly inevitable part of the pop landscape. That’s also the case with “Things Happen That Way“, the album Dr. John was working on when he died of a heart attack in June 2019. Now, three years after his passing, the album, which includes covers as well as some of his last newly written songs, will finally be heard when Rounder Records releases it on September 23rd.
Throughout his career, Dr. John — a.k.a. Mac Rebennack rambled through American music, taking in New Orleans funk, boogie woogie, jazz, psychedelic, and pop standards. That musical journey continued right up through the end. Co-produced by Dr. John and guitarist Shane Theriot and cut in Dr. John’s native New Orleans throughout 2018, “Things Happen That Way” adds a new and final twist to his legacy with ruminative, growly voiced versions of country classics: Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Ramblin’ Man,” Jack Clement’s “Guess Things Happen That Way” (made famous by Johnny Cash), and Willie Nelson’s “Funny How Time Slips Away.”
Karla R. Pratt, Dr. John’s daughter and the album’s executive producer, calls those covers “a musical tip of the hat to the greats who preceded him,” like Williams, Cash, and Nelson. “Years ago he talked about how hip Hank Williams was,” says Pratt. “He loved how simple yet emotionally complex Hank’s songs are, that they have a hook with a twist. For this album inspired by listening to the Louisiana Hayride [radio show] and icons of country and western, he was excited to do songs in a way that evokes emotion that sticks with you long after one of the songs done his soulful way is played.”
Nelson also duets with Dr. John on “Gimme That Old Time Religion,” and Aaron Neville joins in on a gospel-flavoured version of the Traveling Wilburys’ “End of the Line.” The 10-track album features back-up by Theriot, former Late Night with David Letterman bassist Will Lee, keyboardists Jon Cleary and David Torkanowsky, and drummer Carlo Nuccio.
Another highlight of the album is a remake of Dr. John’s own “I Walk on Guilded Splinters” with Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real; Nelson also co-produced the track. “In a mystical kind of way, Dad was looking back at the same time he was looking forward, while being present in each moment,” says Pratt.“’I Walk on Guilded Splinters’ is a bit of time-traveling: It’s 1968, it’s now, it’s the future, all swirling through and into their collaboration.”
One final twist on the album: the presence of new songs Dr. John had written during the making of the record. “Holy Water” finds him looking back at his drug bust and jail time in the Sixties, and the rollicking “Give Myself a Good Talkin’ To” (“Find out what I’m supposed to do/Look in the mirror and I’m fed up with you/Give myself a good talkin’ to”) is a good-natured scolding. As Pratt adds, “From a different vantage point and an older stage in his life, this album is truly his most intimate, with original songs as his ‘curve balls.’”
