jasmine.4.t, the moniker of Manchester singer-songwriter Jasmine Cruickshank, has announced her debut full-length, You Are the Morning. Out January 17 via Saddest Factory Records, the record was produced entirely by Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus at Los Angeles’ Sound City Studios. The members of boygenius also contributed backing vocals, as did the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles. The album includes the previously released single ‘Skin on Skin’, as well as a new track out today called ‘Elephant’. Check it out below and scroll down for the album’s cover art and tracklist.
“I wrote ‘Elephant’ very early in my transition about my first t4t love,” Cruickshank explained in a statement. “It’s about when it hurts because you’re trying to be friends but you both want to be more. My life in Bristol fell apart when I came out and, having no safe place to live, I was staying on queers’ sofas in Manchester, traumatized and in no place to start a relationship. It was beyond healing recording this track in LA with Phoebe, Lucy and Julien, along with my Manchester dolls Eden and Phoenix and with extra layers from local trans musicians Vixen, Bobby, Addy and of course the incredible Trans Chorus of Los Angeles.”
You Are the Morning Cover Artwork:
You Are the Morning Tracklist:
1. Kitchen
2. Skin On Skin
3. Highfield
4. Breaking In Reverse
5. You Are The Morning
6. Best Friend’s House
7. Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation
8. Tall Girl
9. New Shoes
10. Roan
11. Elephant
12. Transition
13. Woman
Hovvdy have released ‘Jean (Julie’s Verson)’, an alternate version of ‘Jean’ off their self-titled album. They’ve also announced a 2025 North America headline tour in support of the double LP. Listen to the track and check out the list of dates below.
“We got together with Bennett Littlejohn to reimagine ‘Jean’,” the duo’s Will Taylor explained in a statement. “This arrangement is stripped back and offers more insight to how the song was written, with an acoustic guitar and a single voice.”
Mar 5 – Nashville, TN – The Basement East *
Mar 6 – Birmingham, AL – Saturn *
Mar 7 – Atlanta, GA – Aisle 5 *
Mar 8 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle Back Room *
Mar 9 – Richmond, VA – Richmond Music Hall *
Mar 12 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg *
Mar 13 – Washington, DC – The Atlantis *
Mar 14 – Philadelphia, PA – Ukie Club *
Mar 15 – Boston, MA – Middle East Downstairs *
Mar 17 – Montreal, QC – Bar Le Ritz PDB *
Mar 18 – Toronto, ON – The Great Hall *
Mar 19 – Ann Arbor, MI – The Blind Pig *
Mar 20 – Columbus, OH – A&R Music Bar *
Mar 21 – Indianapolis, IN – Turntable *
Mar 22 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall *
Mar 24 – Minneapolis, MN – Turf Club *
Mar 26 – Denver, CO – Marquis Theater +
Mar 29 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile +
Mar 30 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom +
Apr 1 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent +
Apr 2 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre +
Apr 3 – Pioneertown, CA – Pappy + Harriet’s (Indoor) +
Apr 4 – San Diego, CA – The Casbah +
Apr 5 – Tucson, AZ – Club Congress +
Apr 8 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada +
Apr 9 – Austin, TX – Mohawk (outside) +
Apr 11 – New Orleans, LA – Siberia *
May 13 – St. Louis, MO – Duck Room at Blueberry Hill ^
May 14 – Kansas City, MO – recordBar ^
May 17 – Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad ^
May 20 – Oklahoma City, OK – Resonant Head ^
May 21 – Tulsa, OK – Mercury Lounge ^
May 22 – Memphis, TN – 1884 Lounge ^
* with Video Age
+ with runo plum
^ with Free Range
Masma Dream World, the project of Devi Mambouka, has signed to Valley of Search, the experimental label run by Nabil Ayers. Marking the announcement is the new single ‘Ancient DNA’, which you can check out below.
Speaking about the new track, Mambouka said in a statement: “The Melody came to me as a haunting whisper, while I was visiting my cousin Diyendo who investigates the evolutionary history of modern and extinct human populations using ancient DNA at Yale. – ‘Coded in our being we remember.’”
Masma Dream World’s debut LP, Play at Night, came out in 2020.
Momma are back with a new single called ‘Ohio All the Time’. Produced by Kobayashi Ritch, the track marks their first new music since last year’s ‘Bang Bang’. Check out its Zack Shorrosh-directed video below.
“We wrote it about a summer when we were on tour, and it felt like everything in our lives changed within a one-month span,” the Brooklyn-based band explained in a press release. “We wanted the video to capture that youthful feeling, like the world is brand new and everything is ahead of you. We went upstate to our friend’s house near Hudson to film, and just spent the whole day goofing off and running around.”
North Carolina–based singer-songwriter Rosali has released a new single called ‘Hey Heron’. The track is now available across streaming platforms after being featured exclusively on Cardinals at the Window, a compilation fundraising for Helene relief efforts in Western North Carolina. Listen to it below.
“Although it was written two years prior, the imagery of the song took on a powerful newness that it only felt appropriate to offer it up as a first listen to raise funds for the recovery efforts,” Rosali Middleman said in a statement.
She added: “It’s a reflection on our existence and interconnectedness with all things. I was seeking answers to sadness and suffering while walking the river path daily, speaking to the trees, the rocks, and the birds. I found solace in the practice and learned to trust in the timing within my life. And what a joy to witness—to imagine oneself as a droplet, or an ancient stone carved by the rushing water, to be part of the whole. And within these great cycles, there are ups and downs, light and dark, and lessons and inspiration.”
Bonnie “Prince” Billy has announced a new album called The Purple Bird, which will be released on January 31 via Domino. The follow-up to last year’s Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You was made in Nashville with producer David “Ferg” Ferguson and includes songwriting contributions from John Anderson, Ronnie Bowman, Pat McLaughlin, Tommy Prine, and Roger Cook, among others. The first single, ‘Our Home’, features Grammy-winning mandolinist Tim O’Brien. Check it out and find the album cover and tracklist below.
Will Oldham’s relationship with Ferg dates back to the sessions for Johnny Cash’s 2000 album American III, which included a cover of Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s classic ‘I See A Darkness’, and for which Ferg served as engineer. The Purple Bird also takes its name from a drawing Ferg made as a second-grader.
“I’ve made records with friends, collaborative records like The Brave and the Bold with Tortoise; the two Superwolf records with Matt Sweeney; The Wonder Show of the World with Emmett Kelly; Get on Jolly with Mick Turner,” Oldham said in a statement. “These collaborators get top billing because that’s how this business works. This record, The Purple Bird, is similarly a collaborative effort but the collaborator is the producer, David Ferguson. He’s a giant of a man, an epic musical force, a dear friend. Our work together on this record was the result of years of sharing hard times and great joys, songs and stories, of making music together and apart. There’s a lot of trust in this record on Ferg’s part and on mine, and the trust was hard- and well-earned. When I listen to the record, oftentimes I can’t help but laugh in wonder that life allowed me to participate in such a thing.”
The Purple Bird also features Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Russ Pahl on electric guitar, Pat McLaughlin on mandolin, Steve Mackey on bass, Fred Eltringham on drums, and Brit Taylor and Adam Chaffin on backing vocals.
The Purple Bird Cover Artwork:
The Purple Bird Tracklist:
1. Turned to Dust (Rolling On)
2. London May
3. Tonight With the Dogs I’m Sleeping
4. Boise, Idaho
5. The Water’s Fine
6. Sometimes It’s Hard to Breathe
7. New Water
8. Guns Are For Cowards
9. Downstream
10. One of These Days (I’m Gonna Spend the Whole Night With You)
11. Is My Living In Vain?
12. Our Home
Ahead of the release of their new album Cartoon Darkness this Friday, Amyl and the Sniffers have served up one more preview. ‘Jerkin’’ follows previous cuts ‘U Should Not Be Doing That’, ‘Chewing Gum’, and ‘Big Dreams’. The track arrives with a NSFW video made by John Angus Stewart, which is available to watch on the band’s website. You can watch a less explicit version of it via YouTube below.
“It’s good to express your anger when someone’s been pissing you off and it’s good to have humor in life, especially as a woman, when you’re meant to just passively say ‘everything’s good’ to keep everyone else comfortable,” Amy Taylor said in a statement. “The best part about this song is that a squirter can be anybody’s genitals. I wanted to write a song to big-up ‘the self’ while putting down the ‘other’ because sometimes, even if it’s just for a small window, that’s the best way to laugh something off and empower yourself. World’s pissing me off and breaking my heart more than ever right now, might as well poke it back. It’s pointless but it’s cathartic.
NYC-based actor, singer-songwriter, and producer Rivkah Reyes has shared a new single, ‘another vice’. “People are the best drug there is,” she said of the track. “This song is about limerence, lust, and being so into someone that it feels like withdrawal when they’re not around. The lyrics are inspired by a real text thread between myself and a person I fell hard for.” Take a listen below.
Reyes portrayed the role of bassist Katie in School of Rock and currently plays bass in Never Sorry. Their previous single, ‘sick’, was co-written with Georgia Maq of Camp Cope and mixed by Jay Som.
Paul Di’Anno, the lead singer for British metal icons Iron Maiden on their first two albums, has died. No cause of death has been disclosed, but Di’Anno’s family shared that the musician had been “troubled by severe health issues in recent years.” He was 66 years old.
Born Paul Andrews in London on May 17, 1958, Di’Anno joined Iron Maiden in 1978 and handled vocals on their first two albums, 1980’s Iron Maiden and 1981’s Killers. “Steve Harris invited me to audition for the band, and I more or less realised that Maiden had the potential to become a successful international act, provided that they found the right line-up and mostly the right frontman,” Di’Anno recalled in a 2004 interview. “Maiden had had other singers before, but none of them had either the voice or the personality required to make the band a world-class success. That’s when I auditioned that I realised that my voice fitted Metal perfectly and that, although I’d never sung this kind of music before, I was the one Maiden needed to become huge.”
Di’Anno was dismissed from Maiden due to his to his drug and alcohol use in 1981 and replaced by Bruce Dickinson, who is still the band’s lead vocalist. He went on to release several solo albums and recorded with bands including Gogmagog, Di’Anno’s Battlezone, Killers, Rockfellas, and Warhorse. Di’Anno published his memoir, The Beast, in 2010.
Di’Anno’s record label, Conquest Music, shared the following statement:
On behalf of his family, Conquest Music are sad to confirm the death of Paul Andrews, professionally known as Paul Di’Anno. Paul passed away at his home in Salisbury at the age of 66.
Born in Chingford, East London on 17th May 1958, Paul first came to prominence as lead singer of English Heavy Metal band, Iron Maiden between 1978 and 1981. He sang on their groundbreaking debut album Iron Maiden, and the influential follow up release, Killers.
Since leaving Iron Maiden, Paul Di’Anno had a long and eventful recording career with Battlezone and Killers as well as numerous solo releases and guest appearances.
Despite being troubled by severe health issues in recent years that restricted him to performing in a wheelchair, Paul continued to entertain his fans around the world, racking up well over 100 shows since 2023.
His first career retrospective album, The Book Of The Beast was released in September 2024 and featured highlights of his recordings since leaving Iron Maiden.
Conquest Music are proud to have had Paul Di’Anno in our artist family and ask his legion of fans to raise a glass in his memory.
“We are all deeply saddened to learn about the passing of Paul Di’Anno earlier today,” Iron Maiden wrote in a statement. “Paul’s contribution to Iron Maiden was immense and helped set us on the path we have been travelling as a band for almost five decades. His pioneering presence as a frontman and vocalist, both on stage and on our first two albums, will be very fondly remembered not just by us, but by fans around the world.
The statement continued: “We were very grateful to have had the chance to catch up a couple of years ago and to spend time with him once more. On behalf of the band, [co-managers] Rod [Smallwood] and Andy [Taylor], and the whole Iron Maiden team, we extend our deepest sympathies to Paul’s family and close friends. Rest In Peace Paul.”
Harris added, “It’s just so sad he’s gone. I was in touch with him only recently as we texted each other about West Ham and their ups and downs. At least he was still gigging until recently, it was something that kept him going, to be out there whenever he could. He will be missed by us all. Rest in peace mate ⚒⚒.”
