New Album Announcement
Prince’s Unreleased Album Welcome 2 America Gets Release Date, Title Track Revealed: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-08T15:26:26+00:00“>April 8, 2021 | 11:26am ET The Prince Estate has revealed that the late icon’s shelved 2010 album Welcome 2 America will be the next LP freed from Paisley Park’s vault. Arriving July 30th, Welcome 2 America features 11 Prince originals as well as a cover of Soul Asylum’s “Stand Up and B Strong”. The Purple One recorded the LP with the 2011-era New Power Generation, featuring bassist Tal Wilkenfeld; drummer Chris Coleman; keyboardist/co-producer Morris Hayes; and singers Shelby J, Liv Warfield, and Elisa Fiorillo. Jason Agel served as engineer for the sessions at Paisley Park Studios. The songs have never officially been released save for one-off radio...
Ex-Yuck Member Max Bloom Announces New Album Pedestrian, Shares Title Track: Stream
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-06T19:19:29+00:00“>April 6, 2021 | 3:19pm ET In February, British indie rockers Yuck shared news of their breakup. Now, vocalist/guitarist Max Bloom has announced a new solo album titled Pedestrian, out June 18th via Bloom’s own label Ultimate Blends. Bloom started recording the album over the past year after getting to running, a passion he shared with a regular group of musicians including Spoon, Beck, and Yellow Magic Orchestra. Their influence — plus Wilco, George Harrison, and Grandaddy — served as his primary inspiration for the project’s sound. Bloom elaborated further about the album and title track in a statement, saying, “I was contemplating a lot of things when I was t...
Red Fang Announce New Album Arrows, Share Video for Title Track: Stream
Portland heavy rockers Red Fang have announced their fifth studio album, Arrows, arriving June 2nd. The band has also shared a comedic music video for the title track. The highly anticipated album comes after a five-year gap following 2016’s Only Ghosts. Thankfully, it appears the wait was worth it. The groovy “Arrows” is a ripper, retaining the signature Red Fang sound: undeniable heaviness that’s not quite stoner metal and not full-on sludge, either. And there’s enough underlying melody to attract fans of non-metal music. “Wow! We are so excited to finally release this record to the world!” vocalist/bassist Aaron Beam exclaimed in a press release. “We finished the album way back in December 2019 and then… something happened that is not worth discussing.” He added that making the record “...
Ratboys Surprise Release New Album Happy Birthday, Ratboy: Stream
Surprise! Chicago indie-folk rockers Ratboys have just released a new album called Happy Birthday, Ratboy in celebration of their 10th anniversary as a band. Stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. Exactly a decade ago to the day, Ratboys released their debut EP for free on Bandcamp. It introduced them as an inventive group of musicians worth keeping an eye on, and since then Ratboys have gone on to record three standout LPs: 2015’s AOID, 2017’s GN, and 2020’s Printer’s Devil. As the fourth studio album in the band’s catalog, Happy Birthday, Ratboy is split into two sides; the first features new recordings of the five original Ratboy EP songs, and a second half has five new versions of rare college-era tracks. That’s not all! There’s one totally brand new song on Happy Birthd...
Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug Announces New Album Fading Graffiti, Shares Title Track: Stream
Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade has announced his new album, Fading Graffiti. Due out on April 16th as the first release on his own Pronounced Kroog label, the LP marks Krug’s first album under his own name. He previously released several solo projects as Moonface and Sunset Rubdown. Spanning 10 songs, Fading Graffiti reimagines piano ballads originally posted on Krug’s Patreon page, which was used to help fund the creation of the album. Aided by a full band, the tracks were recontextualized as indie rock songs. “It’s kind of neat the way these songs transformed,” Krug told Stereogum in a new interview. “The piano versions were more fussy and intricate, because that’s how I end up writing on piano. I had an urge to simplify them a little bit, because I could hear some mellow soft-rock numbers ...
81355 Announce Debut Album This Time I’ll Be of Use, Share “Capstone”: Stream
81355 (pronounced “Bless”) is an Indianapolis rap trio signed to 37d03d, the label co-founded by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner. Today, the group announced their debut album, This Time I’ll Be of Use, which is slated for release on May 28th. 81355 is comprised of Sirius Blvck, Oreo Jones, and David Adamson. According to a press release, This Time I’ll Be of Use finds the rappers “reflecting on Black struggle in the pandemic-ridden and democracy faltering landscape” while grappling with “hard-wired truths and imagines alternate realities with better futures while meshing mystical, somber and danceable elements throughout.” As a preview of the album, 81355 shared the opening track, “Capstone”. Over a spaced-out beat, the MCs demonstrate their lyrical...
Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie and Savages’ Jehnny Beth Announce Collaborative Album, Share Single: Stream
Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream and Jehnny Beth of Savages have announced a new collaborative album called Utopian Ashes. The project is due out July 2nd via Third Man Records, but today they’re sharing its lead single “Remember We Were Lovers”. There’s a 22-year age gap between the alt-rock icon and the post-punk frontwoman, but the two were introduced through an institution from yet another generation: Suicide. The pair met when they both asked to perform with the now-defunct synth-punk legends at the Barbican Conservatory in 2015, and the following year Beth ended up joining Primal Scream for a live duet of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood’s “Some Velvet Morning.” The two hit it off and started writing a record together in 2017 alongside Beth’s close collaborator Johnny Hostile and...
Staind Announce New Live Album and Livestream Performance of Break the Cycle in Full
It’s been a while, literally, since Staind put out any music, but Aaron Lewis and company have just announced a new live album documenting their 2019 comeback shows. Live: It’s Been Awhile will arrive on May 7th, and will be sandwiched by a pair of livestream events, including a full performance of the band’s multiplatinum 2001 album, Break the Cycle. The live album was captured at Staind’s pair of reunion shows at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, in October 2019. The concerts marked the group’s first headlining gigs following a five-year hiatus, and featured such hits as “For You”, “So Far Away”, “It’s Been Awhile”, and “Outside”. Their first show back was a set at the Louder Than Life festival a week earlier. Cameras were there to capture the show, and as part of...
Sons of Kemet Announce New Album Black to the Future, Share “Hustle”: Stream
London jazz band Sons of Kemet have announced their new album, Black to the Future, out May 14th on Impulse! Records. The project follows Your Queen Ii a Reptile, which was nominated for the 2018 Mercury Prize. This time around, the Shabaka Hutchings-led group brings in guests like Chicago singer Angel Bat Dawid, poets Moor Mother and Joshua Idehen, grime MC D Double E, and British rapper/spoken word artist Kojey Radical. “Black to the Future is a sonic poem for the invocation of power, remembrance and healing. It depicts a movement to redefine and reaffirm what it means to strive for black power,” Hutchings said in a statement. “The meaning is not universal and the cultural context of the listener will shape their understanding. Yet in the end, the overarching message remains the same: Fo...
Beartooth Announce New Album Below, Share “The Past Is Dead”: Stream
Midwest rockers Beartooth have announced their fourth studio album, Below, which arrives June 25th. They’ve also unveiled the pyro-heavy video for the crushing single “The Past Is Dead”. The song opens with a soaring vocal build-up and before launching into an anthemic breakdown. The track’s melodies and upbeat metalcore riffing are paired with dark lyrical concepts, as reflected by the album title Below. In press release, singer Caleb Shomo questioned whether the new material was “too dark.” He said he drew upon experiences from the past year when writing the songs. “Below is by far my favorite album I’ve made to date,” Shomo stated. “It covers the dark side of dealing with mental strain during the last year. I gave it all I had — musically and lyrically. Is it too dark? Possibly, but it ...
Bloc Party’s Kele Announces New Album The Waves Pt. 1, Shares “Smalltown Boy”: Stream
Bloc Party founder Kele Okereke has announced a new solo album. It’s called The Waves Pt. 1 and it’s due out May 28th via his own label KOLA Records/!K7. To celebrate the announcement, he’s shared a single from the record dubbed “Smalltown Boy”. Stream it below. This is his fifth album under the name Kele, following his 2019 full-length 2042 and his musical soundtrack Leave to Remain from that same year. According to a press release, he created the record entirely on his own while holed up during quarantine. Most of the tracks draw their influence from film scores and classical music, while the lyrics seeks to transform the traditional topics of pop music into meditative passages. “We were due to start working on my second musical with the Lyric Theatre but when the lockdown...
The Bronx Announce New Album Bronx VI, Share “White Shadow”: Stream
L.A. punk rockers The Bronx have announced their first new album in four years, Bronx VI, arriving August 27th. They’ve also shared the first single and opening track “White Shadow”. The Bronx can always be counted on for tight, joyous rock ‘n’ roll that toes the line between hard rock and hardcore punk. On the surging “White Shadow”, they bring the big chords, anthemic vocals, and high entertainment value. Or in the the words of vocalist Matt Caughthran: “CLASSIC F–KING BRONX.” For the new album, The Bronx expanded the songwriting duties to include the full band, making Bronx VI somewhat special in the group’s sequential discography. “From day one we really decided that we wanted to make a record that went in different directions and places,” guitarist Joby Ford said in a press release. “...
