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Albums Out Today: Paramore, Kelela, Yo La Tengo, Andy Shauf, and More

Konstantinos Pappis
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Albums Out Today: Paramore, Kelela, Yo La Tengo, Andy Shauf, and More

In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on February 10, 2023:

Paramore, This Is Why

Paramore are back with This Is Why, their first album since 2017’s After Laughter. The band recorded the LP in Los Angeles with longtime collaborator Carlos de la Garza, who worked on their self-titled album and After Laughter. “We were able to really lean into some of those earliest influences where a lot of electro clash and stuff that had a lot of groove, but it was really aggressive,” Hayley Williams told Apple Music 1. “Zac plays some of his most aggressive stuff on this record and it was so… I was freaking out to be watching it in the studio because we hadn’t seen it in a minute. And yet,” she added, “there’s some beautiful restraint that I think shows up in all of us in different parts that really allows other things to speak.” The title track, ‘The News’, and ‘C’est Comme Ça’ preceded the LP.

Kelela, Raven

Kelela has returned with Raven, the follow-up to 2017’s Take Me Apart, which is out now via Warp. OCA (the ambient duo of Yo Van Lenz and Florian T M Zeisig) and LSDXOXO serve as the album’s main producers, with additional production from Bambii. Ahead of its release, Kelela unveiled the tracks ‘Contact’, ‘Washed Away’, ‘On the Run’, ‘Happy Ending’, and ‘Enough for Love’. “I started this process from the feeling of isolation and alienation I’ve always had as a black femme in dance music, despite its black origins,” Kelela said in a statement. “Raven is my first breath taken in the dark, an affirmation of black femme perspective in the midst of systemic erasure and the sound of our vulnerability turned to power.” Read our review of Raven.

Yo La Tengo, This Stupid World

Yo La Tengo have released a new album called This Stupid World, out now via Matador. The follow-up to 2020’s We Have Amnesia Sometimes (and their first LP of new songs since 2018’s There’s a Riot Going On) was previewed with the singles ‘Sinatra Drive Breakdown’, ‘Aselestine’, and ‘Fallout’. Elaborating on the album’s title, vocalist Ira Kaplan said in an interview with Pitchfork: “It’s the mood we’re in, which I assume everyone’s in; even people that we don’t see eye to eye with on many things would agree with the title. They might have a different reason for feeling that way, but I think we can all agree.” Read our review of This Stupid World.

Andy Shauf, Norm

Andy Shauf has come out with a new LP, Norm, out now via ANTI-. Following the Canadian singer-songwriter’s 2020 effort The Neon Skyline and its 2021 companion Wilds, the album features the previously shared singles ‘Wasted on You’, ‘Catch Your Eye’, and ‘Telephone’. Shauf worked with Nicholas Olson as a story editor to build a narrative around a character named Norm, explaining in press materials: “The character of Norm is introduced in a really nice way. But the closer you pay attention to the record, the more you’re going to realize that it’s sinister.”

Black Belt Eagle Scout, The Land, the Water, the Sky

Released through Saddle Creek, The Land, the Water, the Sky is the third full-length by Black Belt Eagle Scout, the project of multi-instrumentalist Katherine Paul. Since releasing their last album, At the Party With My Brown Friends, KP has moved from Portland back to her homelands in the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. “I created The Land, The Water, The Sky to record and reflect upon my journey back to my homelands and the challenges and the happiness it brought,” they explained in a press release. The songs ‘Spaces’, ‘My Blood Runs Through This Land’, ‘Don’t Give Up’, and ‘Nobody’ arrived ahead of the LP.

Liv.e, Girl in the Half Pearl

LA-based, Dallas-raised artist Liv.e has unveiled her second album, Girl in the Half Pearl, via In Real Life. The follow-up to her 2020 debut Couldn’t Wait To Tell You spans 17 tracks, including the already released singles ‘Find Out’, ‘Wild Animals’, and ‘Ghost’. “I really love the process of coming up with a vision and doing my best to ensure that it will come out just as it was in my imagination,” Liv.e said in a press release. “I tend to use almost all my practices as another way to strengthen my trust and belief in myself. The concept is just based on the release of letting go of old ‘people pleasing’ habits that I tended to act on in the past a lot. A depiction of gaining the strength and courage to choose myself every time.”

Quasi, Breaking the Balls of History

Quasi, the duo of Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss, have dropped their first album in a decade (via Sub Pop). Following 2013’s Mole City, Breaking the Balls of History was co-produced with John Goodmanson and marks Weiss’ first new project since her departure from Sleater-Kinney. “When you’re younger and in a band, you make records because that’s what you do,” Coomes said in a statement. “But this time, the whole thing felt purposeful in a way that was unique to the circumstances.” Weiss added: “There’s no investing in the future anymore. The future is now. Do it now if you want to do it. Don’t put it off. All those things you only realize when it’s almost too late. It could be gone in a second.”

Tennis, Pollen

Tennis, the husband-and-wife duo of Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore, have returned with their sixth studio LP, Pollen. The Swimmer follow-up includes the early offerings ‘One Night with the Valet’, ‘Let’s Make a Mistake Tonight’, and ‘Forbidden Doors’. “We wanted to write a big album,” Moore explained in a statement. “Instead of choruses with universal themes, I wrote with a specificity that was new to me, narrowing in on the smallest details of our lives. It is about small things with big consequences: a particle, a moment, a choice. It is me in a fragile state; sometimes inhabited freely, sometimes reacted against. It is striving to remain in a moment without slipping into dread. It is about the way I can be undone by a very small thing.”

Narrow Head, Moments of Clarity

Houston’s Narrow Head has put out their latest record, Moments of Clarity, via Run for Cover. The follow-up to 2020’s 12th House Rock was recorded, produced, and mixed by Sonny DiPerri (NIN, Protomartyr, My Bloody Valentine) and features the early single ‘Gearhead’ as well as the title track. Talking about the album’s title, frontman Jacob Duarte explained in a press release: “The phrase created a space for me to reflect upon my own life, since our last record I’ve had plenty of moments of realization like that… when you experience friends dying, you’re forced to see life a little differently.”

Pearla, Oh Glistening Onion, The Nighttime Is Coming

Oh Glistening Onion, The Nighttime Is Coming is the debut full-length by Pearla, aka Brooklyn singer-songwriter Nicole Rodriguez. Out now via Spacebomb Records, the follow-up to Pearla’s 2019 EP Quilting & Other Activities was produced with Tyler Postiglion and mixed by Tyler Postiglione. The single ‘With’, she explained in a statement, is “about accessing a certain kind of magic when I’m alone, that I haven’t quite learned how to hold onto amongst others. In this song, the ‘with’ is not referring to another person, but to the Earth and the giant magnitude of the whole universe. Being alone, but ‘with’ everything.”

Other albums out today:

Hollie Kenniff, We All Have Places That We Miss; Amber Arcades, Barefoot on Diamond Road; Rebecca Black, Let Her Burn; The Golden Dregs, Grace And Dignity; Civic, Taken By Force;  Lance Skiiiwalker, Audiodidactic; Lisa O’Neill, All Of This Is Chance; Marlene Ribeiro, Toquei no Sol; Big Laugh, Consume Me; Afternoon Bike Ride, glossover; Planet on a Chain, Boxed In; Maps, Counter Melodies; Pabllo Vittar, Noitada; Pierce the Veil, The Jaws of Life; ZA!, ZA! & la TransMegaCobla; Inger Nordvik, Hibernation; Mirek Coutigny, Through Empty Landscapes and New Beginnings.

Two Shells Release New EP ‘lil spirits’

Konstantinos Pappis
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0
Two Shells Release New EP ‘lil spirits’

Two Shell have released a surprise new EP called lil spirits. You can listen to the five-track collection below, or by heading to the elusive duo’s website and entering “passcode” to gain access. They’ve also shared a video for the single ‘love him’, which you can also find below.

lil spirits is the follow-up to last year’s Icons EP, which landed on our best EPs of 2022 list. Two Shell have yet to announce plans for a full-length.

lil spirits Cover Artwork:

lil spirits Tracklist:

1. iMessage
2. love him
3. mind_flip
4. bluefairy
5. ♡here4u♡

 

Beck Releases New Song ‘Thinking About You’

Konstantinos Pappis
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0
Beck Releases New Song ‘Thinking About You’

Beck has released a new song called ‘Thinking About You’. Give it a listen below.

Last year, Beck shared a cover Neil Young’s ‘Old Man’ for a Sunday Night Football commercial, which the Canadian singer-songwriter seemingly took issue with. In August, Beck will head out on a co-headlining tour with Phoenix. His latest album, Hyperspace, came out in 2019.

Lizzo Taps SZA for New Version of ‘Special’

Konstantinos Pappis
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0
Lizzo Taps SZA for New Version of ‘Special’

Lizzo has enlisted SZA for a new remix of ‘Special’. Listen to it below.

Lizzo recently performed ‘Special’ at the 65th annual Grammy Awards, along with another track from her album of the same name, ‘About Damn Time’, which also won Record of the Year. In December, SZA came through with the much-anticipated CTRL follow-up, SOS, which features an uncredited appearance from Lizzo.

Album Review: Yo La Tengo, ‘This Stupid World’

Konstantinos Pappis
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0
Album Review: Yo La Tengo, ‘This Stupid World’

Whenever indie veterans like Yo La Tengo return with a new album, fans and critics alike will be eager to contextualize it within their revered catalogue. It’s fun work – you can go on and on comparing new and old songs without even really touching on themes, simply marking directional shifts. Four decades into their career, Yo La Tengo have such a sprawling and versatile discography that it’s no surprise their most beloved records, from 1997’s I Can Feel The Heart Beating As One to 2013’s Fade, are ones that make an effort to streamline their sound while eloquently fusing different styles. Aside from it being their first album of wholly new material since 2018’s There’s a Riot Going On, that’s another reason why This Stupid World feels like another pivotal moment in a career full of them. But you can’t talk about it the way we’re now used to relating to most releases in the genre. “There’s this pressure to come up with a narrative… and it certainly doesn’t exist in our case,” Ira Kaplan said in a recent interview, emphasizing that the point is to just enjoy getting together and playing music. Whatever comes out, comes out; what you hear is what you get.

What we get this time just so happens to be both hauntingly familiar and (modestly, of course) astounding. On paper, a lot of This Stupid World sounds doomful, or at least weathered by the passage of time. “Prepare to die/ Prepare yourself while there’s still time,” Ira Kaplan sings on ‘Until it Happens’; “You feel alone/ Friends are all gone,” his wife Georgia Hubley admits on ‘Miles Away’. Together with James McNew, they open the record by ushering in a steady, electrifying groove on ‘Sinatra Drive Breakdown’, where each observation feels bigger than itself, a growing premonition: “I see clearly how it ends/ I see the moon rise as the sun descends.” They could be singing about winter, or winter could be a metaphor for widespread destruction; the song sounds raw and already on the verge of a breakdown when Kaplan’s extended guitar workout tumbles over and eventually trails back, unable to change its course.

Amidst the chaos, the songs on This Stupid World don’t feel disorganized but rather in dialogue with each other. ‘Fallout’, a song I’m tempted to call an instant classic, flows in a similar vein as the opener, driven by a bracing riff that towers over the wall of sound. McNew’s ‘Tonight’s End’ handles strangely playful lyrics by dialing up the distortion; just when the droning noise seems like it’s just about to relent, the song bounces back again before finally reeling into ‘Aselestine’, a warm, pensive acoustic cut sung by Hubley. And then there’s the understated mid-album run of ‘Until It Happens’ and ‘Apology Letter’, the latter of which manages to live up to the promise of its title without feeling petty. Kaplan, earnest in his delivery, makes up for the clarity that gets lost in language by drifting into a lovely solo that stays faithfully on track until the end.

So what about the end? This Stupid World is, all things considered, not actually a dispiriting listen, but one that’s thrilling in its aliveness. ‘Brain Capers’ charges the record back up, whirling into a violent frenzy that prepares us for the wondrous catharsis of the title track. “This stupid world, it’s killing me,” goes its enveloping mantra. “This stupid world is all we have.” Rather than drowning under its own immensity, the feedback has the effect of amplifying its power and heart. Unlike most of the livelier songs on the LP, the group remains locked in for a full seven and half minutes, which whiz by in what feels like a flash – as they do on ‘Miles Away’, a final tender embrace. “Ease your mind/ Bide your time/ Hold those thoughts for now,” Hubley suggests, making it sound almost easy.  There doesn’t have to be a story – certainly no simple resolution. None of this has to make sense. And yet somehow, when you play it back, it kind of does.

M83 Releases Five New Songs From Upcoming Album ‘Fantasy’

Konstantinos Pappis
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0
M83 Releases Five New Songs From Upcoming Album ‘Fantasy’

M83 has released six new songs, billed as the first chapter of their forthcoming album Fantasy. The record was led by the single ‘Ocean’s Niagara’, which made our Best New Songs segment. Anthony Gonzalez has also announced a run of European tour dates; find those and listen to Chapter 1 of Fantasy below.

Fantasy, the follow-up to 2019’s DSVII, will be released in full on March 17 via Virgin Records.

M83 2023 Tour Dates:

Apr 9 2023 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
Apr 10 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
Apr 11 – Albuquerque, NM – El Rey Theater
Apr 13 – San Antonio, TX – The Aztec Theatre
Apr 14 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
Apr 15 – Houston, TX – The Lawn at White Oak Music Hall
Apr 16 – Dallas, TX – House Of Blues
Apr 18 – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
Apr 19 – Atlanta, GA – The Eastern
Apr 21 – Philadelphia, PA – Franklin Music Hall
Apr 22 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
Apr 23 – Boston, MA – Roadrunner
Apr 25 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
Apr 26 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
Apr 28 – Montreal, QC – MTELUS
Apr 29 – Toronto, ON – HISTORY
Apr 30 – Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
May 2 – Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre
May 3 – St. Paul, MN – Palace Theatre
May 5 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
May 6 – Salt Lake City, UT – Ogden Amphitheater
May 8 – Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
May 9 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
May 10 – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo
May 11 – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo
May 13 – Pasadena, CA – Just Like Heaven Fest
May 14 – Paso Robles, CA – Vina Robles Amphitheatre
May 16 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
May 17 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theate
Jun 7 – Sigulda, LV – Sigulda Castle
Jun 8 – Vilnius, LT – Lukiškės Prison
Jun 10 – Helsinki, FI – Sideways Festival
Jun 17 – Neuchatel,CH – Festi’Neuch
Jun 19 – Milan, IT – Magnolia Summer
Jun 243 – Prague, CZ – Metronome Festival
Jun 27 – Paris, FR – L’Olympia
Jun 29 – London, UK – Roundhouse
Jul 6 – Bilbao, ES – BBK
Jul 7 – Hérouville Saint Clar, FR – Festival Beauregard
Aug 12 – Pezinok, SK – Grape Festival
Aug 13 – Budapest, HU – Sziget Festival
Aug 19 – Biddinghuizen, NL – Lowlands Festival

Depeche Mode Detail New Album, Release Video for New Single ‘Ghosts Again’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Depeche Mode Detail New Album, Release Video for New Single ‘Ghosts Again’

Depeche Mode have revealed the release date of their new album, Memento Mori. The follow-up to 2017;s Spirit comes out March 24 via Columbia Records. They’ve also shared the album’s first single, ‘Ghosts Again’, which arrives with a visual from the album’s artwork designer Anton Corbijn. Check it out below.

“To me, ‘Ghosts Again’ just captures this perfect balance of melancholy and joy,” Dave Gahan said in a press release. Martin Gore added, “It’s not often that we record a song that I just don’t get sick of listening to – I’m excited to be able to share it.”

Memento Mori Cover Artwork:

Memento Mori Tracklist:

1. My Cosmos Is Mine
1. Wagging Tongue
2. Ghosts Again
3. Don’t Say You Love Me
4. My Favourite Stranger
5. Soul With Me
6. Caroline’s Monkey
7. Before We Drown
8. People Are Good
9. Always You
10. Never Let Me Go
11. Speak To Me

Legendary Songwriter Burt Bacharach Dies at 94

Konstantinos Pappis
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Legendary Songwriter Burt Bacharach Dies at 94

Burt Bacharach, the legendary composer and performer who wrote hits such as ‘I Say a Little Prayer’, ‘Walk On By’, and ‘What the World Needs Now Is Love’, has died at the age of 94. The Washington Post reports that Bacharach died at home in Los Angeles of natural causes.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1928, Bacharach soon moved to New York, where he would sneak into 52nd Street nightclubs as a teenager to hear such greats as Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie. “They were just so incredibly exciting that all of a sudden, I got into music in a way I never had before,” he wrote in the 2013 memoir Anyone Who Had a Hear. “What I heard in those clubs turned my head around.” After studying music at schools in Montreal, New York, and California, Bacharach served in the US army, during which time he met the popular singer Vic Damone. He spent the next three years working as a pianist and conductor for Damone, and later accompanied singers such as Marlene Dietrich, the Ames Brothers, and Paula Stewart in a similar capacity.

In 1957, Bacharach met lyricist Hal David at the Brill Building in New York. Their first breakthrough came that same year with the song ‘The Story of My Life’ by Marty Robbins, followed soon afterwards by ‘Magic Moments’, which was recorded by Perry Como and reached No. 4 in the US. These were also back-to-back No. 1 hits in the UK, making Bacharach and David the first songwriters to score consecutive No. 1 singles in the country. The majority of Bacharach and David’s hits were written specifically for and interpreted by Dionne Warwick, whose output together included 22 Top 40 hits, among them ‘Walk on By’, ‘Do You Know the Way to San Jose?’, ‘Anyone Who Had a Heart’, ‘A House is Not a Home’, and ‘I Say a Little Prayer’.

Bacharach went on to write material for Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones, the Carpenters, and many others, while his songs were covered by artists including Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Costello, Alicia Keys, and the White Stripes. In addition to being an eight-time Grammy winner, Bacharach received three Academy Awards: best musical score for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the song ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head’ in 1970, and best song for ‘Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)’ in 1982. ‘Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)’ was one of several hits he wrote in the ’80s with songwriter Carole Bayer Sager, whom he married in 1982.

In the 1990s, Bacharach made appearances in the Austin Powers movies and collaborated with Elvis Costello on the album Painted From Memory. In 2020, he released an EP with multi-instrumentalist Daniel Tashian called Blue Umbrella.

Esther Rose Announces New Album ‘Safe to Run’, Unveils New Song ‘Chet Baker’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Esther Rose Announces New Album ‘Safe to Run’, Unveils New Song ‘Chet Baker’

Esther Rose has announced a new album titled Safe to Run. Following 2021’s How Many Times, the 11-track LP will be released April 23 via her new label home, New West Records. Today, the singer-songwriter has shared its lead single, ‘Chet Baker’, alongside a video directed by Joshua Shoemaker. Check it out below, and scroll down for Safe to Run‘s cover art and tracklist.

Speaking about ‘Chet Baker’, Rose said in a statement: “Someone sent me a DM, asking ‘do you remember me.’ I was transported into a decade-old memory; a weird weekend with a crew of dangerous college preps, a car crash. What came out is this short study of my townie life in Ann Arbor. As I was writing this song, it occurred to me how lucky I was to have survived that time of willful recklessness. I wanted to empathize with my younger self, like, ‘it’s alright, you were 23. You were out of control. I got you now. You’re okay.’”

Safe to Run was produced by Ross Farbe in New Orleans, LA and Placitas, New Mexico. It features Rose’s longtime collaborators Farbe and Lyle Werner, as well as the New Orleans-based band Silver Synthetic, Cameron Snyder of The Deslondes, and Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff on the title track.

“My challenge every time I picked up the pen was: not another heartbreak song, look around you,” Rose explained. “Writing from depths never explored and feeling sometimes like I was losing my mind, a softness unfurled. I’ve moved out of a chaotic, transitional place. I’m not running anymore. This album feels different to me than everything I’ve made before it. But who knows? I’ve traded hurricanes for wildfires.”

Safe to Run Cover Artwork:

Safe to Run Tracklist:

1. Stay
2. Chet Baker
3. Spider
4. Safe to Run (feat. Hurray For The Riff Raff)
5. St. Francis Waltz
6. New Magic II
7. Dream Girl
8. Insecure
9. Levee Song
10. Full Value
11. Arm’s Length

 

Jessie Ware Announces Album ‘That! Feels Good!’, Releases New Song ‘Pearls’

Konstantinos Pappis
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0
Jessie Ware Announces Album ‘That! Feels Good!’, Releases New Song ‘Pearls’

Jessie Ware has announced her much-anticipated fifth album: That! Feels Good! will be out on April 28. The follow-up to 2021’s What’s Your Pleasure? is led by the new single ‘Pearls’, which was co-written with Stuart Price, Clarence Coffee Jr., and Sarah Hudson. Check it out and find That! Feels Good!‘s details below.

“‘Pearls’ is a record that doesn’t take itself too seriously but demands you to have a dance,” Ware said in a statement. “It’s inspired by divas like Donna Summer, Evelyn “Champagne” King, Teena Marie and Chaka Khan and I guess attempts to show — in lightness — all the hats I try to wear (usually at the same time). It’s the second song you will hear from my collaboration with Stuart Price and Coffee — with the wonderful addition of Sarah Hudson — and hopefully gives you a taste of the fun we have working together…”

Of the new LP, She added: “That! Feels Good! stems from over 10 years of understanding who I am, and who I enjoy being as an artist and the thrill of performance.”

In April 2021, Ware released the deluxe edition of What’s Your Pleasure?, which featured six additional songs. The British singer returned last summer with the single ‘Free Yourself’.

That! Feels Good! Cover Artwork:

That! Feels Good! Tracklist:

1. That! Feels Good!
2. Free Yourself
3. Pearls
4. Hello Love
5. Begin Again
6. Beautiful People
7. Freak Me Now
8. Shake The Botle
9. Lightning
10. These Lips

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