The Fat Angel Sings

With a room full of fine pickers and a set of Hollywood orchestral cues to kill for, Cory Hanson proclaims ‘I Love People’. On his 4th solo album drills down (baby) on a dryly parallax worldview, with songs about all those people he loves and all the crazy things they get up to. As ringmaster for a circus show of classic folk and rock tropes, Cory tugs at our heartstrings with expert misdirection, embracing tradition by throwing it out, into the wind. Followers of Cory’s twin arcs as solo singer and Wand member will be intrigued to learn that the line-up here is the same band that recorded last year’s “Vertigo”. Yep, Wand — their Masters of Unbounded Space robes traded in for Wrecking Crew trucker’s caps, as they reel out licks both tasty and smooth, like chops-meisters of yore. That’s Robbie Cody co-producing behind the desk, Evan Backer playing bass and arranging strings and horns, Evan Burrows on drums and percussion and Cory on piano, guitars and voices and songs.

Travelin’ light and puttin’ up dry, ‘I Love People’ bugs out to the what-the-fuck?-ness on the edge of town spied now and again on Cory’s previous solos, “Pale Horse Rider” and “Western Cum”. Here though, the simmering shades of Rider’s quiet horror and the bursts of Cum’s cartoonish, gun-slinger bravado have given way to an ever-more impartial view of life on the ground, tinted in gossamer sepia and other nostalgic tones. Written over the past several annums, Cory’s songs ensnare the 70s singer-songwriter in a feedback loop, drawing additional inspiration from the indelible everyman melodies of the American Songbook. With gilded threads and emboldened needling, ‘I Love People’’s songs are rendered with immediacy and a deep-pile Hollywood production sound that radiates affluence and comfort, even in the darkest and coldest nights way out beyond the range of any signal.

Placed and displaced among gorgeously outfitted musical arrangements, ‘I Love People’’ people are kin to their threadbare folk forbears. Song by song, their occupations, social positions and dispositions unravel like silk into the wind.

While they perform, Cory loiters backstage, gently pulling at the curtain to reveal silly details hidden in plain sight inside America’s broken heart. It doesn’t come as a surprise, and it’s not strictly funny, either: a giddy mash of the two, the delirium that comes from finding what you think is “true” is someone else’s “false.” When maps won’t help you find out where you are anymore, you’re as normal and horrible as the next person, playing out your days in a place of constant activity with your parallax view progressing invisibly into a limbo beyond the horizon. That’s your freedom for you, and it might be more sad, more terrifying — if it weren’t so much fun! Even though their subject won’t stop squirming, Cory and his merry men have constructed a timeless still life with ‘I Love People’, simply by living for the fun and love of it all. Just like the rest of us!

“I Love People”, available on LP/CS/CD/Digital on July 25th, 2025, from Drag City.

The Black Keys have confirmed that their 13th studio album, “No Rain, No Flowers”, will be released on August 8th. The duo also launched the title track from the follow-up to 2024’s “Ohio Players“. It’s available below, along with the complete track list.

Its title may refer to Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney’s dramatic experiences of 2024, when they were force to abandon a badly organized tour and fired their management as a result. Carney later observed: “Shit happens, and you just have to move through it.”

They  collaborated with songwriters Rick Nowels, Daniel Tashian and Scott Storch on the 13-song collection.

“I had worked with Rick Nowels on Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence,” Auerbach said in a statement. “We’d never really collaborated with a keyboard player or someone who writes on piano the way he does, but it clicked immediately.” Carney added: “We wanted to go straight to the source – into the room with people known for their songwriting. Daniel Tashian was one of the first people I met after moving to Nashville, and we’ve been fans of Scott Storch forever.”

Their 13th studio album delivers an eclectic sound shaped by the energy and spirit of the band’s wildly popular Record Hangs: dance parties where Auerbach and Carney take turns spinning rare, but truly potent, cuts from their impressive collection of vinyl 45s for baying crowds of longtime fans and new converts alike. More than two decades into their career, The Black Keys consistently continue to create music on their own terms, fueled by instinct, passion, and a refusal to settle. ‘No Rain, No Flowers’ is a testament to the band’s deep commitment to their craft and their enduring creativity.

The band’s Dan Auerbach said: ““This whole album was really laboured over with a lot of love. We hope you feel that.”

These New Puritans have dropped a striking new album, “Crooked Wing“, via Domino. Haunting yet radiant, the group’s first LP in six years was produced by Jack Barnett and Bark Psychosis pioneer Graham Sutton and executive produced by George Barnett. “This album is both more surreal & somehow more direct than anything we’ve ever done,” George commented. “A crooked wing is an ear, you have one on each side of your body, and they have a rippled shape. Maybe if you’re lucky they can help you fly.” Caroline Polachek is there to aid in the effort on the standout single ‘Industrial Love Song’.

The cult duo returns with one of 2025’s boldest and most immersive records, shifting from the brutal to the beautiful. “Crooked Wing” cements TNP’s status as visionaries—defying genre, rejecting convention, and delivering their most moving, powerful work yet.

“Crooked Wing” is These New Puritans’ long-awaited fifth album—their first in six years. Produced by Bark Psychosis pioneer Graham Sutton and Jack Barnett, and executive produced by George Barnett, it features an unpredictable line-up of collaborators, from Caroline Polachek to veteran jazz bassist Chris Laurence.

The cult duo returns with one of 2025’s boldest and most immersive records, shifting from the brutal to the beautiful. “Crooked Wing” cements TNP’s status as visionaries—defying genre, rejecting convention, and delivering their most moving, powerful work yet.

released May 23rd, 2025

2025, Domino Recording Co Ltd

Wombo have two albums and a handful of EPs under their belt, and 2021’s addictive “Dreamsickle” proved them to be a promising band. Today, the Louisville trio is announcing their third LP “Danger In Fives” and releasing the eerie, alluring title track.

’Danger In Fives’ has something to do with loops and cycles and the comfort I get from walking around a peddlers mall,” vocalist and bassist Sydney Chadwick explains. Along with Chadwick, Wombo has Cameron Lowe on guitar and Joel Taylor on drums. The song has the band’s signature quirky guitar work underneath Chadwick’s airy soprano. It comes with a purple-tinted music video directed by Cameron Lowe that mirrors the tune’s off-kilter feeling.

The title track from Wombo’s new album out August 2025 on Fire Talk Records.

“Find El Dorado” is a deeply personal new album of reinterpretations, that sees Paul Weller revisit songs that have long lived in the back of his mind – now reimagined with fresh meaning and a sense of reverence. Less a covers album and more a map of his emotional and musical DNA. 

Produced by Steve Cradock, the album includes further guest appearances from Declan O’Rourke, Noel Gallagher, Amelia Coburn, Seckou Keita, Robert Plant and more.

Paul Weller began his career fronting The Jam, fusing punk with mod influences and leading the late-’70s revival. In the ’80s, he formed The Style Council, embracing soul, jazz, and house. After a brief hiatus, he launched a solo career in 1992, blending soul, rock, and psychedelia. His 1995 album “Stanley Road was a Britpop-era triumph, followed by acclaimed records like “22 Dreams, On Sunset, and “Fat Pop Vol. 1. Constantly evolving, Weller has remained a vital figure in British music, celebrated for his innovation, artistry, and influence across decades. His latest album, “66”, was released in 2024.

Paul Weller’s latest album of covers, “Find El Dorado”, will include a cover of the Bee Gees’ 1968 tune “I Started a Joke.” While the LP won’t be available until July 25th, he dropped his version of the Bee Gees’ “Idea” tune as part of the LP’s promo.

In the hands of Paul Weller, the tune has a decidedly pluckier intro, full of melodic and coy piano lines. This sounds segway into a older-and-wiser verse. Organ backs up the texture, which morphs into a massive chorus laden with strings.  Something about this cover is as effortless “I Started a Joke” is taken from the release of “Find El Dorado“, a deeply personal new album of reinterpretations,. “Find El Dorado” – a new album of reinterpretations by Paul, available on July 25th.

Recorded, produced and arranged by Steve Cradock at Kundalini studio Devon.

“Butter Miracle The Complete Sweets“, Following the 2021 release of “Butter Miracle, Suite One“, comes the full album – “Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets!” The album consists of the 4 tracks from Suite One, plus 5 new tracks. Adam Duritz and Counting Crows released “Butter Miracle, Suite One” in May 2021 to rave reviews. The band also kicked off their first tour since 2018, ‘The Butter Miracle Tour’ from 2021 through 2023, with sell-out performances across North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. For more than two decades, the GRAMMY and Academy Award-nominated Counting Crows have enchanted listeners worldwide with their intensely soulful and intricate take on timeless rock n’ roll.

Exploding onto the scene in 1993 with their multiplatinum breakout album, “August and Everything” After, the band has gone on to release 7 studio albums, selling more than 20 million records worldwide, and is revered as one of the world’s most pre-eminent live touring rock bands.

Since the ’90s, Counting Crows have been at the forefront of alternative rock groups to enjoy enormous critical and commercial success. This album, completing a set which began in 2021, perfects their moving lyrics and embraces shades of Bruce Springsteen and Americana across the album’s cohesive entirety.

The heralded UK band’s first album since 2004 and first for Ipecac Recordings. 

Having formed in the late nineteen-nineties and releasing music, if that is what it was, from 2000-2004, Mclusky disbanded soon afterwards in a slow motion farce of not enough drama to get much press off the back of it. Now they are back fuelled initially by spite but now enjoying it too much not to do it, and playing to crowds in the UK, US and Australia which are much bigger – and more hygienically inclined – than in their so-called heyday. So far nobody has complained, except for one guy in Leeds (and he was clearly on ketamine).

Reformed post-hardcore heroes Mclusky present their first studio album in over two decades, and their fourth altogether. “The World Is Still Here And So Are We” contains thirteen new tracks that veer between misanthropy and dark humour, including the songs ‘Unpopular Parts Of A Pig’ and ‘The Digger You Deep’ that came out in 2023.

Now comes a new album – entitled “The World is Still Here and So Are We”.

On “Manhunter”, their fifth full-length, Hooveriii distil a wide orbit of influences—spiky post-punk, lush new age, 70s arena rock—into a lean, cosmic psych-rock album that hits with clarity and purpose.

While previous records revelled in exploratory jams and interdimensional detours, “Manhunter” locks into the groove, delivering hooks with precision and riding expansive rhythms straight into the heart of the trip. It’s their most confident and cohesive work to date—equal parts propulsion and psychedelia, made for heads-down listening or lift-off moments.

After four albums of extra-dimensional exploration, Hooveriii delivered “Manhunter” with the controls set directly for the heart of the cosmic groove. Expertly synthesizing their influences and still managing to bring even more to the party, from spiky post punk to beautiful new age excursions and mammoth 70’s arena rock hooks, “Manhunter” delivers not only their best album yet but an instant classic for all the psych-heads, stoners and dimensionauts.

Inspired entirely by the life and mythos of actor, Dennis Hopper, Mike Scott and The Waterboys created this expansive album as tribute to one of American popular culture’s most compelling public figures.

The Waterboys enlisted a hearty cast of contributors for their new concept album, “Life, Death and Dennis Hopper”, which, per its title, was inspired by the legendary late actor. Fiona Apple features on one song, a ballad titled “Letter From an Unknown Girlfriend,” while Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle, Taylor Goldsmith, and others appear throughout the album’s whopping 25-song tracklist. Speaking of Dennis Hopper in press materials, the Waterboys’ leader Mike Scott said: “The arc of his life was the story of our times.”

The Waterboys’s “A Wild and Beautiful Ride2 is a new 48-minute documentary exploring the creation of their latest album “Life, Death And Dennis Hopper”. Directed by Mick Puck and Duende Visions, the film takes viewers behind the scenes of this bold musical and spiritual journey inspired by the life and career of Dennis Hopper. “A Wild and Beautiful Ride” includes music from the album, location footage shot in New Mexico, and intimate reflections from the band’s lead singer and guitarist Mike Scott, who spent four years crafting the record.

Deeply conceptual, this album of all original songs to musically weave through Hopper’s life, including a song for each of Hopper’s wives.

‘Real Power’ is the exhilarating lead single from Columbus, Ohio band Golomb’s newly announced album “The Beat Goes On”, which comes out July 25th on No Quarter. If you’re a fan of Yo La Tengo, don’t let this slip under your radar.

Golomb hail from Columbus, the esteemed Ohio city. They’re a family band of sorts; spouses Mickey and Xenia Shuman first formed the group, and Xenia’s brother Hawken Holm joined on drums shortly after. After kicking out an impressive discography on Bandcamp in recent years, Golomb have signed with the esteemed No Quarter label for the new album “The Beat Goes On”. That tremendous image above is the album cover.

It’s got a bit more classic rock energy than that comparison implies, with garage-band vocals that pile up into overflowing harmonies and a backbeat that steadily builds tension without ever ripping open. It’s an ultra-catchy pop song that rocks

No Quarter Records Released on: 2025-05-13