Last week, I posted a lengthy piece on how to be an ethical and socially conscious music fan in the age of streaming. The piece spoke in detail about ways in which you can support artists and ditch streaming. So, you may be wondering why I am still linking to a Spotify playlist in this (and future) weekly emails. I’m working on a follow-up piece which I hope to publish next week, but the short of it is that I still want to share music with people and at the moment, it’s easiest to do that with Spotify as that is the platform of choice for most of my subscribers. Also, the biggest problem with streaming isn’t Joe Rogan, unfortunately. Hopefully, however, you’ve noticed that the album suggestions in these emails link to direct ways to buy the music from the artists and I’d encourage everyone to follow those links to buy music, merchandise, and (if you feel safe) concert tickets.
If you are a music collector, today happens to be the first Bandcamp Friday of the year and it is a wonderful time to show support to bands. Now, on with the show.
February is set to be an epic month of new music and today starts off strong with some top notch albums. Black Country, New Road are back with their sophomore record, but it comes right off of Monday’s news that led singer Isaac Wood has left the group. Part of a rising London scene, this band was full of promise and the lead singles from the album furthered their sound. Although their upcoming tour is, expectedly, cancelled, the group says they plan to continue and it’ll be interesting to see how they adapt.
Glenn Donaldson keeps up his terrific streak with another new record from The Reds, Pinks and Purples. It’s more of his delightfully bright jangle-pop that sounds as inviting as ever. Mitski returns with her first album since Be The Cowboy and her subsequent hiatus. Laurel Hell finds her somewhere between her indie rock triumphs and her quest as a rising pop star. Animal Collective’s Time Skiffs is their first proper studio album since 2016 and the advanced singles have been some of their strongest tunes in a decade. Twenty years after they rose from underground experimentalists to indie sensations, they’ve come back into the mix as the refined statesmen of the scene.
Lucy Dacus dropped a new stand-alone single, the charged-up alt-rock and pop-punk influenced “Kissing Lessons.” It’s easily one of her most ripping songs and clocks-in at just under two minutes. Kamasi Washington also shared his first new song of 2022 (and made his network television debut), “The Garden Path.” We also got a new one from The Range, his first since 2016.
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have made some of the most frantic rock and roll songs over the past half-decade and show no signs of stopping on the electrifying new single “The Way It Shatters.” It’s the lead single to their new album which is out in May. The Linda Lindas continue to take the music world by storm after going viral last year with their hit “Racist Sexist Boy.” They’ve since signed with Epitaph and have a full-length on the way. “Growing Up” is the spunky title-track and shows they’re only getting better with time.
Portico Quartet announced a new EP and shared the first single, “Youth.” The band says it’s “deceptively simple tune, nostalgic in tone, It's a paen to childhood and simpler days, with Wyllie's wistful sax melody perfectly offset by the low-slung slow-mo hip-hop beat of Bellamy drums.”
Albums:
Black Country, New Road | Ants From Up There
The Reds, Pinks and Purples | Summer at Land’s End
Mitski | Laurel Hell
Animal Collective | Time Skiffs
Saba | Few Good Things
A Place to Bury Strangers | See Through You
Songs:
Lucy Dacus | “Kissing Lessons”
Kamasi Washington | “The Garden Path”
The Range | “Bicameral”
The Linda Lindas | “Growing Up”
Portico Quartet | “Youth”
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever | “The Way It Shatters”
Arlo Parks | “Softly”
illuminati hotties | “sandwich sharer”
METZ | “Demolition Row”
Cassandra Jenkins | “It’s You” [Animal Collective / Vashti Bunyan cover]
El Ten Eleven | “The Time Knife”
If you’re a Spotify user, you can listen to these songs (and more from 2022) here!