Music Releases 09-16-22
Breaking a decade of omertà, The Mars Volta reawaken from their lengthy hiatus with an eponymous track that radically reshapes their paradigm. Formed by guitarist/composer Omar Rodríguez-López and singer/lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, The Mars Volta rose from the ashes of El Paso punk-rock firebrands At The Drive-In in 2001. On a mission to “honour our roots and honour our dead”, The Mars Volta made music that fused the Latin sounds Rodríguez-López was raised on with the punk and underground noise he and Bixler-Zavala had immersed themselves in for years, and the futuristic visions they were tapping into. The albums that followed were one-of-a-kind masterpieces, their songs of breath-taking complexity also possessing powerful emotional immediacy. After the group fell silent, a legion of devotees (including Kanye West) kept up an insistent drum-beat for their return.
Now – a year after La Realidad De Los Sueños, a luxurious 18-LP box-set compiling their back catalogue, sold out its 5,000 print run in under 24 hours – the duo are back, accompanied this time by founder bassist Eva Gardner, drummer Willy Rodriguez Quiñones and keyboard-player Marcel Rodríguez-López. This song shakes loose some of The Mars Volta’s long-standing shibboleths and the dizzying, abrasive prog stylings of earlier albums absent.
Instead, The Mars Volta pulses with subtle brilliance, Caribbean rhythms underpinning sophisticated, turbulent songcraft. This is The Mars Volta at their most mature, most concise, most focused. Their sound and fury channeled to greatest effect, The Mars Volta finds Rodríguez-López’s subterranean pop melodies driving Bixler-Zavala’s dark sci-fi tales of the occult and malevolent governments. Distilling all the passion, poetry and power at their fingertips, The Mars Volta is the most accessible music the group have ever recorded.
On September 16, Capitol Records will release Marcus Mumford’s debut solo album, (self-titled). Produced by Blake Mills (Alabama Shakes, Jim James), the album includes duets with Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Clairo, and
Monica Martin. Indie Exclusive Red Transparent 180-gram LP.
Girl Of My Dreams is an up-close look at the moments of heartache, triumph and deeply transformative experiences on FLETCHER's way to self-discovery. The new record expands on the boldly detailed storytelling she’s brought to hits like “Undrunk” and “Bitter.” This time around, FLETCHER reveals her inner world more fully and fearlessly than ever before, embracing the kind of uninhibited honesty that’s freeing for both artist and audience.
Michelle Branch
Created during the pandemic lockdown, The Trouble with Fever, co-produced with her husband, Patrick Carney, is Branch's fourth solo album and follows her critically acclaimed 2017 album, Hopeless Romantic. The time at home gave Branch the opportunity to stretch herself creatively. She says: "The album began during the 2020 lockdown, while Patrick and I were here at home in Nashville. I didn’t realize I was making a record at first — it was more just for our own sanity, living in a house with a toddler, getting time together to play music and screw around in the studio. I had some unfinished songs that I’d started during the Hopeless Romantic recordings that I wanted to revisit and finish."
John Coltrane
Blue Train: The Complete Masters (Blue Note Tone Poet Series) [Stereo 2LP]
Vinyl: $54.99 Buy
On September 15, 1957, John Coltrane went into Rudy Van Gelder's living room studio in Hackensack, New Jersey and recorded his first great masterpiece: Blue Train. It would be the legendary saxophonist's sole album as a leader for Blue Note, a locomotive five-track album fueled by the bluesy title track that featured a dynamic six-piece band with Lee Morgan on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Kenny Drew on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. To mark the 65th anniversary of the album's recording, Blue Train will be released in two special editions as part of Blue Note's acclaimed Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series: a 1-LP mono pressing of the original album and a 2-LP stereo pressing of Blue Train: The Complete Masters which includes a second disc of alternate and incomplete takes, four of which have never been released before, and none of which have been available previously on vinyl. The 2-LP set comes with a bound booklet featuring session photos by Francis Wolff and an essay by Coltrane expert Ashley Kahn.
Both Tone Poet Vinyl Editions were produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in deluxe gatefold tip-on jackets.
FEATURES:
- 180g Vinyl
- Double LP
- Stereo
- Second LP of Alternate & Incomplete Takes - First Time on Vinyl
- Four Previously Unreleased Tracks
- Bound Booklet - Session Photos by Francis Wolff & Essay by Coltrane Expert Ashley Kahn
- Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series
- Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
- Mastered from Original Analog Master Tapes
- Produced by Joe Harley
- Pressed at RTI
- Deluxe Gatefold Tip-On Jacket
DEETS:
- Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series.
- Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio.
- Mastered Directly from the Original Analog Master Tapes!
- Pressed At RTI.
MUSICIANS:
Paul Chambers
Philly Joe Jones
Kenny Drew
John Coltrane
Curtis Fuller
Little Big Town is set to release their brand-new studio album, Mr. Sun, on September 16, 2022. This is their 10th studio album and first new music in over 2 years. It features their latest single, “Hell Yeah.” Little Big Town first entered the music scene more than 20 years ago. The band’s breakthrough albums, Tornado and Pain Killer, produced multiple #1 singles, including “Pontoon,” “Tornado,” and “Day Drinking,” as well as 2015’s history-making, best-selling country single of the year, “Girl Crush.” Their 2017 release, The Breaker, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and #4 on the Billboard 200 to critical acclaim. “Wine, Beer, Whiskey,” was the latest from their self-produced 9th studio album, Nightfall, which also reached the top of the Billboard Country Albums chart and has garnered over 316 million global streams.
Produced by Shaun Morgan and engineered and mixed by Matt Hyde (Deftones, AFI), their album Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum, (which translates to “If you want peace, prepare for war”) was recorded in Nashville, TN over two months in December 2019 and January 2020. The Deluxe Edition of the album that spawned three #1 Hit Singles at Active Rock Radio has been expanded to include all twenty-one songs recorded during the SVPPB session along with the alternate version of “Wasteland.”
The story of Miloe begins in the pews of a church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where Miloe's family would congregate every Sunday and community and rhythm entwined. On his new release Gaps, Miloe set out with the intention of bridging the funk-rock inclinations of Minneapolis with the ebullient Congolese sounds of his upbringing. Across six tracks, Miloe stays heavily syncopated and expertly textured and makes you want to dance with its infectious energy.
Anticipated new album from platinum-selling indie greats Death Cab for Cutie coming late this summer!
8x GRAMMY® Award-nominated rock band Death Cab for Cutie return today with “Roman Candles,” the first track off their highly-anticipated tenth studio album Asphalt Meadows. The new track from the indie rock veterans – now in their 25th year as a band – arrives with an official lyric video designed by Juliet Bryant (Justin Vernon, Japanese Breakfast, Laura Jane Grace) – watch here.
As with the forthcoming album in its entirety, “Roman Candles” was produced by GRAMMY® Award-winner John Congleton (St. Vincent, Sharon Van Etten, Wallows).
Of the inspiration for the song, the band shares: “‘Roman Candles’ is about the crippling, existential dread that goes hand in hand with living in a nervous city on a dying planet. And that the only way to be in the moment is to let it all go.” The track was born from co-founder, lead vocalist, and guitarist Benjamin Gibbard’s determination to create something succinct, loud, and strikingly direct. He shares: “The lyrics were cobbled from a couple of different songs dealing with my general sense of anxiety; the feeling that the fabric that weaves a functioning society together was crumbling during the pandemic.”
Tell All Your Friends is the groundbreaking debut album from Long Island’s Taking Back Sunday. Boasting the hit singles “Cute Without The ‘E’ (Cut From The Team),” “Great Romances of the 20th Century” and “You’re So Last Summer,” the album is highly acclaimed and has influenced artists of all sizes and genres over the last 20 years. This 20th Anniversary Edition 2-disc album includes a bonus 10” featuring four previously unreleased demos.
Calvin Harris, the GRAMMY and BRIT award winning, multi-platinum artist and supper producer, revives his Funk Wav alias with the release of the album Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2. The album includes collaborations with a vast array of guests – 21 Savage, Dua Lipa, Young Thug, Stefflon Don, Chlöe, Charlie Puth, Pusha T, Shenseea, Tinashe, Normani, Lil Durk, Halsey, Offset, 6lack, Justin Timberlake, Coi Leray, Busta Rhymes, Donae’o, Latto, Pharrell, Swae Lee, Jorja Smith, and Snoop Dog.
A coming-of-age novel in album form, populated by an outrageous cast of misfit characters: teenage vagabonds and small-time criminals, junkyard dwellers and truck-stop transients. Rapscallion marks a major creative leap and the most magnificently heavy work yet from The Murlocs. Led by Ambrose Kenney-Smith the band instill each of the 12 hypnotic, volatile rock-and-roll songs with the freewheeling energy they’ve brought to the stage supporting Pixies, Stephen Malkmus, Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees.
The album consists of 12 songs across various genres including the lead single, ‘질주 (2 Baddies)’. The album presents fans around the globe an opportunity to meet NCT 127’s brilliant performance as well as their appealing vocals. The lead single is a powerful performance based hip-hop dance track with a catchy signature synth sound and members’ energetic vocals. The lyrics portray NCT 127’s positive mindset, racing through life with confidence to reach success. Globally renowned songwriters participated in this album’s production, including Dem Jointz, Andreas Öberg, Cutfather, and KENZIE, Paul Blanco, sokodomo.
The latest full-length from Old 97’s frontman Rhett Miller, ‘The Misfit’, exists in an enchanted dimension all its own. With its elegant blurring of psychedelia, dream-pop & electronic-leaning indie-rock, the Texas-bred singer-songwriter’s 9th solo effort emerged from a charmed collaboration with Hudson Valley neighbor Sam Cohen (Danger Mouse, Kevin Morby). Miller grounds each track with the vulnerable songwriting and unaffected vocal presence he’s brought to the Old 97’s for the last 3 decades.