New Release Round-Up 08-16-19

Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won't Hold - MOM & POP MUSIC
“How does brokenness walk? Or move through the world?” says guitarist/vocalist Carrie Brownstein about The Center Won't Hold, Sleater-Kinney’s tenth studio album. “We’re always mixing the personal and the political but on this record, despite obviously thinking so much about politics, we were really thinking about the person – ourselves or versions of ourselves or iterations of depression or loneliness – in the middle of the chaos.” The Center Won’t Hold is Sleater-Kinney’s midnight record on the doomsday clock. After twenty-five years of legendary collaboration, rock’n’roll giants Brownstein, Corin Tucker, and Janet Weiss rise to meet the moment by digging deeper and sounding bigger than we’ve heard them yet. Here are intimate battle cries. Here are shattered songs for the shattered survivors. The Center Won’t Hold drops you into the world of catastrophe that touches on the election,” says guitarist/vocalist Tucker of the title track. “We’re not taking it easy on the audience. That song is meant to be really heavy and dark. And almost like a mission statement, at the end of that song, it’s like we’re finding our way out of that space by becoming a rock band. 

  

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Ride - This Is Not A Safe Place - Wichita Records
Ride return with the 6th studio album of their career and their second since reforming in 2015 and signing to Wichita. As with their previous album, the highly acclaimed Weather Diaries, Erol Alkan was in the producers chair, whilst career-long collaborator Alan Moulder (with Caesar Edmunds) mixed the album. The albums title was inspired by one of the hobo code symbols once used by those who travelled the railroads of the US, and then found in the early artwork of Jean-Michel Basquiat. The phrase clearly resonates with the current state of the world politically and environmentally. This Is Not A Safe Place is arguably the Ride album with the broadest sonic palette thus far. You can hear sounds and styles that span their entire catalogue but, both musically and lyrically, this is clearly an album made by a band who love being back together and who are at the very top of their game.

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Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors - Dragons - MAGNOLIA MUSIC
Over the last decade, Drew Holcomb has established himself as one of Americana s freshest upstarts, building his following and critical appeal with every release, show, and entrepreneurial undertaking (like his curated Moon River Music Festival and Magnolia Record Club). For Holcomb, music is what helps us try to understand our place in a world full of equal parts chaos, confusion, love, and community, and Dragons is his reminder to all of us to keep fighting the good fight and to never give up. Produced by Cason Cooley (Ingrid Michelson, American Authors) Dragons features collaborations with Lori McKenna, Natalie Hemby, Sean McConnell, and Zach Williams of The Lone Bellow.

  

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King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Infest The Rats' Nest - ATO RECORDS
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are back with their 2^nd album release of 2019, entitled Infest The Rats' Nest. In complete contrast to the laid back, feel good vibes of Fishing for Fishies, Infest the Rats Nest is a full on thrash metal inspired assault and one of the most complex records the band has made in their extensive discography, their 15^th album and counting! All album details below and attached along with the videos for the first three single releases “Planet B”, “Self Immolate” and “Organ Farmer”.  In the words of Stu Mackenzie from the band: “In year 4 there was an older kid who was into Rammstein. I made friends with him and we put together a performance at our school assembly where we headbanged to ‘Du Hast.’ I got whiplash, which I thought was pretty cool. That was my introduction to heavy metal, and soon Rammstein led to Metallica, Metallica led to Slayer, Slayer led to Kreator and Sodom. The German bands really kicked my ass and scared the hell out of me too. Later on, when I picked up a guitar I realised that shit was too hard to play, so I got into rock ‘n’ roll and garage. That was liberating.”

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Thrice - Beggars: 10th Anniversary - VAGRANT RECORDS
Thrice celebrate the 10 year anniversary of their classic "Beggars" on striped colored vinyl and includes a bonus 7" with two rare b-side tracks, "Red Telephone" and "Answered," never before available on vinyl.

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The Hold Steady - Thrashing Thru The Passion - FRENCH KISS
Five new songs not previously released along with five songs from the collection of singles released between November 2017 and March 2019.  All songs produced by Josh Kaufman and engineered by D. James Goodwin. Formed in 2003, The Hold Steady have released six albums, numerous singles and played over 1000 shows during the past 16 years. The Brooklyn-based band, by way of the Midwest, has performed in all 50 states in the USA, and throughout Canada, the UK, Europe and Australia. The Hold Steady began releasing two-song singles in November 2017 ahead of the sold-out weekend shows they do in select cities each year and have released five new singles (nine songs total) thru March 2019. The band will launch "Constructive Summer 2019" in August + September four weekends of US shows in Seattle, Chicago, Nashville and Boston. Craig Finn: "I've been saying for a few years now - since Franz came back- that this six piece lineup of The Hold Steady is the best band we've ever been. The new songs recorded by this version of the band are super exciting to us. It's been a very fun and creative period for The Hold Steady.ť

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Eilen Jewell - Gypsy - Signature Sounds
On August 16th, 2019, Eilen Jewell will release Gypsy on Signature Sounds. Described as one of Americana's most intriguing and creative voices (American Songwriter), Jewell has written 11 new songs for Gypsy and is calling it her favorite album yet: new sounds, old sounds, electric guitar-driven rockers, classic country, and tender ballads. Gypsy continues to solidify Jewell's reputation as one of the most distinctive and potent voices in the Americana world today.

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Tootsie [Original Broadway Cast Recording] - Decca
Tootsie's Original Broadway Cast Recording is now available from Decca Broadway. The album preserves David Yazbek's Tony-nominated score and the performances of the original Broadway cast, led by Tony nominee Santino Fontana as Michael Dorsey.

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UPCOMING RELEASES 

Seratones - POWER - New West Records
Seratones aptly named sophomore release POWER is described by poet and author Hannif Abdurraquib as a glorious, swelling album[a] sonic monument, and precise lyrical tapestry. AJ Haynes bends her gloriously malleable voice seamlessly around the temples of rock, and soul, and funk. All of them, unfurling in waves of keys, staccato percussion and wailing curves of guitar. Based in Shreveport, Louisiana, Haynes and founding members, drummer Jesse Gabriel and bassist Adam Davis, form the kind of laser-focused rhythm section that you only get from bandmates who've been playing together since they were teenagers. New members Tyran Coker (keys) and Travis Stewart (guitar) bring a fresh dynamic to the band with interstellar soundscapes and entrancing melodies, all while maintaining the emotional edge and intensity from their acclaimed proto-punk debut record Get Gone.vPOWER exemplifies a true strength in vulnerability, a kaleidoscopic view into Haynes passions, hopes, and worries: from her love of poetry to her advocacy for Reproductive Justice and racial equity. Hard-learned lessons from lovers and intimate friends. The struggles to adapt and overcome. POWER is as much a statement as it is a question, a semiotic exploration of sound and Soul.

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Vince Gill - Okie - MCA Nashville
GRAMMY Award-winning MCA Nashville country star Vince Gill wrote or co-wrote all 12 songs on Okie. The album's title is taken from the once-derogatory term used to disparage migrants from Oklahoma to the nation's west coast during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression eras. A proud Oklahoman, Gill has appropriated this term on an album that embraces his roots and explores some of the most important issues of our time. I thought this was going to be a songwriter record, not a concept album, Gill says. It wound up being more information than I'd envisioned. A friend sent me an email saying, You could have only written this record after living a 60-year-plus life. He said, There's no struggle in these songs, just truth and your experience. Okie marks Gill's most recent solo album since 2016's Down To My Last Bad Habit and 2011's Guitar Slinger. In 2013, Gill partnered with famed steel guitarist Paul Franklin on Bakersfield as a tribute to the Bakersfield sound of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. With 21 GRAMMY Awards to his credit. Gill has solidified his place as country music's most eloquent and impassioned champion. He is both a world-class musician and a wide-ranging songwriter whose compositions earned him entry into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007. Gill has also made appearances on over 1000 artists records. In 2017, Gill was invited to join the Eagles for their worldwide tour, and later this month he will again join the band for the European leg of their upcoming tour with stops in Antwerp, Belgium, Cologne, Germany and Amsterdam.

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Oklahoma! 2019 Broadway Cast Recording - Decca
Over 75 years after Rodgers & Hammerstein reinvented the American musical, this is Oklahoma! as you’ve never heard it before and reimagined for the 21st century. Stripped down to reveal the darker psychological truths at its core, Daniel Fish’s production tells a story of a community circling its wagons against an outsider, and the violence of the frontier that shaped America. Funny and sexy, dark and terrifying, “this is the OKLAHOMA! that was there all along” (New York Magazine).

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For more information on these and other releases out this week, check out our New Releases charts by week section.

New Release Round-Up 08-09-19

Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind - ROADRUNNER RECORDS
The bands sixth studio album. Produced by Slipknot and Greg Fidelman, 'We Are Not Your Kind' follows the band's blistering 2014 LP, '.5: The Gray Chapter', which debuted Top 5 in the official album charts of 19 countries around the world, including the U.S. (#1), Japan (#1), Australia (#1), Russia (#1), U.K. (#2) & Germany (#2).

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Marika Hackman - Any Human Friend - SUB POP
“hand solo,” “blow,” “conventional ride”—these are just a few of the cheeky offerings off Any Human Friend, the new album from rock provocateur Marika Hackman. “This whole record is me diving into myself and peeling back the skin further and further, exposing myself in quite a big way. It can be quite sexual,” Hackman says. “It’s blunt, but not offensive. It’s mischievous.” There’s also depth to her carnal knowledge: Any Human Friend is ultimately about how, as she puts it, “We all have this lightness and darkness in us.” Hackman lifted the album’s title from a documentary about four-year-olds interacting with dementia patients in senior homes. At one point, two little girls confer about their experience there, with one musing on how it’s great to make “any human friend,” whether old or young. “When she said that it really touched a nerve in me,” says the London-based musician. “It’s that childlike view where we really accept people, are comfortable with their differences.” 

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Various Artists - Blinded By The Light (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - SONY LEGACY
Blinded By The Light: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack brings together 12 essential Bruce Springsteen performances ranging from greatest hits and fan favorites ("Born To Run," "Dancing In The Dark," "Hungry Heart," "Because The Night") to previously unreleased tracks, including the long-sought-after studio recording of "I'll Stand By You." Also, for the first time on album, Blinded By The Light: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack presents two live rarities: the debut live performance of "The River" (from No Nukes '79 - Madison Square Garden, NYC - September 21, 1979) and an unforgettable acoustic solo performance of "The Promised Land" (Concert for Valor - The National Mall, Washington DC, November 11, 2014). In addition to the Springsteen performances, Blinded By The Light: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack includes period tracks and dialog from the film and premieres "For You My Love," a new song written for the film by soundtrack composer A.R. Rahman ("Slumdog Millionaire"). Rahman has won six National Film Awards, two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, fifteen Filmfare Awards and seventeen Filmfare Awards South. Inspired by a true story (Sarfraz Manzoor's Greetings from Bury Park: Race, Religion and Rock N' Roll) and the words and music of Bruce Springsteen, New Line Cinema's "Blinded by the Light" is the new coming-of-age film directed by Gurinder Chadha ("Bend It Like Beckham"). The film follows Javed (Viveik Kalra), a British teen of Pakistani descent, growing up in Luton, England in 1987. Javed's turbulent life amidst the racial and economic turmoil of the times is transformed when he is introduced to the music of Bruce Springsteen.

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Tori Kelly - Inspired By True Events - CAPITOL
Inspired By True Events follows Tori Kelly’s 2018 album, Hiding Place, which won the GRAMMY Award for Best Gospel Album while the chart-topping lead single, “Never Alone” (Feat. Kirk Franklin), took the Best Gospel Performance/Song prize. Produced by Franklin, a 12-time GRAMMY Award winner, Hiding Place debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart, earning more first-week streams than any gospel album in history. Though Hiding Place marked a stylistic departure from Tori’s work in the pop world, each song demonstrated the uncompromising artistry that carries through all of her music. Her 2015 debut album, Unbreakable Smile, entered the Billboard 200 at No. 2 and contained the Gold-certified singles “Nobody Love,” “Should’ve Been Us” and “Hollow.” It earned her a 2016 GRAMMY nomination for Best New Artist and recognition as a breakthrough artist at Billboard’s 2015 Women in Music ceremony. Unbreakable Smile has earned more than one billion cumulative streams worldwide and sold 1.3 million adjusted albums.

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UPCOMING RELEASES 

Ride - This Is Not A Safe Place - Wichita Records
Ride return with the 6th studio album of their career and their second since reforming in 2015 and signing to Wichita. As with their previous album, the highly acclaimed Weather Diaries, Erol Alkan was in the producers chair, whilst career-long collaborator Alan Moulder (with Caesar Edmunds) mixed the album. The albums title was inspired by one of the hobo code symbols once used by those who travelled the railroads of the US, and then found in the early artwork of Jean-Michel Basquiat. The phrase clearly resonates with the current state of the world politically and environmentally. This Is Not A Safe Place is arguably the Ride album with the broadest sonic palette thus far. You can hear sounds and styles that span their entire catalogue but, both musically and lyrically, this is clearly an album made by a band who love being back together and who are at the very top of their game.

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Eilen Jewell - Gypsy - Signature Sounds
On August 16th, 2019, Eilen Jewell will release Gypsy on Signature Sounds. Described as one of Americana's most intriguing and creative voices (American Songwriter), Jewell has written 11 new songs for Gypsy and is calling it her favorite album yet: new sounds, old sounds, electric guitar-driven rockers, classic country, and tender ballads. Gypsy continues to solidify Jewell's reputation as one of the most distinctive and potent voices in the Americana world today.

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Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors - Dragons - MAGNOLIA MUSIC
Over the last decade, Drew Holcomb has established himself as one of Americana s freshest upstarts, building his following and critical appeal with every release, show, and entrepreneurial undertaking (like his curated Moon River Music Festival and Magnolia Record Club). For Holcomb, music is what helps us try to understand our place in a world full of equal parts chaos, confusion, love, and community, and Dragons is his reminder to all of us to keep fighting the good fight and to never give up. Produced by Cason Cooley (Ingrid Michelson, American Authors) Dragons features collaborations with Lori McKenna, Natalie Hemby, Sean McConnell, and Zach Williams of The Lone Bellow.

  

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Tootsie [Original Broadway Cast Recording] - Decca
Tootsie's Original Broadway Cast Recording is now available from Decca Broadway. The album preserves David Yazbek's Tony-nominated score and the performances of the original Broadway cast, led by Tony nominee Santino Fontana as Michael Dorsey.

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For more information on these and other releases out this week, check out our New Releases charts by week section.