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New Music Releases Thread

Arkle said:
Not a week that's high on quantity but one that's pretty high on quality. My usual weekly review:

Kevin Morby: a spin off/extension of his last album, this is high quality stuff once more. There are strings and things added in. Morbo's in space!
Arlo Parks: had this been her debut, I'd say it was promising but, as her debut was excellent, I'd say it's a slightly disappointing follow up. It's decent just nowhere near as good.
Kassa Overall: jazz drummer brings in guests from the jazz and hip-hop worlds to make an album combining the genres. It's good.
Daniel Blumberg: deep, dark and troubled. Also somewhat quiet and at 31 minutes, quite brief. Blumberg follows his idiosyncratic path. Not an album for parties but very good.
Shirley Collins: the third album since her comeback sees the now 83 year old Collins on excellent form. English folk basically, really well played and sung. The closing spoken word title track is spellbinding.
Clark: electronica, executive-produced (whatever that means) by Thom Yorke, who also provides guest vocals on a track. Clark has been doing this for ages and is consistently very good.
Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay: duelling folk guitars. Their second album together. Really good.
Sparks: you know what you're getting with Sparks: fun, dramatic, OTT, witty, clever pop. This doesn't change anything and is really good.
Kassi Valazza: her second album. She's been getting a good amount of favourable press, deservedly as it turns out. This is excellent, countryish and a bit psychedelic with quality songs.
AJJ: enjoyable, inventive, punky alt-pop is what I'm calling it.

Album of the week: Kassi Valazza holds off Morbo, Shirley Collins and Clark.
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No review of Gia Margaret or Stuck? Or Genevieve Dawson?
 

Arkle said:
I overlooked Gia Margaret. Will give her a listen. The others are new names to me.
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Stuck are post punk stuff, their last album was likely mentioned by me on here

Genevieve sounds like you’d expect a Genevieve to sound
chunkyshitehawk53 said:
It’s data harvesting isn’t it? Remember to delete their access to it
Couple of records I’ve enjoyed this week, not new but from 2020

Stuck - Change is Bad (post punk)
Wares - Survival (post punk/dream pop crossover is probably the best description I can think of, I’m rubbish at describing music)

Four Tet also released a new album yesterday.
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Shock horror, I had
 
Arkle said:
Daniel Blumberg: deep, dark and troubled. Also somewhat quiet and at 31 minutes, quite brief. Blumberg follows his idiosyncratic path. Not an album for parties but very good.
Sparks: you know what you're getting with Sparks: fun, dramatic, OTT, witty, clever pop. This doesn't change anything and is really good.
Click to expand...
Agree Sparks is very good but I think GUT (Daniel Blumberg) is fantastic. Apparently the inspiration for it came from the intestinal disease that has plagued him in recent years. Now if that doesn't sell it...
 
There are new albums tomorrow from Ashnikko. Avenged Sevenfold. Baxter Dury, Beach Fossils, Ben Folds, Brandt Brauer Frick, Bully, Cowboy Junkies, DZ Deathrays, Foo Fighters, Jack Johnson, Jake Shears, Jelly Roll, John Mellencamp, Lanterns on the Lake, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Protomartyr, Rancid, Rufus Wainwright, RVG, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Tanya Tucker, The Aces, BCUC, Witch and Vulture Feather.
 
Not sure what I think of the new Ben Folds album on first listen. He’s my absolute all time favourite musician but it just hasn’t grabbed me.

Big day of new releases for me. Ben Folds down, onto Austin Lucas now (he’s done an album of country covers of Against Me songs), Rancid, Foo Fighters, Baxter Dury and Jack Johnson still to go!
 
A high quality and high quantity week for me. My usual weekly review:

Witch: 70s Zamrockers return magnificently. I'm not massively familiar with their earlier work but some of this reminds me a little of Goat. Highly recommended.
Rufus Wainwright: after his own songs, operas etc., he's made a covers album loosely based on folk tunes and heavy on guest spots. There are many highs but the duet with Chaka Khan on "Cotton Eyed Joe" (yes, that one) is up there.
Baxter Dury: short, not so sweet but very, very good. He's continuing down his idiosyncratic path. Nobody else really sounds quite like him.
Cowboy Junkies: excellent, as expected. Doesn't break the mold of their other recent albums but they're very, very good at what they do.
Vulture Feathers: this is a stonker of an album. Indie-rock with strange vocals. Really, really liking this. They're a new name to me.
Protomartyr: see my Cowboy Junkies review (they're nothing like Cowboy Junkies but you get the point).
Foo Fighters: not a band I regularly listen to but I thought I'd give this album a shot based on some very good reviews. Big epic stadium things that do not that much for me until the last couple of tracks, which are both ace.
Tanya Tucker: the veteran (ish, she's 64) country artist continues her fine recent form. There's warmth and humour on here.
RVG: their third album and probably the best (debut was promising and full fo top songs, second had more budget and better production but not the songs, this has both). Aussie indie rock essentially.
Beach Fossils: retro indie-rock with harmonies to the forefront. Pretty good.
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds: again, giving it a listen based on decent reviews. I'm more likely to listen to it again than Foo Fighters' latest. It's maybe a song or two overlong and obvious rhymes are obvious. First song sounds like Shack.
BCUC: (or Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness in full). They get described as "afro-psychedelic future pop". This, like their previous releases, is exhilerating and fun. Good live as well, if you get the chance.
Lanterns on the Lake: a little more up tempo than their previous releases, if not any more upbeat. Really good, as usual.
Bully: the fourth album of what is, fundamentally, Alicia Bognanno's solo project. As usual, high quality grungey alt-rock.
Band of Holy Joy: I'm not even going to try and count the number of albums they've now released. As ever, Johny Brown and gang give us their post-punk, urban folk, Brechty sound with lovely lyrics and top tunes.
Jack Cooper: the Modern Nature main man goes classical. Pretty good.
Wave Temples: ambient electronica. As befits their name, water is heavily involved. It's really good. The tracks are mostly short and mostly incredibly beautiful. I've seen a couple of reviews making a Boards of Canada comparison. I'm not sure they're quite that but there is a vibe here.

Album of the week: I could probably pick any of 10 or 11 of these but will, by a narrow margin, say Vulture Feather as they're a new name to me.
 
Arkle said:
A high quality and high quantity week for me. My usual weekly review:

Witch: 70s Zamrockers return magnificently. I'm not massively familiar with their earlier work but some of this reminds me a little of Goat. Highly recommended.
Rufus Wainwright: after his own songs, operas etc., he's made a covers album loosely based on folk tunes and heavy on guest spots. There are many highs but the duet with Chaka Khan on "Cotton Eyed Joe" (yes, that one) is up there.
Baxter Dury: short, not so sweet but very, very good. He's continuing down his idiosyncratic path. Nobody else really sounds quite like him.
Cowboy Junkies: excellent, as expected. Doesn't break the mold of their other recent albums but they're very, very good at what they do.
Vulture Feathers: this is a stonker of an album. Indie-rock with strange vocals. Really, really liking this. They're a new name to me.
Protomartyr: see my Cowboy Junkies review (they're nothing like Cowboy Junkies but you get the point).
Foo Fighters: not a band I regularly listen to but I thought I'd give this album a shot based on some very good reviews. Big epic stadium things that do not that much for me until the last couple of tracks, which are both ace.
Tanya Tucker: the veteran (ish, she's 64) country artist continues her fine recent form. There's warmth and humour on here.
RVG: their third album and probably the best (debut was promising and full fo top songs, second had more budget and better production but not the songs, this has both). Aussie indie rock essentially.
Beach Fossils: retro indie-rock with harmonies to the forefront. Pretty good.
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds: again, giving it a listen based on decent reviews. I'm more likely to listen to it again than Foo Fighters' latest. It's maybe a song or two overlong and obvious rhymes are obvious. First song sounds like Shack.
BCUC: (or Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness in full). They get described as "afro-psychedelic future pop". This, like their previous releases, is exhilerating and fun. Good live as well, if you get the chance.
Lanterns on the Lake: a little more up tempo than their previous releases, if not any more upbeat. Really good, as usual.
Bully: the fourth album of what is, fundamentally, Alicia Bognanno's solo project. As usual, high quality grungey alt-rock.
Band of Holy Joy: I'm not even going to try and count the number of albums they've now released. As ever, Johny Brown and gang give us their post-punk, urban folk, Brechty sound with lovely lyrics and top tunes.
Jack Cooper: the Modern Nature main man goes classical. Pretty good.
Wave Temples: ambient electronica. As befits their name, water is heavily involved. It's really good. The tracks are mostly short and mostly incredibly beautiful. I've seen a couple of reviews making a Boards of Canada comparison. I'm not sure they're quite that but there is a vibe here.

Album of the week: I could probably pick any of 10 or 11 of these but will, by a narrow margin, say Vulture Feather as they're a new name to me.
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At times that Vulture Feather are vocally quite similar to Post War Glamour Girls (the lad from Yard Act's previous band). Need to give the album a proper go.

Great roundup as usual. Lanterns is good. Will give the Promartyr new one a go later on.
 
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