The end of the year always brings about some fun surprises. This week, living legend and one of the all-time greatest rappers André 3000 announced his long-awaited debut solo album, but there’s a catch: he doesn’t rap on it. Inspired by the likes of Laraaji, Brian Eno, Steve Reich, Alice Coltrane, and Pharoah Sanders, it’s an improvised, instrumental, ambient jazz album that features André on wind instruments and it includes some pretty incredible song titles such as “I swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me” and “That Night In Hawaii When I Turned Into A Panther And Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn’t Control … Sh¥t Was Wild” amongst others. The sonic swerve here is undoubtedly one of the biggest musical surprises of the year, and perhaps decade or even millennium, but it’s an incredible accomplishment that yields high rewards and yet another testament to 3000’s musical brilliance and approach to song-craft.
Bombastic rapper Danny Brown dropped a joint album with JPEGMAFIA earliner in the year and showed up with a stellar guest verse on the album of the year contender Maps by billy woods and Kenny Segal, but this week sees the release of his new solo album Quartana, his first since 2019.
The Queen, Dolly Parton owes us nothing and still today she delivers her first ever “rock” album, appropriately titles ROCKSTAR and it features a murderer’s row of guests that aid her in some pretty iconic covers.
Kurt Vile just released a new album last year and today he follows it up with a new EP called Back to Moon Beach which features more of his ultra-chill guitar music that’s a perfect soundtrack for zoning out into the weekend. After releasing her excellent new album this past summer, Julie Byrne also has a new EP this week and it features a glowing cover of Jackson Browne / Nico’s iconic “These Days.”
Whether he’s operating with his main band Wednesday or as a solo artist, MJ Lenderman is making some of the best rock tunes of the past few years and today’s he’s giving us a taste of his live experience via his first live album And The Wind (Live And Loose!) which cranks up the fuzz and lets it rip.
In 1978, Bob Dylan played his first ever shows in Japan and now the concerts have been packaged in a deluxe box set for the 45th anniversary. Featuring two complete concerts, the box includes 36 never before heard recordings from the infamous shows.
Earlier this year, The Smile shared a new song called “Bending Hectic” and this week they shared that the song would be featured on their sophomore album, Wall of Eyes, which is due in January. Along with the album announcement, the band shared another new song, the title track from the record, and it’s a moody tune that feels alike a natural continuation of their sound.
Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis announced a new solo album for 2024 and the lead single, “Can’t Believe We’re Here” has more of a full band sound than you might expect from a solo album, but it’s surging guitar is distinctly J even if an acoustic instrument leads the charge.
For the first time in 26 years, there’s a new song from alt-rockers Porno for Pyros, the band led by Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction, and it sounds like their classic material pulled straight from the ‘90’s (which checks out since the song was originally written for the band’s 1997 sophomore record). It’ll be featured on the band’s upcoming EP, due next year, and coincides with the band’s farewell tour, also scheduled for 2024.
Not quite done with their killer year yet, boygenius have teamed up with the Irish group Ye Vagabond for a cover of the traditional folk song “The Parting Glass” in tribute to Sinéad O’Connor who had famously covered the song as well. All proceeds from the track will go to charity (a running end of year tradition for Bridgers) that was selected by O’Connor’s family estate.
Albums:
André 3000 | New Blue Sun
Danny Brown | Quaranta
Dolly Parton | ROCKSTAR
2 Chainz & Lil Wayne | Welcome 2 Collegrove
Spencer Zahn | Statues II
Blockhead | The Aux
Ali Sethi / Nicolas Jaar | Intiha
Kurt Vile | Back To Moon Beach EP
Julie Byrne | Julie Byrne With Laugh Cry Laugh EP
Brian Eno | Chamber Lightness EP
MJ Lenderman | And The Wind (Live And Loose!) [live album]
Iron & Wine | Who Can See Forever [live soundtrack album]
Bob Dylan | The Complete Budokan 1978 [live album box set]
Songs:
The Smile | “Wall of Eyes”
J Mascis | “Can’t Believe We’re Here”
Laetitia Sadier | “Une Autre Attente”
Porno for Pyros | “Agua”
Lucius | “Stranger Danger”
Cakes da Killa | “Cakewalk”
boygenius / Ye Vagabonds | “The Parting Glass”
Nouvelle Vague | “Only You” [Yaz cover]
If you’re a Spotify user, you can listen to these songs (and more from 2023) here!