We’re in a bit of a mid-month slump this week with not many notable releases to check out. PinkPatheress, however, is one of the biggest out of nowhere acts of the year and this debut mixtape could be the one to put her on the map after becoming a rising sensation on TikTok.
Dean Wareham has a new one out this week as well and continues his post-Luna and Galaxie 500 work with one of his strongest to date. Elsewhere, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine has a new solo album this week and early ‘00’s hard rock revivalists The Darkness also have a new album out today.
The biggest news of the week, however, comes from Adele who finally announced that her fourth record, 30, will be out on November 19. Today, she shares her first new song from the album, “Easy on Me.”
Marissa Paternoster of the criminally underrated Screaming Females announced her debut solo album and shared the first single, “White Dove.” It’s a great acoustic track that feels like a departure from the work with her band and an interesting new direction for the singer.
Mr. Twin Sister announced a new album due later this year and shared yet another great song. If the singles are a preview (and we don’t know the track list yet so this isn’t confirmed), this will be a dance-heavy record and their first since 2018’s Salt.
Cassandra Jenkins released the Album of the Year contender, An Overview on Phenomenal Nature, earlier this year and this week announced a companion piece featuring remixes and demos of the tracks. The sparkling “Hailey (Premix)” is a wonderful new reinvention of the song and gives it more of a groove than I ever would’ve expected.
The iconic and forever prolific Neil Young has also announced a new album, joined once again by Crazy Horse. It’s called Barn and it’s out at the end of the year. This follows two archive releases and an official bootleg from Young that arrived earlier this year. Young’s voice certainly shows his age on the album’s first single, but for die-hard fans, another record with Crazy Horse isn’t one to dismiss.
Today is the premiere of Todd Haynes’ documentary on The Velvet Underground. Haynes directed and produced the documentary which debuted at Cannes earlier this year to rave reviews. You can stream it on Apple TV or see it in select theaters.
Finally, today is the release of The Beatles’ 50th anniversary edition of their final album, Let It Be. Like many other box sets released from the group’s extensive vaults, this features demos and alternate takes from the infamous session which saw the group come to its end. Highlights on this one include studio chatter from the group as they workout songs. On the Get Back disc, John tells Ringo to come in hard enough to give John the confidence to scream on “Don’t Let Me Down.” In the Apple Jams, the band plays George’s solo masterpiece “All Things Must Pass.” There is also a freewheeling take on Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth” and a moment when Ringo says to George, “have you heard my octopus one yet?” as they then proceed to workout “Octopus’s Garden.” The dialogue among the guys is worth it alone and hearing them in this context re-contextualizes their entire breakup. This is also documented in the new Peter Jackson documentary, Get Back, which is out in November on Disney+ and now has a full-length trailer and I imagine the two will be wonderful companion pieces.
Albums:
PinkPantheress | to hell with it
Dean Wareham | I Have Nothing To Say To The Mayor Of L.A.
Tom Morello | The Atlas Underground Fire
The Darkness | Motorheart
Faye Webster | Live at Electric Lady
Bartees Strange | Live at Studio 4
The Beatles | Let It Be [50th Anniversary Edition]
Disclosure | DJ-Kicks [mix]
Songs:
Snail Mail | “Ben Franklin”
Black Country, New Road | “Chaos Space Machine”
Cassandra Jenkins | “Hailey (Premix)”
Adele | “Easy on Me”
Courtney Barnett | “Smile Real Nice”
Marissa Paternoster | “White Dove”
Mr. Twin Sister | “Ballarino”
Speedy Ortiz | “Cutco”
My Morning Jacket | “Complex”
Hamilton Leithauser / Kevin Morby | “Virginia Beach”
If you’re a Spotify user, you can listen to these songs (and more from 2021) here!