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Post by kds on Jan 20, 2022 15:28:42 GMT
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 25, 2022 15:41:32 GMT
Today's releases include the lost 2000-01 David Bowie album Toy, which was previously released in November '21 as part of his '90s catalogue box set but now gets a standalone release. It was recorded in 2000 and comprises mostly songs he had written from 1964-71.
I've just started listening, and it's really enjoyable. I'm not a superfan, but I am a modest Bowie fan. Here's one I am liking:
Just bumping this because I have REALLY been liking this album! It reminds me almost of Wonderful World of the Wondermints, which makes sense in that they're roughly turn-of-the-century versions of mid-late '60s songs. Different kinds of songs, different kinds of '00 production, but feeling similar to me.
I don't know what I would have thought of Toy had it come out in 2000. Frankly I wasn't very interested in Bowie, being lukewarm on Tin Machine and cool on what I heard of things like Earthling. But in hindsight, having become a bigger fan of his and especially liking those kinds of songs as well as the production here, I'm loving it.
There isn't a lot of competition just under one month in, but so far this is quite likely my favorite album of 2022. (I believe the only albums I've heard in full this year are it, Elvis Costello's excellent The Boy Named If, Yard Act's The Overload, and Earl Sweatshirt's Sick! So it's the best of four, anyway!)
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 9, 2022 15:21:46 GMT
Father John Misty (Josh Tillman) released his second pre-album single from the upcoming Chloe and the Next 20th Century, out in April.
"Q4" is another highly polished, really wonderfully arranged production. Very much in the spirit of some late 60s and 70s pop music with strings, horns, harpischord, et al.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 10, 2022 18:05:05 GMT
88-year-old Willie Nelson announced a new album coming April 29, his 89th birthday. The first single from A Beautiful Time is out now (below), written by Rodney Crowell and Chris Stapleton, and there are a couple of covers (the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends" and Leonard Cohen's "Tower of Song"), but the rest of the songs are Nelson originals.
The man just keeps working.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 11, 2022 12:48:14 GMT
Looking through new releases this morning, I stumbled on this single from the New Zealand-based band The Beths, "A Real Thing." I'm not sure if it's more power pop or pop-punk, but it's rollicking rock with vocal harmonies (which, I learned from a quick googling, is apparently their thing: 4-part harmonies. I like that.).
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 25, 2022 14:47:00 GMT
Omnivore Recordings is releasing (today) a deluxe reissue of an album I didn't know existed in the first place, but that gets my attention: a Left Banke album that includes six previously unreleased 2001 songs.
Strangers On a Train (aka Voices Calling outside the US) was recorded in 1978 with almost no involvement from original Left Banke mastermind Michael Brown, and was apparently eventually released in 1986. Then, in 2001, Brown contacted Left Banke lead singer Michael Caro to sing on some new songs he had written and partly recorded. They shopped that material, but it wasn't ever released.
This reissue includes that 1978/86 album and the 2001 tracks.
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Post by kds on Feb 25, 2022 18:29:22 GMT
I just listened to the new Scorpions. ultimateclassicrock.com/scorpions-rock-believer-album-review/Now, I don't think Scorpions have had a really, really strong album in a long time. You might have to go back to 1990's Crazy World for their last truly consistently good album. But, I have to say that Rock Believer - awkward title aside - is pretty good. I'll probably give it a couple more listens before I decide if I'm going to buy it. Prolific music author and YouTuber Martin Popoff said it's their best work since 1982's Blackout. Having read several of Martin's books, I don't think that's hyperbole, especially since he really doesn't much care for the most polished metal the band released from 1984-1990.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 2, 2022 16:09:23 GMT
Belle & Sebastian will release their first new studio album in seven years in a couple of months. The lead single, "Unnecessary Drama," also sounds a bit more band-centric, lacking some of the electronic/dance elements that have been a big part of their previous few albums. (Though one song is one song.)
Seeing the video, I think, "God, they're getting old." Then I remember, "damnit, I'm getting old, too!"
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Mar 4, 2022 17:46:47 GMT
I've been digging this song that came out a little over a month ago:
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 9, 2022 15:18:40 GMT
Father John Misty released his third pre-album single from his upcoming Chloe and the Next 20th Century (due in April). The song, "Goodbye Mr. Blue," has an "Everybody's Talkin" sound and vibe to it. But it's quite nice. I think based on these three songs, it will be the first Father John Misty album that I think seems to live up to his talent. (Or at least that matches my taste.)
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Post by kds on Mar 17, 2022 15:11:13 GMT
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 17, 2022 15:14:08 GMT
I wonder whether they've been holding on to the album for the much-delayed "80s rockers" tour to begin, or whether they just did it during the delays of that tour.
I also wonder who produces.
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Post by kds on Mar 17, 2022 15:26:05 GMT
I wonder whether they've been holding on to the album for the much-delayed "80s rockers" tour to begin, or whether they just did it during the delays of that tour.
I also wonder who produces.
I'm wondering if it was recorded during the delays. Until they released their 2015 s/t album, Elliott was pondering whether or not it's even worth it to release LPs anymore. And they seemed to be in no real hurry to follow that one up, but a two year touring delay might've changed the situation.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 17, 2022 17:23:30 GMT
Veteran indie musician Andrew Bird, best known for using violin as his main instrument (including often looping it), released a pretty cool new song, "Atomized." It's not easy to describe, really...
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 17, 2022 20:15:49 GMT
I might be mistaken but I think I recall us having an Arcade Fan or two around here. Anyway, they've announced their first new album in about five years coming out in May, and I understand it's something of a return to the big, bombastic sound that brought them their initial fame in the 00s.
Here is the first single.
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