Before I get to the music news today, a heads up. I have created a new site and will be switching the domain bunkamade.com over to that site this week. So if you have this in your RSS feed under rrmusicandmore.squarespace.com, you will not be seeing updates in a week or so. I'm going to do a few more posts reminding to make the switch before I do it. And now - the Refrain!
Buckle your seatbelts everyone - today is a hit list. I woke up to new Arcade Fire (Everything Now) and Cage The Elephant released an album of stripped down live recordings of their songs along with a string quartet and percussion entitled, Unpeeled. We have a few veteran musical stars popping up today too: Mick Jagger released a two song single, Gotta Get A Grip/England Lost and Santan & The Isley Brothers join forces to bring Power of Peace. Alice Cooper is 27 albums strong with Paranormal. Pop music side of things, Julia Michaels released a mini-album/ep titled Nervous System (you might know her single "Issues" if you listen to popular music radio stations). On the indie/alternative side of things we've got a couple more albums of note. Passion Pit released Tremendous State of Love today and Annie Hart of Au Revoir Simone released Impossible Accomplice (which isn't on Spotify but is on bandcamp). Ty Segall is insanely prolific and released Fried Shallots today. Sylvan Esso decided to see what their songs would sound like with a full band, they filmed and recorded the effort and you can watch the videos or listen to Echo Mountain Sessions to find out the result. Finally, Margo Price released a 4 song ep, Weakness this week and that is just awesome. I love her.
You know how sometimes you're all prepared and do a good job, and then when it comes down to the deadline, you look around you and all that work you've done is simply vanished? Yeah? Me too. I lost my notebook. And i had finally brainstormed my lists last weekend instead of impromptu today, but I can't find the notebook. The nerve of that thing. Anyway, let's just talk about some things I liked instead.
Things I liked Instead
Nicole Atkins, Goodnight Rhonda Lee - Her voice is so lush. I've seen her perform live too and she is an amazing all around musician. The album has a vintage sound to it and her songs bring memories of the 50s and 60s to mind.
Vera Blue, Perennial - Great pop album out to ride out the sunshine days of summer with.
Tyler, the Creator; Flower Boy - I've given this album a couple listens now and I especially like the track "See You Again."
Mezana Dounia, Massa Dembele - This is an amazing album. The music is beautiful from this Burkina Faso native. Great to put on and listen to or put on for a dinner party. Last Friday, I intended to do some album sampling but this was the first artist I played, and we listened to the entire album.
Stanton Moore, With You In Mind - A jazz/funk album, features appearances by the likes of Trombone Shorty adn Cyril Neville.
Sam Frazier Jr., Take Me Back - The tracks were recorded in the late 60s/early 70s and didn't get much traction, so Sam Frazier Jr. is putting them out to the world again. His voice is delightful and if you like Otis Redding, then you should definitely give this a listen.
Miracle Drug, How Much Is Enough - they self-describe as Hardcore. So there you go. A change from the last few albums I guess. There's a curveball for ya.
Declan McKenna, What do you think about the car - This poppy alt rock singer-songwriter might have caught your ear already, especially the single "Brazil."
David Benoit & Marc Antoine, So Nice - I'm going to round out this list with another dinner party-friendly jazz album that would pair nicely with a glass of a crisp cold white wine.
Metal Albums I Am Going To Get Around To
To Speak of Wolves, Dead in the Shadow
Sun of the Sleepless, To The Elements
Undergang, Misantropologi
Poseidon, Prologue
And there we have it, another week, another Refrain. Check out the Spotify list for some of the things I mentioned today and Happy Listening!