Arlo Parks appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last night (March 31), delivering a performance of her recent single ‘Softly’. Watch it below.
Parks released ‘Softly’ back in February, following her 2021 debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams. The London singer-songwriter is up for Best Alternative Music Album and Best New Artist at the 2022 Grammys. Earlier this week, she shared a cover of KAYTRANADA and Syd’s ‘You’re the One’ as part of the Spotify Singles Best New Artist series.
In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on April 1, 2022:
Red Hot Chili Peppers are back with the new album Unlimited Love, their first with guitarist John Frusciante back in the lineup since 2006. The Rick Rubin–produced LP was previewed with the singles ‘Not the One’, ‘Black Summer’, and ‘Poster Child’. “Our only goal is to get lost in the music,” the band said of the record in press materials. “We (John, Anthony, Chad and Flea) spent thousands of hours, collectively and individually, honing our craft and showing up for one another, to make the best album we could. Our antennae attuned to the divine cosmos, we were just so damn grateful for the opportunity to be in a room together, and, once again, try to get better. Days, weeks and months spent listening to each other, composing, jamming freely, and arranging the fruit of those jams with great care and purpose. The sounds, rhythms, vibrations, words and melodies had us enrapt.”
PUP have returned with a new LP called THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND. The Toronto punk band’s latest follows 2019’s Morbid Stuff as well as the 2020 EP This Place Sucks Ass. It was recorded and mixed over the course of five weeks in the summer of 2021 in producer Peter Katis’ Connecticut mansion and features contributions from Sarah Tudzin of illuminati hotties, NOBRO’s McCaughey, Casper Skulls’ Melanie St-Pierre, and Erik Paulson of Remo Drive. “As the weeks passed, we seemed less and less rational, objective, and sane,” vocalist and guitarist Stefan Babcock said in a press release. “You can hear the band start to fall off the cliff, and because of that, I think this record is our truest and most genuine to date. There is nothing more PUP than a slow and inevitable descent into self-destruction.”
Christian Lee Huston has followed up his 2020 LP Beginners with Quitters, out now via ANTI-. The album was produced by Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst and includes the advance tracks ‘Cherry’, ‘Strawberry Lemonade’, and ‘Rubberneckers’. “When we made Beginners, the aim was to make simple digital recordings of how I would play the songs in the room,” Hutson explained in a statement. “With this record, Phoebe and Conor had an idea that it would be fun to make it to tape. Phoebe is my best friend and making Beginners with her was so comfortable and easy. So I wanted to work with her again.” He added: “I took a long time with Beginners. I had those songs for 10 years, but these songs came out a lot faster. There was a little bit of insecurity with the lyrics. Having Conor there served the purpose of someone who I really respect as a lyricist and could soothe my anxiety.”
Alabaster dePlume, the project of London-based composer, saxophonist, and poet Angus Fairbairn, has a new album out today titled GOLD – Go Forward in the Courage of Your Love. Released via Chicago label International Anthem, the double-LP follows 2020’s To Cy and Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1 and was recorded over two weeks at the Total Refreshment Center, with guest contributions from Falle Noike, Sarathy Korwar, Rozi Plain (This Is the Kit), and Tom Skinner (The Smile, Sons of Kemet). The recording process involved a different set of musicians each day, recording the same tunes without the opportunity to rehearse or listen back to the tracks. “They didn’t have enough preparation to be able to hide behind this piece of material or skill,” Fairbairn said. “They had to look up and respond to each other, and that’s what we’ve recorded. The method is part of the mission. It wasn’t like school. We had mayhem. We were having fun. That’s the story and the process – and I want to live that way.”
Duster – the San Jose indie rock trio of Clay Parton, Canaan Dove Amber, and Jason Albertini – have surprise-released a new album titled Together. The 13-track effort, which follows the band’s 2019 self-titled record, is available on streaming services today, and each song is also accompanied by a music video on YouTube. “I know people say, ‘Oh Duster music so sad, we’ve even said it ourselves before,” Parton said in a statement. “But it’s a lot more like absurdism than nihilism.”
more eaze, the electronic project of mari maurice, has issued a new album called oneiric. The six-track record features contributions from frequent collaborator claire rousay on ‘heartbreaker’ and Philadelphia-based musician Lucy Liyou on ‘uninvited’. “Each song is on the verge of communicating some deep truth but not quite being able to articulate it, like accidentally mumbling a secret while sleep-talking,” maurice explained in a statement. “During the time of creation, I began to develop deep, unrequited feelings for someone close to me, and my dreams began to consist of doing quotidian things with this person, but in environments that were geographically or architecturally impossible. The Texas Hill Country would open up to a neon-lit New York City that we’d walk arm and arm through. We’d go shopping at malls containing caverns and rivers next to Hot Topics and Macys.”
Pillow Queens – the Dublin-based band composed of vocalists Sarah Corcoran and Pamela Connolly, guitarist Cathy McGuiness, and drummer Rachel Lyons – have dropped their second album Leave the Light On via Royal Mountain Records. The follow-up to 2020’s In Waiting was preceded by the singles ‘No Good Woman’, ‘Hearts & Minds’, and ‘Be By Your Side’. The band wrote the record over the course of three months before entering the studio in the spring of 2021 with producer Tommy McLaughlin, who they also worked with on In Waiting.
Sondre Lerche has released a new double album called Avatars of Love. Spanning 14 tracks, the LP features guest appearances from AURORA, CHAI, Dirty Projectors’ Felicia Douglass, Mary Lattimore, Rodrigo Alarcon, and Ana Müller. While Lerche’s previous album, 2020’s Patience, took more than seven years to write and record, Avatars of Love was completed over the course of a year in his home country of Norway. “This is without a doubt the biggest, boldest, most complex thing I’ve ever done,” Lerche said in press materials. “At the same time, it was also the easiest, most natural, and most liberating. As an artist, it’s the kind of project you always dream about.” The album features the early tracks ‘Summer in Reverse’, ‘Dead of the Night’, ‘Cut’, and ‘Turns Out I’m Sentimental After All’.
Meshuggah, Immutable; Dreamville & J. Cole, D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape; Battle Ave, I Saw the Egg; Tree River, Time Being; Papercuts, Past Life Regression; Noon Garden, Beulah Spah; Jon Spencer & The HITmakers, SPENCER GETS IT LIT!; Confidence Man, TILT; Warmduster, At The Hot Spot; NCT DREAM, Glitch Mode; Plastikman & Chilly Gonzales, Consumed In Key; lobsterfight, Sun Soaking; Walt Disco, Unlearning; Anne Carner, Dear Unknown.
Florence and the Machine have released a Glass Animals remix of their recent single ‘My Love’. Give it a listen below.
‘My Love’ is lifted from Florence and the Machine’s upcoming album Dance Fever, which Florence Welch co-produced with Glass Animals frontman Dave Bayley and Jack Antonoff. The LP, out May 13, includes the previously unveiled singles ‘King’ and ‘Heaven is Here’. Florence and the Machine recently announced a North American tour with support from Arlo Parks, Japanese Breakfast, Wet Leg, and more.
Big Thief were the musical guests on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night (March 31), where they delivered a performance of their single ‘Spud Infinity’. Check it out below.
‘Spud Infinity’ is taken from Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, Big Thief’s fifth studio album, which came out in February. The double LP was produced by drummer James Krivchenia, who is releasing his latest solo album Blood Karaoke on April 15. A month ago, Big Thief played ‘Simulation Swarm’ on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
Freddie Gibbs has enlisted Rick Ross for a new single called ‘Ice Cream’. The track reimagines Raekwon’s song of the same name from 1995’s Only Built 4 Cubin Line and features production from Kenny Beats. Check out a music video for it below.
‘Ice Cream’ arrives ahead of Gibbs’ Coachella performance with Madlib. The rapper signed with Warner Records following the release of his Grammy-nominated 2020 album with the Alchemist, Alfredo, and is readying his debut album for the label. Back in November, he teamed up with Jadakiss for the single ‘Black Illuminati’.
Liam Gallagher has released ‘C’MON YOU KNOW’, the title track to his forthcoming third solo album. Give it a listen below.
C’mon You Know is scheduled for release on May 27 via Warner Records. Gallagher previously shared the album’s lead single ‘Everything’s Electric’, which he performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Arooj Aftab has shared a cover of Rosalía’s ‘Di Mi Nombre (Cap.8: Éxtasis)’ for the Spotify Singles series, which is currently celebrating the Best New Artist category at the 2022 Grammys. The Grammy nominee also performed a new rendition of her own ‘Baghon Main’ for the installment. Take a listen below.
“I’ve always felt a very strong kinship to flamenco music, and recently having visited the south of Spain, even more undeniably so,” Aftab said in a statement. “It’s always been in my periphery to make something with that energy. The driving rawness of the palmas, the haunted vocals. Very much my vibe. The opportunity to cover a previous Best New Artist pointed me directly to Rosalía. And while it was a very ambitious choice, I had a great time versioning this song!”
Arooj Aftab is nominated for Best New Artist and Best Global Music Performance (for ‘Mohabbat’) at the 64th Grammy Awards. In the past few days, Spotify has collaborated with Best New Artist nominees Arlo Parks, FINNEAS, Japanese Breakfast, and Jimmie Allen on exclusive recordings.
Earlier this year, Aftab shared the previously unreleased track ‘Udhero Na’ from the deluxe edition of her 2021 album Vulture Prince, which is out June 24. Read our Artist Spotlight interview with Arooj Aftab.
Mick Jagger has shared a new song called ‘Strange Game’, The track, which the Rolling Stones frontman co-wrote with composer Daniel Pemberton, serves as the theme song for the new AppleTV+ series Slow Horses. Check it out below.
“Working with Mick Jagger has been one of the most exciting collaborations of my professional career,” Pemberton said in a statement. “I think we have managed to create an incredibly unique and original titles theme and I cannot wait for the rest of the world to hear it.”
Slow Horses stars Gary Oldman, Kristen Scott Thomas, Jonathan Pryce, Olivia Cook, and Jack Lowden. Director James Hawes commented: “We always wanted a song to set the tone for the show and there was only ever one name in my mind — Mick Jagger. Hearing the track for the first time was utterly thrilling. Mick’s lyrics and performance have totally nailed the mood of Slow Horses, with all the humor and swagger I dreamed of.”
Harry Styles has shared ‘As It Was’, the first single from his upcoming third solo album Harry’s House. The track comes paired with a music video directed by Ukrainian filmmaker Tanu Muino. Watch and listen below.
“Directing a Harry Styles video was a bucket list dream come true for me as he’s my favorite performer,” Muino said of the clip in a press statement. “Shooting him was bittersweet as it was one of the happiest days of my life, but on the second day of the shoot, my country Ukraine was invaded so you can imagine the insane emotions we had while shooting. Me and my team from Ukraine poured so much love into this video and you can see it on screen. It will be a music video I will never forget and now I can happily retire.”
Harry Styles announced Harry’s House in March, revealing the record’s title track. The follow-up to 2019’s Fine Line is out May 20 via Columbia.
You don’t connect with Destroyer songs so much as you’re inexplicably drawn to them. Whether you’re a longtime fan or have just discovered Dan Bejar’s music, you’ve probably already given up on relating to his writing, and the title of his thirteenth album, Labyrinthitis, certainly doesn’t help – a word that’s so weird it surely has to be made up, which isn’t the kind of thing that tends to make a songwriter more approachable. It does make more sense when you find out it’s actually a term for an inner ear disorder that Bejar may or may not have, not only because the album is best described as “dizzying” but because it dwells in this state of disorientation – like when you find yourself scouring the internet for an explanation to a medical issue and end up completely lost in the abyss. This is closer to what the title came to mean for Bejar, who told Uproxx it might allude to someone “who’s addicted to mazes, or someone who chronically takes the wrong turn.”
Starting down one path and then going in a few different directions is an apt metaphor for Labyrinthitis, which Bejar and his frequent collaborator John Collins began working on during lockdown in 2020 with the intention of making a straightforward techno album. Traces of that original vision, however sincere it may have been, are still present on the album; but this being Destroyer, there’s something slightly off-kilter and elusive about even the smoothest cuts here, as if they’ve been fractured and fragmented through obsessive tinkering. In the grander scheme of Destroyer’s catalog, it fits right in with 2017’s Ken and 2020’s Have We Met as the final in a trilogy of albums that have generally leaned more towards pop. But it’s a testament to Bejar’s uniquely eccentric voice as an artist that he can make his most accessible record to date and still sound profoundly strange, at once hopeful and haunted.
The songs on Labyrinthitis can mostly be described as sort of or anti-something, which isn’t really solid ground for a cohesive, engaging listen. But that’s not to say the album is a misstep. It keeps finding ways to pull you in – whether it’s by serving lush, elegant grooves (‘It Takes a Thief’, ‘All My Pretty Dresses’) or contemplative atmospheres to sink into, like on the instrumental title track. A lot of the songs can be categorized as danceable, but they don’t exactly make you want to get up and dance; it’s what you’d play at a party that’s already nearing its end, when dancing seems like an impossibility and forming coherent sentences is even harder, but you can still kind of have fun. There are still parts that stand out, even if you’re not used to Bejar’s theatrics; listening to the album for the first time, a friend was struck by the “Ruff ruff goes the beagle to the terrier” line on ‘Eat the Wine, Drink the Bread’, while another likened the immaculately fuzzed-out guitar sound on ‘It’s In Your Heart Now’ to a whale. (There’s your pitch: Destroyer, more animal songs.)
What’s captivating about Labyrinthitis is not its overarching theme (there really isn’t one) or sonic palette (it’s all over the place), but just how many surprises Bejar and his collaborators manage to throw into the mix, whether consciously or subconsciously. As someone who’s fairly familiar with Destroyer’s prior work, I was shocked by just how many bizarre turns it takes – but they never felt wrong. For one thing, Bejar has such an incredible ear for melody that he often seems to be stumbling upon a hook. There’s a lot to say about ‘June’ that’s probably better left unsaid, but it’s not such a coincidence that one of the album’s longest and most absurd songs is also its catchiest, as Bejar turns a reference to the Fall (“Everyone’s happy to strike for more pay”) into a line that is, in his words, “potentially academic, which means it is potentially despicable,” but is nevertheless one of the most memorable refrains of the year so far.
Of course, just because an album has some noteworthy, incomprehensible moments doesn’t make it a great one. But there’s something genuinely exciting about Bejar’s commitment to trying new ideas, the way he’s been consistently changing up his sound while retaining a distinct musical identity – yet never really revealing too much about himself. What draws me to Labyrinthitis is just how unfiltered, even personal it is. Despite everything I’ve talked about, there is still an arc to the album that, as vague as it is, is also quite moving. Bejar has referred to the main character of the album as “the singer,” and he further removes himself by portraying him as a kind of cartoonish villain. But whoever he is, you can’t help but resonate with a guy who turns to the music of his youth yet doesn’t derive much comfort from it, who’s past the point of censoring his art but still clearly cares. Even if the middle section is quite abstract, the album begins with the sweeping emotionality of ‘It’s in My Heart Now’ and comes back around with the penultimate track, ‘The States’, where Bejar addresses a younger version of himself, stuck at some bus stop in the middle of nowhere. That person might seem distant, but his deep, obsessive heart stretches all throughout Labyrinthitis.
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