NEW MUSIC FRIDAY from TBONES
Because this Friday, you really need a head start. All the week's new releases in one glorious link-packed post.
Diana Krall
This Dream of You
Verve [LP/CD]
Diana Krall's albums have rarely been tempered with sadness. After starting the sessions on this album in 2017 with longtime producer Tommy LiPuma - he passed away at age 80. LiPuma had been with Krall since the beginning, serving as the producer on her records until 2009. Much like the Krall album from 2017 "Turn Up The Quiet," these are standards redefined by Krall and a set of brilliant players and collaborators. Anthony Wilson chips in on "Almost Like Being in Love," Christian McBride and Russell Malone serve as her trio on "Autumn in New York." Guitarist Marc Ribot, drummer Karriem Riggins, and Dylan bass player Tony Garnier help Krall even do Dylan on the title cut. Krall bravely faces it all as performer and producer in the spirit of her longtime collaborator.
Alicia Keys
ALICIA
RCA [CD]
While she was away, Alicia Keys was beginning the second stage of her career. Grammies on the wall? Why not become its best host in decades. Stories to tell? Write that long-discussed autobiography ("More Myself.") Now four years after her only non-platinum album, "ALICIA" is here to tell her story in song. These fifteen tracks capture her life as she pursues confidence ("Show Me Love,") proclaims that she is free ("So Done" with Khalid) and that she will always be a fighter ("Underdog.")
Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets
Live at The Roundhouse
Columbia [CD/DVD]
After years of anchoring the mighty Pink Floyd, drummer Nick Mason steps out with a side group of great players to offer his own interpretations of pre-"Dark Side of The Moon" Floyd. Aided by Gary Kemp, Guy Pratt, Lee Harris, and Dom Beken, "Roundhouse" captures the essence of early Floyd. "Fearless" is buoyant as its chords ascend and descend. "Astronomy Domine" successfully communicates with distant planets and pays loving tribute to Syd Barrett. Saucerful even gets farther out into space with a mesmerizing "One Of These Days" and "Atom Heart Mother." "Roundhouse" and Mason revive the spirit of early Floyd right there on the same stage where they first began piecing it all together back in 1966. (Fans should know that even Roger Waters came out to one performance where he guested on "Set The Controls For The Heart of the Sun.")
Thelonious Monk
Palo Alto
Impulse [LP/CD]
1968. Palo Alto High School. A young man works the parking lot. He is selling tickets for $1.50 to see Jazz legend Thelonious Monk. Some students have reason to believe this is happening. They saw Vince Guaraldi here. But Monk? Really? He was on the cover of Time. The young man insures everyone, Monk is coming. He wrote Monk and asked him to play and he agreed to it. The curtain is down and the young man gets the only person available to roll tape - the janitor. The time comes. The curtains rise and here come Thelonious Monk, Charlie Rouse, Larry Gales, and Ben Riley. They survey the large, racially-mixed crowd and give them an almost hour-long set of crowd-pleasers. When all is said and done, the throng brings Monk back for a solo encore. A mild afternoon in Palo Alto with the legendary Thelonious Monk and his best late-period quartet caught in a performance never heard before. Years later, that young man became the right-hand man to legendary promoter Bill Graham. One night in an old shoebox, he uncovered a tape that he didn't even remember - only to listen and have the whole experience return. One afternoon in Palo Alto, for us all to hear.
Neil Young
The Times
Reprise [CD]
Billed as "The Porch Episode," this is Neil in the raw, unvarnished environment we all reside. His recent "Fireside Session" online has been captured here as he pours out the protest songs "Alabama," "Campaigner," "Ohio." And adds to them some Dylan ("The Times They Are A-Changin'") and a brand new song he recorded just for this EP.
Shakey Graves
And The Horse He Rode In On
Dualtone [CD]
Before the dramatic turn that Shakey Graves took on 2018's vivid Pop album "Can't Wake Up," he recorded a pair of EPs that were completely homespun and now feel like a bit of a farewell to the rootsy side of his music. "The Donor Blues" dates back to 2012. The combination of home recorded guitar and vocals trades intimacy for his ability to spin a simple riff into a song ("Doe, Jane.:) "Nobody's Fool" was a celebration for Shakey Graves who had just been the subject of a citywide celebration in Austin in 2015. The quality here is higher and you can actually hear him drawing together the pieces of the successful albums to come.
Cults
Host
Sinderlyn/Omnian [LP/CD]
New York's Cults came out of the gate at a key time. Their seamless of Indie Pop and Electronic Dance earned them immediate attention ("Go Outside") and almost a Top 50 album. In 2013, singer Madeline Follin and musician Brian Oblivion split - and the group slowly fractured. However, a four-year break saw the duo renewed on 2017 "Offerings" and now fully restored to hit maker status again on "Host." For the first time, the band record here with live instruments and in a strange turn, they write away from each other. The result is as emotional yet danceable as you can get. "Host" has a host of gauzy almost Portishead-ian jams ("Trials" reframes the sound as 60's girl group,) while "Monolithic" builds to a string-based peak. For all the attention the singles are receiving, the album has several deep cuts that are crushers. "No Risk" sounds almost childlike before its large, mechanical beats take over, while "Spit It Out" spirals up and down on Eastern strings and the rumblings of a low-frequency oscillator bringing you right back to that first moment you heard them in 2010. "Host" is Cults coming full circle to transcend any genre trappings by making elegant emotional Pop.
Napalm Death
Throes of Joy In The Jaws of Defeatism
Century Media [CD]
Founders of Extreme Metal/Grindcore, practically the inventor of the blastbeat and purveyor of songs once so concise that their first two salvos race through 55 songs in just over an hour, Napalm Death is back after a five-year break. Sixteen albums later, the band has perfected making contortions within their tracks that draw them out to normal lengths. Stripped down to a trio, "Throes" finds Napalm Death in a blistering place much like their last album (2015's "Apex Predator - Easy Meat.") Now that everyone has accepted some aspect of Grindcore, "Throes" expands the band's sonic palette to epic proportions (with song lengths staying again-normal.) The Killing Joke growling gut punch of "Amoral" could easily cross over to your most Metal-flavored Rock station. Elsewhere, they rage mightily and play with precision ("Invigorating Clutch.") Even when they depart from the thunderous drum backdrop of Mitch Harris, they sound as artful and disturbing as Mr.Bungle (the pirate's hymn "A Bellyful of Salt and Spleen." "Jaws" may be dressed up like a horrorshow, but this is really a thrill ride.
OSEES - Protean Threat [LP/CD](Castleface)
GUS DAPPERTON - Orca [LP/CD](AWAL/Kobalt)
FENNE LILY - Breach [LP/CD](Dead Oceans/Secretly/AMPED)
DERADOORIAN - Into The Sun [LP/CD] (ANTI/AMPED)
SNARLS - Burst [LP/CD](Take It To Heart/WMG)
LE COULEUR - Concorde [LP/CD](Kuroneko AUS)
RUDY DE ANDA - Tender Epoch [LP/CD](Karma Chief/Colemine/Secretly/AMPED)
DIG NITTY - Reverse of Mastery [LP/CD](Exploding In Sound)
GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS - Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future [CD](Harbinger Sound)
MATT BERRY - Phantom Birds [LP/CD](Acid Jazz)
Enjoy it all and much more via our weekly Spotify playlist
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