The first of this week’s six smashers is Deeper Well, the fifth album from six-time Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves, whose music is almost chimeric, with rolling acoustic guitars, puffy clouds of strings and synth, warm bass punctuations, layered harmonies, moments of Celtic melody and plenty of room on the tracks for Musgraves’ silvery vocals. On the bright, almost folky title track, the 30-something songstress surveys her life and priorities, recognising what feeds her, drains her and even examining the childhood she’s left behind on her way to now.
In just six days and “without overthinking anything,” Noah Kahan completed the five-track Cape Elizabeth EP, which features fan-favourite songs ‘A Troubled Mind’, ‘Glue Myself Shut’ and ‘Maine’ and has amassed 200m streams. It now gets its first physical release as Noah’s thank-you to the fans who stuck around, went to shows, watched his livestreams and listened. Noah says “The EP in particular is such a special story, because it was right at the beginning of the pandemic, and I just made it with my neighbour, a friend of mine, who’s an amazing producer. We worked on it for a week, and we didn’t really promote it too much – and it kind of became ‘Stick Season’ before ‘Stick Season’ in a lot of ways. It was a study on a place and a relationship in a place, and it was the first time I’d experimented with telling a story that felt like it had an overarching narrative.”
Timeless. Explosive. Romantic. Inspiring. How else to characterize Blue Electric Light, the 12th studio album by Lenny Kravitz? Kravitz’s mastery of deep-soul rock’n’roll is a long-established fact. As a relentless creative force – musician, writer, producer, actor, author, designer – he continues to be a global dynamic presence throughout music, art and culture. Blue Electric Light is an impassioned suite of songs that broadens this distinction and is the latest contribution of a man whose music – not to mention his singular style – continues to inspire millions all over the world. On the album, Kravitz’s talents as a writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist resonate as he wrote and played most of the instruments himself, with longtime guitarist Craig Ross.
The cheekiest band in the land, The Dandy Warhols, return with Rockmaker, their 12th studio album. Produced and recorded by the band at their studio/funhouse The Odditorium in Portland, Oregon, Rockmaker sees the ‘Bohemian Like You’ hitmakers celebrate their 30th year together with a sprinkle of glitter on their grime. Accompanied by guests Debbie Harry, Slash and Pixies’ Frank Black, The Dandy Warhols wrangle paranoia, untangle anxious discontent, and lust after life while the dance grooves go deeper, heady drones get weirder and riffage fit for bong rips hammers. Rockmaker is the Dandy’s clearest statement yet, at no sacrifice to their outré leanings. This is the sound of outsider alt-psych fixtures looking in as the walls come down.
Originally released in 1986, Brutal has never been reissued on vinyl until now. It features a dream cast: Sly & Robbie as Black Uhuru’s leaders, Junior Reid on vocals, Tyrone Downie (Roots Radics) on keyboards, all mixed at Lion & Fox by Ras Records fetish engineer Jim Fox. The original audio has been remastered for both vinyl and CD to give this legendary album even more sparkle.
Our release of the week comes from The Black Crowes, who return after 5 years with their 10th studio album, Happiness Bastards. The project might have been several tumultuous years in the making, but it’s arriving at just the right time. Whether it’s fraternal love or music destiny that brought the Robinson brothers back together, the highly anticipated record consecrating the reunion of this legendary band just may be the thing that saves rock’n’roll. In a time where the art form is buried beneath the corporate sheen of its successors, The Black Crowes are biting back with the angst of words left unsaid penned on paper and electrified by guitar strings, revealing stripped, bare-boned rock’n’roll. No gloss, no glitter, just rhythm and blues at it’s very best – gritty, loud, and in your face.
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