BABii has shared a new single called ‘EMBER’. The track, a collaboration with London producer Pholo, arrives ahead of BABii’s North American tour opening for Iglooghost, which kicks off today in Cambridge, MA. Take a listen below.
BABii released her sophomore full-length, MiRROR, last year, following up 2019’s HiiDE. It made our 50 Best Albums of 2021 list.
Jack White has shared the title track to his forthcoming album Fear of the Dawn, one of two records he’s set to release this year. The song follows previous offering ‘Taking Me Back’ and comes with a video directed by White. Check it out below.
Announced back in November, Fear of the Dawn – the former White Stripes frontman’s first solo LP since 2018’s Boarding House Reach – is slated to arrive on April 8 via White’s own label, Third Man Records. Its follow-up, Entering Heaven Alive, which includes the previously shared ‘Love Is Selfish’, comes out on July 22.
In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on February 11, 2022:
Big Thief have released their new double album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, via 4AD. The band previewed the 20-track LP with seven singles, including ‘Simulation Swarm’, ‘Time Escaping’, ‘Little Things’, ‘Change’, ‘Certainty’, ‘No Reason’, and ‘Spud Infinity’. Adrianne Lenker, Max Oleartchik, Buck Meek, and James Krivchenia recorded it in four different locations, working with Sam Evian in Upstate New York, Shawn Everett in Topanga Canyon, Dom Monks in the Rocky Mountains, and Scott McMicken in Tucson, Arizona. “One of the things that bonds us together as a band is pure magic,” Lenker said in a statement. “I think we all have the same guide and none of us have ever spoken what it is because we couldn’t name it, but somehow, we are all going for the same thing, and when we hit it… we all know it’s it, but none of us to this day, or maybe ever, will be able to articulate in words what the ‘it’ is. Something about it is magic to me.”
Spoon have returned with their tenth studio album, Lucifer on the Sofa, which is out now via Matador. The follow-up to 2017’s Hot Thoughts was co-produced by Spoon and Mark Rankin (Adele, Queens of the Stone Age) and includes contributions from Dave Fridmann and Justin Raisen. In press materials, frontman Britt Daniel described the new LP as “the sound of classic rock as written by a guy who never did get Eric Clapton.” Lucifer on the Sofa was preceded by the singles ‘The Hardest Cut’ and ‘Wild’, and ‘My Babe’.
Empath’s sophomore full-length, Visitor, has arrived via Fat Possum. Following the Philadelphia quartet’s 2019 debut Active Listening: Night on Earth, the album includes the previously released tracks ‘Born 100 Times’, ‘Diamond Eyelids’, ‘Passing Stranger’, and ‘Elvis Comeback Special’ and was recorded with producer Jake Portrait (of Unknown Mortal Orchestra), making it the first time they’ve worked together in a formal studio. Reflecting on the album’s cover art, photographed by Andrew Emond, singer Catherine Elicson said: “The spaces look lived in and altered by humans but no humans are present. The songs are similar in the sense that they talk about the ‘space’ between people. They’re not about specific people per se, but they illustrate the feelings people leave between each other, these subjective experiences. You can think of Visitor as a soundtrack to the memories and feelings that remain in places people have left behind.” Read our Artist Spotlight interview with Empath.
Shamir has put out his latest LP, Heterosexuality, via AntiFragile Music. The follow-up to Shamir’s 2020 self-titled record features the previously unveiled singles ‘Gay Agenda’, ‘Cisgender’, and ‘Reproductive’, and was produced by Hollow Comet (aka Strange Ranger’s Isaac Eiger). “His sound was something that honestly I was dreaming up in my head,” Shamir said in a statement. “But couldn’t find someone who could do it, nor could I do it myself. When I finally heard his work, I just thought… what the fuck, I finally found it.” Commenting on the album’s themes, he added: “I think this album is me finally acknowledging my trauma. Everyone knows I’ve been through so much shit and I kind of just rammed through, without really acknowledging the actual trauma that I do feel on almost a daily basis.”
claire rousay and more eaze have today issued their new album, Never Stop Texting Me, via Orange Milk. It follows two projects the artists collaborated on last year – their joint album an afternoon whine and rousay’s sometimes i feel like i have no friends – and includes contributions from Bloodzboi and How to Dress Well. According to the album’s press bio, “Mari and Claire share an equal amount of duties on the record, rendering it a pure representation of their collaborative work. The appeal of this record is the assertive pop blending w Robert Ashley like moments which simultaneously satiates the desire to hear structure and the abstract.” The duo shared a pair of tracks, ‘same’ and ‘hands’, ahead of the release.
Pearl Jam leader Eddie Vedder has a new solo album out today called Earthling. Released via Seattle Surf/Republic, it marks his first solo effort in 11 years, following 2011’s Ukulele Songs. The album features guest appearances from Stevie Wonder, Ringo Starr, and Elton John, as well as contributions from Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, former RHCP guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, co-producer Andrew Watt on guitars, Pino Palladino on bass, and Glen Hansard on guitars and backing vocals. The singles ‘Long Way’, ‘The Haves’, and ‘Brother the Cloud’ preceded the record.
Don’t Talk to Me is the debut album by Dropper, the Brooklyn-based outfit led by multi-instrumentalist Andrea Scanniello alongside longtime collaborators Jono Bernstein, Yukary Morishima, and Larry Scanniello. Out today via the band’s own Dirt Dog label, the album was produced by Andrija Tokic at Nashville’s Bomb Shelter studio and mastered by engineer Heba Kadry. According to a press release, Dropper make music for: “People who have worked in the service industry too long and become curmudgeons at the ripe old age of 26. People who are lonely yet want to be left alone. People who drink because they are sad but also sad because they drink. Bisexuals with crumbs in their bed. Optimistic pessimists. Those with seasonal allergies. But overwhelmingly for people who, in lieu of being crushed by the eternal weight of existence, choose to scream internally with a smile upon their face.”
Ride’s Andy Bell has released a new solo album, Flicker, via Sonic Cathedral. The 18-track LP marks the guitarist and songwriter’s first solo release since 2020’s The View From Halfway Down Talking. Talking about the new record in a statement, Bell explained: “When I think about Flicker, I see it as closure. Most literally, on a half-finished project from over six years ago, but also on a much bigger timescale. Some of these songs date back to the ’90s and the cognitive dissonance of writing brand new lyrics over songs that are 20-plus years old makes it feel like it is, almost literally, me exchanging ideas with my younger self.”
alt-J are back with their fourth album, The Dream, which is out now via Canvasback/Infectious Music. The 12-track effort follows 2017’s Relaxer and was previewed with the singles ‘Hard Drive Gold’, ‘U&ME’, ‘Get Better’, and ‘The Actor’. “If there was ever going to be a world event that made us finally write a song about real life, it would be the pandemic,” lead vocalist and guitarist Joe Newman said in an interview with NME. “But crucially, I feel like we’re relaxing into accepting the fact that we can actually write songs about the real world, and we’re now allowing ourselves to go there. If people are still listening to our music in 30 years time, I’d love for them to think, ‘Alt-J did something really special on their fourth album. They really brought themselves into it.’”
Sea Power, Everything Was Forever; Raveena, Asha’s Awakening; Lady Pills, What I Want; Trentemøller, Memoria; Mary J. Blige, Good Morning Gorgeous; Adam Miller, Gateway; Cult of Luna, The Long Road North; Joywave, Cleanse; Frank Turner; FTHC; Foxes, The Kick; The Cactus Blossoms, One Day.
For twenty-two years, the beloved quartet Animal Collective (though sometimes as only a trio or duo) have made songs about wonder: vibrant fantasies built on dream logic. It’s music of wide-eyed affection, wrapped in intricate psychedelic textures. The songs are usually about little things, like fruit or grass, and composed with a childlike synthesis of playfulness and sincerity. Though each of their albums is dramatically different from the last, all of Animal Collective’s music centers around a devotion to dreams and wonder. Yet what happens when the dreamers grow older? And what happens when they come to terms with the anthropocene: nature stripped of its once transcendental power, now at the mercy of humankind? Time Skiffs, the latest record from a now middle-aged Animal Collective, is a work about reaching this acceptance through tenderness, rather than surrendering to bitterness. Though the group sounds older and more grounded than ever, there’s no shred of disenchantment.
Each prior Animal Collective album emerged as a singular vision: not always successful, but undeniably ambitious. Many of the albums grew from a clear conceptual framework. Strawberry Jam, for instance, was born from vocalist and drummer Panda Bear’s question: what if we made an album that sounds how strawberry jam looks? On Feels, their greatest and most dynamic record, the guitars were all tuned to the out-of-tune pitches of an old grand piano, providing a uniformly off-pitch sound. Time Skiffs, however, is largely devoid of gimmickry. These are laidback songs: still unique, yet confident enough in their songwriting to flow at their own pace. In other words, they have nothing to prove.
While Animal Collective’s music often wrestles between poles of ethereal softness and grand catharsis, Time Skiffs is notably subdued. A complete 180 from the summery pop tunes of 2016’s Painting With (an album as lush as it was grating), Time Skiffs focuses on how its songs build and fizzle out. Undeniably, there’s a certain redundancy to their structure. Most songs, especially the longer ones, begin with patterings of sound which slowly morph into controlled pop production with infectious melodies, and then peter out into an ambient decay. Slowness is at the foundation of Time Skiffs. Little is abrupt; almost everything is gradual. However, that’s not to imply the album is devoid of a pulse. Early tracks like ‘Prestor John’ or ‘Strung with Everything’ are lively tunes, embellished with Animal Collective’s signature harmonies, Panda Bear’s dynamic drumming, and, in the case of ‘Prestor John’, even a hurdy-gurdy solo. Yet the progressions in these songs are slow and content to let musical phrases repeat and grow familiar.
This new, subdued Animal Collective sound is poignant because it embodies the ethos of our era. Time Skiffs is replete with questions of existential uncertainty. “How are we doin’ now?” and “how are we gonna know?” Panda Bear sings on ‘Car Keys’—lines written ostensibly about a stolen set of keys that also speak to a universal uncertainty. Like their audiovisual album Tangerine Reef, Time Skiffs gestures towards a harrowing future brought on by the ravages of climate change. ‘Dragon Slayer’, the opening track, even describes a blazing inferno and its relationship to a surrounding ecosystem of water and avian life. Though the album is never depressing, it’s also never as rapturous as Animal Collective’s music once was. Instead, it makes a claim for calmness and compassion in the face of disaster.
Not everything on Time Skiffs works. ‘We Go Back’ is a noisier foray into a jumbled sound that the rest of Time Skiffs avoids. The song’s individual sounds (including autotuned vocals, a rarity for the group) are compelling tidbits with potential, but they never truly interact with each other. ‘We Go Back’ is disconnected and jarring amidst the rest of the album’s coherence. Contrastingly, the final song, ‘Royal and Desire’, is as mellow as the album gets. It’s soft and swaying, yet disappointingly dry in composition and production, especially compared to the idiosyncratic embellishments which bless the rest of album. Yet even with its inconsistencies, Time Skiffs is a fascinating evolution of a band that always moves forward, no matter how uncertain the future becomes.
Ian McDonald, best known as the co-founder of King Crimson and Foreigner, has died at the age of 75. No cause of death was revealed, but a spokesperson for McDonald said that he “passed away peacefully on February 9, 2022 in his home in New York City, surrounded by his family.”
McDonald was born in 1946 in Osterley, Middlesex, England. He served five years in the British Army, becoming a junior bandsman, and later a bandsman, while learning to read music and play the clarinet, saxophone, and flute. He went on to collaborate with Giles, Giles & Fripp, a trio featuring fellow Crimson co-founders Robert Fripp and Michael Giles, and McDonald’s jazz background influenced the early King Crimson sound; a part he wrote for the army band titled ‘Three Score and Four’ would be integrated into the midsection of ’21st Century Schizoid Man’. On the progressive band’s 1969 debut, In the Court of the Crimson King, McDonald contributed saxophone, flute, clarinet, Mellotron, harpsichord, piano, organ, and vibraphone, as well as backing vocals and production. “Ian’s contribution to King Crimson was invaluable and profound,” read a statement on the website for the band’s record label, Discipline Global Mobile.
In the 1970s, McDonald co-founded Foreigner with Mick Jones, Lou Gramm, Dennis Elliott, Al Greenwood, and Ed Gagliardi. He sang and played various instruments including rhythm guitar, woodwinds, and keys on the outfit’s first three albums – Foreigner (1977), Double Vision (1978), and Head Games (1979), all of which made the Top 10. In the following years, he continued his work as a session musician, playing with the likes of T. Rex, Steve Hackett, and Asia. In 2002, he reunited with former King Crimson bandmate Michael Giles in the 21st Century Schizoid Band, and appeared live with Foreigner’s surviving original members in 2017 and 2018.
Of his time in King Crimson, McDonald told Rolling Stone in 2019: “We were a good band, what can I say? It was really interesting music, and the live shows were a lot of fun. The improvisations, we just used to go off in really weird places and we’d support each other… We trusted each other.”
Fivio Foreign has teamed up with Kanye West and Alicia Keys on a new song called ‘City of Gods’, which is set to appear on Fivio’s debut album B.I.B.L.E. The record, executive produced by Ye, drops on March 25. Give ‘City of Gods’ a listen below.
‘City of Gods’ is dedicated to Fivio’s late friend Tahjay “T Dott” Dobson. In a statement, Fivio said: “T Dot. That’s my baby boy. I never thought I’d be doing this without you here with me. You supposed to be here with me but you gon always be the Prince in the City of Gods. Your name will forever live through me. Long Live Prince T Dot.”
In his verse, Kanye seems to address his beef with Pete Davidson, who is reportedly dating Kim Kardashian. “This afternoon, a hundred goons pullin’ up to SNL/ When I pull up, it’s dead on arrival,” he sings. The track follows his appearance on ‘Eazy’, which included the line: “God saved me from that crash, just so I could beat Pete Davidson’s ass.”
In related news, West recently said that he won’t play Coachella until fellow headliner Billie Eilish apologized for what some interpreted as a slight against Travis Scott, who the rapper said is set to join him at the festival. Earlier this week, Eilish stopped her concert at State Farm Arena in Atlanta and told the crowd “I wait for people to be OK before I keep going” when a fan needed an inhaler.
Orville Peck has announced his second album, Bronco. The 15-track LP is being released in three chapters before it comes out in full on April 8 via Columbia. The first installment, which includes the songs ‘C’mon Baby, Cry’, ‘Daytona Sand’, ‘Outta Time’, and ‘Any Turn’, is out today. Listen and check out the Austin Peters-directed video ‘C’mon Baby, Cry’ below.
Bronco will follow Peck’s 2019 album Pony as well as his 2020 Show Pony EP. “This is my most impassioned and authentic album to date,” Peck said in a statement. “I was inspired by country rock, ’60s & ’70s psychedelic, California, and even bluegrass with everything being anchored in country. Bronco is all about being unrestrained and the culmination of a year of touring, writing in isolation and going through and ultimately emerging from a challenging personal time.”
Bronco Cover Artwork:
Bronco Tracklist:
1. Daytona Sand
2. The Curse of the Blackened Eye
3. Outta Time
4. Lafayette
5. C’mon Baby, Cry
6. Iris Rose
7. Kalahari Down
8. Bronco
9. Trample Out the Days
10. Blush
11. Hexie Mountains
12. Let Me Drown
13. Any Turn
14. City of Gold
15. All I Can Say
Nicki Minaj and Lil Baby have followed up their recent single ‘Do We Have a Problem?’ with a new collaboration called ‘Bussin’. Listen to it below.
‘Do We Have a Problem?’ arrived last week alongside an accompanying visual co-starring Joseph Sikora and Cory Hardrict; the Benny Boom-directed clip hinted that there might be more music to come.
Nicki Minaj’s most recent album, Queen, came out in 2018. Lil Baby released a collaboration with Lil Durk, The Voice of the Heroes, last year.
Colin Stetson composed the score for David Blue Garcia’s update of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which will premiere on Netflix next week. The soundtrack is set to arrive on February 18 via Milan Records, the same day the film hits the platform, and the new track ‘Every Last One’ is out now. Give it a listen below.
“That score was genre-exclusionary and abstract,” Stetson said in a new interview with Variety, referring to Wayne Bell’s score for Tobe Hooper’s 1974 original. “It was trying to divorce itself from the shackles of the score and sound design to enter a new space. I knew it would be an opportunity to go as far as I wanted in searching for the musical score.”
Colin Stetson released three soundtracks in 2020: Color Out of Space (More Music From the Motion Picture), The War Show, and Deliver Us. In 2018, he composed the score for Ari Aster’s Hereditary.
Taylor Swift has teamed up with Ed Sheeran for a new version of his = (equals) song ‘The Joker and the Queen’. Check out its accompanying video below, and scroll down for the single artwork
Swift and Sheeran first joined forces on ‘Everything Has Changed’, off 2012’s Red. Last year, Sheeran featured on the re-recorded versions of ‘Everything Has Changed’ and ‘Run (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)’.
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