The first of this week’s smashers comes from Jakko M. Jakszyk, most recently known as the vocalist and guitarist in legendary progressive rockers King Crimson, who returns with his brand-new solo album, Son of Glen. People already familiar with Jakko’s acclaimed autobiography, Who’s the Boy with the Lovely Hair?, will be aware of the intensely emotional journey he went on in search of his roots, being an adopted child, and his new solo album takes many of the topics touched on in that book as its starting point.
Every BC Camplight album has a backstory every bit as compelling as its music. A Sober Conversation is no different, as virtuoso songwriter and pianist Brian Christinzio documents the last two years of his life, finally confronting a shocking childhood trauma while embracing sobriety, to create his bravest and most revealing record yet. It’s an enthralling, sometimes haunting quasi-concept album marked by ruthless tragic-comedic purging and sublime, intricate melody, knitting lyrical screenplays to dazzling arrangements.
Co-produced with Jim-E Stack, with contributions from Devonte Hynes (Blood Orange), Dan Nigro, Fabiana Palladino, Buddy Ross and Andrew Aged, Virgin is the sound of Lorde returning to the beat-driven music and raw lyricism that propelled Pure Heroine and Melodrama to commercial and critical success. Preceded by lead single ‘What Was That’ (which peaked at #1 on the US Spotify Chart), Virgin marks the return of a truly generational artist.
For as far as Durand Jones & The Indications have come, Flowers grew from the desire to return to their roots in a Bloomington basement, a space where they first found camaraderie in the gritty funk and Southern soul that would inspire their self-titled debut. Pulling sonically and spiritually from each of the group’s previous releases and solo work, Flowers is the next stage of DJI’s inspired soulful discography. DJI are not only accepting their flowers but indulging in their sweet and sexy fragrance.
In 1974, Tangerine Dream – then comprising Edgar Froese, Peter Baumann and Christopher Franke – performed a now-legendary concert set against the awe-inspiring backdrop of Coventry Cathedral. Nearly fifty years later, the current incarnation of the band – Thorsten Quaeschning, Hoshiko Yamane and Paul Frick – returned to that same sacred space to perform a monumental From Virgin to Quantum Years set, bridging eras in a performance that reflects the band’s extraordinary and ceaseless evolution.
Our release of the week is Lost and Found: Selections from the Lost Albums, a curated collection of 20 previously unreleased songs from Bruce Springsteen’s Tracks II: The Lost Albums box set. These recordings illuminate key chapters in Springsteen’s storied career, offering fans unprecedented insight into his creative process. These were full albums, recorded and some even mixed but never released, spanning 35 prolific years of Springsteen’s songwriting and recording and showcasing his versatility across genres: film soundtracks, soulful country arrangements, richly textured border tales, orchestral mid-century noir and signature E Street rock.
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