Gold Soundz: September 20, 2024

This week's suggested new music, curated by omg!nyc

Sep 20, 2024

It’s still summer, technically, for at least another day, but it still feels late for Jamie xx to finally drop his long-awaited sophomore solo album. In the near decade since his stellar debut, Jamie has become one of the most in-demand and highly acclaimed DJs on the planet. During this time between albums we’ve also gotten the debut records from his xx bandmates Romy and Oliver as well as that often forgotten, but better than you remember, third album from the xx themselves. While the singles don’t tell the full story, the hype for this album has been gigantic. Here’s to hoping the wait was worth it.

Despite cancelling their record release show and upcoming appearance at Riot Fest after some troublesome performances recently, Bright Eyes are back with a new album today. Hopefully Conor Oberst will be able to get some help and get back on track soon so the album’s release isn’t totally tainted by this news.

In 2016, 18-year-old Max Hellesto was sent to prison for six years for first degree assault. In response to this and as a coping mechanism, Hellesto’s brother started a band called Regional Justice Center, named for the prison holding Hellesto. The band’s focus wasn’t just on the idea of a family member in prison, but about cycles of abuse and family trauma as well. When the pandemic hit, the band hit a pause and their singer, Ian Shelton, went on to form the band Militarie Gun. Now that Max has been released from prison, the band has marked a comeback and today they’ve executed their new album, Freedom Sweet Freedom. It clocks-in just under 15 minutes and goes extremely hard.

Former Sonic Youth member Thurston Moore has been a vital guitar player in the noise and no wave scene for nearly half a century and today he adds another record to his remarkable profile.

Critically acclaimed jazz saxophonist Nubya Garcia follows-up her excellent debut with a new album full of lush, dexterous jazz that features the likes of Esperanza Spalding and Georgia Anne Muldrow and fuses orchestral compositions with dub and R&B for something really special and moving.

Spencer Krug is a busy guy. Over the past two decades he’s been a major player in over thirty releases and while he might be best known for his work as a member of Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown holds a special place for many of his fans. Today he’s back with the band’s first new album in fifteen years and while he’s still the primary songwriter, the rest of the band helped work on the arrangements.

Slowcore and dream-pop pioneers Galaxie 500 were only around for a brief time in the last ‘80s and early ‘90s but their sound has made a lasting impact. Today we get a new collection of unreleased material and recordings that finally gives us more from a band that had some much to say with such minimal music.

In the world of classic rock box sets, Bob Dylan is dropping a whopping 431 track box set full of live recordings from 1974. 417 of those live tracks have never been released before and the whole thing spans more than twenty CDs. It’s part of the 50th anniversary of Dylan’s return to touring and features The Band as well.

Fleetwood Mac follow-up last year’s Rumors Live with another archival release and this time it’s from their 1982 tour stop at the Forum in Inglewood, California in support of their record Mirage.

The last album from Bon Iver was 2019’s stunning i,i. Right after COVID hit, Justin Vernon dropped a pair of tracks that hinted at a possible quick return, but things have been quiet ever since. Now, Vernon has announced the next chapter in the Bon Iver saga and it’s an EP entitled Sable, which he’s described as a “reset and reintroduction.” The lead single “S P E Y S I D E” is vintage Bon Iver with soft acoustics and Vernon’s unmistakable voice that brings you right back to Emma-era sounds.

It’s been three years since post-rock great Mogwai dropped their last album, but this week the band announced a massive tour for 2025 and shared a new single. “God Gets You Back” isn’t a sweeping guitar epic like you might expect, but digs into their electronic side for a cinematic, synth-heavy tune.

We’re less than a month away from the final album from Japandroids and now we have one last single before the whole thing drops. There’s an emo influence to their usual noise-pop bursts of guitar and drums and while it starts off slow and easy, it hits their usual pace by the time it comes to a ripping finish.

It’s been a rough time for the recently reunited Jane’s Addiction. After a troubling show in New York City, the band imploded on stage in Boston and cancelled the remainder of their reunion tour. Even though it seems like the band might be done for good, they did mysteriously post a new song, a bit of a grueling slow burn that still hits with their darkened grace, with no accompanying announcement further fueling any speculation about their future.

When Johnny Cash famously covered “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails, he gave the song a new vision and somehow made it feel even darker than the original. Willie Nelson does something similar on his new cover of The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize??” and there’s something especially haunting about hearing Willie sing “do you realize that everyone you know, some day will die.”

The legendary post-punk/new-wave heroes Talking Heads still haven’t made plans to get back together, but they are reissuing their iconic debut album with some unreleased material including an acoustic version of the great “Psycho Killer” which features Arthur Russell in a dream-collaboration that’s floated around the internet, but now gets the proper release it (and we) deserve.

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Songs:

If you’re a Spotify user, you can listen to these songs (and more from 2024) here!

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