Best of What’s New

It’s Saturday morning, at least in my neck of the woods, and I hope your weekend is off to a great start. This is also the time when I take a fresh look at newly released music. All featured tunes are included on albums and one EP, which came out yesterday (July 14).

Alaska Reid/French Fries

Alaska Reid (born Sophia Alaska Reid) is a singer-songwriter from Montana, who has been active since 2015. AllMusic describes her music as moody indie pop, blending “classic alternative influences with a contemporary sensibility.” At age 14, Reid started writing music and gigging at Sunset Strip venues in Los Angeles where she spent her high school years. Later in her teenage years, she formed and fronted the band Alyeska, who released their debut EP Crush in April 2017. In December 202o, Reid came with her solo debut album Big Bunny. From her sophomore release Disenchanter, here’s French Fries, co-written by Reid and Max Hershenow.

Blondes/Does It Rain On You?

Blondes are an indie pop-rock band from Liverpool, England I first featured in a November 2021 Best of What’s New installment. They were formed by freshmen at Nottingham University in late 2017. In 2020, they released their debut single Coming of Age, which went viral on TikTok. This led to a deal with C3 Records, which issued their debut EP Out In the Neighborhood in November 2021. Blondes are now out with their second EP, In Separation. One of the tracks is called Does It Rain On You? Pretty bouncy and catchy tune!

Duane Betts/Cold Dark World (feat. Marcus King)

Guitarist and singer-songwriter Duane Betts first entered my radar screen in September 2020 in connection with Bless Your Heart, the sophomore album by The Allman Betts Band, a group he co-founded in November 2018 with Devon Allman, a son of Gregg Allman. The son of Dickey Betts who like Gregg was an original member of The Allman Brothers Band, has now released his full-length debut solo album Wild & Precious Life. According to his website, it was recorded live-in-studio at Swamp Raga Studio in Jacksonville, Fla. owned by Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks. Here’s the sweet Cold Dark World featuring blues-rock guitar ace Marcus King. While I previously read Betts doesn’t want to be a copy of the Allmans, he also isn’t denying their influence, which I think can clearly be heard in this tune. In my book, this is by no means a bad thing!

Temple of Angels/Lost in Darkness

My last pick in this new music revue are Temple of Angels. According to their Bandcamp page, they were formed in Austin, Texas in 2017. Their founders Avery Burton (guitar, vocals), Patrick Todd (drums, vocals) and Cole Tucker (guitar) had all played in various hardcore and punk bands around town for years, but were keen to explore the dreamier, moodier music they enjoyed as well. After recording a few demos, they recruited Bre Morell (vocals) as their lead vocalist. Following an eponymous 2017 EP, the 2018 EP Foiled and a couple of singles, they have now released their first full-length album Endless Pursuit. Let’s check out Lost in Darkness. I dig their dreamy sound!

Of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without a Spotify playlist.

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; Duane Betts website; Temple of Angels Bandcamp page; YouTube; Spotify