The first of this week’s smashers comes from Wunderhorse, who “want it to feel like you’re right there in the room with us.” And in 10 songs and 40 minutes, they capture the raw power and energy that has set them apart as one of the most formidable live acts of recent years. With rugged hooks, unfiltered noise and fierce melodic sensitivity, Midas rips up the script of traditional second albums and establishes the band as an addictive and rousing generational talent. The singles ‘Purple’ and ‘Leader of the Pack’ from their debut album, 2022’s Cub, dominated radio airwaves at the time. Landmark performances filling Glastonbury’s Woodsies Tent (fka The John Peel Stage) and selling out London’s Kentish Town Forum months in advance followed tours with Pixies and Fontaines D.C and stadium appearances with Sam Fender, signalling the band’s arrival as one of the most prominent and exciting new guitar acts in the UK.
By turns devotional, empowering and nurturing, Ritual is a 41-minute electronic symphony built by Jon Hopkins from cavernous subs, hypnotic drumming and transcendent melodic interplay. Tense, immersive and ultimately triumphant, it is a culmination of themes explored throughout his 22-year career, and acts as the kinetic counterpart to his 2021 album Music for Psychedelic Therapy. A single piece unfolding over eight chapters, Ritual is personified by depth and contrast. Taking ceremony, spiritual liberation and the hero’s journey as inspiration, it taps into an ancient and primal energy.
Fathers & Sons is the new full-length album from country music superstar Luke Combs. It is a collection of 12 poignant tracks, recorded entirely live and featuring Luke’s most personal songwriting to date, on which he reflects on his own experiences of being a father to his two sons and the unique bond between parents and their children.
Make It Right, the brand-new solo album from The Dream Syndicate’s Steve Wynn, is released in tandem with his memoir. It is a dialogue between memoirist and musician, and finds Wynn more vulnerable and reflective than has previously been heard. Make It Right features notable contributions from Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Vicki Peterson (The Bangles), Chris Schlarb (Psychic Temple), Emil Nikolaisen (Serena Maneesh), Linda Pitmon (The Baseball Project) among a cast of dozens.
Amelia is the first new album from 2024 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Laurie Anderson since 2018’s Landfall. The record comprises 22 tracks about renowned female aviator Amelia Earhart’s tragic last flight. Earhart was a passionate pioneer of early aviation, achieving fame in 1932 as the first woman to cross the Atlantic. Five years later, she embarked on a flight around the world. Before she completed the voyage her plane disappeared without a trace; it has never been found. “The words used in Amelia are inspired by her pilot diaries, the telegrams she wrote to her husband, and my idea of what a woman flying around the world might think about,” Anderson says. On the album, she is joined by the Czech orchestra Filharmonie Brno, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, plus Anohni, Gabriel Cabezas, Rob Moose, Ryan Kelly, Martha Mooke, Marc Ribot, Tony Scherr, Nadia Sirota and Kenny Wolleson.
Our release of the week comes from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, who dance between convention and experimentation on Wild God, taking left turns and detours that heighten the rich imagery and emotion in Cave’s soul-stirring narratives. This is the sound of a group emboldened by reconnection and taking flight. There are moments on the album that touch fondly on the Bad Seeds’ past but they are fleeting, and serve only to imbue the relentless and restless forward motion of the band. “I hope the album has the effect on listeners that it’s had on me,” Cave says. “It bursts out of the speaker, and I get swept up with it. It’s a complicated record, but it’s also deeply and joyously infectious. There is never a masterplan when we make a record. The records rather reflect back the emotional state of the writers and musicians who played them. Listening to this, I don’t know, it seems we’re happy.”
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