The Friday Refrain: Your Weekly New Music Digest

Ahoy mateys - it's Friday again and time to break down what's going on in music. June has been absolutely bonkers with huge releases, and this week is no joke as well. But first, I missed last week due to having a ton of fun at Bonnaroo, so let's recap.

Last Friday, in case you missed it, indie rockers Big Thief released Capacity. Josh and I, as well as almost every other music commenter out there, love love loved the last album and have been anticipating this one. French rockers Phoenix came back with Ti Amo. Lindsey Buckingham & Chirstine McVie of Fleetwood Mac fame joined together to release a self-titled album. Always keeping us on our toes and intrigued, Sufjan Stevens released Planetarium. In the pop world, Katy Perry released Witness and pop country outfit Lady Antebellum returned with Heart Break. The final Chuck Berry album was released, titled Chuck. Speaking of icons with last albums, Glen Campbell's farewell album Adiós hit shelves last week. Singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco released Binary and SZA released CTRL. Gov't Mule returne with Revolution Come... Revolution Go. Punk rockers Rancid brought Trouble Maker and finally Rise Against released Wolves. And that was just last Friday.

Today: _deep breath_ Let's start with those who played at Bonnaroo last week: Lorde releases Melodrama today, Portugal. The Man return with Woodstock; Kevin Morby's back with City Music and Royal Blood's new album is How Did We Get So Dark?  Nickelback release Feed The Machine today. In the rap world, 2 Chainz and Big Boi both have albums out today, Pretty Girls Like Trap Music and Boomiverse respectively. Veteran rock bands Cheap Trick (We're All Alright!) and Styx (The Mission) also have albums out today. Singer-songwriter Jason Isbell is back with The Nashville Sound. And harmonically amazing Fleet Foxes finally finally finally have a new album - Crack-Up.

Crack into this List of last week's releases.

And that's all for me today. Time to go snuggle on the couch for a bit before jumping into the weekend. And if you're at a festival this weekend - remember stay hydrated, stay cool, wear your ear protection, reapply that sunscreen and Happy Listening!

The Friday Refrain: A bit of what's new in music...

I almost didn't get this done because I want to finish eating my grapefruit. Oh my goodness I love grapefruit. I can wait. Can't I? Anyway, welcome to Friday. It's my least favorite Friday of the year - this weekend is daylight savings time which I believe is kinda like a stuck donkey wheel for me. I just don't jibe well with the clocks until next fall when we fall back again. I know how some people want to get rid of Daylight Savings Time, but that makes me worried. What if they got rid of it after a spring forward and I never jibed with the clocks again? It's like a horror movie. Mm. Grapefruit.

Tickity tock, it's the list of last week's releases as genrefied by me for what I listened to.

(shh... I didn't listen to a lot because well, it's a HALF PINTS WHOLE NOTES WEEK! And I spend a good deal of time cuddling those albums up to my ears. So go over to csicon and check it out.)

Today today today.... What arrived today? well, popular metal band Killswitch Engage released Incarnate. In teh same vein, 3 Doors Down are out with Us And The Night. Singer-songwriter Pete Yorn is back with Arranging Time. And another actress crosses the musical line with the eponymous Rita Wilson release. Lucius are here with Good Grief. And Jeff Buckley made recordings of a bunch of songs to kinda get his album groove on and today those previously unreleased tracks are released on You And I. Which I'm pretty much going to be checking out in the near future. And this is just odd, so I'm going to mention it. Skullsjá is the name of the band and the album, it is a colloboration by two of the metal band Enslaved's members to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Norwegian Constitution and tells the history of Norway from beginning to end I guess. That's what I read anyway. Crazy.

It's a sad day. I have no lists. It's too sunny out and I want to eat my grapefruit. So instead of my eccentric musical lists, I suggest you head over to Record Store Day and check out the list of releases for this year and start your money planning now.