Sadurn have shared ‘icepick’, the latest single from the Philadelphia band’s upcoming debut album. The track follows previous cuts ‘snake’ and ‘golden arm’, and it comes with an accompanying video. Check it out below.
“‘icepick’ was a cathartic song to write and I didn’t think I would ever show it to anyone,” vocalist/guitarist Genevieve DeGroot told The FADER. “That’s what makes it cathartic I guess. The process for this song was different than most of the others on the album, which are played live with the band – we started with the same spliced up Garageband beat from my original demo and laid down each synth and guitar track individually. The song was still pretty bare bones when we left the recording session, and months later Jon [Cox] and I were kind of hitting our heads against a wall trying to finish the arrangement. Honestly we almost gave up but it turned out to be something I’m really proud of. Jon added the shaker and some reverb-y guitar, I did the baritone uke fills and added the sample at the end, which was from a phone video of Amelia playing guitar. The ending of this song might be my favorite part of the record.”
Wet Leg have previewed their upcoming self-titled debut album with one more single, ‘Ur Mum’. The track arrives with an accompanying video directed by Lava La Rue. Check it out below.
“I was pretty angry at the way things had gone in this particular dynamic,” Rhian Teasdale said in a statement about the track. “It’s just a diss song I wrote to make myself feel better. It worked.”
La Rue added: “The ‘Ur Mum’ video was all about bringing the viewer into the Wet Leg world – sprinkling details throughout the visual that not only reference at least 4 songs off the album but also plenty of inside jokes within the band too. Artistically it shows where the aesthetic of American indie films like Napoleon Dynamite fit perfectly in the scape of rural British settings — this concept first came to me when the band took me to IOW for the first time — I saw the connection and it all clicked into place.”
The Last Black Man in San Francisco a stunning feature film debut from director Joe Talbot. Co-written by Talbot and the film’s star Jimmie Fails (also in his feature debut), the story is based on Fails’ lived experience growing up in San Francisco. As per the film, his grandfather built a Victorian house years ago, but when his relatives could no longer afford to keep it, Jimmie was sent to live in foster care and public housing.
With the help of his friend Montgomery (Jonathan Majors), Jimmie seeks to reclaim his family home from the gentrified area that had once been a middle-class neighborhood home to many Black families. Throughout the film, Jimmie and Montogomery are often skateboarding around the beautifully illuminated cityscape or along the waterfront. Like the film itself, they’re not always very talkative, but they are sharing in their emotional experience in a very poignant way. Cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra shines a light on their quest to be heard, showing off the picturesque backdrops of San Francisco in an intimate way. The bright and aesthetically pleasing visuals of The Last Black Man in San Francisco fit perfectly alongside many other A24 releases.
Deer Scout, the musical project of Dena Miller, has unveiled a new track called ‘Synesthesia’. It’s the latest preview of her forthcoming debut album Woodpecker, which is out this Friday, April 8 (via Carpark) and includes the previously shared singles ‘Cowboy’ and ‘Peace with the Damage’. Listen to ‘Synesthesia’ below.
Nina Nastasia has returned from a 12-year hiatus with the announcement of a new album called Riderless Horse. It’s set to arrive on July 22 via Temporary Residence, with a vinyl release to follow on November 4. The LP was produced alongside Steve Albini. Today, Nastasia has shared the album’s lead single, ‘Just Stay in Bed’. Check it out below and scroll down for the record’s cover art (by Elizabeth Neel) and tracklist.
In a press release, Nastasia described Riderless Horse as “my first solo record,” adding that it is her first record not produced by her former partner, Kennan Gudjonsson, who passed away in 2020. Her statement continues:
I haven’t made an album since 2010. I decided to stop pursuing music several years after my sixth record, Outlaster, because of unhappiness, overwhelming chaos, mental illness, and my tragically dysfunctional relationship with Kennan. Creating music had always been a positive outlet during difficult times, but eventually it became a source of absolute misery.
Kennan, a cat, and I lived in a studio apartment in NYC for 25 years, finding ways to survive while making records and going on tours. Our apartment was the place where people would come stay, eat, drink, play music, and use our tub. It was quite a home we had created, but it was decaying steadily from the moment we moved in, and in the end, it was as if black mold was growing beneath the surface, undetected, and the two of us were dying and getting too weak to ever leave. We loved each other. We were each other’s family, but there was ongoing abuse, control and manipulation. We hid. We didn’t want anyone to see how ugly things could get, so we increasingly isolated from our friends and family. We were lost.
On January 26, 2020, I made the decision to separate and live apart, and on January 27, Kennan died by suicide. What a thing, suicide. I can only feel sadness and guilt about it. Maybe I’ll have other reactions to it later on.
Riderless Horse documents the grief, but it also marks moments of empowerment and a real happiness in discovering my own capability. Steve Albini produced this record with me, and Greg Norman assisted. The three of us are old friends, and we did a field recording in a guesthouse built like a lighthouse that two very dear friends of mine have in Esopus, NY. It was exactly the right environment to work on this record. We all had meals together, cried, laughed, and told stories. It was perfect. It made me realize how much I love writing, playing and recording music.
Terrible things happen. These were some terrible things. So, what to do – learn something valuable, connect with people, move the fuck out of that apartment, remember the humor, find the humor, tell the truth, and make a record. I made a record.
Riderless Horse Cover Artwork:
Riderless Horse Tracklist:
1. Cork and Pour
2. Just Stay in Bed
3. You Were So Mad
4. This Is Love
5. Nature
6. Lazy Road
7. Ask Me
8. Blind as Batsies
9. The Two of Us
10. Go Away
11. The Roundabout
12. Trust
13. Afterwards
14. Creek and Chimes
Father John Misty has unveiled a new song called ‘The Next 20th Century’, taken from his upcoming album that’s out on Friday. The seven-minute track follows previous singles ‘Funny Girl’, ‘Q4’, ‘Goodbye Mr. Blue’. Listen to it below.
Chloë and the Next 20th Century, Josh Tillman’s first album since 2018’s God’s Favorite Customer, will be out via Sub Pop worldwide and Bella Union in Europe.
After returning with their single ‘Rotting’ in February, Minneapolis-based band Poliça have announced a new album called Madness. It’s due out June 3 via Memphis Industries. The follow-up to 2020’s When We Stay Alive is led by the single ‘Alive’, which is out today. “Bad things happen, the fire goes out; even with the best flammables it stays dark until nothing matters becomes the fire itself,” singer Channy Leaneagh said of the track in a press release. Check it out and find the album’s cover art and tracklist below.
Madness was primarily recorded between 2020 and 2021 in producer Ryan Olson’s Minneapolis studio. According to a press release, the band used the “anthropomorphic production tool” AllOvers(c), designed by Olson and sound artist Seth Rosetter, during the making of the record, which features co-production by Dustin Zahn Alex Ridha and Alex Nutter. Talking about the lyrics of the album, Leaneagh summarized them as follows: “I am here for you all and I am never truly myself here. I am her for you all and I am never truly her.”
Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Tom Skinner’s The Smile have released a new track. ‘Pana-vision’ was featured in this weekend’s episode of Peaky Blinders and is now available to stream on all digital platforms. A new song by Yorke called ‘That’s How Horses Are’ also premiered during the same episode of the British series. Check out ‘Pana-vision’ below, along with an animated video by Sabrina Nichols of artwork from Stanley Donwood.
Throughout the week, we update our Best New Songs playlist with the new releases that caught our attention the most, be it a single leading up to the release of an album or a newly unveiled deep cut. And each Monday, we round up the best new songs released over the past week (the eligibility period begins on Monday and ends Sunday night) in this best new music segment.
On this week’s list, we have Angel Olsen’s warm, patiently reflective ‘All the Good Times’, the lead single from her new album Big Time; Beach Bunny’s ’Fire Escape’, the driving and earnest first single off their upcoming LP Emotional Creature; Rosie Carney’s new single ‘dad’, which infuses her evocative brand of indie folk with more of a shoegaze influence; My Idea’s off-kilter yet sincere new track ‘Breathe You’; ‘PUPTHEBAND Inc. Is Filing For Bankruptcy’, the funny, toweringly anthemic closing track to PUP’s new LP; and ‘I’m Gonna Say Seven’, a gorgeously stripped-back highlight off Alabaster dePlume’s new album GOLD.
Jon Batiste took home the award for Album of the Year at the 2022 Grammys. His latest LP We Are won over albums by Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga (Love For Sale), Justin Bieber (Justice), Doja Cat (Planet Her), Billie Eilish (Happier Than Ever), H.E.R (Back of My Mind), Lil Nas X (Montero), Olivia Rodrigo (Sour), Taylor Swift (evermore), and Kanye West (Donda).
Batiste led this year’s nominations with a total of 11 nods. He also ended up winning Best Music Video (for ‘Freedom’), Best American Roots Performance (for ‘Cry’), and Best American Roots Song (for ‘Cry’), as well as Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (for Soul). Check out the full list of winners here.
