As we head into Memorial Day Weekend (and the unofficial start of summer), we're met with some solid albums to help kick off the best time of year. Leading the charge this week is Arlo Parks who is back with her sophomore record that features more of her folk stylings and a guest verse from Phoebe Bridgers. This week, Arlo shared the final single from the album and it’s a charged-up shoegaze inspired number that hints at a surprising, but very much welcomed new direction from the artist and builds the hype for the new record.
Earlier this year, Kevin Morby released a soundtrack to the film Montana Story and this week he is back with a follow-up/companion album to last year’s very good record, This Is a Photograph. Elsewhere, noise rockers Wolf Eyes have unleashed their latest album, Dreams In Splattered Lines.
Tame Impala have shared the tenth anniversary edition of their fantastic album, Lonerism and the 3X-LP box set features previously unreleased demos from the recording sessions. Post-rock group Fridge, the former band of Four Tet’s Kieran Hebdan, have reissued their record Happiness in honor of the album’s twentieth anniversary.
We’re a week away from the return of Foo Fighters who will drop their first record since the tragic death of their drummer Taylor Hawkins. This week, the band shared their own shoegaze-heavy track, “Show Me How” which features vocals from Dave Grohl’s daughter Violet and again plants the seed that this could be the best Foos album in over a decade.
This summer, Greta Gerwig will unleash her latest feature film, Barbie, and today, rising pop phenom Dua Lipa has shared her new song which leads as the soundtrack’s first single. The elastic, funky number hits with rubbery bass that mixes disco charm with pure pop pleasure.
Big Thief guitarist Buck Meek announced that he’s signed to label 4AD and with that shared the rusted-out single “Haunted Mountain” which is the rocking title track to his forthcoming album. British post-punks Squid will also drop a new album soon and this week shared the buzzing and twisted new single, “The Blades” which their lead singer has hailed as his favorite track the band has ever written.
Jess Williamson, one-half of the great country duo Plains, has a new album on the way and this week she shared yet another great track, the glowing “Time Ain’t Accidental” which finds her right in her comfort zone and hitting cruise control. We also got another bopping new track from Jenny Lewis ahead of her new album which is also due later this summer.
Sadly, this week we lost the incomparable Tina Turner. Among her many accolades, the Queen of Rock and Roll was the first woman and first Black person to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone, the epitome of what it means to be a music icon and it’s worth highlighting that HBO’s recent documentary, Tina, is a phenomenal watch and plays as the ultimate tribute to legend who changed the face of rock music unlike anyone else.
Albums:
Arlo Parks | My Soft Machine
Sparks | The Girl is Crying in Her Latte
Kevin Morby | More Photographs (A Continuum)
Water From Your Eyes | Everyone’s Crushed
Wolf Eyes | Dreams In Splattered Lines
Pere Ubu | Trouble on Big Beat Street
Tame Impala | Lonerism 10th Anniversary Box Set
Fridge | Happiness - Anniversary Edition
Songs:
Foo Fighters | “Show Me How”
Dua Lipa | “Dance the Night”
Squid | “The Blades”
Jess Williamson | “Time Ain’t Accidental”
Jenny Lewis | “Cherry Baby”
Buck Meek | “Haunted Mountain”
Militarie Gun | “Will Logic”
Jungle | “Dominoes”
Phoenix | “Winter Solstice” [Braxe + Falcon remix]
If you’re a Spotify user, you can listen to these songs (and more from 2023) here!